Photo [source]
Enough is enough with going to the popular grocery stores in Kuwait and seeing the same Asian Ho's walking up and down the aisle while I'm buying my groceries. It's no longer shocking to see them approach startled men with (deer in headlights) expressions. Then comes the dreaded popular choice of words: "Hello, You want number? I friend, you want date?"
It's going on inside your grocery stores and outside your parking lots. You must know because it's the same Chinese ladies in groups everyday all day long. They put their numbers on pieces of paper and give it to every guy they see inside. Even men with their families are not safe when they are separated from them for a minute or two.
Obviously these women are successful and business is booming or they wouldn't be there 24/7. Please do something about it because there are mostly families and small children shopping for food. This is a grocery store and not the back road of Mahboula or Jleeb.
Even though this is a Muslim country where alcohol and prostitution is prohibited, it exists in high numbers [Kuwait Times Article] just like the rest of the world. Why are certain countries allowed to enter Kuwait by just obtaining an entrance visa when they are known for their high numbers of export prostitution? It's becoming a real problem here which is ironic when you can't even stay at a hotel in Kuwait unless you are legally married.
I could use a "prostitution free zone" next time I shop for food. Just sayin'!
Disclaimer: I know a lot of you readers have witnessed this happening here. I would like for you to share your experience. I will not publish your comment if you mention the name of the grocery stores. Please refrain from doing so...Thanks!
I read this article and what disturbed me was the fact that if journalists can go undercover and expose the details in this report, why is it that the Kuwait police can't get a handle on this widespread phenomena? It appears in outside channels Kuwait is known to be an easy place to exploit the law with the number of people that specifically come in here to commit crimes on visit visas. This country is very small and although they have allowed festering guettos to form in this country, you now need to go on a rampage to cleanse this nation of criminal elements. What really broke my heart was the Bengladeshi in this article that was running sex slaves. Why would you want these types of people in your country? Start banging down the doors in these areas where there are illegals, where these dens are and start doing your job. To have women commishing their clients in front of shoppers under the noses of this 24/7 grocery store management (and we all know this store's name) IS RIDICULOUS. Are these managers in this store pimps also? I wouldn't doubt it and now this story gets even more disgusting. WE JUST WANT TO DO OUR SHOPPING WITHOUT LOOKING AT HOOKERS OPENINGLY SOLICITING CUSTOMERS. Do you know how much I could decrease the traffic conjestion, population levels in this country by going after the criminals? Think of it that way, think of the benefits. These women are clever, they know that good paying customers are in this area and they are shooting for their target market in air-conditioned stores - good business women at the sake of this countries reputation. You really want these types of people degrading your country? Doesn't make sense to me. Maybe this is a marketing technique for this store - it drums in the business. Get more creative Kuwait, this is disgusting. My daughter did tell me that she saw a store clerk negotiating a price through the shop window with a Kuwaiti, so are some of these clerks in the Avenues hooking also? This place never seizes to amaze me.
ReplyDeleteI've read several times in the English newspapers how women in taxis had to jump out and risk death to save themselves from being sold to pimps. The taxi cab driver tricks the girls in his car and then sells them to pimps and they can literally never be heard from again. :(
DeleteGood article in today's paper, finally these 'so-called' journalists got out of their cubicles and did some real journalism. I once met a BBC journalist who was covering the Kuwait elections, but as he walked around Kuwait, he was like a kid in a candy store, there are so many 'real' stories going on in this small country. So many unaddressed issues and this is one of them. They can either continue to allow criminal elements to over power and control their society or they can also get off their 'makutas' and start deporting the criminals. This example is so open that it would be easy to combat.
ReplyDeleteI was shocked to read about their actual "investigative reporting". I say way to go and it's about time. There are stories everywhere in Kuwait that should be told. The problem is keeping a balance of what you can actually print and what you can't. So you don't end up becoming the story behind bars due to censorship. ;)
Deletenothing like that in kuwait.. but here's a story:
ReplyDeleteonce in vegas, I was being courted by a beautiful women.. not only was she pretty, but she was smart, witty, and had a figure of a model- tall, curvy et al.
anwyay, we started talking and talking..and she seemed really interested in me.. too interested.. and you know the old saying when something is too good to be true, it probably is?? I witnessed that first hand, as that beautiful women who had a masters in psychology and was all over me turned out to be an escort :/
fml
You're in denile - prostitution is all over Kuwait. Maybe you should check out the aisles at this popular grocery store in Mahboula that is discussed above, I guess this is OK, but expired kit-kats aren't, is that how it goes in Kuwait?
Deleteprostitution is every where.. but I myself have never encountered it in kuwait.
Deletewhy so angry?? smile..it looks like this :)
7amood ~ LOL! I know there are a lot of guys that go to Las Vegas hoping to find what found you. ;P That's good that you don't look for it when it seems like so many do nowadays. I just don't understand paying for it when it's business and not love. Risking your life and possibly your families. I guess you have to be desperate like they are to get it.
DeleteI'm always smiling...:D
@anonymous ~ What's up with all the expired food in Kuwait. Reminds me of the Camp Arifjan PX! LOL!
Deletehello expat, I was directing my smile comment @ anon.
Deleteanyway, she's an 'escort', which means even if i WAS looking, i dont think I could have afforded her ;)
I know darlyn ;) I just gave you a smile anyway! :)
DeleteLove you longtime. :)
ReplyDeleteLMAO!!! Me love you longer...:*
DeleteNot only is it in the aisles, streets and parking lots- It is also sometimes the actual sales rep or the cashier trying to pass out their number! It has happened to my Beau everytime he goes to the store ALONE... Even if he is buying my "Mother's Day" gifts.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard at times when a lot of my co-workers have GFs over here... And wives at home... SMH... I guess this is why I have no friends :0|
Wow! Even the sales reps and cashiers? That's really shocking. I hope there is a major crackdown on pimping and prostitution in Kuwait. It just goes hand and hand with human trafficking and residency violations.
DeleteUGH!!!! I HATE SEEING THEM IN FAHAHEEL!!! Omg just the other night, we saw these two filipina hookers and my Gooooodddd... I can't even explain how much they infuriate me!!! They are the reason why Arab guys think most asian girls are hookers. I HATE IT!!!!!!!! If I could just kick them in the face! Ugh!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteLOL! You sound like my Romanian friend. We went to Dubai and partied at this upscale club that had some Romanian hookers talking about potential clients. They didn't know she understood them and then she cursed them out in Romanian. She just felt so upset on how they were representing her country. I told her not to worry because at least they weren't giving it away for free like many of my fellow compatriots. ;)
DeleteSo, this Chinese lady moved into my family building, how I have no freaking idea, anyways one morning I saw an American guy waiting downstairs which was a big sign of what;s going on considering there are no Americans in my building. I used the stairs to go up and as I passed the 5th floor I saw her in her nightgown throwing out some trash. I went back to the ground floor and the guy was leaving in a taxi, the elevator opened and the Chinese lady came out with a jacket over her gown and boots. Another taxi pulled up and out pops another American guy, all this at 8 am in the morning.
ReplyDeleteI complained to my husband and he told the haris what she was doing, within a few days she was evicted. Her residency was on Friday Market. These women come on visas that are for people who sell items during those shopping venues at MIshref fairgrounds, you know the ones with all the fake stuff. Somehow they stay here ane prostitute themselves. The day she was moving I saw her mattress as they loaded it on the truck, it was black and it was originally pink. Ewww!
Has anyone seen the two Chinese ones that hang around Fahaheel, one carries a dog and she looks like a cross dresser. My American co-worker was in this "store" with her husband who was holding their daughter, when my co-worker left his side to get something she came back to see one of those hookers chatting up her hubby. They have no shame! If there weren't a bunch of nasty old men entertaining them then they wouldn't have any business unlike some Asian females who lie and try to get pregnant by an American these Chinese chicks are straight up hookers and they don't hide it. I think the govt has stopped issuing visas for them but they should also look at the Ethiopians who are pimped out in from of Buffalo's, they are just as bad.
They must be protected and paying people off to be so open about it in family public places during the broad daylight. Even in the Netherlands where prostitution is controlled and legal you don't see such blatant, bold activity.
DeleteI feel you on the one living in your building. I used to have tons of them coming in and out in my previous upscale / overpriced, full security building. You couldn't even have food delivered inside but apparently it was allowed to have a "ho for hire" by the hour.
Um, yes. My husband and I just had this conversation the other day! Since I've only been here two weeks...ie, a few trips to the grocery store...and I'm about as naive as they come, I hadn't really noticed. But Gabe told me that when he goes without me, there are always ladies walking past, whispering "Hey, hey, sir..." under their breath. He's way too freaking scared to even make eye contact with them...so he just gets in and out of the store as fast as possible.
ReplyDeleteNow that I know about them, I do notice the single, sketchy-looking ladies at the store. Aaand I'd appreciate them not soliciting my husband in the dairy aisle, thankyouverymuch.
Yesterday we tried out a new store...granted it was at 4pm...but it seemed to be totally free of sketchy prostitutes. Mostly families + expats there...doesn't mean it's NOT going on there. But not quite as obvious as it was in the place we went previously.
As much as it disgusts me, it also makes me so sad that these women feel they have no other option than to sell themselves for money. And it baffles me, too, that in a country where I can't show my shoulders in the market...the goverment looks the other way on the scads of women who are selling their sexuality in the frozen food aisle.
It's so strange.
Welcome to this exotic and confusing land of contradictions. I'm not surprised he was approached because they seem to be there 27/7 looking for clients. The more Western you look the better because as the Kuwait Times Article stated the Arab clients weren't good for paying after services rendered. Shoot, we all know that American guys actually pay and then marry them in some cases. LOL! What's not to love?
DeleteLOL! Exactly. Ah, I believe the old adage "stupid Americans" is actually befitting in these cases. ;)
DeleteSo that's why the guys go to this store to get the barbeque stuff #$#@ Busted!
ReplyDeleteNow we know why they suddenly want to do the grocery shopping! LOL!
DeleteI like how in the article is says the pimped asked for 5kd and then he neg. down to '3KD per round' LOL
ReplyDeleteThis is just sad really. I mean I dont have a problem with women doing it discreetly on their own free will, and in safe conditions, protected under the law (look at New Zealand or Australia) but this is a different case.
Yes, this is a totally different case. I bet most of them are sex slaves that receive very little compensation except for diseases and abuse.
DeleteI think i've been away from Kuwait for a long time , i haven't ever seen a prostitute or many of the things you guys complain about!Maybe you guys just live in the sinister part of Kuwait...
ReplyDeleteI think it's time to take your head out of the Kuwaiti sand and go grocery shopping...;P
DeleteWhat's really scary is these women are often on expired visas and no recent medical check-up. Heck, even if their visa is valid who's to say they didn't catch something... um, yesterday?
ReplyDeleteI know an American contractor man who met one claiming to be a 'maid' who would cook and clean for him part time. She flirted, etc. But then claimed she was a virgin but had lived in Kuwait for 12 years and was 30 years old. Not buying either of those stories. Anyhoo, they started dating, she wanted a baby, she now has the ring, and they're planning the big move to the land of blue passports soon. Surely she's planning to 'one up' once she gets to the land of the free.
The cutest part of the story is we once found a PX receipt in his apartment for a box of 24 condoms and 5 packs of bacon. Hiiiiilarious. If 3KD 'per round' doesn't catch one, a pack of pork bacon sure will.
LOOOOOOL at the bacon and condoms receipt. That's just not right! I spit out my water laughing.
DeleteThe guys at my old job said they always tell them that they're virgins only to find out they have 3 - 4 children back home. They use the same tricks over and over but it seems to work on these fools.
So there I was at the Sultan Center -- A Chinese lady appeared to be having a problem with her cart, so I helped her get it off the curb. Then she asked if I wanted her number and I realized what was going on so I looked her straight in the eye and said "No thanks, you couldn't afford me anyway". She looked puzzled for a moment and then frowned at me.
ReplyDeleteI gotta learn to stop doing stuff like that, but she started it.
First AG made me lol and spit out my water all over my screen and then your comment did the same! That's hilarious that she tried to set you up with the cart / curb play. I love your comment! :D
DeleteI find this hard to believe, well not that hard, well not hard at all, well I believe you. What I find strange is that I've never seen this in the Co-ops of Omariya, Yarmook, or Jabryia. Not even in the private grocery stores.
ReplyDeleteMakes me wonder if this only happens around the Non-Kuwaiti areas in only. Although some of the people who work in coffee shops are a bit friendly, although I lam a humbug.
P.S. Why the heck can't I right click? It makes it hard to open links in new tabs.
Hey Mubarak! :) I haven't seen them in the Co-ops yet.
DeleteI'm sorry about the right click block which is just for photos. Were you able to open the links in new tabs with a little effort? I hope you didn't sprain your thumb. :P
Yes, but dear God I had to drag the link over to the tab section. It felt like I was living in 3rd world country! The horror! But I am Kuwaiti, and I must solider on!
DeleteTIP! Click both right and left click buttons at the same time, it opens the link in a new tab :)
DeleteYou can do it Mubarak! :)
DeleteThanks Bo :D
DeleteA couple of Asian (insert profession) approached me while I was shopping in that overpriced grocery store, as one of them asked for the dreadful 'number', while the other was asking me questions. Told them I'm not interested. No used-chicks / shady ladies, please.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they thought you were "USA Snob" instead of Q80 Snob...LOL! :0
DeleteWhy peoples are talking only about low class prostitution. What baout the type of prostitution happening in big shopping malls where the girls are coming by wearing luxurious dresses and costumes to find customers. just yetserday i saw a gentle guy shamelessly approaching a hi fi girl asking telephone number inside a shopping mall. (I dont want to mention the nationality of the guys as i dont think that only chinese or other similar nationality is the only people engaged in prostitution ).
ReplyDeleteHigh Class prostitution is well known all over the world and there are plenty of people talking about it. I can't cover everything that happens on this blog. ;)
DeleteJust because someone gives or takes a number doesn't mean they are for sale.
I read this article in the Arab Times:
Link:
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/183613/reftab/73/t/University-students-lured-into-prostitution/Default.aspx
University students lured into prostitution
Two female Arab pimps nabbed
KUWAIT CITY, May 23, 2012: During a secret security campaign organized by the Vice Squad affiliated to the General Department for Criminal Investigation, police have arrested two female Arab pimps for luring young women into prostitution in return for large sums of money, reports Al-Dar daily.
According to security sources the pimps preyed on female university students who visited cafés during lectures.
Acting on information police put the concerned cafés under surveillance, collected information about the suspects and reportedly caught them red-handed.
They have been handed over to the concerned authorities for investigation.
Truth be told, this is nothing new for Kuwait. Only social media are now taking shots at sizing things up in this department. You never know- local authorities may have Parisienne designs on Kuwait a la the 16th arrondissement; of turning leafy neighborhoods into safe corridors for high class escort and personal services. It can work wonders for the real estate prices judging from the French experience. On a different note is the leadership in the Emirates listening? Imagine having a dedicated zone in the Palm Jumeirah or an entire continent in the World Island project in Dubai expressly for escort and prostitution services. Will send real estate prices through the roof!
ReplyDelete