Category: Information

Over the weekend, VOX Cinemas officially opened its screens to the public. They’re now the fourth cinema chain operating in Kuwait and their first location is in the fourth phase of The Avenues. You can book tickets and get more information by clicking [Here]

Their THEATRE by Rhodes section with the reclining cinema chairs and waiters service is still coming soon. For a tour of the VOX cinema, check out my previous post [Here]

Yesterday I got a tour of the new Jazeera Airways terminal and I left impressed. Not only because the terminal is something we desperately need right now, but also because of the thought process behind a lot of the decisions as well as the initiatives Jazeera have taken to try and make the experience as smooth and quick for their passengers. There is a lot of information to cover so what I’m going to do is start off by walking you through the check-in and departures process first, and then take you through the arrivals process.

Terminal Location
If you’re standing facing our current airport, the Jazeera Airways terminal would be located to the left of it. There are two ways of getting to the new terminal, the first way is through our current airport, this is the longer and slower way since you’ll have to deal with our airport traffic. The second and much faster way is to take the exit before arriving to the airport. It’s the same road you take to get to the Jazeera Airways Park & Fly area as well as the same route you take to get to the VIP terminal. This route allows you to bypass all the traffic and mess at the main airport. Check the map above, red is how you get to the current airport, yellow is how you get to the new terminal. Here is the location on [Google Maps]

Parking & Check-in
So this is where things get interesting. Jazeera Airways have their own parking lot right across from their new terminal. The parking lot has a bridge that connects to the main terminal but you can also access the terminal by crossing the street below. The multistory lot can hold 350 cars, but the cost of the parking will be similar to the short-term parking at the current airport which I think is KD6 a day. That’s pricy but, they have two other more affordable options:

– Curbside Check-in: With this option, you pull up into the multistory parking lot and head to the curbside check-in area. There you not only hand your car over to valet, but they’ll also take your luggage if any and check you in all while you’re still in the parking lot. You then get your boarding pass and head straight to passport control in the new terminal allowing you to skip the check-in process inside the terminal. The valet will take your car and park it in the Jazeera Airways Park & Fly lot down the street and you will be charged 2.5KD a day.

– Park & Fly: Another option in case you don’t want to give your car to valet is to park your car yourself in the Park & Fly lot near the new terminal. You can hand over your luggage there and check-in before taking the shuttle bus down to the terminal. Since you would have already checked in this way, you just head straight to passport control. This will also cost you 2.5KD a day.

If you are dropped off at the new terminal or you decide to park your car in the lot across the street and walk into the terminal, then you have different check-in options available for you. The first is self check-in, but when I was there yesterday the machines were still not installed. The other option to check-in is with the regular check-in desks which there will be ten of.

Duty Free & Passport Control
Once you’re done with the check-in process you’ll have to head upstairs for passport control which is pictured below.

You’ll have a duty free section before and after passport control although when I was there yesterday those areas were still empty. There will be food options but not sure if they will be ready by the time the new terminal opens.

Security & Old Airport Access
Although the Jazeera Airways terminal is a new structure, it actually is connected to our current airport and they will continue to use their current gates which are B1, B2 and B3. But, they’re completely refurbishing the gates to match their new terminal and when I was there yesterday they were starting work on it which should be completed by the time the terminal opens. One of the things Jazeera wants to do is NOT have you go through two different security checks before boarding the flight like you do in the current airport. So they’re reworking the design of their gates so that the arrival passengers and departure passengers don’t use the same space (which is what requires the extra security check at our current airport). B1 and B2 use air bridges to board passengers onto the plane while their B3 gate uses buses.

Past their boarding gates you’ll find access to the current main airport. You’ll be able to enter the airport normally but to re-enter the Jazeera Terminal you need to go through a security check again.

Arriving at the New Terminal
When you exit the plane you’ll head to passport control first. Jazeera Airways want your arrival process to be quick so the next step is slightly different from the main airport as well as Sheikh Saad terminal. Once you’re done with passport control you’ll go through a quick security check where you put your carry-on bags in an xray machine before going to pick up your luggage from the conveyor belts. Once you pick up your luggage you do NOT have to go through security. All luggage will be security checked BEFORE coming out on the conveyor belts.

I wasn’t allowed to take pictures but I was given a behind the scenes tour and basically, once the bags arrive into the Jazeera Airways terminal they will be placed on a conveyor belt and go through a security screening before the bags head out to the passengers. So when you pick up your bag it has already been checked and you just walk out of the airport.

The Jazeera Airways VIP Experience
So this is something new Jazeera will be offering, it’s a VIP addon to your ticket which you can purchase separately. This is an add-on for both economy and business class passengers. What the VIP add-on will give you is access to a separate VIP parking located on the side of the airport, a separate VIP check-in area, and access to the VIP lounge. I got a tour of the lounge but didn’t take any pictures because it was still being worked on but it will have different seating areas including a meeting room. Now here is the cool part, you don’t need to be a passenger to access the VIP lounge, you just need to buy a pass. So say you’re in town for a business meeting and the meeting is running long but you have a flight to catch. You and whomever you’re meeting with could continue the meeting at the airport. You could check-in to your flight and then continue the meeting in one of the rooms and when its time to board your flight you could end the meeting and head to the plane. This could also work if your wife and kids are traveling and you want to stay with them until they board their flight, you could get a VIP pass for you and your family and then hang out with them in the lounge until they have to board the plane. No idea how much this addon will cost since they haven’t finalized the price yet.

So thats basically a full walk-through of the new terminal. I don’t think I left anything out but if you have any questions just let me know. The terminal is expected to open and be operational by the end of this month which is in 20 days!

For more pictures or higher resolution ones, click [Here]

Update: The Jazeera Airways terminal is going to be called Terminal 5.

Last night I was invited to drop by the new VOX Cinemas in Avenues phase 4 to get a tour of their space. This is their first VOX Cinemas location in Kuwait, and since there are three other cinema chains already in Kuwait, they know they’ve got to bring their A-game if they’re hoping to succeed.

VOX is nearly ready to open up to the public and tonight they will be premiering the new Avengers film with an invite-only affair. The only area that was still under construction and one that I wasn’t able to take photos in was the THEATRE by Rhodes section.

Tickets + Food
When you first go up the escalators into the VOX Cinemas you’ll find ticket machines on the sides and the food area in front of you. Ticketing and food are combined into one, so you can buy your tickets and popcorn at the same time. That’s pretty great and convenient if you didn’t buy your ticket online since instead of waiting in line to buy tickets and then a second line to buy food, you’re combining it into one line. The disadvantage is to those who already have their tickets. The food line is usually pretty long anyway but now you have to also wait for people to decide what movie they want to watch and where they want to sit. So I’d imagine trying to get food is a longer process with this system.

THEATRE by Rhodes
This is VOX’s equivalent to VIP theaters in other cinema chains. There are 4 small theaters located in a separate section and the reason the area is called THEATRE by Rhodes is because the food menu was created by Michelin star chef Gary Rhodes. THEATRE by Rhodes will have reclining seats with adjustable footrests, blankets, pillows and, a waiter service which you can call via a button on the seats. This area of VOX should be completed in two weeks time.

Their Largest Theater
The picture above is of VOX’s largest theater, they have two of those. It was huge, filled with seats and yet it still felt so spacious because of the fact they’ve left a really large gap between the screen and the first row of seats.

I liked the color scheme as well which was all black with red accents. The seats were comfy, large and had a pretty good amount of legroom as well as cupholder and a side table for your food or phone.

If you arrive to the theater when dark, you’ll be able to find your seat easily since the aisle and chair numbers are lit up.

Their Regular Theaters
VOX has 17 theaters in total, 4 are the Rhodes theaters, 2 are their large theaters which I’ve posted about above, then they have 2 more kids theaters (more on those in a bit), 1 rentable theater and finally, 8 regular theaters. These regular theaters are smaller in size, have smaller seats compared to their larger theater and, less legroom. If you notice in the picture above there are two colors of seats, black and blue. This is to separate their VIP or premium location seats (in black) which cost more than the seats in the not so prime viewing area (in blue).

The theaters I used to frequent in London had a similar setup, if you want to sit in the prime area you’ll have to pay more for the ticket. I’m not a fan of this system although in London it was great since nobody wanted to pay for premium seats so I always got great seats, even though I booked late.

Their Kids Theaters
VOX have a separate area for kids. The area is colorful with a play area and a separate entrance. You’ll be able to book the area for your kids birthday and they can run around and scream without bothering the rest of the movie goers.

The theaters themselves are small and have multi-colored seats. They look tacky but I guess kids will love it.

Thier Millennial Theater
It’s not really called the millennial theater thats just what I’m calling it because that’s the age group they’re targeting with it. The small theater is filled with reclining sofas and the concept behind it is that you would be able to rent it out for you and your friends to watch a movie or even to play video games on the large screen.

VOX Cinemas is opening tonight but like I mentioned already, it’s invite only. Once they’re done with tonight’s opening they have a few more things they need to finalize before they open to the public. No specific date has been set but it’s probably happening in the next week or two. Here is a link to their web site [Link]

Update: I went last night to watch Avengers and here are some observations. They don’t have any IMAX theaters. They have MAX theaters that sound like IMAX but are just regular theaters. I wish the chairs in the MAX theaters were slightly more reclined. The seat numbers that light up are actually a bit annoying in the dark since you can see light coming from the chairs behind you.

VOX Cinemas, the UAE-based cinema company is opening up in phase 4 of Avenues tomorrow night (April 25). They’ll be premiering the new Avengers movie but it’s an invite-only affair although, from my understanding, the box office should open up to the public tomorrow night if you’re interested in booking tickets for this coming weekend. *update below*

The VOX cinema has 17 screens with a seating capacity of over 1,500 seats. They’re the fourth cinema chain to open up in Kuwait and will be competing head to head with Cinespcape that is also open in Avenues. Here is a link to their [Website]

Update: I was just told tickets will NOT be going on sale tomorrow. They’re just opening the theater for the private premier and they are still waiting on some permits before they can sell tickets to the public.

As most of you are aware by now, part of the old souq in Salmiya is being turned into a pedestrian-only area. The project was originally scheduled to be completed in February but due to delays, work is still going on right now.

The photos in this post were taken a couple of days back and they show the current progress. For more photos, click [Here]

The new Al Kout Mall opened up yesterday and I passed by last night to check it out. Driving down to Fahaheel feels like such a journey which is why I rarely ever go down there and I’m assuming people who live there also rarely ever journey up to the city. This is why the new Al Kout Mall is a great addition to the area.

The new Al Kout replaces the old Al Manshar Mall and the large residential buildings that used to be located right behind it. It’s a fairly small sized mall when compared to the Avenues, but it’s still substantially larger than 360 Mall. One thing I noticed is that the stores are all pretty small, so you have all the big brands there but their store sizes are probably the smallest ones in Kuwait. I guess its how they were able to fit so many stores into the mall.

Not all the stores are open yet nor are the movie theaters and the karting track on the roof. The karting track once completed will be the largest indoor karting track in the Middle East which I think is pretty exciting. If you’re curious about the parking situation, the mall has 3,600 parking spots accessible from a variety of entrances around the mall. But, parking isn’t an issue there its traffic that’s the problem. The street there had heavy traffic even before the mall was open so expect it to be even worse now.

For more information on the mall including a list of all the stores you can visit their website [alkout.com] or follow them on instagram @alkoutmall

After a number of delays, the new Al Kout Mall is finally set to open next Monday, April 16th. The new Al Kout Mall is replacing Al Manshar Mall which was torn down back in 2013. The Al Kout Mall website has also been updated with all the shops and restaurants that will be opening there. To check out the list visit alkout.com. Their instagram is @alkoutmall

With Al Kout Mall opening its doors next week and Avenues Phase 4 complete, the next big mall to open up is Assima in Kuwait City which is expected to be ready by Q3 2019.

A reader sent me the email below letting me know that the kiosk I spotted at the ASCC museums last week has now been removed!

Dear Mark,

Thanks for the post about the kiosk in ASCC. Last week I contacted an executive at the Amiri Diwan and forwarded the picture of the kiosk that you posted on the blog. He was surprised by the grotesqueness of the stand and instantly contacted the person in charge of the project. From what I hear, the stand has now been removed (thank god).

Thank you for keeping us aware.

Best Regards

According to a reader who went to pick up mail from the post office, you can now track your package to see if it’s reached the post office by WhatsApping the tracking number to 99919010.

You can also continue to use the MOC website to track your package [Here]

Thanks Dwane

Update: The number is no longer is service

The fourth phase of Avenues will be opening tomorrow the 22nd of March. There will be a private opening ceremony at 10:30AM followed by the opening to the public at 11:30AM. There will be live amusement activities and events taking place throughout the weekend.

If you want to see photos of phase 4 I took a couple of months back, click [Here]

Picture on top by Dragos

If you get snail mail from abroad and you have a tracking number, then you can follow the guide below to figure out where to pick up your mail from.

I had someone mail me a package from the UK (Registered Mail) and the tracking number started with the letter R. It took less than a week to arrive from the UK. Originally I was told it would get delivered to my office but after waiting a few days I decided to go pick it up myself. Because the delivery address was Kuwait City, I dropped by the post office in the city to see if my package was there. When I got to the post office, instead of asking me for the tracking number the guy just asked me which building my package was mailed to and then headed to the section corresponding to my building. There were a few baskets there and he just looked into one and pulled out a package and asked if it was mine. Oddly it was actually addressed to my office but to another workmate. All the packages in that basket were actually for the same guy at my office. When I told him no they weren’t mine, he took my tracking number, went away for a minute and came back, looked in the same basket again and pulled out my package. He told me to take it along with the other packages for the other guy at my office. I was like sure and I signed a few papers and got them.

I asked the post office guy if they deliver those packages and he said yes every couple of days. My guess is its probably more like once a week but nevertheless, I was still impressed that I was able to get a package from the UK using regular mail and have it in a weeks time.

On Friday I passed by the museums with a bunch of friends and I figured I’d share my experience which was overall pretty good, especially considering the number of people who were at the museum on Friday. First though, let me get the negative out of the way.

We got to the museum around 3PM and the traffic to get in was a block long because of the fact you needed to buy tickets before entering the parking lot. Although they have 9 drive-thru ticketing booths, they’re arranged 3 in a row, so only 3 lanes with each lane having 3 booths. If you’re the third car in a lane, you have to wait for the two cars ahead of you to finish buying tickets before you could enter the parking lot which is what slows things down. What was also annoying was that the main gate had two lanes to enter, the people who drove through the gate in the left lane ended up at the first ticketing lane, but the cars who drove in from the right lane had access to the second and third lane of ticket booths. So the cars that drove in through the right lane moved twice as fast as those who entered the gate from left lane. So here is a tip, enter through the right lane!

The ticketing system is the only negative thing I have to say about the museums and I imagine its a short-term issue since the museums just opened. It took us exactly 30 minutes waiting in line to enter the museums’ main gate, buy the tickets and then park the car.

Once inside finding parking was easy since there was plenty. Not only that but when we were leaving around 5:30PM, the museum had closed its main gate because the museum was full, even though there was still plenty of parking. I guess based on the number of tickets they sold, the museums had reached their maximum capacity. And here is the great thing, the museums didn’t feel like they were overcrowded on what probably is going to be recorded as their busiest day ever, the first Friday right after opening. Sure there were some busy areas with tons of kids running around, but there were also plenty of areas that were practically empty as well.

They had live music playing outdoors which felt surreal when combined with the orange sky that date and the beautiful and futuristic lights of the museum. Kinda felt like I was on the set of the film Blade Runner. You can check a couple of vertical videos I shot (sorry they were meant for insta stories) [Here] and [Here].

One thing that caught me off guard was their bookshop located in one of the buildings. They actually had a ton of great books for kids and adults and most of them were from Phaidon which is my favorite publisher. I need to go back again this week and buy some books.

Like I mentioned in my previous posts, the museums are huge and you really need a full day to explore them all properly, and even then you’ll probably miss some stuff. I’ve been there twice so far and I have yet to explore the whole museum properly and there are areas I still haven’t even visited. I really love the place and I can’t wait to go back there again. For ticket prices, opening hours and more information, visit the ASCC website [Here]

Yesterday I was invited to the Abdullah Al-Salem Cultural Centre (ASCC) for a conference and tour of all the museums. The event was meant to start at 5PM but I decided to get there half an hour early. When I got arrived I realized I was one of the first people there since the parking lot was fairly empty. So I decided to walk around the museums and explore.

For those of you who asked if the museums had enough parking, they do. There is a decently sized lot on the ground floor and another much larger lot in the basement.

The museum grounds is pretty huge and involves quite a lot of walking. It took me around 30 minutes to walk around outside the museums before I decided to head back to the first building where the conference was going to take place. When I got there I realized people were just starting to show up and that no way the conference was starting on time. So I decided to ditch the event and instead go back to exploring the insides of the museums. That turned out to be the best idea because I ended up having the all the museum just for myself and I have to say, the place is amazing!

There are four museums occupying six main buildings:

– Natural History Museum
– Science & Technology Museum
– Arabic Islamic Science Museum
– Space Museum

I literally was running around trying to capture photos for my instagram before it started getting dark and it took me over an hour and a half to run through the whole museum. I didn’t even stop to read a plaque, interact with an exhibit or walk around every hall properly and it took me that long, so imagine how long it will take you to explore the exhibits fully. I was told you’d need around 6 hours per museum and that doesn’t include attending any of the shows or workshops that are going to be held there frequently.

From all the exhibits I think my favorite might be the Human Body building of the Science & Technolgy Museum. Although I had left it until the end because I thought it was going to be lame, I think it’s probably one of the most fun and interactive areas. For example, they have a 15m running track where you could run and it would calculate your time and then compare it to famous people including record holder Usain Bolt. So you know I’m definitely going to go back in my full sports gear just to try that out. The whole lower section of that building was filled with different sports activities for you to try, interact or play around with. Then upstairs you have one of the visually most colorful and exciting looking exhibits that deals with viruses (pictured below), and there was also a biology lab where they’ll be holding workshops for people of all ages. That’s another thing I really liked about the museums, not only were their exhibits but in each museum, there were also classrooms and spaces to hold workshops.

The most surprising exhibit to me was probably the Ecosystems building under the Natural History Museum. I walked in and was mind blown, they had converted one of the buildings into an indoor rainforest with an active waterfall and water pools. I was not expecting that at all. You could walk around the rainforest from above it or from the ground floor. I started from the top since that’s where I came in from since I was at the dinosaurs exhibit next door, and then headed down. Once I was done on the ground floor I got another surprise, turns out the pools of water I had seen from the top were actually the top of the huge aquarium which was located in the basement. It’s a huge aquarium, I probably larger than the one at the Scientific Center although it wasn’t yet filled with a lot of fish.

I think I’m going to stop here since this post would end up being gigantic if I described every section of the museum. All you really need to know is that this is a legit and proper museum. I don’t know how they were able to build it and put it together in such a short period of time, and I am really impressed. The only negative thing might be in regards to the ticketing system. The museums were originally meant to be free but late into the project they decided to charge a nominal entry fee of KD3 for adults and KD2 for children. Since the building wasn’t built with the idea of ticketing in mind, they installed drive-thru ticket stations at the parking entrance. There are nine ticket stations in the parking area, you drive up to one, purchase tickets for every passenger in the car and then you’re allowed in. I can imagine that causing a lot of traffic to get in, especially in the beginning when people are rushing to see the museums. But, there is a side entrance for drop-offs and pedestrians, so if it does get super busy, I’ll just ride my bicycle down the street to the museum or have a cab drop me off.

If you want to know more about the museum including location, ticket prices, opening hours, you name it, then check out the ASCC website which is really thorough [Here]

The Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Cultural Centre museums is officially opening tomorrow and their website is now live and contains their ticket prices, opening hours and floor maps of the place amongst other information. The ticket prices turned out to be super reasonable with children under 18 costing KD2 and adults costing KD3. Here all the ticket prices:

Adults (18+): 3 KD
Junior | Student (Max 18): 2 KD
Under 2: Free of Charge
Ambulant Disabled: 1.5 KD
Wheelchair Disabled: 1.5 KD + Free Helper
Chaperon: 2 KD

Below is the map of the museum so you can see all the buildings and what they contain.

Opening hours are 9AM to 9PM on weekdays, and 3PM to 11PM on weekends. They’re closed on Sundays.

I’m actually headed to the museums in a bit since I’ve been invited to the pre-opening and I’m super excited. Hopefully, they’ll let me take photos so that I can post them up here tomorrow. To check out their website, visit ascckw.com

Update: They’ve changed their opening hours and I’ve updated the post to reflect that

According to Avenues, phase 4 will be opening at the end of the month. They wouldn’t give me an exact opening date but I heard from one of their contractors that internally, they’re aiming to open on March 25th if nothing changes.

All construction related work will stop on March 15th so that they can then start the cleaning process. The two photos in this post were taken this week.

Update: I received a copy of a letter sent by Avenues to its investor with an opening date of March 22nd. [Source]