Jacqui and I had taken the bus yesterday to go to the Palms Beach Club and found public transit to be very effective; it did not take much longer than taking a taxi, as the bus travels on the exact same route as cabs do, and for 10% of the price. So we hooked up with two fellow teachers from our building today to go, by bus, to the Tareq Rajab Museum. None of us were very sure of its location, but we found it no problem. It's a museum that holds very old artifacts (some 1000 years old) from all the Middle East countries and Northern Africa. Fortunately, the museum wasn't touched during the Gulf War because the Iraquis didn't know it was there (or so they say). Yes, it's just a door with a little sign above it. Very easy to miss!
So back to this public transit thing. In Kuwait (and the Middle East, I imagine), women sit at the front of the bus while men sit farther back. I could sit with Jacqui while the bus was pretty empty, but once it started filling up, and more women came on, I had to move back. So I travelled about half the day by myself (well, with a bunch of other men). But this wasn't a surprise, as I had been told about this, even though there are no signs anywhere stipulating this (but men do give up their seat freely). Dubai, on the other hand, was a little different. We only used the subway and no buses. Their subway system is great, riding sometimes underground and often above ground. They have 2 - 3 subway cars at each end of the train reserved for women and children only, at certain times of day. And signs are posted: "Women and children only in this car". There are no men in those cars, regardless of how crowded our cars are. There is a yellow line on the floor separating the two sections, and nobody dares step on the line. I'm not sure what would happen if someone did. I'm not willing to be the one to find out the hard way. Women are however free to go on any car. So next time you take public transit or see a bus go by, look at the seating arrangement, and think of us!
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