Green Island,Q8 - Venue Of Our Building Picnic

Do you need a place to go this weekend? I have a great suggestion; somewhere to take the whole family to: The Green Island!

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Green Island and spent a few hours discovering all its beauty. This weekend, on Saturday, our building friends planned to go for a picnic. The entire outing was planned by the ladies….from the venue to food to games. A total of 18 families went, so it was relatively a very big group. After lunch we planned to meet at around 3pm at the lobby of our building. By the time we all started in our respective cars it was 3.30pm. We were little late, we started at around 4pm as we had to attend another friend Debashis and Lata’s son Aadi’s birthday party for lunch at Hotel Caesar’s. It was my first visit so I was more excited. It took us nearly 40minutes to reach our venue from our house. 

The Green Island in Kuwait is known to be the best place for the people to relax. This famous picnic spot, a family orientated park, is actually a reclaimed land which has been transformed to an artificial island. The location of the Green Island, near Kuwait Towers, is in the coastline that extends from Al-Shiwaikh to Ras Alard. This island with an area of 785 thousand square meters and diameter of 3140 meters is linked to the sea by a passage which is 134 meters long. The surrounding natural rocks were brought from Al-Fujairah Emirates. The sides of the Green Island of Kuwait were fortified with concrete, even the sands that you find at the beaches of the Green Island were imported from other countries. You will not believe that you are in a desert country when you are in Green Island, since this place has a riot of colors with the shrubs and seedlings planted here. It’s a long walk to Green Island entrance and also very windy here and not a favorable place to go in winter evenings. However, it is cool during the summertime. On the right of the entrance,one can play Soap-Football during the summer. On the left, there are many inflatable bouncing castles and such for children available in afternoon and evening. You have to pay the entrance fees(500fils per person) at the door. It's a well worth amount because you can easily spend the whole day at the island. First and foremost, if you are a diehard tanning enthusiast, there is a gorgeous beach which allows you to catch the rays. Although it's not a very long shore, it is long enough to spend a nice relaxing day on the beach. By now you're probably thinking, "How can I have a relaxing day at the beach when my kids will be so bored they will drive me crazy?” Well fear not, there are many activities for your kids to enjoy. There is a fun pool, a kid castle, trampolining, bumper cars, and a machine operated high flying swing ride. Also available to all visitors of the Green Island are tourist towers that you can climb by stairs or take the elevator up. This will allow you to see Kuwait from a different angle. The panoramic views form the top of these towers is quit breathtaking. On one side you can see endless water, from the other side you can see the Kuwait towers and from yet another angle of the top of the tower, you can see Kuwait's budding skyscrapers.

It has facilities for everyone from kids to adults too. According to your need you can rent a cycle and move around. As MEHR was with me, I could not cycle it, so my friends gave me a ride in the 4wheeler cycle. The smaller cycle (2tires) will cost you 500fills for half an hour and the bigger one (4 wheeler/ 4seater) will cost you 5KD for an hour. There is also a train available; at 250fills per person which will give you a full ride around the Island. The best time to ride the train is in the evening hours or night time. It is a wonderful place to walk where you don't have to worry about cars. There is an amphitheatre where some musical concerts and plays take place. And in the artificial "lake" one can rent pedalos. It is a very quiet and serene place for couples who want to spend time alone too.

Our husbands got busy playing cricket, ladies in cycling or making their kids play in the play-area, while bigger kids moved around in their own group. It was nice to see all of us relaxed, playing and enjoying. After some time we had a short break as we had snacks and tea/juice. We had games …..One for ladies alone, another two games for the couples. All of them participated and it was fun to see all getting involved as kids. At around 7pm our dinner arrived, which we ordered from Hotel Kohinoor( matar panner; butter chicken, mixed vegetable, chappati and gulab jammun). We cooked plain rice and prepared raita and salad at home. We felt like staying back for some more time, but it was already 9.30pm and children had schools the next day. So, had to return promising to visit again soon.