Author: Mark

Melemele is Kuwait’s first Karaoke house that opened up recently at The Palms. Not sure how karaoke works when you’re sober since I’ve only ever done it when plastered, but it seems it’s doable based on the videos in their highlights.

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A post shared by Melemele Karaoke (@melemelekaraoke) on Aug 27, 2020 at 2:33am PDT

The whole place along with the karaoke rooms looks pretty cool and they have over 10,000 tracks to choose from. The price is 4KD per person on weekdays and 5KD per person on weekends but depending on the size of the room you want, there is a minimum number of people that have to sign up. Booking is done through their website in advance and they’ve got a bit more information there so make sure to check it out.

We don’t get a lot of new things to do in Kuwait so it’s good to see something fun like this pop up especially during the pandemic. They’re on Instagram @melemelekaraoke and their website is melemelekaraoke.com

via @teachsmartwithfay

As the title says, Amazon.ae now ships to Kuwait. I’ve never really used Amazon.ae so not sure how well stocked the UAE based site is but I just checked the price of a Nintendo Switch Lite and with shipping and customs the price came out to KD69 which is around 5KD cheaper than the cheapest price I’ve seen in Kuwait.

Nintendo Switch Lite: AED 769.29
Shipping & handling: AED 25.26
Import Fees Deposit: AED 41.97
Order total: AED 836.52

Amazon tend to overcharge with the import fees deposit and then refund you the difference at a later time so the price is going to be slightly less than KD69 actually. Not everything ships to Kuwait but this could be a new website to check anytime you’re looking to order something and can’t find it locally.

I’ve gotten a number of messages from STC users that they’re having difficulty accessing my blog from their devices. Do you have STC and are having difficulty accessing my blog? If yes, let me know in the comments cuz I’m curious about how widespread this issue is.

Yamama is a new Asian supermarket that recently opened up and I dropped by yesterday to check it out. Although it lacks a variety of products, it was a pretty nice space and well organized. They don’t really have a lot of products but because it’s so close to two other Asian Supermarkets, Singarea and Ginza, you could essentially hop from one to another in one visit.

If you’re interested in checking it out, here is their location on Google Maps.

It’s been so long since I added an event to the events page due to the pandemic that when I tried to add this event I realized the events page wasn’t even working properly. During one of the software updates that must have occurred over the past few months, something broke and now the page isn’t even working right. But anyway, here is a pandemic-safe event you could attend, an exhibition for one of my favorite local artists that’s by appointment only, @prettygreenbullet’s out.fit exhibition:

The exhibition on from October 6 to October 13, 2020 and to ensure a safe environment for everyone it’s by appointment only.

You can book an appointment via:
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @sultangallery
Tel: +965 6097 0001

Gallery hours are:
Sunday to Thursday 10AM to 3PM

Evening showing:
Sunday, October 11, 5-8PM

For more information visit @sultangallery or @prettygreenbullet

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A post shared by حياكم بمعرض الخليج (@m3rath_alkaleg) on Oct 2, 2020 at 2:21pm PDT

I love random odd things and last night a friend of mine sent me a link to my new favorite Instagram account @m3rath_alkaleg. It’s an Instagram account that live auctions chickens and it’s oddly entertaining to watch. I actually stopped watching an episode of Euphoria midway and spent an hour watching some guy live auction of some fantastic looking chickens at like 11PM at night. Seems like a strange time to hold a chicken auction but the guy had a ring light and phone set up professionally and it was a busy evening with I think the most expensive chicken selling for KD300. He then kept reminding people that whoever wins an auction to pass by and pick up their chickens that evening. The whole thing was bizarre to watch but I couldn’t stop.

Not sure if the auctions take place every night but if I had a garden I’d for sure set up a chicken coop and get some fancy chickens for it. If you’re looking for some strange entertainment check the account out @m3rath_alkaleg.

Thanks Fahed

A couple of days ago I found out that Momo Zaa (review here), the cute hole in the wall Bhutanese restaurant in Salmiya had to close down due to the pandemic. But, they’re still offering delivery from a different location including frozen momos. So if you tried visiting them and were disappointed not to find them, check out their Instagram @momozaa.kwt for info on how to order.

I found the picture above on @molowey’s (AbuJack) account on Twitter and it reminded me of when the Fahaheel Expressway first opened up. I was a kid but I remember it being like a very cool and big thing and I think I fairly remember my dad taking the family onto the expressway after a Friday lunch to check it out. At one point in time, the top speed was 140KM/h before being brought down to the current 120KM/h. If you want to see more old photos of Kuwait, AbuJack has been posting old photos he’s taken practically on a daily basis. Link

A Starbucks opening up in a mall wouldn’t really be news except for the fact when 360 Mall first opened, one of the differentiating factors from other malls was they wouldn’t carry any of the Alshaya brands. They wanted to be different from other malls and so didn’t want the same shops you’d find everywhere else also open there. That’s not an easy decision to stick by especially when Alshaya owns so many brands. I think the first Alshaya brand that opened there was Asha’s, but now Starbucks is planning to open up by the end of the year.

Over the weekend I noticed Lakeland at 360 Mall were selling Breville and Sage coffee machines. Breville and Sage are the same company they’re just called different things in the US and the UK. The prices though are both expensive and a good deal, depending on what you want. I’ve posted before about ordering electronics from Amazon UK and here is how much the coffee machines would cost if you had Amazon UK ship them directly to you vs Lakeland:

The Oracle
Lakeland: KD1,034
Amazon UK: KD672

Barista Touch +
Lakeland: KD445
Amazon UK: KD489

Bambino Plus
Lakeland: KD232
Amazon UK: KD170

The Amazon prices include shipping to Kuwait and the customs fees. So really unless you want the Barista Touch it’s a better deal to just order the coffee machines directly from the UK.

I think there are only two electric cars you can officially buy in Kuwait at the moment, the Chevrolet Bolt EV and the Porsche Taycan in addition to the various Teslas that were imported so it makes sense that malls and other places start introducing charging stations. Al Shaheed, Arraya and Hamra Tower all have electric charging stations and The Avenues is now joining the party.

For anyone that works in Hamra or Arraya, I’m curious, are random cars parking in the electric charging spots, or are the spots properly being enforced and only electric cars can park there?

Thanks Mohamed

Kuwait’s Emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, has died at the age of 91, state media report. He was expected to be succeeded by his 83-year-old half-brother and crown prince, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmed. In July, Sheikh Sabah was flown to the United States for medical treatment following surgery for an unspecified condition in Kuwait. Source

I was looking for a photo of the Emir, a specific one where he’s hold a bottle of Coke when I came across the photo above and loved it. It was taken back in 1963 and this is the caption that was attached to it:

Kuwait became the 111th Member State of the United Nations when the Fourth Special Session of the General Assembly adopted by acclamation a 17-power draft resolution to that effect. Seen here as he addressed the meeting is Kuwait’s Foreign Minister, H.H. Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Amir of the State of Kuwait, Foreign Minister at that time, who thanked the Assembly for admitting the State of Kuwait to the United Nations. – 14 May 1963 (Photo Courtesy of UN Photo) Source

May he rest in peace.

Google Street View currently works in Kuwait but is fairly limited since from what I can tell its one guy who’s driving around Kuwait with a 360-degree camera mounted to the roof of his SUV snapping photos.

But surprisingly, PACI seems to have a street view of pretty much most of Kuwait on their website. The only issue is it’s not as easy to use as Google Street View. For example you can’t just search for a random place and find it on the map. The process of actually finding a place is pretty tedious. Here are the steps to use PACI’s street view:

• First head to http://gis.paci.gov.kw/Client/EN/Default.aspx
• Click “Quick Search”
• Manually find the street you want
• Click on the street and wait a few seconds
• Once the street view thumbnail pops up at the bottom, click on it

Someone at PACI should really coordinate with Google and see if there is a way to merge their databases together. I’m still impressed though that PACI actually have a street view option.

Thanks Timothy

I’ve been wanting to post about this since back in 2018 when I first found out but couldn’t due to secrecy reasons (I was working on the project back then). But, now that the secret is out I can finally share this. Mr. Holmes Bakehouse known for popularizing the cruffin is opening up in Kuwait. The cruffin, a hybrid of a croissant and a muffin became a huge hit a few years ago and sparked a lot of copycats around the world. But Mr. Holmes are also known for their pastries which I got to try all of them and they’re really good. Like I’m going to gain a lot of weight once they open kinda good.

I think they should be opening up fairly soon with their first location being in the city right next to Eighty Six.

Yesterday Al Corniche Club sent out an email informing their members that they will be closing down the club on October 11th. Last year Al Corniche Club lost the bid to operate the location but went to court hoping to reverse the decision. That must have not worked out and so they now have to leave the location.