25 Random Things On Kuwait!

The Kuwat Times Published a 25 Random Things about Kuwait instead of itself. It talked about the fad thats "sweeping th online world"

So this is what The Kuwait times got about Kuwait.

25 Random Things About Kuwait:-

1. The Second Ring Road is also known as Shara3 Al-Hubb (Street of Love).

2. The Kuwaiti dinar is the highest valued currency in the world.

3. Every expat that comes to Kuwait may not speak Arabic but they will all learn the meaning of the word 'wasta.'

4. Kuwait used the Gulf or Indian rupee as its official currency until 1961.

5. At its peak, the Souq Al-Manakh's market capitalization was the third highest in the world, behind only the US and Japan. 'Al-Manakh' means camel in Arabic. The souq was located in a parking garage once used for camel trading.

6. Kuwait has the freest press in the Arab world, ranking 61 on the Reporters without Borders 2008 press freedom index, six places above Lebanon.

7. Kuwait has the world's fifth largest proven oil reserves and is the third richest country in the world per capita.

8. Only 29 of the 440 animals in the Kuwait Zoo survived the Iraqi invasion.

9. Compared with other places, Kuwait has no smell.

10. Women's hair salons are known as 'saloons' even though alcohol is illegal.

11. Alexander the Great named Failaka Island 'Icarus,' allegedly due to its heat and proximity to the sun.

12. Some aspect of Kuwait's visa laws change, on average, every two weeks.

13. The country's first church was built in Ahmadi in 1952.

14. Kuwait has the largest kite in the world, measuring 25.47 meters by 40 meters, flown by Abdul Rahman and Faris Al-Farsi.

15. The English School Fahaheel is Kuwait's oldest English school.

16. The word Kuwait is the diminutive of the Arabic word 'Al-Kut,' which means fortress near water.

17. Hawally has the worst traffic but the best curbside restaurants.

18. Kuwait has nine islands: Auhha, Bubiyan, Failaka, Kubbar, Miskan, Umm Al-Maraadim, Umm Al-Naml, Garuh and Warba.

19. Taxi drivers will charge a local or Asian expat KD 1 to KD 1.5 but Westerners will pay KD 2.5 or more.

20. Kuwait Times is the oldest English language newspaper in the Gulf and the first newspaper in Kuwait, established in 1961.

21. Kuwait used to import water on donkeys from the Shatt Al-Arab.

22. No one knows what happened to the pearls of Kuwait.

23. They say Kuwait has a million tons of dust dumped on it each year by sandstorms.

24. Some argue that the original Kuwaitis were religious pilgrims fleeing the radicalism sweeping the Arabian Peninsula in the mid-1700s.

25. Kuwait has been labeled an oil-rich, tiny, statelet and city state, but my favorite so far is scrappy.

Some Other interesting facts that he began with were in this Paragraph:

"Did you realize that 'Mahboula' means 'insane woman' in Arabic or that the country once exterminated all alley cats but was overrun by rats so it allowed the alley cats to roam freely once again? Did you know Kuwait's ring road system was designed by British engineers or that citizens will often establish public water fountains as memorials for dead loved ones?"

The Articles by Jamie Ethridge from The Kuwait times
20th Feb, 2009

Heres the Link to the Article: http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTE3NzU3NjM4NA==