Saloon eer Salon

I kinda like writing about the Salon/Saloon as it is called in Kuwait. I find such enjoyable experiences come from going to the salon. Well think particular post is going to be a bit different, it is going to be about Brad at the Salon...
So during our time in Syria, Brad thought that it would be a fantastic idea to get a haircut. It was approx 3 dollar Canadian to get a cut, so why not... right? Well the experience started out great, haircut was going well, we were served coffee and tea, it was a lovely experience. The boys (and I mean boys) working there were quiet excited to have Canadians in their salon, and particularly having a female in the salon. They were playing their music loudly, laughing, just having a great time. Brad's hair was a success, it looked great.
Upon finishing it, them started to put stuff on his face. We were unsure what was happening, but they mentioned something about his nose and face, and well since there was no English involved we just went with it. They were massaging his face, putting creams and oils etc all over it. Looked rather enjoyable if I might add. Just sitting there watching I was getting mighty jealous... haha until the THREAD came out muhahaha... oh how I hate threading. Suddenly this was not such a bad thing. They again with no English and only hand gestures pointed to his eyes, Brad nodded his head, and off they went threading away. FINALLY Brad got to feel the hate that I feel about threading. Haha they were shaping his eyebrows, and cleaning up the hair on his forehead. It was wonderful, and they also cut his eyebrows as some hairs must of been a little too long for them. Perfect eyebrows he now has :) Brad has since had much more sympathy for me, and acknowledges that he was a little hard on me.
So one would think that they were done... but no no they put more stuff on his face and well this picture will explain more...

 The relaxing and enjoyable massage

HAHAHA Brad's getting a facial

There is it... Brad enjoying (minus the threading) his Spa experience. He came out looking great... and with really soft skin...

Oh how I loved witnessing this experience...

~Serena

A little of this and a little of that...

Winter is officially over! The heat is back on… errr well I guess technically the A/C is, but whatever. We are hoping to be hitting the pool really soon, possibly by mid March it should be warm enough.

Enough of the weather though. Brad wanted me to make another statement about who is making these blog posts. I, SERENA am writing ALL the blog posts. If there are typo’s spelling error, grammar errors anything like that, I am the one to blame. None of this is his material etc etc. He gets rather embarrassed and self-conscience when people think that he is the one typing them LOL…

On to the next… we just booked all our flights home for this summer. It is going to be an epic summer we cannot wait. More to come on what our summer will look like later. With that being said, we also have a return flight booked to come to Kuwait. So there you have it, we are completing another year in Kuwait.

Hope all is well with everyone. We sure miss our family and friends, and think about everyone often. Everyone is welcome to visit us here in Paradise LOL ok well Kuwait.

Take Care,

Serena (I will now write my name on my posts to make Brad feel better) 

Egypt, Jordan, Syria

Well we just got back from another amazing trip and journey. We got a chance to explore around Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. We had the company of Crystal (sister in law) and Tara (friend) come along with us. Not it was it great to go travel, but it was so good to have friends from home.

Egypt –

Well this was quiet the experience… for those of you who have followed the news at all would know that Egypt just went through / still going through a revolution. Well we got to see it and experience it! Yes we willing flew into Cairo on the night that it all began. We got to witness everything that was shown on news, and probably worse.

Upon arriving in Cario we attempted to leave the airport, which we couldn’t for curfew was in effect, so we waited it out until a taxi was able to take us into the city. Once we got to downtown and saw the effects of protesting we decided to move on. We got to Giza, and a hotel recommended to us had been burnt and destroyed… move on again. We thought that before we left the area that we would go see the pyramid. Well those were close, so we took a camel ride to see them from a distance. Our wonderful taxi driver agreed to take us to Alexandria, we were hoping to escape the chaos. LOL… well we were sure wrong. We made it Alex and got checked into a hotel. Right from the hotel patios we could see all the protesting right in front of us… first row seats! Realizing that Alex also was not safe we decide to leave the next day. After having an unsuccessful attempt at taking a bus to Dahab, or anywhere on the Sinai peninsula, we went to see about flights. Well unsuccessful again, so flight going out, and no sales happening. So we hired a taxi. Finally our escape! We had a wonderful taxi driver to make the 7hour drive (turned into 12hours) to Sharm El Sheikh.  The drive from Alexandria to Sharm was crazy. There was check stops all the way, we got through being Canadians, and lots and lots of military, tanks, guns, bats, everything! It was a pretty intense drive. Our car ended up gassing us all out, we had major migraines and we all became nauseous etc. It is a journey (nightmare) that I will never forget.

 The closest we could get to the pyramids... 

 Protesting in Alexandria... it goes on as far as we could see. This is the view from our hotel room.

Random tank... saw only a *few* of these...

            We arrived in Sharm El Sheihk, too sick and tired to try to get to Dahab, so we found a nice and reasonable hotel to stay at. We enjoyed a few days at the red sea snorkling and swimming and just escaping the craziness of Egypt. We had no internet access, phone were down for some time, at times shortages of food, and gasoline, and of course money! All the banks were shut down and atm’s ran out of cash. With everything going on we booked flights from Sharm to Amman, Jordan.

 Snorkeling in the Red Sea. Our beautiful hotel in the background

Jordan –

We made it out of Egypt!

Jordan was an amazing experience. We started off renting a car and going straight to Petra. We saw Petra by night and then spent the whole next day there. It was amazing… pictures to follow. 

In front of the Treasury

After that we went to Wadi Rum, this is a Bedouin village with crazy scenery mountains, and lots of sand! We hired a 4x4 to take us around and show us the sights – pictures also to follow. 

We then followed it up with an evening and night in a Bedouin tent/camp. Great experience and worth every penny!

After Wadi, we went to the dead sea. Wow! It is a must do if you get a chance. We were afraid that it would be cold at this time of the year but it was pleasantly warm. The Dead Sea was so much fun. We instantly started laughing when we got in. You simply cannot sink, and you float so well. It was such a surreal experience. We were staying at a beautiful hotel right on the sea… we managed to get a super good deal on the hotel which included access to the sea and all sorts of great stuff! A much needed stay after being in tents LOL. 

First look at the Dead Sea... we are kinda happy :)

 Look at me no hands!!! LOL 

 Dead Sea mud... 

Synchronized swimming... aren't we good!

While in Jordan we went to Mt Nebo, and attempted to see where Jesus was baptized (it ended up being closed when we showed up L). We stayed a night in Amman which was FREEZING!

Then the sad part comes… we said goodbye to Crystal and Tara, off they went to Israel. Myself and Brad would have gone, but the politics between Israel and Kuwait are just not great. We decided not to chance getting our passport stamped. We instead went to Syria. We did not get our visa’s in advance so we decided to risk it and see what would happen.

Syria –

We had a fabulous time and trip there. We ended up only staying it Damascus as we had only 3 days and didn’t feel like leaving. The old city in Damascus was way beyond our expectations, and is where we spent more of our time. The food was excellent and the history great! We just wandered around is complete awe. The people are so friendly and helpful. This is a place that we for sure need to go back to… so much more to see. After 3 great days in Damascus we had to go back to Amman to catch our flight to Kuwait. Another night in Jordan half a day and off we go.

 Amazing food...

 Old Hamam (Roman bath). 

 Inside the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus

Fresh fruit juice! So good!

The trip was so much fun! So glad we did it all. We were sad that we didn’t see as much of Egypt, but hey we got to see history in the making.

I will attempt to add pictures to the blog, if not I will for sure add some to Facebook, Brad already has some posted.