Category: Information

Bayt Lothan, the community center that became an important part of the local culture scene was completely demolished over the weekend. Bayt Lothan closed down around 2 years ago and then earlier this year it was partly demolished. Now the whole building has been razed to the ground.

Bayt Lothan was considered by many a historic building and at one point in time used to house Sheikh Sabah Al Salim, the former Amir of Kuwait.

If you saw the large cloud of black smoke coming out of the city today, it was from the new under construction NBK tower which caught fire earlier today.

I was watching it from my office window before realizing my car was parked in their lot next door so I went to make sure my car was safe. When I got to my car I remembered I had my new Sony A7 III in the car so I ended up snapping some shots and also posted a bunch of videos on my instagram story.

I think all the workers came out safe and there were some who stayed behind to help the firefighters out by using the emergency fire hoses in the parking lot next door.

I was going through some Instagram stories last week and I spotted a friend of mine getting a haircut in what looked like a pimped out van. So I asked him about it and turns out there is a mobile barbershop service called Rolling Scissors.

Rolling Scissors have a large Mercedes van in which they’ve turned the interior into a fancy barbershop. The van is equipped with AC, coffee machine, munchies, TV which has beIN but also allows you to stream your own stuff onto as well as a Bose sound system.

To book a haircut you need to download the Rolling Scissors App onto your phone. A haircut and shave costs KD20 which isn’t cheap but also kinda reasonable since they come to you wherever you are and the van is fancier than most barbershops. They’ve been operating for over a year now based on their Instagram account. If you want more info or you want to see more pictures, check out their Instagram account @rollingscissors_kw

Thanks @chefkb

So yesterday I posted about how you could 3D print yourself at the new Best Electronics store in Boulevard. Well, I spoke too soon since you can’t anymore.

From what I’ve managed to understand, due to religious reasons Best have been told to stop the 3D printing. I thought it might have been fake news at first but last night I passed by the store from outside and noticed they had removed all the 3D printed figurines from the display. Oh well…

With all these recent negative articles on Kuwait here is one that’s good. BBC Travel shared a list of five places that make living easy and Kuwait made the list. The five places in no particular order are:

Honolulu, United States
Budapest, Hungary
Kuwait City, Kuwait
Auckland, New Zealand
Taipei, Taiwan

Not bad right? Check out their article [Here]

According to a recent report from the World Health Organization, Kuwait ranked as the least active country in the world. The most active country, on the other hand, was Uganda.

Most Active Nations:
1- Uganda
2- Mozambique
3- Lesotho

Least Active Nations:
1- Kuwait
2- American Samoa
3- Saudi Arabia

The WHO defines enough exercise as at least 75 minutes of vigorous activity or 150 minutes of moderately intense activity per week, or any combination of the two.

According to the report, 67 percent of Kuwait’s population failed to hit WHO’s recommended exercise target. That sounds absurdly high considering how much more active everyone in Kuwait has become over the past few years. Check out the full report [Here] or the summarized version on Bloomberg [Here]

Photo on top from Battle of the East

If you’re a Viva user like me and are wondering why you don’t have internet this morning, rest assured it’s not just you. Due to a technical issue, internet is down for all their customers.

Viva has been pretty reliable for me so far, so much so that I actually canceled my second Zain line. I’ve been using them for around 10 years now (I think) and I haven’t run into any payment issue or any issue actually. I also love how my phone bill is just 7.5KD a month and that includes 50GB of internet, it’s such a great deal.

Update: Internet is back!

The Ministry of Interior has decided not to allow the comedian Eddie Griffin entry into Kuwait. Eddie was expected to perform in Kuwait next month but has now been barred entry into the country because of his religious beliefs (he’s an atheist) and because he’s performed some religion related sets before. [Source]

The sad thing is that Eddie Griffin is still expected to perform in Saudi Arabia next month for three nights. It’s been kind of a running joke lately that Saudi Arabia is becoming more liberal than Kuwait but it’s starting to look like less of a joke and more of a fact.

Update: As of now the news above hasn’t been verified. Check out my update [Here]

Because I live in an apartment building that was constructed in the 80s, the central AC is no longer strong enough to cope with the hot weather and so I installed a couple of split units in my place. A couple of evenings ago I noticed that one of the units had ran out of refrigerant gas since it was blowing out uncooled air. So I called up the Xcite support number and connected to their AC service department.

The whole experience was super smooth, I told the guy I needed someone to come over check my AC since it wasn’t working. He asked me what brand my AC was, he then confirmed my address (they have my mobile number on their system) and then told me that they would send someone over the next morning and that the cost to send someone over was KD10, but that amount would be deducted from the repair cost.

Next day I get a call from the repair guy asking if I was home, then two guys come over, check the AC and let me know there was a refrigerant leak. They fix the leak, refill my unit with refrigerant gas and charge me KD15 for the whole thing. In under an hour, they were gone.

This was the second time I had a great experience with their AC service department. I love how quick they are in sending someone over and how smooth the whole process is which is why I wanted to post about them. If you ever run into AC trouble and want to get things fixed asap, I highly recommend you give them a call. Their number is 1803535.

Since Mogahwi closed down next to my place in Salmiya, I’ve resorted to going to Jarir in Boulevard Mall since that’s currently the closest decent stationary shop to me. But, I might stop doing that after dropping by Mogahwi’s Kuwait City location yesterday.

I used to pass by the Kuwait City branch whenever I needed anything urgently for work since it’s right down the street from me. But the store was old and outdated and I generally didn’t like shopping there.

But recently they gave the Kuwait City store a much-needed facelift. Other than the fact they’ve improved the lighting and given the space a paint job, they’ve also expanded the store and brought in a lot more brands and new items. They’ve now got a much larger variety of arts and crafts supplies as well as a large variety of spray paint brands including popular brands like Montana. They even have their own resident artist.

So if you’re a fan of Mogahwi but hated the Kuwait City store like me, then you should pass by now and check it out. They’re open daily from 9AM to 9PM except for Fridays when they open from 4:30PM. Here is their location on [Google Maps]

PS: If you’re a Copic Markers fan they now carry a very large assortment of their pens. (they still cost an arm and a leg though)

Recently I found out that we have a suicide hotline number in Kuwait which is great news. Sadly, it’s only available from 9AM to 12PM! (UPDATE BELOW)

I’m actually hoping that isn’t really true and that the conversation between me and the Social Development Office (pictured above) got lost in translation. Having a suicide hotline that was only available 3 hours a day would be pretty ridiculous. In any case, the below information might be helpful to some readers especially if you’re looking for therapy:

Hotline for Police Community (managed by therapists)
94000435 – 94000463

Social Development Office (FREE) and have many therapists
94069304 (Masella Branch)
94082761 (West Mishref Branch)
Main Office
22402409/7
Hotline 22440904/22402401
instagram.com/socialdoffice

Update: They no longer are available for just three hours a day. Here are the suicide hotlines and working hours from the Social Development Office (as of September 24, 2020):

94702266 – 10AM until 4PM (for Teenagers and Adults)

99670675 – 2PM until 7PM (for Adults)

66022448 – 12PM until 7PM (for Teenagers and Adults)

99603997 – 11AM until 8PM (for Kids and Teenagers)

65079596 – 4PM until 10PM (for Adults)

93332007 – 5PM until 9PM (for Teenagers and Adults)

66220282 – 6PM until 9PM (for Adults)

Most of these suicide hotlines are available from Saturday until Thursday. Friday is off.

Update (May 2023): The above numbers no longer work, I’m currently trying to find updated numbers.

Over the weekend I got a tour of the soon to open Kuwait Airways Terminal 4. I hadn’t seen that many photos of the terminal and so was really surprised at how beautiful it was. I took a ton of photos so I’ll take you on a quick tour of the airport starting from the entrance all the way into the plane, and then I’ll go the other way, from the plane all the way to the exit. Here are some interesting points first:

– The new terminal is located on the right just before arriving at the main airport. There are signs up now that point to terminal 4 and there is also a new exit that was constructed. Here is the location on [Google Maps]

– The new terminal is only for Kuwait Airways flights.

– In the photos, you’ll notice signs for E-Gates. Yes, it’s happening but I wasn’t able to get any information on it other than the fact they’re going to implement it. I was not given a timeline but it could be very soon which would explain the urgent move to new passports for Kuwaiti citizens and the voiding of old ones.

– The only area I wasn’t allowed to photograph was the business lounge. It’s located on the far right of the departures terminal and spans two floors. It has floor to ceiling windows overlooking the runway, and unlike the Kuwait Airways lounge in terminal 1, it didn’t look tacky.

– The security check area is going to be proper, similar to setups you see in large airports abroad and it will also have full body scanners.

– Terminal 4 will be managed by the South Korean Incheon International Airport. The Incheon airport holds the record of being ranked the Best Airport Worldwide for 11 consecutive years so it’s going to be in good hands.

– The boarding gate for US flights has an extra security check, the rest of the gates don’t.

– The plan is to eventually have US Border Control at the terminal similar to how it is in Abu Dhabi. This would be huge if it happens.

– All the waiting area seats throughout the terminal have both power ports and USB ports.

– The terminal is expected to start operating on July 25th, although I’ve also heard the date August 8th being thrown around. In both cases, the terminal will start operating with a limited number of flights with the first route being just Dubai. They will then continue to add other GCC flights before adding the rest of their destinations.

That’s some of the most important points I wanted to highlight. If you have any questions or things you’re curious about let me know in the comments and I’ll try to answer them for you. To check out pictures of the terminal as well as the full tour from start to finish, click [Here]

Yesterday after passing by the clays and crafts store Herafy, I happened to see a sign for the “International Academy of Arts”. I was curious to know what it was, so I walked in to find an old cinema projector in the entrance and then the hallways covered with black and white old film photos. So I kept exploring until a guy who works there came up to me and asked if he could help. He ended up giving me a tour of the facility and explained to me what they do.

“International Academy of Arts” is a film school that teaches acting, directing, cinema makeup, editing, sound recording, radio broadcasting and more. They had different rooms for different subjects and they all seemed to be pretty up to date. No idea if the school is any good but if this is something you’re interested in it might be worth checking out. Their website doesn’t seem to be working at the moment but you can check out their instagram @i.a.arts.

Here is their location on [Google Maps]

Last week I was given a very detailed presentation on the new terminal that’s under construction as well as a site visit to see the current progress. There was a lot of information presented but for this post, I rounded up what I thought was the most interesting. So here we go:

– The terminal is shaped similarly to other airports around the world for the same reason all cars have 4 wheels, it’s a shape that works really well for airports. But like all cars have 4 wheels, there is still a big difference between a Ferrari and a Kia and this applies to airports as well. Although airports can be shaped similarly, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll all function the same way.

– Eventhough the terminal is huge, you still won’t have to walk much. The distance from the terminal entrance to the center of the terminal is around 150m. The furthest a passenger has to walk once inside is 600m. That’s one of the advantages of the triangular shape of the terminal, less walking distance for the passengers.

– The original plan of the terminal was to open with a capacity of 13 million passengers a year with an ability to expand that up to 25 million if needed. The plans have changed now and the terminal will now be able to handle 25 million passengers from day 1.

– The terminal will have a level of service rating of “A”. Dubai, for example, has a “C”. The level of service is calculated using a variety of things including the distance between passengers in the terminal, facilities, wayfinding etc.. For an airport of this capaciaty, its generally very difficult to get an “A”.

– The terminal has enough gates to handle 21 Airbus A380s (above) but also has the capacity to handle 51 smaller aircraft all at once (below). Thats possible because the majority of the gates can either take one large plane or two smaller ones without having to make any modifications.

– The terminal will have over 5,000 underground parking spots dedicated just for the passengers. Our current airport in comparison has around 1,500 that is also shared with the airport employees.

– Nothing is off the shelf, everything is being custom designed and made for the terminal. There are some things that have never been done before even for Foster + Partners, so its a learning experience for everyone involved in the project.

– Landside is airport lingo for everything before immigration and security, airside is what they call the area after. There will be no mall located in the landside part of the terminal but the airside will have a retail space larger than Trafalgar Square (pictured above).

– There will be 44 immigration desks and 26 security screening machines just for economy travelers. Premium passengers will have their own immigration and security checks in a different area.

– The footing of the building (the foundation base) is 5m deep. I had no idea if this was a lot or not but I was told by architects and engineers that this is crazy deep, usually the footing is around 1m max. The reason for this is the footing has to support all the arches which support the whole roof and structure of the terminal.

– Speaking of arches, there are 800+ arches being used in the building.

– The airport will have a floor for arrivals and another for departures so the two don’t mix. The departure dropoff and the arrival pickup area outside the airport are 500 meters long each and composed of 4 lanes. So they both have 2KM each of temporary parking.

– The rendering above of the expansion of T2 where the terminal is mirrored is just to show that there is room to expand but the final design of the expansion terminal might look completely different.

– Nobody knows what DGCA will do with the current airport once T2 is up and running.

– The terminal is currently 1% behind schedule but the contractor has a catch-up plan in place.

– Contractually the airport is expected to be completed by September 2022. It might finish earlier but September 2022 is whats in the contract. Once the airport is completed it will be handed over to DGCA and it could then take up to a year for the airport to open and function.

I took random pictures at the site as well as screenshots from the powerpoint presentation. If you’d like to see them then click [Here]

Below is a video presentation I found of the airport as well that features a lot of animated renderings.

If anyone has any questions, let me know in the comments below.

Business Insider published an article a few days ago on the worst airports in the world and the Kuwait International Airport topped the list again. The data is compiled by the website AirHelp who score airports based on on-time performance, quality of service and passenger sentiment. The best airport in the world on the other hand was Qatar’s Hamad International Airport.

With the new Jazeera Terminal just opening and the new Kuwait Airways terminal opening up soon, this might be the last year Kuwait’s Airport comes out the worst.

Check out the AirHelp scores [Here]
Check out the Business Insider article [Here]

Thanks Musaed