The Persian Gulf

I stayed at the Hilton Resort Hotel on the beach last night.  It's a very nice hotel and I wished I had stayed here for all three nights instead of breaking up my stay between here and the Marriott Courtyard.  Amenities here are far better than at the Courtyard.

The hotel sits right on the beach and there's Kuwaiti versions of cabanas along the beach for guests to relax in (complete with sofas and rugs).  I had a chance this morning to walk along the water's edge and take some photos.

Looking back at the Hilton.

One view of the water with a tanker in the background.

Another view.

I walked to the water's edge and reached in to touch the water -- mostly to say that I've been in the Persian Gulf.  And then, it dawned on me that I had made a terrible mistake.  Three days ago when I was driving through the city, I smelled the odors of open sewage.  My driver told me that the Kuwaiti sanitation system had failed two months ago and they have not been able to fix it.  As a result, tons of unprocessed sewage is dumped into the Gulf daily.  The water has been off limits to swimmers.  And now, my hand was dripping with gawd knows what filth. 

I ran to the swimming pool to conduct a quick wash before running to my room to complete the cleansing.  Thoughts of typhoid, dysentery, and other unpleasant ailments came to mind.   Anyway, I'm back in the room typing this and finishing my packing, so I'm not dead yet.  Thank gawd I'm not OCD.  But I do have to finish this so I can flick the light swith on and off 12 times...