Author: Mark

Similar to Kuwait, speciality coffee places are starting to pick up in Beirut as well. On my latest trip I passed by two which I’d recommend checking out if you’re planning to visit Lebanon over the holidays. Check them out below:

The Backburner
This speciality coffee place opened up a couple of months ago in Saifi Village. It’s located on a quiet street next to the Trunk concept store and around the corner from Meat the Fish. It’s a small place with mostly indoor seating and a small bench right outside. They’re walking distance from downtown so they’re pretty convenient, here is their location on [Google Maps] and their instagram account is @thebackburner

Kalei Coffee Co.
Kalei has also just been open for a couple of months now and is currently my new favorite spot in Beirut. They’re located in the popular Mar Mikhael area, walking distance from all the popular pubs, but they’re also tucked away in a quiet hidden alleyway, isolated from all the hustle and bustle. They’ve got an extremely cozy outdoor area and a spacious beautiful interior. Their desserts are pretty good with the carrot cake and flourless chocolate cake being the two I’d highly recommend. Here is their location on [Google Maps] and their instagram account is @kaleicoffee.co

Last week the garden and fountain area of the Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Centre opened to the public and similar to the popular fountain at Dubai Mall, the fountain at the cultural centre also animates with performances set to light and music.

I wasn’t able to find out which company was responsible for the fountain installation but my guess is its WET Design, the same firm behind the Dubai Mall and Bellagio fountains since they have an office in Dubai. **UPDATE BELOW** Check out the video above of the fountain performing to Adele’s Skyfall track. [YouTube]

Thanks Waleed

Update: Turns out the musical fountain was designed by Watercube Design and not WET Design. They’ve got a much better video of the fountain in action which you can watch below.

Also regarding the schedule of the fountain shows I was told the following but haven’t been able to verify it yet:

Basically every hour from 2pm until 6pm then after 6pm there is a performance every 30 min (until 10:30 if i’m not wrong). They only turn it on if there are people so if the place is empty they skip it.

The new Kuwait Airways 777-300ER plane arrived to Kuwait over the weekend and will start operating on the Kuwait – London route soon.

You can get a peek at the interior of the new plane by watching the video above which was taken by Kuwait Airwyas pilot @capt_feras. According to information I found online the new plane has four classes, First Class, Business Class, Premium Economy and Economy Class. Below is more detailed information on all the classes along with photos taken by @eng_burezq:

Economy Class Cabin
236 seats
3-3-3 seat layout
32 inch seat pitch
18.5 inch seat width
In-flight Wi-Fi
Audio Video on demand Touchscreen monitor
USB port & laptop power

Premium Economy Cabin
54 seats
3-3-3 seat layout
35 inch seat pitch
18.5 inch seat width
In-flight Wi-Fi
Audio Video on demand Touchscreen monitor
USB port & laptop power

Business Class Cabin
36 seats
2-2-2 seat layout
62 inch seat pitch
21 inch seat width
In-flight Wi-Fi
180° Full Flat Bed
Audio Video on demand Touchscreen monitor
USB port & laptop power

First Class Cabin
8 seats
1-2-1 seat layout
84 inch seat pitch
22 inch seat width
In-flight Wi-Fi
180° Full Flat Bed
Audio Video on demand Touchscreen monitor
USB port & laptop power

Update: Below is another video the shows the interior pretty well

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape and Grand Cinemas:

New This Week:
Incarnate (5.6)
Lion (7.7)
Moana (8.2)
The Last King (6.1) ♦
The Neighbor (5.8)
Wolves at the Door (7.6)

Other Movies Showing:
Allied (7.2) ♦
Arrival (8.4) ★
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (8.3)
Hacksaw Ridge (8.8) ★♦
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (7.4) ★
Trolls (6.7)
Underworld: Blood Wars (6.7) ♦

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.
★ is for movies I’m interested in. ♦ implies movie might contain censorship.

Lindsay Lohan is currently in Kuwait filming as a guest on the Swar Shuaib talkshow which will be airing its first episode of the new season in February. Lindsay Lohan along with Tara Reid are at the top of my “Celebrities I’d like to get plastered with” list so I’m kinda having a bit of FOMO here. Check out Shuaib’s instagram story on @sh3aib for behind the scene shots of his new season.

Thanks ad!

Tomorrow is a holiday so this list is up a day earlier this week. Check out the list of events taking place this weekend below:

Wednesday
A Fifteen-Year Journey: The Art of Amira Behbehani
Exhibition: Precious Fragments
Still Departures by George Awde
Musical: Sweeney Todd
Pantomime: Sinbad And The Emerald Of Eternity

Thursday
Musical: Sweeney Todd
Pantomime: Sinbad And The Emerald Of Eternity

Friday
Musical: Sweeney Todd
Pantomime: Sinbad And The Emerald Of Eternity
Tai Chi in the Park
Kalam Ams w Elyoom Concert
Salwa’ Walk and Socialize Meetup

Saturday
Musical: Sweeney Todd
Pantomime: Sinbad And The Emerald Of Eternity
Yoga with the 3
Farmers Trip
Guided Tour: Grand Mosque
Art Night Out
Yasmine Hamdan Concert
Madeenah Tour: In Place of Democracy

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double check with the organizers.

The architectural model above shows how the Avenues will end up looking like once the final phase 4 is completed. The two tall buildings are the Conrad Hotel and Hilton Garden Inn. You can view a larger version of the image above [Here]

Thanks lovelykuwait!

Ministry of Information has banned the publishing and broadcasting of any commercial advertisements of the sale of mass destruction weapons including nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in newspapers, audiovisual media, and electronic media, reports Arab Times Daily. [Source]

And right before Christmas. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Alghanim Industries will be bringing the American franchise Slim Chickens to the region next year and they will be opening their first location in the same complex where they’re opening Wendy’s on Plajat Street. [Source]

I hadn’t heard of Slim Chickens until a few moments ago but the reason I find this partnership interesting is because back in August I posted about a rumor that Al-Sayer was bringing Chick-fil-A to the region. I mentioned then that burgers and chicken seem to go side by side when it came to franchise ownership, and Alghanim bringing Slim Chickens gives that theory more merit. Americana have Hardees and KFC, Alshaya have Shake Shack and Cane’s Chicken, Alghanim Industries will have Wendy’s and Slim Chickens and hopefully Al Sayer will end up with Five Guys and Chick-fil-A. Yum.

A redditor has mapped out some of the most important bus routes onto Google Maps. If you use the bus (or ever thought about going on what) you can check the routes out [Here]

KPTC already have a similar thing where they’ve mapped out the routes onto Google Maps as well, the only difference is with the KPTC version you need to go through the routes one by one to see the actual route while with the redditors version all the routes are displayed on the map at the same time and you can just select the one that interests you. Here is a link to the KPTC version. [Link]

CityBus also have their bus routes online but its in Flash (why?) and it’s made to look like a subway map and is just not as easy to understand. You can view that map [Here]

Thanks bluzomby!

According to statistics, about 100,000 cars head to downtown everyday but the holding capacity of parking lots there is not more than 60,000 cars. [Source]

When you have huge towers allowed to be built in the city without any parking spots, then you’re obviously going to have a parking problem.

The Ritz-Carlton Kuwait was supposed to be built on the empty plot of land on the Gulf Road next to Safir Hotel around 5 years ago, but the project never ended up getting the green light.

It’s sad really since by the looks of it, the Ritz-Carlton would have been one of the nicer hotels we would have had in Kuwait. [Link]

Thanks ChaoticTranquility!

I tend not to post about instagram businesses mostly because the majority are not that interesting but, @brushed965 is one I think is actually pretty cool. For a price, Brushed 965 will customize your personal items like wallets, purses and sneakers by painting them. Its a great way of customizing a popular item like a Chanel or LV purse. Based on what I’ve seen on their instagram account, their work ranges from simple monograms to detailed illustrated designs like the one above.

If you’re interested to check out their work or to commission a job, check their instagram account is @brushed965

A reader just passed me a link to an interesting Economist article which I thought would be worth sharing on the blog. The two paragraphs below kinda sums up the article for me:

Innovative Dubai is the comparison that most frustrates Kuwaitis. That is in part because Kuwait was once the Gulf’s trailblazer. It set up the world’s first sovereign-wealth fund in 1953 and was a leader in health care. It started one of the first airlines in the region. But the decline of Kuwait Airways is instructive. As its fleet aged and losses piled up, carriers from Qatar and the UAE began offering better service and more routes. Politicians have talked of privatisation. But parliament, reluctant to mess with one of the country’s biggest employers, has frustrated these efforts.

…

The government’s failings extend to public services. It has neglected public hospitals and schools. Low electricity prices and a sweltering climate make Kuwait one of the world’s biggest consumers of energy per person. But the government, which is the sole provider of electricity, has invested little in infrastructure. Parliament has delayed efforts to boost the supply. In 2014 a power outage shut down all three of the country’s oil refineries, crippling fuel production for a week. Endemic corruption completes the dismal picture.

It’s not that long of an article and is worth reading fully, so check it out [Here]

The picture on top is currently my favorite Kuwait skyline photo and was taken by @ziadgram

The fourth season of Qout Market took place yesterday at their new location in Al Shaheed Park and today they started accepting vendor applications for their upcoming markets.

If you’re interested in taking part, head over to their website and fill out the vendor application form [Here]

Supposedly there are very limited spaces available this year so good luck.