Category: Information

I managed to get my hands on renderings of Al Shaheed Park 3. The two in this post are final versions but I also have some more renderings and pages which I’m waiting on a confirmation to share. One new bit of information I found, the new phase of Al Shaheed Park will have an indoor skydiving facility that will be part of the Extreme Sports Building.

If you missed my previous post on Al Shaheed Park Phase 3 you can check it out here. Once I get approval to share the other images and renderings I’ll post them here. For now you can check out the larger version of the renderings above with these links:

Park Render 1
Park Render 2

Thanks Dragos and A

I was extremely impressed at how quickly the Kuwait Red Crescent Society were able to mobilize and fly out to Lebanon after the explosion with aid. To give you an idea of how fast, the explosion had taken place at around 6PM and by early next morning, the Kuwait Red Crescent Society were already in Lebanon with their supplies and team. That’s just over 12 hours later! You can see how they’re helping right now by checking out their Instagram account @k.r.c.s which they’re fairly active on.

But, more importantly, the Kuwait Red Crescent Society have also set up a Lebanon Relief Campaign to help the people who were affected by the explosion. Your donation can help provide them with medical supplies, other necessities, and accommodation. For more information and to donate, click here.

I wasn’t sure I could be useful to Lebanon during this important period but a few days ago I linked to my sister on Instagram since she’s on the ground there helping after the devastating explosion, and because of that one post she ended up getting hundreds of messages from people in Kuwait wanting to help. I realized I could use my platform to direct donations to some NGOs in Lebanon so, with the help of my sister, I’ve curated a list.

Below are some NGOs who desperately need your support. Clicking the name of the NGO will send you straight to the donation page but if you want to know more about what they’re doing, the second link will send you to their Instagram account.

CHildren AgaiNst CancEr
They’re in great need of medication since they had to send home the children with low immunity because their hospital was destroyed
Instagram: @chanceassociation

Nusaned
Currently providing food, hygiene kits, temporary shelter and medical supplies
Instagram: @nusaned

BASSMA
Currently providing food for affected families and helping in a variety of ways
Instagram: @bassmalb

Ahla Fawda
Currently providing food and support for affected families
Instagram: @ahlafawda

Arcenciel
Currently providing food for affected families
Instagram: @arcenciel.aec

Offre Joie
Currently providing food as well as material to help rebuild
Instagram: @offre.joie

Lebanon Of Tomorrow
Their goal is to replace every shattered glass and rebuild every broken down door
Instagram: @lebanonoftomorrow

SESOBEL
A social service for the welfare of Lebanese children with disabilities
Instagram: @sesobel

Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon
Their hospital got destroyed and they need help to rebuild
Instagram: @ccclebanon

Every amount is important and helps so thank you in advance.

The hoarding has gone up around the area that will become the third phase of Al Shaheed Park and there are a bunch of renderings showing what will eventually be built there. I also have some PDFs dating back to December 2018 showing the plan for Phase III so combining whats in the renderings and the PDFs, here is what Al Shaheed Park Phase 3 might contain:

Outdoor cinema and amphitheater
Clock fountain
Kids shaded playground
Mountains playground
Maze garden
Outdoor skate and BMX park
Outdoor parkour and sky trail
Karting
Extreme sports building
Ice skating rink and snow park
Indoor Skydiving

I don’t have any info on when Phase 3 will be completed but, if its anything like the other Al Diwan Al Amiri projects, expect it to be done in around 2 years’ time. You can download the PDFs I have from this link.

Update: Added indoor skydiving to the list above and you can check out some renders of the park here.

The 2020 Formula 1 season finally kicked off last week after being delayed due to the Corona pandemic. The second race of the season is taking place later today but like last year, you’re pretty limited to how you can watch it here in Kuwait. The only network in our region that broadcasts the races is MBC Action but it’s in Arabic and I couldn’t find a way to stream it online. The other (and better) option is watching it directly on F1 TV.

I’ve posted about F1 TV before but I mentioned you needed a U.S. credit card to sign up since live broadcasts aren’t available for Kuwait. But, my U.S. credit card expired and I still haven’t gotten my replacement card so I was worried I wouldn’t be able to subscribe again this season. Turns out you don’t need a U.S. credit card!

If you’re on an Apple device and have a US Apple Store account, then you can subscribe to F1 TV from inside the app and pay for the subscription using your Apple Store account. It’s a neat loophole that should make Formula 1 broadcasts easily accessible to more people.

So if you’re an F1 fan and want to watch the races, download the F1 TV app.

The Ministry of Public Works have updated their complaints app with a brand new interface. The new app looks much nicer but also makes it easier to submit a complaint. The app is called “MPW Emergency 150” and it allows you to submit complaints related to public infrastructure like street or sewage issues. The app is available for both Android and iOS devices.

Now if only the Ministry of Interior can release a similar app…

Thanks Zaydoun

Last year I posted about how PayPal started allowing users in Kuwait to withdraw money. Not sure what happened but that stopped working or at least it wasn’t working for everyone. Now it looks like they might be allowing withdrawals again.

A reader sent me a screenshot of how he was able to transfer money to his NBK Visa card. I just tried it myself and even though I was able to add my debit card to the account, when I tried to transfer money to it I got an error.

If you have cash in your PayPal account and want to withdraw it, try doing it now and let us know in the comments if it worked for you.

Thanks NM

Update: I tried to withdraw some money from PayPal yesterday and it finally worked! Link

The post office has been closed since the start of the pandemic but it looks like they’ll finally be opening up on June 21st.

Even once open expect a delay in getting your package since they’ll have quite a backlog to go through. I saw the video above yesterday which is exactly how I picture our mail sorting facility on the first day of reopening.

Private couriers are also struggling with a backlog of orders while being understaffed, so be patient with them as well.

Starting from June 6th, anybody whose driving license expired and renewed it online will be able to pick up their new one from the kiosks at Al-Naser Sport Club in Ardiya. They are open from 8AM to 5PM and here is the location on Google Maps.

source

Lots of fake news being shared over WhatsApp and dodgy Instagram accounts so if you want to confirm if anything you’ve gotten is true or not, use the official sources below to cross-check:

Kuwait’s Corona Updates Website

Center For Government Communication
Council of Ministers
Directorate General of Civil Aviation
Kuna
Kuwait Municipality
Minister of Commerce and Industry
Ministry Of Education
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Health
Ministry of Information
Ministry of Interior

The website is currently soft launch phase but still contains a good amount of data. My comments would be that I’d like to see some travel information like which countries are flights restricted from. I’d also like to see a section on temporary measures taken because of the Corona outbreak like how waiters must wear masks and gloves now or how shisha places are temporary not allowed to serve shisha (like is this true for example?). Here is the link.

Thanks Cold2zero

Because of the Corona outbreak, all of the Al Salam Palace Museum tours have been canceled until further notice. It sucks because they had just opened, but if you’d still like a peek inside of the museum, then check out this website. You’ll find a bunch of photos and a video of the museum there that should give you an idea of what to expect once the tours start again.

Update: Found this video online as well that gives you a nice walkthrough.

I knew we had at least one automated parking facility in Kuwait (at The Palms) but I didn’t know we also had the largest one in the world. The parking lot of Al-Jahra Court Complex is fully automated and provides 2,314 parking spaces.

The automated parking facility provides 3 times as many car parking spaces as it would in a regular car park of the same volume – and only takes around 177 seconds for car retrieval (source). If you want to see how it works watch the short video on top. Pretty random tidbit for you guys today.

Thanks Mrs. Mohammad

Last May, I was lucky enough to be invited on a private tour of the new Al Salam Palace Museum which was recently restored. The museum was expected to open end of last year but I guess due to some delays it just opened now.

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

You can only get a tour of the museum and there are two kinds right now:

Standard Tour (English or Arabic)
Duration: 120 minutes
Cost: KD8

VIP Tour (Arabic)
Duration: 60-120 minutes
Cost: KD20

The Al Salam Palace website is up right now with more information and booking options, you can check it out at aspm.com.kw. You can also follow them on isntagram @aspm.kw

The Ministry of Interior has updated its website with a new residency section allowing you to renew, cancel, and make changes online. I wasn’t able to try the service myself since I just recently renewed my residency but when I tried to log in to it I got the weird message below.

I’m going to assume the service is working and my error is unrelated. Here is the link to the residency renewal section.

Thanks Musaed