Author: Mark

It’s been around a month since I last posted about Winter Wonderland and there has been major progress since then. They’ve basically finished all the groundwork since my last post and have now started installing the rides.

There will be over 30 rides and games for both children and adults once they open in December and they’re planning to announce the rides soon on their Instagram account @winterland_kw.

They haven’t officially announced the ticket prices but in a news interview, they stated they’re aiming for a 5KD entrance fee and then 1KD for small rides and 2KD for larger ones.

The popular content creator @mohamedalwazzan lives across from the park and has been posting nearly daily updates of their progress, so check out his account if you want to get a sneak peek. This project is moving impressively fast.

Back in August, I posted that Beefbar, the popular meat-focused restaurant from Montecarlo was coming to Kuwait. When I originally posted they hadn’t chosen a location yet but now it looks like they’re hoping to open in Al Hamra Tower. If this location is confirmed, they’re expected to likely open by the end of 2023 or early 2024.

Beefbar is already available in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and they’re also opening soon in Bahrain.

There are a lot of outdoor markets taking place this weekend so hopefully, it doesn’t rain. Below are all the events I found taking place, if I missed anything let me know in the comments:

Thursday, Nov 24
Kuwait International Book Fair
Comic Festival Convention
Keshta & Sea Expo
Bazzar Expo
The Avenues Winter Experience
Bugsha Market
Meet Me at the Terrace Market
Kuwait Outdoor Sports Expo
The Certified Youth Club Festival

Friday, Nov 25
Kuwait International Book Fair
Comic Festival Convention
Murouj Market
Keshta & Sea Expo
Bazzar Expo
Sailing: Friday Sunset Cruising
The Avenues Winter Experience
Festive Friday at the Assima Mall
BUNKA’s Black Friday
Bugsha Market
Awaken in the Desert
The Opera D’amore
Meet Me at the Terrace Market
German Speaking Ladies of Kuwait Bazaar
Kuwait Outdoor Sports Expo
Feed Market
The Certified Youth Club Festival

Saturday, Nov 26
Kuwait International Book Fair
Comic Festival Convention
Murouj Market
Keshta & Sea Expo
Bazzar Expo
Gulf Bank 642 Marathon
Grand Mosque Tour
The Avenues Winter Experience
Bugsha Market
Black & White Healing Doodles
Meet Me at the Terrace Market
Cooking Class: Noddle Class 2.0
Kuwait Outdoor Sports Expo
Feed Market
The Certified Youth Club Festival
Treasure & Scavenger Hunts

Exhibitions
The Divine Agent by Lilia Nour
The Passage by Rouzan Seropian
Ghada Al Kandari x Mercedes Benz

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:
Devotion (6.5)
Poker Face (5.1)
She Said (7.4)
The Nutcracker and the Magic Flute (4.7)

Other Movies Showing:
Black Adam (7.5)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (7.4)
Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend (5.2)
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (6.5)
Smile (6.6)
Super Furball 2 (6.4)
The Bunker Game (3.5)
The Woman King (6.3)

The classic film below is currently showing at the 1954 Film House:

The Shawshank Redemption (9.3)

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

This definitely isn’t a coincidence, after posting about the lack of news on Apple Pay this morning, it was just announced that Apple Pay will be launching in Kuwait on December 7th. Source

If you’re looking for a cool and free spot to watch the World Cup matches then you should probably head over to the Sheikh Jaber Causeway. Castra who were in the news last week because their desert lounge setup got shutdown for not having a license are back now (with a license) and have set up a World Cup viewing area on the Southern Island of the causeway (called Al Saji Island).

The Castra setup is right on the edge of the island with a beautiful view of Kuwait City and is surrounded by food trucks and plenty of seating. Although they were still working on setting up a kiosk area for pop-ups when I visited, they’ve been open and broadcasting the games daily.

There is no entrance fee which is great and because it’s located on the Southern Island of the causeway I think makes this location really fun and interesting to visit. Weirdly, there isn’t anything posted about this anywhere, not even on the Castra Instagram account which is @castra.kw

If you want to head to the location, here it is on Google Maps

If you’re a fan of America’s Got Talent then you’ll probably be excited to know that the magician and illusionist Rob Lake is coming to perform in Kuwait next month.

I don’t watch America’s Got Talent and unless it’s David Blaine, I generally don’t care about illusionists. But, Rob was a featured act and quarter-finalist on season 13 of America’s Got Talent and is fairly popular so it’s pretty cool that JACC are bringing him to Kuwait to perform.

Rob has shows taking place from December 8 to December 10th and tickets start at 10KD and can be purchased directly from JACC. Link

Last month the Ministry of Finance and the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority reached an agreement with Apple to operate Apple Pay in Kuwait after removing all the obstacles that prevented the service from operating here.

That announcement was followed by a lot of hype with banks testing Apple Pay and even launching the service on their websites. But, that was a month ago and since then the Apple Pay pages were pulled down from the bank websites and there hasn’t been any news, not even leaked videos or photos.

I wonder what happened since it looked like they were set to launch at the start of the month.

Kuwait Airways have posted that there will be a second airshow today from 11 AM to 12 PM near the Kuwait Towers. So if you’ve got a sea view from your office, keep an eye out for them in a bit.

Thanksgiving is in a couple of days so I’ve put together two lists, one of restaurants that are serving Thanksgiving dinner, and the other of restaurants that have turkey to take home. If there is a place you know I haven’t listed, let me know so I can add it:

Dine-In
Four Seasons Hotel @fskuwait
Hilton Garden Inn @hiltongardeninn_kuwait
Hilton Kuwait Resort @hiltonkuwaitresort
Radisson Blu Hotel @radissonblukuwait

Take Away
Dean & Deluca @deandelucame
Four Seasons Hotel @fskuwait
Little Deli @littledeli
Madison & Heig @madisonandheig
Monoprix @monoprixkwt
Radisson Blu Hotel @radissonblukuwait
Sultan Center @sultan_center
The St. Regis @stregiskuwait
Waldorf Astoria @waldorfastoriakuwait

Is it me or is Kuwait getting a lot of Overlanding tourists this year? Back in September, I posted about Petra, the German lady traveling around the world in her huge MAN KAT 8×8 but I keep spotting other visiting overlanders parked on the Gulf Road or mall parking lots. Yesterday one tourist overlander posted a photo showing three other overlanders parked near him. It seems they all use the app iOverlander which has a list of safe to camp spots in Kuwait and around the world which is how they all end up parked in the same spots.

Speaking of places to park, all the Gulf Road parking lots are starting to look like RV campgrounds with lots of motorhomes (not overlanders) parked each taking up multiple parking spots. We clearly don’t seem to have any regulation against this and you know what that means, eventually they’ll just ban motorhomes so they don’t have to deal with it.

Anyway back to the subject, currently, there are at least 4 overlanders passing through Kuwait, @aufaufunddavon_, @the_travely, @busleven and @defendter_. It’s really interesting checking their accounts and watching what they do while they’re in Kuwait. They all seem to really love it here, @busleven for example have spent the most time in Kuwait than any other place they’ve been to so far because of how much they’re liking it. So check out their accounts, they usually all have great photos as well.

I just found out the Red Arrows will be performing aerobatic shows today (Monday 21) between the Kuwait Towers and Green Island from 3:45 pm to 4:30 pm. If you’re hearing jets, that’s what’s going on. @ukinkuwait

Alo Yoga, the Los Angeles-based premium lifestyle/yoga brand is opening at The Avenues this coming Wednesday afternoon. It will be their first store in Kuwait and it’s going to be located next to the Mercedes showroom in the Grand Plaza.

To stay posted on the launch or to check out pictures from their event this past weekend, check them out on Instagram @alo.me

Since the weather has gotten cooler it’s a good time to visit the camel races if you’ve never visited before. Last year I posted a pretty thorough article on the experience and I’ll probably do an updated one this year but, I’m not planning to visit until my FJ40 comes back from Abu Dhabi since I wanted to visit the races in that car.

Last year I went in my Alfa and it was pretty fun and I got some great shots, so I wanted to do it again but in another car this year. If you do want to go before my updated post, the biggest change this season is the timing of the races.

Starting this past Saturday the races now begin at 2:15 PM instead of 1:00 PM. Other than that I think everything else should pretty much be the same. So until my 2022 post is up you can use my previous post as a reference.

Last week I posted a couple of ways you could watch the World Cup tournament including subscribing with TOD for $80. But, a reader left a pretty negative review of his experience with the service after trying to watch the first game yesterday:

Tod is the Worst app on the planet , missed most of the game , it keeps crashing . Its a waste of money, its a scam not worth 80 dollars subscription, you cant even contact them. I watched 10 min of the game then it stops , after resting the app it tells you you need to register the device. I registered my tv maybe 10 times. Dont recommend it at all. And even on your phone it takes a long time to work if it works.

Did you stream with TOD? How was your experience?

In other surprising news, the container park KWT FAN BOX did in fact open in time yesterday to broadcast the opening of the World Cup.