Category: Information

I posted an update to my T1 to T4 shuttle bus post, in summary, there is no airport shuttle bus once you leave the terminal but you can take the public bus. Read the update here.

A couple of days back I posted about the lack of an English option in the Sahel App and clearly a lot of people are frustrated by this. But I bring you good news!

According to a source involved in the project, the app has had the English option available for a while now but are unable to launch it just yet because some of the entities that are in Sahel have not finished adapting to English and English data. That’s why it’s taken longer than expected to roll out the English version, but it will eventually roll out.

That actually makes a lot of sense. For some reason, I thought it was just about translating the text inside the app to English but I didn’t consider the fact that the English data we input would then have to work with the various different ministries that all deal with Arabic paperwork. The fact that the ministries are now working to have English be an option is actually impressive.

Yesterday I got a tour of the new Grand Hyatt Hotel that’s opening as part of the new 360 Mall extension. I have to admit, I went unprepared. For some reason, I wasn’t expecting the hotel to be anything special but I went out of curiosity. I even left my camera in the car because I didn’t think I needed it and I quickly regretted that as soon as I walked into the hotel.

The best way to describe Grand Hyatt is that it’s the hotel we’ve always wanted Kuwait to have.

Grand Hyatt is massive and there is so much to talk about and cover that I’ve decided to do it over multiple posts, a sort of a “Grand Journey”. For this initial post, I’m going to just quickly go through some of the main areas of the hotel which are the lobby, restaurants, spa, and a peek at one of the rooms. But over the next month or so, I’ll delve deeper into the various spaces and share more specific areas like the corporate meeting rooms or the VIP suites at The Arena which will be managed by Grand Hyatt. In a future post I will also go through the different rooms including the Presidential Suite which is so large it took me 45 seconds walking at a fast pace to get from one end to the other. If there is anything specific you guys want to see or know about, I could also put together a post covering those questions.

The Lobby
The hotel will have two three entrances, a small one at the mall side in the new extension of 360 next to the pond, and a main entrance from the street side that leads straight into the lobby (*Was just told there is a third entrance next to Table Otto in 360 Wadi). I came in from the mall side which is one level above the lobby so we had to take the stairs down. It’s a luxury hotel and so you get that premium feeling as soon as you walk in. The decoration isn’t very busy with lots of large empty spaces, the ceiling is very high, there is a striking large sculpture in the middle, and expensive artwork and pieces spread throughout the floor. It feels like walking into a luxury hotel in Dubai which is something we’ve lacked in Kuwait.

Saheel Lounge
The Saheel Lounge is on the same floor as the lobby and is composed of different styled seating spaces. It’s a social space where you can come have a drink or a small bite with a friend or someone you’re meeting.

Liberté
There are three restaurants at the hotel and Liberté is the one most people will see and likely visit since it’s located partially inside the hotel, and partially inside the mall. It’s a modern brasserie and is located adjacent to the hotel’s mall entrance.

’Stambul
This is going to be the main hotel restaurant, it’s where hotel guests will come for breakfast but also where people would come for lunch. It’s the largest restaurant at the hotel and is described as a theatrical Turkish dining experience.

MEI LI
This is the restaurant I’m anticipating the most. It’s a fine dining Chinese restaurant that is really beautifully designed. It’s the area of the hotel I took the most photos of but it sadly won’t be ready in time for the hotel opening. The tentative opening date of MEI LI is currently October but that can change.

The Rooms
The hotel will have over 300 rooms including 21 that will have their own garden terraces, 35 Grand Club Suites, eight Junior Suites, and one Presidential Suite. From what I saw on the website while trying to book a room, prices will start at around 150KD a night without breakfast.

Noor Spa
This was also one of the most photogenic spaces in the hotel and will definitely be the most instagrammable area by fashionistas. The spa is split into half with a stream splitting the men’s and womens areas both of which have gyms, treatment rooms, and features like steam and sauna rooms. At both ends of the pool is a pathway that leads you to an outdoor area where you can tan and chill under the sun surrounded by water and greenery. The spa will be available to use by hotel guests as well as have a limited number of yearly memberships.

So that’s pretty much a quick rundown of the main areas of the hotel. As I said I’ll go into more details in future posts but for now I just wanted to give a general overview to start with. It really is a beautiful hotel and after finishing the tour and initially taking photos with my phone, I ended up going to my car and getting my camera and coming back to shoot a few more photos.

The hotel is set to open on August 15th which is less than a month from now. Booking is already open on their website which you can check out by clicking here or you can check them out on Instagram @grandhyattkuwait

Back in November, I posted about Pret A Manger being brought to Kuwait by One PM Franchising which is owned by Hamad Al Sayer. They had told me they would be opening their first location this year and a few days ago they finally revealed the location.

Pret is planning to open their first store in Al Hamra Tower this October if everything goes to plan. Opening in Al Hamra Tower is actually a great idea due to the number of employees working in the building. Back when I was working for the government my office was in Al Hamra Tower. During lunch, I’d go down to the mall and it would be packed with employees and most would be at PICK which always had a long queue. So Pret should do really well there.

Their Al Hamra location is going to be the first to open but they still have a second one planned for this year and now I’m curious to where that one will be. To stay posted on Pret A Manger’s news, follow them on Instagram @pretkw.official

Every now and then I get comments under old recycling posts or emails asking me who they can contact to pick up stuff for recycling. It’s usually paper waste or old electronics that they want to recycle because they care about the environment. Well, I finally have an answer to that question now.

Enviroserve is a recycling facility in Kuwait that originally started off focusing on e-waste. I posted about them a few years ago but since that post they’ve grown to offer full recycling services and last year they introduced it to individuals and companies.

Enviroserve now recycles the following:
– Electronics
– Paper and Cardboard
– Plastics

Their pick-up rates are pretty decent. If you want a one-time pick up its 5KD, if you want a weekly pick up it’s 10KD a month, and if you want a monthly pickup it’s 48KD a year.

To find out more or to book a pick up, click here.

One of the biggest complaints about the National Library is that it is only open during the day and only on weekdays when everyone is at work. But, starting this Tuesday, June 14th, the National Library will now open in the evenings from 4PM to 9PM, but only on Tuesdays.

I love the library so I hope this new influx of traffic won’t be an issue. There are a lot of important books and archives there with very little monitoring by staff or security. I’ve spent so much time there alone flipping through books and newspapers without seeing anyone so I’m personally worried some people will take advantage and steal books or rip pages out of the newspapers.

If you didn’t know about the library or want to know what’s there, check out my previous post here.

Yesterday I listed a bunch of landmarks that were demolished over the past few years but I didn’t mention Messilah Beach since I’m not really sure whats going on there. It’s meant to be closed for renovations but I don’t know if they’ve completely demolished it or not. Based on Google Maps, it looks like it’s still there but in any case, the video above is a 3D animation of what Messilah Beach will eventually look like once it’s completed.

Just going off the video it looks like it will be a less approachable more premium beach. What was great about the old Messilah Beach was how affordable and accessible it was to everyone. I used to go there when I was in school since it was the only nice beach we could afford.

The new renovated Messilah will contain:
6 Restaurant blocks
Swimming Pool and Wet Recreation areas
Jogging Track
Hard and Soft Landscaping
450 Car Parking spaces

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.