Author: Mark

E-Fly is a scooter-sharing service that was recently launched in Kuwait.

Scooter-sharing is a service in which electric scooters are made available to rent on the side of the road for quick trips. They can be picked up and dropped off usually anywhere within a zone and are activated using an app. I’ve used them in Europe and Dubai to move around and they can be extremely practical and usually a lot faster than Uber or public transportation especially when you’re in a congested city like Paris or London.

In Kuwait, at the moment there are three areas where E-Fly is available, the Gulf Road from Marina Mall to Scientific Center, the Mishref Oasis Park, and at the South Island of the Causeway Bridge.

The rental price is 100 fils to start and then 50 fils for every minute you rent the scooter. The app is available on both the Apple and Google Store and you can check out their Instagram for more details and links @eflyscooter

Tickets for Winter Wonderland are now on sale on their website. The tickets are limited per day so if you don’t get tickets early, you might not find a day that works for you. As of this post, tickets are available for every day including the first day which I just got tickets for. They haven’t yet announced that tickets are for sale as of the time of publishing this post so nobody knows they’re for sale yet. Get your tickets now by going to winterland.kw

Winter Wonderland just announced the ticket prices on their Instagram account @winterland_kw:

Children 4 and below: Free entry
All other ages from 5 and above: 5KD per person

Nannies and helpers are considered adults.

This is just the entry fee. Once inside you still have to pay for rides which are rumored to be either 1KD or 2KD depending on the ride.

Below are all the events I found taking place this weekend, if I missed anything let me know in the comments:

Thursday, Dec 8
Meet Me At The Terrace
WIZARD of OZ – The Panto!
Bazzar Expo
Mirzaam Interior Design Expo
The Magic Of Rob Lake
KMT: Car Open Track Day
Classic Trucks Show
Workshop: Graffiti 101 – The Basics
Korean Street Food & Thrifting

Friday, Dec 9
Meet Me At The Terrace
WIZARD of OZ – The Panto!
Mirzaam Interior Design Expo
Sailing: Friday Sunset Cruising
Christmas Market
Classic Trucks Show
alo x dar atma
Korean Street Food & Thrifting
The Magic Of Rob Lake

Saturday, Dec 10
Meet Me At The Terrace
WIZARD of OZ – The Panto!
Treasure & Scavenger Hunts
Mirzaam Interior Design Expo
NBK Run 2022
Active Mindfulness: Monkey Puzzle
Kasawalks: Uncovering Kuwait City
U.S. Embassy: Live Public Auction
Winter Festival
Classic Trucks Show
OTM Cooking Class: Kuwaiti Dishes
ART N FIFA
The Magic Of Rob Lake

Exhibitions
Art Recycle Exhibition
The Divine Agent by Lilia Nour
The Passage by Rouzan Seropian

Activities
Albohayra Farm
Ascend Rock Climbing
Indoor Karting
Little Jungle
Murouj Farm
Movement Classes at Omni Studio
Roller Blade at Roller Hub
Yoga at Darātma

Museums to Visit
Abdullah Salem Cultural Center (ASCC)
Amricani Cultural Center Museum
Bait Al Othman Museum
Tareq Rajab Museum

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

New This Weekend:
Detective Knight: Redemption

Other Movies Showing:
Bed Rest (5.8)
Black Adam (7.5)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (7.4)
Devotion (7.0)
Interstellar (Re-release) (8.6)
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (6.5)
Pil’s Adventures (6.1)
Super Furball 2 (6.4)
The Nutcracker and the Magic Flute (4.7)
The Woman King (6.3)
Top Gun: Maverick (8.4)
Violent Night (7.0)

The classic films below are currently showing at the 1954 Film House:

Home Alone – 1990 (7.7)
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – 1992 (6.8)

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

Basil Alsalem (@pepperlab), the same person behind our favorite places like Cocoa Room, White Robata and Milk Bun is officially launching his revamped OFK restaurant next week.

OFK located in Al Hamra Tower will officially open on December 15th and reservations will be available through their website ofkkuwait.com

Jahez, the Saudi equivalent of Talabat launched silently in Kuwait this week.

I know what you’re thinking, why do we need any more food delivery apps? We don’t, but, the more apps there are to compete against one another, the better it is for us because we’ll get better prices, deals, and services. @jahezapp

Last month during the rainstorm storm, the roof of the restaurant ROTO in Avenues collapsed. It was all over the news because of the eye-catching photos.

Luckily, no one got seriously injured but the restaurant was forced to close for repairs. This past weekend, they reopened again for business. I think it’s fair that if you gained traffic to your account with photos of their roof collapse, that you should at least return the favor now and let everyone know they’re open again. But that’s just me. @ontheroto

I’ve been trying all morning to add my NBK debit card to my Apple Wallet but it didn’t work until just right now (around 3:30PM). I was able to add my credit card in the morning without a hitch but the debit card just wouldn’t work, every time I added it I’d never get the OTP code. Then while watching the video below by @talalalyagout I realized there is a way to add it through the bank app.

His video talks about his experience with his bank (which is AUB), but I checked my NBK app and I also found the option to add my card to the wallet through the app and it worked. So if you’re an NBK customer and had the same issue as me when adding the card and not getting an OTP, try adding the card to your wallet through the NBK app.

From my understanding, only 6 banks initially will have Apple Pay and they are:

AUB
Boubyan
CBK
Gulf Bank
KFH
NBK

If you’re ABK or Burgan Bank you’re out of luck for now. From the banks listed, it seems AUB, Boubyan and KFH were the earliest to get Apple Pay working today while NBK seems to be the last.

Whatever the case, finally, we now have Apple Pay in Kuwait.

Today’s Google homepage in the Middle East showcases an illustration created by the talented Kuwaiti illustrator, Ahmed Al-Refaie (owaikeo).

Google is celebrating the Kuwaiti comedian and national icon Abdulhussain Abdulredha on his 83rd birthday. Abdulhussain Abdulredha is widely considered to be one of the Arab community’s most significant actors and playwrights.

Ahmed has uploaded the process behind the illustration as well as some more information which you can check out on his Instagram account @owaikeo

I just added my NBK debit card to Apple Pay on my phone and watch, but couldn’t activate it. To activate the card it says I need to verify it by calling NBK but when I did, they told me to check the card in a few hours and then call back. I couldn’t add my NBK credit card or my American Express, only my debit card.

The NBK Apple Pay page is still down as of now. Officially, Apple Pay is meant to launch tomorrow (Dec 7) which is why everything isn’t working right yet.

MEI LI is a new Pan Asian fine dining restaurant that is opening at the end of this month at the Grand Hyatt.

I briefly posted about MEI LI in my Grand Hyatt sneak peek post. Back then I wasn’t able to show too many photos of the space but now that they’re getting ready I wanted to share the photos I had taken because it really is a beautiful-looking restaurant.

The restaurant is located near the main lobby of the hotel and their Instagram account is @mei_likw although as of this post there isn’t anything there.

OVO, the vegan, vegetarian, and flexitarian restaurant located in Bnaid Al Gar is opening their new location next month. The new location is located in Shuwaikh, inside the Design District, the same complex where the restaurant Cure and the gallery CAP are located.

The new location looks really great and will have both indoor and outdoor seating. It’s also located in the back of the complex overlooking a courtyard so once you’re inside it doesn’t feel like you’re in Kuwait.

If you’re a fan of Pret you’re probably aware that in the UK, any unsold food is always donated through the Pret Foundation.

So this got me thinking, what about Kuwait? Last week I reached out to Pret to find out and it turns out that in Kuwait it’s no different.

Locally, Pret A Manger has partnered up with the local non-profit organization re:food to try and make a difference. Every day any unsold food is donated by Pret to re:food who then take it and pass it along to the people who need it the most.

It’s a win-win for everybody and so I hope more places start doing this.

The weather is perfect right now to visit Green Island which has gotten a bit of TLC over the past couple of years. It got freshened up with new paint, the fountains are working and there is lots of brand-new signage everywhere. They also have cute quadracycles available to rent which is a fun way to explore the island with. There are two versions, one that carries two people and one that carries four.

Prices:
3KD 2-person quadracycle
5KD 4-person quadracycle

The entrance fee to Green Island is 1.5KD. You can also bring your own bike if you want and they rent normal ones there as well.