Category: Information

Over the weekend the new Yeezy sneakers launched around the world including in Kuwait. People lined up from early morning for the chance to buy a pair since they’re a limited release and would sell out quickly. I saw some pictures and videos of the lines around Kuwait and they were extremely long and mostly unorganized.

That same morning a reader emailed me about an incident that took place at the Adidas store in Al Hamra and since then I’ve heard the story from one other person who was in line and seen a video that kinda corroborates it. Here is the email I received:

Hey Mark,

I wanted to let you know about this incident that took place at the Adidas outlet this morning.
So today was the launch of this limited edition Yeezy and I was at Hamra mall branch. They said it’ll be first come first serve. There were about 6 Philippine Nationals lined up at like 6am, they were the first ones there. A paper was passed down the line with the name and preferred sizes of people and it seemed completely civilized.

Then at 830am when the doors were supposed to open, a Kuwaiti Adidas representative announced in Arabic that Kuwaitis get priority. And a bunch of Kuwaiti guys rushed in front of the Filipinos and it was utter chaos. Then when one of the Filipino men spoke up and asked “what about us?” The Adidas rep was like “Filipino want to buy shoes?” And everyone started laughing.

And then a bunch of Kuwaiti guys proceeded to walk inside the store.

A woman (Arab) then started shouting at the Adidas representative and was saying that this is straight up racism and unfair. She was ignored. The Filipino group left and some guys just kept mocking them. An overwhelming majority of the Kuwaiti crowd joined in on the mocking. They waited for 2.5 hours to be disgraced like that.

There is a video that was taken that morning which you can watch [Here]

The incident is currently being investigated by the mall as well as the local Adidas dealer so if you were in line that morning and saw what happened, get in touch.

If you’re wondering how people could be so racist in 2019, so was I until I started getting hate on twitter when I posted about this. I actually had to block a bunch of people who were accusing me of hating on Kuwait or who were rationalizing why they were right to sell to the Kuwaitis first. It’s shocking.

Update: I’ve closed the post for commenting, also I’ve been made aware the photo of the Yeezys I posted aren’t the ones people were lining up for.

Yesterday I was driving by the new Kuwait Bowling Club in Salmiya and noticed a security guard walking around. So I decided to ask him when the bowling alleys were gonna open and to my surprise he told me it was open and I could come in. So I quickly parked my car in the arena’s multistory car lot and went in to check the place out.

The Kuwait Bowling Club is huge!

The building is 7 floors with the ground floor containing a 48 lane arena as well as a smaller and separate 10 lane VIP room. The rest of the building will be for different facilities including a mall, coffee shops and restaurants, a gym with a swimming pool that overlooks the bowling lanes as well as a hotel with rooms that also overlook the bowling lanes. The multistory car park is large enough for 1,000 cars.

Since I was there and the arena was open I decided I might as well stay and bowl a few rounds. I got there around 8PM and it was fairly empty but by the time I had left at around 9:40PM the arena was fairly busy with other bowlers.

Their Ramadan timings and prices are as follows:

2PM to 6PM: 1KD/game
6PM to 12AM: 2KD/game (or 3 games for 5KD)
After 12AM: 3 games for 4KD

During Eid the timings and prices will change to the following:
10AM to 4AM – 2.5KD/game or 4KD/game in the VIP Room

I asked about the timings after Eid but they didn’t have them yet so will update this post once I get them. The bowling club has been open for four months now and they also offer a bunch of bowling-related services including training, lockers, ball polishing, ball drilling and ball plugging services. Since the club is pretty close to where I live I might end up taking bowling lessons just for the fun of it.

If you want to pass by and check the place out (which I highly recommend you do), here is the location of the club on Google Maps.

Update: As of September 12 the price has gone up to 3KD per game and 5KD for the VIP.

Linda Lou who used to host the morning show on FM99.7 passed away three days ago in North Carolina. I think Linda was the host of the morning show from at least 2003 to 2013, I’m honestly not really sure since there isn’t much information online. Here is a link to her obituary where you can also read and share a memory.

Update: She hosted the breakfast show from 1994!

Today both Viva and Zain launched their 5G networks in Kuwait. Neither of them have yet to announce their plan details but instead have set up registration pages for those interested in 5G. Viva have slightly more information up on their website including a 5G coverage map and a frequently asked questions page. If you’re interested in 5G, check out the links below:

Viva 5G
Zain 5G

Also here is a great writeup on 4G and 5G bands in Kuwait.

A couple of days ago I got contacted by Al Salam Palace asking me if I’d be interested in coming in the next day for a tour of the new museum. I’d been trying to figure out how to get early access ever since the museum was inaugurated earlier in the month, so even though I had a lot of work at the office, I couldn’t say no.

Al Salam Palace was built in the late 1950s and was used to accommodate visiting heads of state. During the 1990 invasion, the palace was completely destroyed and stayed abandoned for years until the restoration project started back in 2013 to turn it into a museum. The palace is located right next to JACC and consists of three main museums:

Museum of Kuwait’s History through its Rulers
Museum of Al Salam Palace History
Museum of the Civilizations that inhabited Kuwait

When I first got to the palace I was pretty surprised at how much security there was. After confirming I was on the list to get into the museum, security at the gate had to make a second call to check and see if I was allowed to bring in my camera since they have a very strict no photography policy right now. I was then escorted into the palace by a security guard and handed over to another security guard who waited with me until the palace team met me. Security personnel were also scattered all around the museum and some rooms even had 24-hour guards. I later came to understand it was because of the amount of rare and priceless items exhibited all around.

When I was invited to visit the museum I had the impression I was gonna get a quick walkaround of the premises, but instead, I was actually given a full and very informative guided tour of all three museums with all their exhibits. Unlike other museums in Kuwait, Al Salam Palace will be a strictly guided tour affair once it opens up to the public. The tours would start every 30 minutes and there would be two kinds, a quick version which would take around 30 minutes and just cover the most important subjects, and a longer 90-minute tour covering the whole museum in greater detail. My tour yesterday took 90 minutes and we didn’t even watch all the videos scattered all around the exhibits. It’s a pretty big place with lots of information and a lot to see so I’d imagine they might have tours even longer than 90 minutes once they open.

There is a lot to cover in this post but I’m going to try and condense it so I don’t bore you with too much information. Firstly you’ll notice a limited amount of photos in this post. The reason for this is that the museum doesn’t want to reveal too much right now because they want people to eventually come and see the place for themselves, without any spoilers. I was asked if I could limit the photos I take of the exhibition spaces and I wasn’t allowed to record any videos, I didn’t mind both those requests since I wasn’t planning on taking photos of the actual exhibits, and I was honestly there for myself first, blog second (sorry guys).

The thing is I’ve always been fascinated with the palace and I was even lucky enough to visit it and photograph it before the reconstruction started. One of the things I was curious about was how the museum would be restored and thankfully, they managed to restore the museum to its original state.

The whole ground level of the museum is basically an exact copy of how the palace originally was before it was destroyed. Everything from the mosaics on the wall to the marble on the floor was restored with the same material previously used. Even the heads of state welcome room and the special room built for Queen Elizabeths II’s visit in 1979 (pictured above) was also recreated. The large and iconic chandelier that hangs in the main hall of the palace was event sent abroad to be fully restored and now looks incredible again.

Al Salam Palace material moodboard on display in one of the exhibits

I was extremely impressed by how detailed they were with the restoration and I wish more older historic buildings in Kuwait were restored in a similar manner.

Moving on to the actual exhibits, like everything else in the palace so much effort was put into the details of the exhibits as well. For example, in one display there were replicas of different spices on display that used to be imported to Kuwait back in the old days, but when you come up to the display you can actually smell the spices because they had a hidden smell machine. Another thing that caught my attention were all the old books on display around the exhibits, books that were written by explorers who came across Kuwait over a hundred years ago. From my personal experience, I know how difficult it is to source these kinds of books and how much of a waiting game you need to play for specific books to enter the market place. But books are just one aspect of the exhibit, there are multiple examples throughout the museum of extremely rare sourced items like Kuwait’s first Baiza coin which only two are known to still exist today, to more current items like Sheikh Jaber’s iconic sunglasses. I asked the museum manager how they were able to source all the items because many must have been stolen during the invasion. Turns out a lot of effort was made to find and retrieve stolen items while others were stored in boxes and forgotten about or were donated by families who had them in their private collection.

There are a number of video presentations throughout the exhibit where they recreated historical moments from Kuwait’s history, and they all looked like expensive productions with proper sets, actors, wardrobe and special effects. I even got to watch a trailer of a short film they produced on the 1990 invasion and it looked like such an incredible film. One scene gave me goosebumps, there are these iconic photos of a British Airways plane completely destroyed on the runway of Kuwait’s Airport and they had that exact scene in the trailer but it was as if the original scene was shot with video with smoke billowing out of the plane wreckage. In another scene we were onboard an American tank, first-person perspective heading towards a burning oil field, the fact the room we were in had a super wide 180-degree screen helped engross me into the film even more. I can’t wait to watch the whole thing.

After going through the main museums we headed downstairs into the basement which housed the museum’s digital library. The space looked like a scene from a sci-fi movie and once open would give visitors access to everything in the museum from the books on display to all the films and more. Everything would also be available online to access but with some restrictions like only parts of the book would be accessible instead of the whole book.

I was really curious about the museum before visiting it, I had heard it was going to be about Kuwait and wasn’t sure if there was enough interesting content to display or even new content that I hadn’t seen anywhere else. But I ended up leaving extremely impressed, it was obvious the people behind the project really cared about the restoration of the palace and really put a lot of time into all the exhibits. The museum is currently starting the training program for all the guides while also finalizing some details in the different exhibits. The museum is not open at the moment, but the aim is to have it ready for the public sometime in October of this year. For now you can follow the museum on instagram @aspm.kw

Like always, I’ve highlighted the price increases over the previous year in red, and the decreases in green. The list is divided into two parts, hotels and restaurants so check it out below:

Hotels

Al Jahra Copthorne Hotel & Resort – Taima’a Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD12 (+5.000)
Telephone: 24590000

Courtyard by Marriott – Atrium
Buffet Price: KD14
Telephone: 22997000

Crowne Plaza – Al Ahmadi Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD16
Telephone: 1848111

Four Seasons – Jawaher Tent
Buffet Price: KD21
Telephone: 22006000

Hilton Resort – Teatro Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD18
Telephone: 22256222

Jumeirah Messilah Beach – Garden Cafe
Buffet Price: KD20 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22269600

JW Marriott – Al Thuraya
Buffet Price: KD15
Telephone: 22455550

Millennium Hotel & Convention – Lamar International Restaurant
Set Menu Price: KD14
Telephone: 22050505

Movenpick – Free Zone – Bays Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD12 (+1.000)
Telephone: 24610033

Movenpick – Al Bida’a – Breeze Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD15
Telephone: 22253100

Radisson Blu – Al Bustan Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD16 (+2.000)
Telephone: 25673000

Safir Hotel – Fintas
Buffet Price: KD11.9 (-3.100)
Telephone: 25455555

Sheraton – Coral Tent
Buffet Price: KD20
Telephone: 22422055

Symphony Style Hotel
Buffet Price: KD13 (-1.000)
Telephone: 25770000

The Regency Kuwait – Silk Road Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD19 (+1.000)
Telephone: 25766880

Restaurants

Al Noukhaza Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD16 (+0.050)
Telephone: 24732100

Al Sanawbar Lebanese Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD10
Telephone: 25756273

Assaha Lebanese Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD11 (-1.500)
Telephone: 22533377

Avanti Palace
Buffet: KD4.5
Telephone: 25751081

Baker & Spice
Set Menu Price: KD8.750
Telephone: 22407707

Burj Al-Hamam
Buffet Price: KD13.5 (+1.500)
Telephone: 22529095

Café Bateel
Set Menu Price: KD10
Telephone: 22270204

Dar Hamad
Buffet Price: KD16
Telephone: 22275555

Enab Beirut
Set Menu Price: KD12
Telephone: 22063000

IKEA
Set Menu Price: KD2.250
Telephone: 1840408

Izmir restaurant
Buffet Price: KD5.950
Telephone: 66305554

Kosebasi
Set Menu Price: KD7.900 (-1.850)
Telephone: 22201910

Kuwait Towers
Buffet Price: KD12 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22081999

La Brasa Argentinian Grill
Set Menu: KD17 (+6.000)
Telephone: 22322230

Maize
Set Menu: KD9
Telephone: 69688056

Naranj
Buffet Price: KD10.500 (-0.450)
Telephone: 22268666

Palm Palace
Buffet Price: KD8.900
Telephone: 67009575

Paul
Set Menu: KD7.950 (+0.700)
Telephone: 22208204

Qasr Al-Saraya
Buffet Price: KD9
Telephone: 25711101

Sakura
Buffet Price: KD14.950
Telephone: 23733388

Vapiano
Set Menu Price: KD6
Telephone: 22597171

Villa Fayrouz
Buffet Price: KD9.500
Telephone: 22650052

If you’d like to add a restaurant to the list above email me.

Below are some important Ramadan timings, if you’d like to add anything, leave it in the comments below.

Banks: 10AM to 1:30PM (Not including airport branches)
Government: 10AM to 2:30PM (Approx)

Cinescape: 8:30PM
GrandCinemas: 2:00PM
Sky Cinemas: 7:45PM
VOX: 11:10AM

360 Mall: 10AM to 4PM and 8:30PM to 1AM
Al Kout Mall: 10AM to 4PM and 8:30PM to 1:30AM
Avenues Mall: 10AM to 4PM and 8PM to 1AM
Gate Mall: 10AM to 4PM and 8PM to 1AM
Marina Mall: 11AM to 4PM and 8:30PM to 1AM
Salhiya: 10:30AM to 2:30PM and 8:30PM to 12:30AM

IKEA: 11AM to 4PM and 8PM to 1:00AM

Al Shaheed Park: 7AM to 2AM
Abdullah Al-Salem Cultural Centre: 9PM to 12AM (Closed on Sundays)

Illustration by Windows of UAE

A few days ago the new Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah Causeway was officially opened and everyone’s been really excited about it because it’s our first overwater bridge. I decided to drive up and down both bridges (yes there are two) this past Friday and I have to say, it’s one super boring drive. Although in theory, the drive across the bridge sounds cool because you’re surrounded by water with a beautiful cityscape on your right, in reality, it’s just a pretty straight long 3-lane highway, you can also barely see the water or cityscape because of the high side rails and because of all the speed cameras, it’s a very monotonous drive. The nicest part of the bridge is pictured above when coming down from the highest point of the bridge.

As I mentioned there are two bridges, a long one that takes you from Shuwaikh Port all the way north towards Subiya, while the second smaller one takes you to Doha. The total drive time is around 18 minutes long on the main long bridge and once you get to the end there really isn’t anything there, just an empty desert. There are plans to build Silk City there (can we rename it to Sin City please?), but right now the road is blocked off and you have a choice of either heading back to Shuwaikh via the bridge, or taking the older and longer inland road back down to the city.

There are a total of 9 speed cameras laid out across the long bridge as well as average speed cameras. So if you were hoping for some spirited driving you’re out of luck. There are also two artificial islands along the way, the Southern Island and Northern island. These are two exit points along the way where you can get off the main bridge to stop and check out the view or to u-turn back. Eventually, there will probably be services on these islands like restaurants or mini markets, but right now they’re not open yet. The first island exit comes up 3 minutes into the bridge drive while the second exit comes up around 10 minutes in.

For some stupid reason, people have been parking along the bridge to take photos and selfies. It’s pretty dangerous since it’s basically a 3-lane highway with a speed limit of 100KM/h. But, when I was driving on the bridge there were police patrols making sure people kept moving and didn’t stop on the side. There’s a guy who posted the hilarious video below of him being the first one to make tea on the bridge, I doubt he was being serious, he’s most likely (I hope at least) poking fun out of the way people have been treating this bridge.

The second smaller bridge starts in Shuwaikh Port and heads west towards Doha. The total drive on this bridge is just 5 minutes which means you could be at Entertainment City in less than 10 minutes from Shuwaikh. Too bad Entertainment City isn’t open though or they would be getting a lot more visitors now. There are 2 speed cameras on this bridge as well as average speed cameras so no spirited driving here as well.

I recorded a video of the full drive across both bridges starting from the first island exit all the way to Subiya, turned around headed back down to Shuwaikh and then up the second smaller bridge to Doha. It’s a pretty long and boring video but here are some timestamps in case you want to skip through it:

0:00 – Southern Island
2:50 – Popular selfie point
7:50 – Northern Island
16:00 – End of the bridge
29:05 – Police car telling a guy parked to keep moving
29:55 – Lots of cars parked on the side
35:20 – Back to Shuwaikh taking bridge to Doha
41:15 – End of bridge to Doha

If you’re interested in cycling on the bridge it’s doable but there isn’t a protected bike path. You’d have to ride on the emergency lane and I didn’t see any “no cycling” signs, but I did see some cyclists. The way I’d do it if it was me is to park on the first island, get my bike off the car and then ride back and forth between the first and second island. But it’s too scary with idiots parking on the side so do so at your own risk.

Update: According to the MOI, since the opening of the bridge they’ve issued over 1,800 fines. It seems anybody who’s been parking on the side of the road, littering or doing anything illegal is being spotted by the hundreds of surveillance cameras located all over the bridge and are being issued tickets.

pic.twitter.com/R70AGY0wAZ

— وزارة الداخلية (@Moi_kuw) May 5, 2019

The Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Causeway project has now been completed and is set to open on May 1st at 10AM. Once it opens, the bridge will be the world’s longest with a total span of 48.53km.

There’s a new social media challenge that’s gone viral called #Trashtag Challenge in which people are inspired to remove garbage from polluted areas. A couple of days back, Kuwait made the front page of Reddit with a local #Trashtag Challenge.

A user called Binshattan posted the picture above in which he and a small group went and cleaned up the Sulaibekhat Beach. As of right now, that post has 82,000 upvotes and over 770 comments.

Because of that publicity, the group size has now increased to 46 volunteers and they’ve started planning their next local #Trashtag Challenge. They’re actually planning to meet up tonight to discuss it so if you’re interested in being part of the next #Trashtag Challenge, email Binshattan on [email protected].

A couple of weeks back a friend of mine had a dead car battery so I went to help her out. When I got to her car I spotted what I thought was an undercover cop talking to her. The guy had an old Mercedes with flashing lights, and he was wearing a yellow reflective vest. After talking to him I found out he was part of a volunteer rescue team called Dar Subhan who are always on the lookout for people needing help.

I was meaning to post about them but completely forgot until yesterday while riding my bicycle on the Gulf Road I spotted a rescue team helping a car out. There was a Nissan Patrol that had gotten stuck on the beach trying to pull in his boat and the rescue team were helping him. I thought it was the same rescue team that I had run into a couple weeks ago but this one was called Kuwait Support and Rescue Team (KSRT).

KSRT have been active for around a year now while Dar Subhan have only been around since March. I’m not sure how many other volunteer teams there are but if you ever have any car trouble or are stuck out in the desert, it could be worth giving these guys a call instead of the emergency services. Here are their contacts including links to their instagram account:

Dar Subhan Rescue Team
97732441 / 91111584

Kuwait Support and Rescue Team
97865006 / 94147001 / 67651169

Update: Here is another

Kuwait Rescue Team
66665488 / 98809058

The chart above hit the front page of Reddit a couple of days ago. It excludes islands or else Bahrain would also have been on the list right behind Kuwait. If you’re wondering the reason for the high emissions, it’s because the oil and gas industries generate a lot of CO2. Here is the source of the data.

The Belgian based novelty pop-up restaurant which uses a crane to raise its diners and chefs up into the air is now in Kuwait. The set up is located at Marina Crescent and they’re offering a bunch of different packages which I’ve listed here:

Tea Break: KD30
Lunch/dinner: KD50
Lunch/dinner with live music: KD60
Coffee Time (Ramadan): KD40

Their booking page only lets you book till the end of June so I’m assuming that’s how long they’ll be here for, but it’s already getting pretty hot so I highly doubt it’s gonna last that long. Plus the timing is a bit weird since Ramadan is around the corner and people generally don’t eat out the first two weeks.

If you want to find out more or even book a lunch or dinner, visit their website dinnerinthesky.com.kw

Thanks Waleed

Around 4 years ago I passed by The Kuwait National Library. The library wasn’t officially open then but I had a meeting with the team there and before my meeting started, I wandered around a bit and explored what I thought were all the English books they had in this very small section near the meeting room. I wasn’t that impressed.

Since then I’ve been meaning to drop by again but never did, partially because I wasn’t impressed the first time but also because their opening hours are terrible, 9AM to 1PM during weekdays.. basically when everyone is at work. But, I did manage to finally drop by the library this morning and I’ve changed my mind, I now love the place.

The national library is spread out over three floors not including the ground floor. I’m sure the way the books were divided kinda made sense, but I was just wandering around exploring and randomly looking for English books. So this is the thing I didn’t realize the first time I was there, there isn’t just one section where all the English books are located. Instead, the library is divided into different areas like Encyclopedias or books about Kuwait etc.., and in each of these areas you’ll find an English books corner.

There were a handful of people in the library when I was there (because everyone has a day job obviously), so I was able to just walk around the different floors and sections, randomly exploring without disturbing anyone. I’m not sure I managed to see all the areas but even if I did, I really do have to go back and spend a lot more time there.

My favorite sections were probably the books on Kuwait section as well as the newspaper archives section. If you check my instagram story I shared some videos of that section. The newspaper archive section had these massive books of different Kuwaiti newspapers from the 60s, 70s, 80s etc.. and you just flip through them, every page of the book is a page from a newspaper. They’re so good and there were so many of them so I really want to go back and flip through more of those books.

There was also this very cool section with shelves that opened and moved with a touch of a button, there was a section where employees were busy digitizing books using these super cool laser scanners (pictured above), and there was even a rare books section.

I really love old books, especially ones related to Kuwait so I really did enjoy just sitting on the floor and flipping through random books. You can’t take the books out of the library, but that’s really not an issue for me and if anything, I prefer it since the books will always be there to check.

Their opening hours are terrible and that really is my biggest issue with the place. I really want you all to pass by and check the library out, but I also know that the majority of you have jobs and aren’t going to want to take a day off just to explore a library. But if you can, then they’re open from Sunday to Thursday, 9AM to 1PM. The library is located right next to the Sadu House and the National Museum [Google Maps]. Everyone can access the library, and it’s free. You just need to give them your Civil ID card at the door.

If you follow me on instagram (@mark248am) then check out my story today, I’ll also have it as a highlight for a few days in case you read this post late.

The National Library of Kuwait’s website is nlk.gov.kw

Recently a decision was made to cancel the use of residency stickers inside passports. Instead, you’ll need to have a valid Civil ID card when traveling as a means of verifying your residency. The name on the Civil ID card has to match your name in your passport or you’ll risk being denied travel in or out of Kuwait. Having weird spellings or incorrect data on the Civil ID is pretty common, so if your info doesn’t match your passport, you now have to fix it. Yesterday someone on Reddit posted the steps below on how to go about doing this:

Step 1) Go to the PACI eEnvelope system website, if the website is in Arabic you can change the language to English, there’s an option at the top of the page

Step 2) Click on non-Kuwaiti Renewal

Step 3) Enter your Civil ID and serial no. which is shown on the back

Step 4) You’ll have to verify your mobile no. so they’ll send you a verification SMS

Step 5) Enter all data required (blood type is optional but if that needs changing too then you’ll need to also upload a lab report)

Step 6) Upload the required documents

Step 7) You’ll be sent an application’s reference number to your registered mobile no., which you can use to track your application’s progress

Step 8) Wait and wait, this will take a few days as your application needs to be checked manually, once it’s approved you’ll be sent a link on your mobile to make the payment of KD5, after that you’ll just go have to go to South Surra to replace your old ID with the new one

Thanks Stafa!