Yesterday I was driving by the Abdullah Salem Cultural Center and it was PACKED. There were cars backed up all the way outside the museum entrance, a scene I hadn’t seen since the museum first opened. That reminded me that I should probably post about the fact that museums are finally reopening again! If you’re looking for something to do, below is a list of my favorite museums and their current opening hours:
Abdullah Salem Cultural Center (ASCC)
They’re open from 10AM to 8PM with the last admission at 7PM.
Fridays they only open from 2PM to 8PM and Sundays they’re closed.
You can find photos and information on the museum here.
Bait Al Othman Museum
They’re open daily from 9AM to 1PM and then evenings from 4PM to 8PM.
Fridays they only open in the evenings.
You can find photos and information on the museum here.
Tareq Rajab Museum
They’re open daily from 9AM to 1PM and then from 4:30PM to 8:30PM
You can find photos and information on the museum here.
Al-Salam Palace Museum
One museum I think a lot of people are interested in visiting is the Al-Salam Palace Museum. That museum was set to open just as the pandemic hit. Their Instagram says they’re opening soon but they haven’t mentioned a date. A friend of mine who had previously booked a tour before the pandemic hit got a call recently though to set up a new date so I think right now they might be going through the backlog of people who had booked early last year. I was lucky enough to get a tour of the museum before they opened and you can check that post out here.
Update: Due to high demand, ASCC now opens from 10AM instead of 2PM.
If you’re looking for something to do then this exhibit might be interesting to visit:
SADI is an ambitious program envisioned by AlSadu Society to encourage creativity and innovation in contemporary textile arts and design for artists in Kuwait. Every year, we invite 5 artists from various creative backgrounds to be a part of the program, and explore a particular element of sadu.
Drawing on the unique global circumstances that have both connected and disconnected us, this year’s “SADI 2021: Connectivity Through Art” exhibit features the works of Ahmad AlAjmi, Fatema Al Bader, Sheikha Al Habshi, Razan Al Sarraf, and Fay Al Awadhi who have explored the principles of sadu and connectivity, and how the two interweave with modern art.
Opening: Saturday, May 29th 2021 at 5PM
Exhibit Dates: May 29th – June 7th 2021
Hours: 10AM – 2PM, 4PM – 8PM
Location: Sadu House
Li3ib is an app that allows you to book different sports activities around Kuwait. During regular days you could use the app to book tennis, squash, basketball and volleyball courts, football fields and also rent bicycles. But due to the closure of everything sports at the moment, the only thing available is bicycle rental.
I actually wanted to wait and post about this app once sports stadiums reopened so people can make good use of the app but, because the weather is so good right now I know people will want to take advantage of the bicycle rentals. All you need to do to rent a bike with the app is choose a date and a drop-off time and they’ll deliver the bicycle to you and pick it up again the next day. Renting a bike for 24 hours is KD10 which is really reasonable.
If you’re interested in any of the sports I mentioned above or want to rent a bicycle easily to go out riding this weekend, download the app using this link.
Below is this weekend’s list of things you can do. Not as many things going on as last week, but I might have missed a few things, let me know if I did.
The first time I visited the camel races was back in 2013 and I posted a guide for anyone who wanted to experience it as well. Because it’s been awhile since I last went, I decided to pass by again and publish an updated guide.
This past Saturday I drove out to the Kuwait Camel Racing Club to see how much things have changed. I took my old Alfa because I recently replaced some parts on it and wanted a long trip just to make sure I installed everything correctly. The trip to the tracks took a bit less than an hour and didn’t feel like a long drive at all. Once I got to the tracks I noticed all the main gates were locked. For a second I thought they were closed but then I noticed SUV’s speeding across the desert in the distance and heading in the direction of the track, I figured there might be another entrance and drove in the direction they were all heading. Sure enough, there was a side gate open off the main road and I drove into the racing club.
Once I drove into the track I didn’t see any spectators, racers, employees or even any signs telling me where to go next. So I just started following other cars and ended up driving through another gate and onto a tarmac road adjacent to the race track. I then kept driving till I eventually ended up at the start line. You can watch the video above which shows you how to enter the tracks and get to the tarmac that takes you to the start line. If you don’t have an SUV you’ll be fine since I was able to get to the track in my Alfa.
If you want to watch the races there are two ways:
The first way is you drive up to the start or finish line and park your car on the side and just watch the start or end of the races.
The second way to watch the races is you drive around the track with the race as it’s taking place. There are four tracks technically, the main track for the camels to race on is a large wide dirt track surrounded by railings. To the right of the race track is a dirt track for the camel owners who drive next to their camels during the race to control the robot jockeys on the camels. To the left of the camel track are two paved roads also separated by railings, one for use by track employees and the camera vehicle, the second is for the spectators to drive alongside the camels during the race. I didn’t do that this past Saturday but I did do that the first time I went to the tracks and you can watch the video above to see how it looks (chaotic basically). The only difference now is the spectators road is paved instead of it being a dirt road like in the video. Back then you could also tune into FM 93.1mhz on the radio and listen to a live broadcast of the actual race as you drive around. I couldn’t test it this time since my Alfa doesn’t have a radio.
The races start at 1PM and last till 3 or 4PM depending on the week. They alternate between 8 races and 16 races a week, the more races the later they finish. This Saturday when I visited it was 8 races, 4 races with the large camels and 4 with smaller ones. The only difference between the two is the starting line shifts closer to the finish line for the smaller camels. Each race lasts around 15 minutes before the next one starts. They’re not that strict with timing, they basically wait till the races end and all the spectators drive back to the starting line before starting the next race. The races take place weekly starting in October and this year will end in the first week of March.
I definitely recommend you check the races out just don’t go with high expectations, it’s nothing fancy. If you have kids they’d probably enjoy seeing camels up close and you can get pretty close to the camels both at the start and finish line. If you want to visit the Kuwait Camel Racing Club, here is the link to Google Maps.
Here is this weekend’s list of things to do. The KMT events don’t allow spectators so if you aren’t participating, you can’t check them out. I’ll keep looking for more things going on and will add them as I find them.
At the start of the pandemic, I shut down the events section since everything obviously stopped. But, a few things are starting to pop up and I’m going to start posting about them here and once things really take off, only then reopen the events section again. For now here are a few things taking place this weekend:
If you’ve recently walked along the Gulf Road or taken a trip to Mutla’a then you’ve probably noticed Kashta setups on the beach or in the desert. Last year there were only a handful of businesses that set up these gathering spots but this year the market has exploded with everyone jumping on board the kashta train.
Inspired Edibles have put together the ultimate kashta setup list which I’ve reposted below. Because there are so many I’ve highlighted the ones that seemed the most interesting with an asterix *
If you’re looking for a safe place to ride your bicycle, Kuwait Motor Town is bringing back bicycle days. Bicycle days are when they open the race track to the public so that people can ride their bicycles on the road in a safe car-free environment. Bicycle days are on the following two days:
Melemele is Kuwait’s first Karaoke house that opened up recently at The Palms. Not sure how karaoke works when you’re sober since I’ve only ever done it when plastered, but it seems it’s doable based on the videos in their highlights.
The whole place along with the karaoke rooms looks pretty cool and they have over 10,000 tracks to choose from. The price is 4KD per person on weekdays and 5KD per person on weekends but depending on the size of the room you want, there is a minimum number of people that have to sign up. Booking is done through their website in advance and they’ve got a bit more information there so make sure to check it out.
We don’t get a lot of new things to do in Kuwait so it’s good to see something fun like this pop up especially during the pandemic. They’re on Instagram @melemelekaraoke and their website is melemelekaraoke.com
A friend of mine was set to open a ceramics design studio called From Mud before the pandemic hit and now is forced to push back the opening date.
In the meantime, she’s decided to put together a “Clay at Home” starter kit for people looking for a new hobby to get into, or a fun activity to stay entertained with at home. If you’re interested, check out her instagram account for more details @frommud
There obviously aren’t any events taking place this weekend in Kuwait so what is everyone planning to do to pass time over the weekend and the coming two weeks? Video games? Movies? Binge watch 7 seasons of Parks and Recreation?
