Category: Information

Back on June 6th, 2016 Entertainment City was closed down for renovations. It was meant to reopen again in 2021 but instead, in 2020 it was completely demolished. Yesterday marked the 6-year anniversary of its closing.

Entertainment City became another landmark in Kuwait to get demolished and joined a long list of other important places that were demolished in recent years including:

Shaab Park
Bait Lothan
Kuwait Airways Building
Al-Sawaber
Aqua Park
Ice Skating Rink
The Original Chamber of Commerce

It’s really sad.

The Avenues mall opened in Kuwait back in April 2007, 15 years ago! I was looking back through my old posts and I think IKEA actually opened there at the end of 2006, before the rest of the mall was open since I posted about my first visit to it.

Over the years Avenues kept expanding and growing to become one of the coolest malls in the region and even the world. It’s one of my favorite places in Kuwait.

Saveco supermarket no longer have any locations left open and their Instagram hasn’t been updated since April. Their original location in Al-Rai which opened back in 2014 was demolished a few months ago, their Avenues location closed down last month, and their Wholesome Foods organic supermarket concept in Salmiya has now been taken over by Sultan Center.

I used to pass by their Avenues location whenever I visited the mall since they were on my way out when heading to my car, but during the pandemic, it was also my favorite supermarket to go to since it was always empty while most other places were overcrowded and chaotic. They were meant to open a new “Urban Market” in Shuwaikh but I’m not sure if that’s still happening. My contact at Saveco no longer works there and when I asked them on Instagram about it they didn’t respond to me. The sign is still up so maybe they decided to close all their locations and just focus on this new concept, we’ll have to wait and see.

Fresh, a cafe that has been around since the 90s at Al-Khalid Complex in Salmiya has closed down. I’ve never been to it, I don’t even know how it managed to last for so long but I do know it’s one of those places a lot of people went to back when there was very little to do in Kuwait.

As I mentioned in another post, Al-Khalid Complex recently went through a major refurbishment and new places are opening up including Boost coffee shop. Another place similar to Fresh that also is surprisingly still open is Astra Lounge. I guess old-school places like these still have a cult-like following helping them stay afloat.

I’ve been wanting to drive to Bahrain for years now but never actually did because I needed to get a Saudi visa which was a hassle to get a few years ago. Not anymore though which is why I ended up driving to Bahrain for the first time a couple of days back. I had some work to do in Khobar so I decided I’d try driving there. Firstly, just to point out one thing, if you’re Kuwaiti or a GCC citizen the process is obviously much simpler and has always been easy since you don’t require a visa for Saudi or Bahrain. For expats on the other hand, there are a couple of extra steps that we need to take but with the new tourist-friendly Saudi Arabia, the process is super easy.

Here is everything you need to know in case you want to do the same.

Getting a Saudi Visa
So the first step if you’re an expat is getting a Saudi visa. I’ve got the Canadian passport so the process was very easy for me. I just visited the Saudi eVisa website and applied by uploading my photo and filling out a few details in a form. I applied on Saturday at 9:35PM and got my visa approved and issued by 9:38PM. Yeah, it’s super fast. My visa is valid for 1 year with multiple entry and the cost for it was 534.98 SAR including insurance (around 43KD).

Get Cash!
This is very important, before heading on your trip make sure you get Saudi Riyal. All the fuel stations I stopped at in Saudi did not accept our debit or credit cards. They will only accept cash. A friend told me to take cash with me and this was the best tip I got.

Driving to the Kuwait – Saudi Borders
I left my place (Salmiya) around 7:45AM on Monday and headed to the Saudi border down south (Nuwaisib Port). I filled up fuel at the gas station next to my house on the 4th Ring Road and then drove straight down there which took around 1 hour. My recommendation is to fill up gas one more time before the borders since the first fuel station I found after the borders was an hour drive later.

The Kuwaiti – Saudi Borders
When I arrived at the Kuwait border control it was empty with just a couple of other cars that were also heading to Saudi. You’ll find various booths and you just drive up to the one that’s available. He needed my passport, civil ID and car registration. The car is in my name, if the car isn’t in your name you probably need to get a power of attorney (tawkeel) or something (I’m not sure). In any case, there was no issue going through Kuwait border control, but I did have an extra step I needed to take once I got to the Saudi border control.

When I got to the passport control booths at the Saudi side of the border, the guy asked me for my visa so I gave him a printout of my e-visa. He then told me I needed to turn around and head to a building at the corner of the lot so I did. It was a small building that had 4 passport counters. It was just me and a few truckers so it was empty and the truckers looked like they were waiting for someone. They punched some data on the computer, took my photo, scanned my fingerprints, and then stamped my passport and wrote down a code in my passport. That code (I’m guessing my visa number) is what they then used for the rest of the trip when punching my data at the Saudi side of the border control. So I think I need to do this process whenever I get a new visa, so like once a year.

Once I got my passport stamped, I got back into my car and headed to the first booth again. I gave the guy my passport and he let me through. Customs was next (they just look in your car) and then I had to go through the car insurance booth before leaving the borders. You need to insure your car and I ended up paying 128 SAR (10KD) to do so.

Saudi Borders to Khobar
It was a semi-cloudy/gloomy day when I did the drive and it was very chill with just a few cars on the road. The journey from the Saudi borders to Khobar is around 3 hours and it flew by quickly. The highway was mostly new, there was some construction work taking place so I got to strips where the highway suddenly became one lane but it was mostly ok. I didn’t fill up fuel before the borders and the first bunch of fuel stations I did come across in Saudi were all closed and out of business. Around 1-1:30 hours after the border, I spotted a McDonald’s sign in the distance and that was the first fuel station that I came across that was open. My fuel gauge was at the halfway point by then so I filled the car up and paid in cash since they didn’t take cards. There is a good convenience store there, a 24/7 Mcdonald’s and there are bathrooms. So a good point to stop.

The rest of the trip was uneventful and a couple of hours later arrived at Khobar. There are lots of speed cameras on the way and they look different than ours. They’re beige-colored metal boxes on the left of the highway so keep an eye out for them. I got caught by one on my way to the Kuwait border but it still hasn’t shown up on the system. I heard the tickets are expensive so not looking forward to finding out how much I have to pay.

Khobar to Bahrain
I really didn’t have any solid plans just to be clear. I wasn’t sure if after I was done in Khobar I would drive back to Kuwait the same day, or if I’d sleep in Khobar for the night or go to Bahrain. I just got a small bag with a change of clothes with me and figured I’d wing it. Once I was done with my work in Khobar, and after exploring it for a bit I realized I didn’t want to spend the night there. So I decided I’d make my way to Bahrain. I didn’t have a visa since I usually get one on arrival, so wasn’t sure if the process would be the same or not if I drove into Bahrain. It was.

The Saudi – Bahrain Borders
This was a very interesting and impressive experience. So you probably know that Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are connected together by a bridge. It’s similar to our Sheikh Jaber Causway except much shorter. There is a toll booth at the start of the bridge which I paid 25 SAR (2 KD) to get on. Once you get on the bridge you drive for a short distance, maybe like 5 or 10 minutes before arriving to a small island that houses the Saudi and Bahrain border control as well as some tourist attractions. The border control here were super professional and it was very very efficient. Lots of lanes, booths and experienced employees. They get a lot of traffic going through here and they’re set up to process it very quickly.

I got my visa with no issues, didn’t have to leave my car or anything. The cost of the visa was 5BHD (4KD) and I paid for it by card. After that I needed to once again insure my car before crossing into Bahrain, the cost of that was 26BHD (21KD) 2.6BHD (2.1KD). This border experience was super easy and really impressive.

And that was it, the process of going from Khobar to Bahrain took around 20-30 minutes and that included the journey on the bridge and the whole border control experience.

The Drive Back – Bahrain to Kuwait
The next morning I left my hotel at around 7AM for the trip back to Kuwait. There were no issues along the way, it’s the same process as above just backward and I ended up at my office in the City by 12PM. I think Google sent me on a different road back to Kuwait but not really sure. There were also plenty of fuel stations on the way back but I always try and fill up before my fuel tank reaches the half way point.

The only thing worth pointing out happened once I got back to the Kuwait border control. When I got to the passport control booth the guy told me I needed to go to the passport control building instead. So I parked my car and went into the building but when I gave my passport to the guy and he punched my civil ID into the system he’s like why were you sent to me? I just shrugged my shoulder and told him no idea, he stamped my passport and gave it back to me and I was done. I don’t think they get a lot of expats through the Kuwait Saudi border so depending on the employee you get at the time you pass, your experience will vary. I then had to go through customs and the guy went through my car, looking through all my bags, asking me what the cat food I had in a container was, looked in my car compartments, etc.. I think he was either looking for alcohol or drugs or both. The cars ahead of me didn’t go through the same search, maybe I just looked dodgy.

But that was it, I then crossed the borders and was back in Kuwait.

The whole process was super simple and I’m definitely going to drive to Saudi and Bahrain more often. I love driving and this was a pretty chill ride. If you can travel in an SUV that would be optimal but a regular sedan will do just fine as well. One thing I’m not sure of is if women can enter Saudi easily or if guys and girls can be in the same car and not be related or married etc. I’m assuming it’s fine now that Saudi is super chill, but maybe if someone can confirm this in the comments. Also if you have any questions about the trip, let me know!

Correction: I originally stated the car insurance to enter Bahrain was 26BHD when in fact it was 2.6BHD.

Update: Added a snippet in the post regarding the speed cameras in Saudi

Washington Post published a not-so-nice article today about Kuwait that has been making its way around the web. The article, in summary, talks about how Kuwait is a significant polluter, has poor plans in eliminating emissions, and how nobody really cares, yada yada yada. One thing that did catch my attention though was in this paragraph:

An hour drive outside the dingy suburbs of Jahra, wind turbines and solar panels rise from clouds of sand — the fruit of Kuwait’s energy transition ambitions. source

What turbines?? I was pretty surprised I hadn’t heard of it before or seen any pictures. A quick search on Google Maps for “Shagaya Energy Park“, the name of the project, quickly pops up with imagery showing the turbines as well as the solar panels.

It’s on highway 70 which I’ve taken multiple times but I’ve only ever been as far as the Salmi scrapyard. The energy park is a short distance after which is why I never came across it. It might be worth checking out since it seems you can just drive up to the turbines if you go off-road. Here is the location on Google Maps

A Redditor recently posted about their experience at the Kuwait Center For Mental Health, (formerly Kuwait Psychiatric Hospital) and it was very positive in their experience.

According to them, the staff were very patient and professional, they were also very understanding and discrete. Patient privacy is paramount to them and whatever happens at the center stays in the center. They have a suicide watch department as well and provide sedatives if needed. More importantly, the center is available for everyone, expats included.

You can read more about their experience here and if you ever need help, here is the location of the center on Google Maps. They don’t seem to have a website but their Instagram account is @kcmhofficial and their phone number is 24621770.

Give is a local non-profit organization that aims to improve the process of donating. Their online platform connects donors with registered Kuwaiti charities in order to make it easier to discover what charitable projects are available and to donate to them all in one place.

The Give website lists different projects in various countries you could donate to not just Kuwait, so if you want to donate to a certain cause that’s not local, you can also do that. Locally as of this post, they have 33 different projects you could donate to ranging from snacks for low-income workers to sponsoring an orphan child. Navigating the various projects and finding one that is of interest to you is a very easy process, the whole experience actually is very simple and I really like that.

The process of donating once you find a cause is incredibly fast and more importantly, anonymous. You don’t need to create an account to donate, you don’t even need to give them your name or email address. It took me less than a minute from the moment I found a project I wanted to donate to till I checked out and finished paying. One thing to note is that Give charges a 500fils service fee when donating. They don’t explain what it’s for on their website, but I’m guessing it’s to fund the service. Update below

Give also have apps for both Apple and Android devices if that’s something you prefer. That way whenever you feel like donating you can just launch the app and find a project to donate to. I’m really impressed with the whole concept and I definitely recommend checking them out so visit their website give.org.kw

Update: Give made me aware that they do actually mention what the service fee but during the checkout process. I just didn’t notice it.

Back in 2019 Carriage had a great deal where for just 3.5KD a month you’d get unlimited free deliveries with no minimum spend. That lasted for around 8 months before they changed it to 7.5KD a month and then eventually phased it out completely. But, this weekend I got a pop-up in my Deliveroo app about signing up to something similar called Deliveroo Plus.

For just 3.5KD a month I now get unlimited free deliveries with Deliveroo but with the condition that my order is 5KD or more. Although I’d rather there was no minimum it’s probably there so it stops people from abusing the service by ordering random things worth less than a dinar.

So how do you sign up for Deliveroo Plus? According to their FAQ page, it seems only some customers will see the option to sign up but no details on if you get randomly picked, or if you need to be some sort of regular. If you do get the pop-up then sign up right away just in case you don’t get the option to sign up again. You get a 14-day free trial anyway so sign up first, then think about if you need the service or not.

The inaugural list of the Middle East & North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants was revealed yesterday and White Robata was the only restaurant from Kuwait that made it coming in at #43. Since they were the only restaurant from Kuwait that also automatically gave them the accolade of The Best Restaurant in Kuwait for 2022.

The majority of the list was dominated by UAE-based restaurants (19 in total) including the overall first place winner going to 3 Fils which is located in Dubai. Five restaurants from Saudi Arabia made the list, two from Bahrain and one from Qatar while five restaurants from Lebanon also made the list and four from Egypt.

To check out MENA’s 50 Best Restaurants, click here.

Over the next days, you’ll be able to spot the international space station from within Kuwait during certain periods like tonight at 6:03 PM. The sightings usually occur within a few hours before or after sunrise or sunset since that is the optimum viewing period as the sun reflects off the space station and contrasts against the darker sky.

Based on photos online it looks like it should be really easy to spot without requiring a telescope, but the space station will only be visible for a few minutes per sighting so you need to be quick to catch it.

If you want to try and see it yourself, check out the sighting schedule.

Thanks Nibaq

For the past few weeks, I’ve been preoccupied researching, interviewing, and scanning photos related to Kids ‘r’ us and I think I’m finally ready to share all my findings. For those of you too young to remember, Kids ‘r’ us was a huge and very popular toy store that opened in Kuwait (Dajeej) back in the early 80s. They later opened smaller locations around Kuwait including one in the old Salmiya souq which was popular after the 1990 invasion. A few weeks ago I got a comment under one of my old posts from a person called Khaled Al-Qutub saying he was part of the original team that opened Kids ‘r’ us. So right away I got in touch with him by email and later by Whatsapp to get his story. Here is everything I’ve managed to gather over the past few weeks.

Background
Firstly let’s get some background information out of the way. Kids’r’us was not an imitation of Toys “R” Us nor was it inspired by it. Kids’r’us was Toys “R” Us. Why we have a different name, logo and mascot isn’t very clear, from what I was told they wanted to create a new more relatable brand for the Middle East, but if that was the case then why would you go with a koala bear for a mascot and not say a camel or another animal from our region? Alghanim was granted a limited right to open Toys “R” Us stores (Kids R Us) in Kuwait and 13 other countries located in and around the Middle East that included Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen (source). From 1982 to December 1993, Alghanim opened four toy stores, all in Kuwait. Kids R Us lost over 2 million Dinars over the 11-year period from 1982 to 1993, and turned a profit only in one year of this period. (source).

The Begining
Khaled Al-Qutub was a Jordanian expat born in Kuwait back in 1964. Like many of the original Kids’r’us employees, he was young when he joined the team. According to Khaled, they were around 25 employees and 6 managers that helped launch Kids’r’us (most pictured above). When they joined and visited the store for the first time it was completely empty with just tiles and columns. Over the next months, they had to install all the gondolas (what they call the store shelves), receive the containers, and unload items into the warehouse and onto the shelves. The store was composed of three floors. The warehouse was located in the basement and was 2,500sqm, the main store was on the ground floor and was also 2,500sqm, and there was a small 500sqm mezzanine floor that originally held offices but later got turned into a buy-as-is damaged goods area. The original location is still in Dajeej, it’s now where Sears is located.

Two or three guys from Toys R Us (USA) came to Kuwait to train the Kids R Us staff. They brought floor layouts with them and showed the staff where to put everything. When the toys arrived in the containers they had Toys”r”us labels on them.

Dabdoub
One day while they were busy setting up the store Khaled got called into the office by the manager back then, Rawi Alkhatib, and his deputy Amal Haddad. They had gotten delivery of a large blue box that morning and it was now in the office and they asked Khaled to open it. That was when he saw the dabdoub costume for the very first time. It was huge! Khaled was told that he would be dabdoub and was given some basic set of rules to follow, feel free to do whatever you want to make the kids happy, but you’re not allowed to make a sound or talk. Later after Khaled left Kids’r’us other people took over the job, but he was the original mascot.

The Opening
Before the store opened the employees went around giving out bumper stickers to people on the street telling them about Kids’r’us. A while back I found some newspaper ads for the opening and you can see one of them above.

Kids ‘r’ us officially opened on November 10th, 1983 it was considered to be the largest toy store in the region at that time with over 10,000 toys. According to Khaled, the first day was crazy with thousands of people, families, and children all visiting the store. You couldn’t move inside.

The Work Environment
Khaled only stayed with Kids’r’us for 2 or 3 years and then left. After talking to him I realized I might be able to find other Kids’r’us employees who might also have information and photos to share with me. So I did the most basic thing, I searched LinkedIn. I wasn’t expecting to find anyone but somehow I did, I found another Khaled, Khaled Saqer.

Khaled Saqer joined Kids’r’us around the same time Khaled Al-Qutub left and one thing I found fascinating is how both of them talked so highly about their experience working at Kids’r’us. The Kids’r’us managers must have been really great because the work environment seemed incredibly fun. All the employees were similarly aged, and all with similar mindsets. According to Khaled Saqer they all used to play football together and they used to even come into the store on their off days just to hang out in the back.

Khaled told me he was part of a Whatsapp group with around 14 ex-employees who were still in touch with each other which I was invited to join for research. It’s a group where they shared old photos they come across of Kids’r’us, but mostly it’s just like every other Whatsapp group where they share random videos and memes. During the Gulf War everyone ended up leaving to different places and since then over the years they’ve been slowly reconnecting and finding each other. For example, I ended up connecting them to Khaled Al-Qutub who is now part of their ex-employees Whatsapp group.

Not a lot of them have any photos from back when they used to work there except for Khaled Saqer. Not only did he have photos, but he also had documents and sketches all archived in an old photo album. He even still has his uniform. Khaled was one of the lucky employees to get training in the US, Alghanim sent him to Toys”R”Us in Atlanta for three months where he learned everything and came back and applied it to the store. Most of the photos I was able to gather were from him.

The Demise of Kids’r’us
As I mentioned at the start of the post, Kids’r’us wasn’t a profitable business. During the 1990 Iraqi invasion the Dajeej store was looted and burnt down and after the war, it was never restored. Alghanim also never ended up fulfilling their end of the deal with Toys”R”Us, so in 1993 when the contract was up for renewal, Toys”R”Us handed over the franchise rights to the UAE group Al-Futtaim. But, Toys”R”Us made a mistake and handed over the franchise a bit earlier than they should have so Alghanim took them to court for breach of their agreement, and on July 11, 1996, the arbitrator awarded Alghanim $46.44 million for lost profits (source).

So that’s the story of Kids’r’us. I’ve uploaded all the photos and documents including the floor plans for the Dajeej store to my Flickr account so they’re available to download in high resolution. You can check them all out by clicking here.

Last month the Environment Public Authority officially opened the Jahra Nature Reserve to the public. The reserve is considered to be the first eco-tourism project in Kuwait with the aim of increasing environmental awareness and appreciating the landscape.

There are two different observation outposts at the reserve and you will be able to visit one of them during your trip which is limited to an hour and a half. The cost of visiting the reserve is KD10 for up to 5 people and increases the larger the group it. Because it’s a reserve the visit will be guided and so you won’t be able to wander off on your own and are limited to visiting just selected areas.

If you want to visit the reserve then you need to request an entry permit from the EPA and pay the fee. Here is the link to the form on the EPA website. Link

Top photo by sam_blue, bottom by Oboch

Back in the early days of the pandemic and lockdowns, I bought an espresso machine online. Everyone locally had sold out of coffee machines and I barely was able to find one online to order as well. Fast forward to last month and my coffee machine stopped producing steam, instead, the steamer was squirting out hot water. Originally I was planning to repair the thing myself but since I already had too many do-it-yourself projects going on I decided to reach out to the local coffee shop StockRoom. I knew they sold Rocket machines, but wasn’t sure if they also serviced them or not. Turns out they did since they’re actually an authorized Rocket dealer!

I ended up dropping the machine off to them and a few hours later I got a call telling me the issue was scale build-up due to lack of descaling. The scale was covering my steamer sensor causing the unit to stop producing steam. An interesting fact, turns out even if you use bottled water (I use Arwa) you need to descale your coffee machine periodically. I didn’t know that. I gave them the go-ahead to clean the sensor and descale my machine and now it’s working perfectly again.

So if you’re looking to pick up a prosumer coffee machine I previously highly recommended Rocket and now I’m doubling down on that recommendation since we have a local dealer. Here is a link to my review on my machine and check out StockRoom on Instagram at @stockroomcoffee and stockroomcoffee.shop

Ever since old Salmiya got a facelift I’ve refrained from posting about it due to all the issues I have with the project (which I won’t get into in this post). But, one good thing has come out of it and that is Little Manila.

Over the past couple of years, the Filipino community has been slowly taking over the first chunk of Salem Mubarek Street that was made pedestrian-only a few years ago. It started off with popular Asian-focused supermarkets popping up, followed by shops and restaurants (we now have like 400 fried chicken and bubble tea concepts now). There is a lot of life on the street now with a great atmosphere in the evenings. We have live music, lots of outdoor restaurants, dogs and kids running around, and even pop-up markets.

Although I still have issues with the project, I like how the community has taken it over. When I was a kid we used to call the neighborhood old Salmiya but now everyone is calling it Little Manila. If you haven’t been to the neighborhood before or haven’t been in a while, you should come by. Parking and traffic are still an issue but if you’re willing to park a bit far and walk you’ll be fine. Here is the location on Google Maps.