Author: Mark

I found these really old aerial photos of Kuwait City while browsing through the Tareq Rajab Museum photography archive so decided to scan them to share. There wasn’t a date on them but I’m assuming they were taken in the early 1950s. I came to that assumption since in one of the photos I could see the Thunayan Al Ghanim Building under construction, and that was completed in 1954.

Thunayan Al Ghanim Building is the old building on the corner of the Sheraton Roundabout. It was considered to be one of the most advanced buildings in Kuwait at the time, and one of the first to have an elevator. There are stories of bedouins coming in from the desert to watch “the flying horse” that could go up and down. The Thunayan Al Ghanim building housed the original KOC offices, the British Consulate, the first English bookshop in Kuwait, as well as the Sultan Gallery and the Rolls Royce dealership.

It’s kind surreal looking at these photos since it was really that long ago. In some of the photos you can make out the new buildings that were popping up beside the old houses. If you want to see how it would have looked like if you were in one of the alleyways looking towards the more “modern” buildings, click here.

All these photos were taken from a plane and I’m assuming on the same day, but don’t quote me on that.

I’ve been using my Fuji X100V camera since 2021. It’s been a great camera and one I’ve previously posted about being the best travel camera. But, I recently purchased the Ricoh GR III and I think I might have to take that comment back.

The Fuji was a pretty nice travel camera upgrade compared to the camera I was using before that, a Sony A7 III with a prime lens, and the Sony RX1 full sensor point & shoot I had before that. But, over the past couple of years I’ve been finding it more of a hassle to carry the Fuji around when traveling, especially because phone cameras have gotten so much better. Also, because of how popular the Fuji camera has become (thank you TikTok) and the prices gone up due to scarcity, I stopped slinging it across my shoulder out in the open like I used to before. That means I need to carry it in my shoulder bag making it a hassle and a slow process to use.

So I started looking at alternatives and decided on the Ricoh GR III. It was the camera I was initially deciding on when I got my Fuji. It’s got a similar sized APS-C sensor but in a body that is a lot more compact. I also went with the 28mm version (they also come in 40mm) so that it’s a wider field of view than my Fuji’s 35mm which should be better for travel photography.

Similar to the Fuji, the Ricoh has a cult following and so the cameras are also out of stock all the time. But, I got lucky and found the Diary Edition on BHPhoto. It was backordered like all the Ricohs, but the Diary Edition with my luck had an estimated in-stock date of around 2 weeks. I guess someone must have canceled and I was checking the website at the perfect time. I placed the order and once it was in stock they shipped it straight to Kuwait.

First impressions, I love it. I got the Diary Edition because it was the one that was available but the only difference over the regular version is the color. The normal GR III is black, Diary Edition is a warm grey, I have zero preference, both are nice in their own way and I wouldn’t care less which one I had.

The camera is tiny, it’ small enough to fit into my tight jeans pocket which means it can easily fit into all my other pockets as well. In winter it definitely won’t be an issue stuffing the camera in one of the may jacket pockets so it already has a big advantage over the Fuji. The other thing I really like about it is the fact I’m shooting more with the camera. This is going to sound weird but the best thing the Fuji has the Ricoh doesn’t have is the electronic view finder. It makes shooting a lot more enjoyable. But, because the Ricoh doesn’t have a viewfinder, it’s making me shoot more. Mainly because it’s quicker since I don’t need to raise the camera up to my eye. And also by not raising the camera up to my face, it makes me less noticeable that I am taking pictures, so I take more. I know I could shoot with the rear screen of the Fuji which also has the advantage of tilting, but because I like using the EVF, I’ve just gotten used to using the Fuji that way and I’ll always prefer the EVF over the rear screen.

I have a trip coming up in two weeks time and will be taking my GR III with me. Once I’m back I’ll post about the experience. For now, if you have any questions let me know.

I’m a fan of minimal design, but I also appreciate spaces rich with complexity and decoration. Title’s third location at The Warehouse Mall was crafted by local design studio Lines, the same creative team behind the restaurants OFK and Piatti.

The mix of patterns, textures, and bold colors gives the space a surreal feel. The photos make the restaurant look like a set from a stop-motion film. According to Lines, their aim was to showcase a timeless design by combining elements from various cultures around the world, creating a unique and creative style. I think it worked.

If you want to see more photos of this Title location, or more of Lines work, head over to @lineskw

Arabia is a new local brand aiming to represent culture and heritage through a product line that includes perfumes, room and linen sprays, and artworks. Having opened in March, they hope to capture people’s hearts with a collection that embodies both nostalgia and luxury.

Gifting plays a huge role in the local culture, and Arabia hopes to eventually become a premier destination for elegant gifts. They are starting off with a fragrance line and artworks but will add more items as they continue to grow.

Their fragrances come in beautiful packaging and bottles that represent heritage in a modern way, but they also pride themselves on the quality of oils and ingredients they use.

The flagship Arabia store is located in Kuwait City on Ahmad Al Jaber Street, but they also have an online shop that delivers worldwide. This is perfect for those who used to live in the region and feel nostalgic, or for those planning to gift to people living abroad. With their different themed bottles, you can gift based on either the scent or the artwork.They even offer a discovery set with all their scents, but for the summer, they recommend trying Al Hambra or the Noble perfume.

Arabia is also open to collaborations with local talents to create products and stories together that feature cultural richness.

To find out more about Arabia, head to @by.arabia or shop-arabia.com to shop.

Was passing by Arabica in the City and spotted rentable scooters and bicycles parked outside. Turns out they’re by a Saudi company called Bskl and looks like they’ll be competing directly with E-Fly.

I can’t imagine E-Fly is doing that well financially considering we don’t have sidewalks to make use of the scooters and bicycles so things are about to get tougher with Bskl entering the market.

I didn’t download the app so no idea about their prices. Oddly, Bskl don’t mention that they’re available in Kuwait no neither their website or instagram account.

Broskis Deli has been open for just over a month now, and I think I’ve been there five or six times already. It has quickly become my go-to place when I’m in the mood for comfort food, in my case, a good filling sandwich.

I’ve tried most of the sandwiches on their menu, and here is a list of my favorites, ranked from best to least favorite so far:

Meatball Hero
Chopped Cheese
Broski Burger
Chicken Parm
Club Sandwich
Pastrami Reuben

The Meatball sandwich caught me by surprise since it’s not something I had considered ordering, but I was with a friend who suggested we share it, and it’s now my favorite sandwich there. The Chopped Cheese is what you get if you merge a burger with a Philly Cheesesteak and it’s their most popular sandwich. The burger is also really good, but the main reason I go to Broskis is for the sandwiches. So, although it’s tempting, I try to avoid ordering the burger. If I’m with friends, I might order the burger to share as a side, but that’s also a difficult choice because if I want a side, I’d prefer their Truffle Mac & Cheese, which is the best in Kuwait.

Their portions are really huge, which is why I always prefer going there with a friend so we can share sandwiches and sides. For two people, the optimal amount of food is probably one sandwich to share (they come cut in half), a burger to share, one side, and a cookie each for dessert. That actually might still be too much food, but you can’t go to Broski and not overeat when there are too many good options to pick from.

Their prices are a bit on the high side, but that most likely has to do with the fact that they use a wagyu blend for their sandwiches and because the portions are large. For example, their burger is KD5.750, while their Chopped Cheese sandwich is KD5.250. Truffle Mac & Cheese is KD3.250, and the cookies are KD1.250 each.

Broskis is located in Sharq, near the British Embassy (Google Maps). It has a casual, come as you are vibe and there is plenty of seating. They’re on instagram @delibybroskis

This week has been an uneventful TV week for me. Both the last episodes of House of the Dragon and Sunny were pretty boring, but Presumed Innocent I guess made up for those two with its last episode. Other than that been binge watching House of Cards and sometimes had The Veil playing in the background (pretty bad show).

Oh, I finished watching the last episode of the season for The Boys as well. The last episode wasn’t that great, not sure what I was expecting, maybe an end to the show but obviously that can’t happen since the show is still ongoing.

On the bright side, Deadpool & Wolverine is out this weekend, can someone let me know if anything is cut in it since I might watch it at the cinema.

Let me know in the comments what you recently watched or planning to watch.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Week:
Deadpool & Wolverine (8.3)

Other Movies Showing:
A Quiet Place: Day One (7.0)
Bad Boys: Ride or Die (6.8)
Despicable Me 4 (6.4)
Fly Me to the Moon (6.7)
IF: Imaginary Friends (6.5)
Inside Out 2 (7.9)
Longlegs (7.3)
The Garfield Movie (5.8)
Twisters (7.0)

The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.

Is it me or does the interior of the newly reopened Jimmy’s smashed burger in Kuwait City look pretty similar to the popular London burger spot Supernova?

The Paris 2024 Olympics is set to begin this coming Friday, and nine athletes from Kuwait will be competing: five men and four women. Check them all out below to discover who they are and the disciplines they will be competing in. I’ve also included their instagram accounts in case you want to follow them:

Amal Al Roumi @_amalalroumi
Date of Birth: 22 Aug 1992
Age: 31
Discipline: Athletics
Event: Women’s 800m

Ameena Shah @ameenaaa64
Date of Birth: 24 Jan 2001
Age: 23
Discipline: Sailing
Event: Women’s Dinghy

Lara Dashti @laradashtiswims
Date of Birth: 24 Jan 2004
Age: 20
Discipline: Swimming
Event: Women’s 100m Breaststroke

Soaad Alfaqaan @salfaqaan2
Date of Birth: 3 Sep 1991
Age: 32
Discipline: Rowing
Event: Women’s Single Sculls

Khaled Almudhaf
Date of Birth: 12 Jun 1978
Age: 46
Discipline: Shooting
Event: Trap Men

Mohammad AlDaihani @_mh7md
Date of Birth: 1 Aug 1983
Age: 40
Discipline: Shooting
Event: Skeet Men

Mohamad Zubaid @mohammedswims
Date of Birth: 30 Mar 2008
Age: 16
Discipline: Swimming
Event: Men’s 100m Freestyle

Yousef Alshamlan @yousefalshamlaan
Date of Birth: 30 Aug 1998
Age: 25
Discipline: Fencing
Event: Men’s Sabre Individual

Yaqoub Alyouha @yaqoubalyouha
Date of Birth: 31 Jan 1993
Age: 31
Discipline: Athletics
Event: Men’s 110m Hurdles

Photo on top taken by @photographerq8_96

There is an Instagram account I find visually very interesting called @Dihrez. It’s run by a Kuwaiti designer fascinated in creating an alternate history for Kuwait, which is a subject I find very captivating.

I got in touch with the designer to find out why he started the account and what his story is. It turns out he works in the educational field, which is partly why he wants to stay anonymous for now.

Dihrez has always been interested in the concept of ‘alternate history’ in literary and artistic works. Similar to shows like ‘The Man in the High Castle,’ which is based on an alternate reality in which Germany wins World War II, or ‘For All Mankind,’ where the Russians were the first to land on the moon, Dihrez wanted to create an alternate reality for Kuwait.

The account is only two months old, so you can see how Dihrez is still figuring out the kind of content he wants to share and how it’s all evolving

In the beginning, for example, he started experimenting by creating visuals from old everyday life (1950s-1980s) and then adding imagined elements to them. The idea was to make the viewer feel that the scene is both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. This feeling creates a momentary paradox and raises the question: Is this real?

Later, he started creating imaginary posters and ads. A few days ago, he began experimenting by taking popular old Kuwaiti photographs and animating them into short videos (the results are super cool). He uses a combination of techniques, including AI and his graphic design background, to create his work, resulting in pieces that are somewhat like collages.

You can see some of my favorites here, but definitely follow his account to see more of his work including his latest animated one @Dihrez

This is a summarized repost of the original post I published a few years ago. In case you’ve never heard the story, read on. I decided to repost it on Instagram since there is a chance Saif will be performing in the UK later this year with the help of Habibi Funk.

I found out about The Scorpions & Saif Abu Bakr through the former Australian Ambassador to Kuwait who one evening made me listen to their album ‘Jazz, Jazz, Jazz’. The album was a reissue by the label Habibi Funk and they had included an interview with the band who were Sudanese and had performed on KTV and in various hotels around Kuwait in the 70s. I took some photos of the album and shared them on my personal account when to my surprise, I got a message from a follower telling me that Saif was a colleague of hers and she was surprised to find out he used to be part of a popular band. She put me in touch with Saif and I invited him to dinner over at the ambassador’s house.

Saif was full of interesting stories. He was never meant to come to Kuwait, when he turned 18 he decided to leave Sudan and head to Germany. His plan was to head to Lebanon first so that he could then take the train to Germany, but due to a series of events and the fact he needed to make money, he got convinced to try his luck in Kuwait.

When he arrived, he met up with an old friend who hooked him up with a job as an English teacher for air traffic controllers, and a side gig where he would perform music on a KTV talk show. One day one of the producers at KTV asked him if he could put together a band because he wanted to record a performance for the station. Saif told him he could and called up his friends in Sudan whom he used to perform with called The Scorpions. The band ended up on KTV and you can actually watch that performance on YouTube since Habibi Funk uploaded the whole thing.

Saif eventually performed for a Kuwaiti event organizer back then called Hussein Abul. Hussein was the guy who brought the likes of Boney M, Demis Roussos, James Brown and Santa Esmeralda to perform in Kuwait. Saif actually had the job of driving James Brown around when he was in Kuwait.

Saif is still in Kuwait today and until recently was teaching English at a local aviation school. He still performs in Sudan every now and then with his old band. Jazz Jazz Jazz is available to stream on Spotify and you should check it out.

I watched Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes this past week and I didn’t really like it much. I also just realized that I hadn’t I watched the previous Planet of the Apes but thats not why I didn’t enjoy the new one, I just find the series boring now. There are just too many Planet of the Apes films similar to how there are too many Fast and the Furious or too many Transformers movies. I don’t enjoy any of them anymore, it’s just recycled content.

But, speaking of recycling, the new Terminator anime series looks like it’s going to be cool just based on the trailer above. I’m not big on anime but this is one I want to really watch.

This past week I also started rewatching House of Cards since my wife hadn’t watch the show before. I’m still 4 episodes into season 1 and I remembered how great a show it was. Over a decade later it still holds up really well and I now recognize so many actors who are now much more famous than they were back then.

Let me know in the comments what you recently watched or planning to watch.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Week:
Clawfoot (5.7)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Classic) (7.7)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Classic) (7.9)
Inspector Sun (5.2)
Longlegs (7.3)
Twisters (7.0)

Other Movies Showing:
A Quiet Place: Day One (7.0)
Arcadian (5.5)
Bad Boys: Ride or Die (6.8)
Despicable Me 4 (6.4)
Fly Me to the Moon (6.7)
Inside Out 2 (7.9)
The Garfield Movie (5.8)
The Last Breath (6.1)

The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.

Eid Sari Al Azemi has a farm in Wafra and proudly calls himself the first banana farmer in Kuwait. While others have grown bananas in Kuwait before, Al Azemi stands out with over 2,000 trees supplying the local market daily with his Kuwait-grown bananas.

Al Azemi initially started with just eight banana trees as an experiment to see how they would turn out. After growing and tasting them, he decided to expand and grow more. Despite his friends and fellow farmers advising him to stick to tomatoes and cucumbers, Al Azemi was determined to innovate. He chose not to follow the crowd and instead pursued his vision of bringing something new to the table. So, he started growing bananas, and not just one kind, he grew bananas from Ecuador, Oman, Philippines, and Turkey.

He considers himself the first banana farmer in Kuwait since he was the first to grow over 1,000 banana trees with plans to expand to 30,000. While bananas are his primary focus, he also cultivates papayas, figs, and mangos. I thought mangos would be the hardest to grow in Kuwait, but interestingly, bananas were the most challenging in his experience.

Right now his bananas aren’t widely available yet due to the limited number he produces. He currently sells to a wholesaler in Sulaibiya but he recommend you pass by his farm and buy directly from him. He says he sells them cheaper than the imported bananas in the market, and you’ll also be getting them straight from the farm.

If you want to pass by his farm, here is a link to it on Google Maps. You can also follow Eid on instagram @kes.1971, and on TikTok @eid_alsari and Twitter @h_asdasd where he is more active

Last week, there was a heated debate in the Kuwait Reddit community about why anyone in Kuwait would get an electric car when fuel is so cheap. Curious to find out for myself, I contacted Mercedes and borrowed an EQS 450 electric SUV for a few days. Now, I think I have an answer.

It turns out EV owners in Kuwait never have to pay to charge their cars.

From what I can tell, all the public charging stations in Kuwait are free. There are currently over 40 different charging locations in Kuwait, including all along the Gulf Road, and in popular spots like The Avenues and 360 Mall. If you work at an office tower like Al Hamra or Al Raya, you also have EV chargers available there. That means you can charge your car for free while you’re at work or out shopping. But, in some apartment buildings like mine, there are power sockets in the parking that residents can use for free. So, when I had the car, I just plugged the car into one of the sockets and charged it overnight at no cost.

I also tried charging at one of the new EV chargers on the Gulf Road to see what that experience was like. They’re located in all the parking lots that were part of the recently refurbished waterfront. I chose to charge at the station next to the Kuwait Towers because I needed a nice shot for this post and it was super easy to use. I didn’t even need to use my own charging cable, the chargers have cables already attached. All I had to do was take the cable and plug it into the car, and it started charging right away.

I’m not saying you should buy an electric car just because you don’t have to pay for fuel. There are many other benefits to owning an EV, but free charging is definitely a nice bonus.

If you ever need an English copywriter, I’d highly recommend a friend of mine, Naz. Naz has been copywriting for over 20 years and was my editor for our school paper, the Voice of AIS, back in the mid-90s. Speaking of which, I need to try and find copies of those if they still exist.

If you’re a business, Naz can help you with your website content, write press releases for you and even help you come up with a name and slogan for your new business. To get in touch with her, send her a message on instagram @nazwriteswell