2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Barmaee is a new outdoor sports shop that opened up recently. I found out about it by chance since it’s near my garage where I’m getting my Datsun restored and I kept noticing kayaks and paddleboards through the display window so I decided to stop and check the place out.

The store is fairly cute and clearly being run by someone who’s an outdoorsman but the physical store really is just a small display area, their real store is online where they carry so many great brands including YETI, Thule, Marmon, Osprey, Salomon, Black Diamond, Shimano, and many many more. It’s actually pretty insane how much cool stuff they have on their website. They describe themselves as the Middle East’s largest outdoors store and I believe their website could very well be that since I haven’t come across anything like it in the region. (UPDATE: Turns out it’s not true! Read the update below)

The only confusing part is that their physical store is called Barmaee while their online shop is called Just Outdoors. I don’t know why that is, maybe because the physical store doesn’t carry many items but it just confuses things.

If you’re looking for outdoor gear definitely check these guys out. Their instagram accounts are @barmaee.q8 and @justoudoorscom, while the website is justoutdoors.com

Update: So it looks like the whole thing is misleading and not true. They aren’t the largest outdoor store in the region because they don’t have any of the items listed on their website. Their website is just an affiliate store for a US website so everything needs to be shipped from the US store to Kuwait. It’s similar to websites like uBuy and Desertcart which are just affiliate stores for Amazon. Disappointing.

The popular used bookshop Q8 Books which at one point was located at Bayt Lothan has now rebranded and opened in a new location. The bookshop is now called Bliss and Paper and last week they opened their new location in the city.

The new location looks great and is divided into a few sections. There is a room for children and full of kids books, another room which has a locked cabinet full of old important books on Kuwait but can also be used as a meeting room. Finally, the new location has a cafe with healthy sandwiches and vegan desserts.

The new location is open daily from 10AM to 9PM and if you want to pass by and check it out they’re located in the basement level of Dasman Complex (Google Maps). Also check them out on Instagram @blissandpaper

I recently came across the picture above of a Kuwait Airways plane crash dating to 1966. Only a month after Kuwait Airways received their brand new plane, it crashed on landing due to pilot error and was written off.

On 30 June 1966, the Trident 1E registration 9K-ACG was destroyed when it crashed 4KM short of the runway at Kuwait International. The plane was on its way back from Beirut when the plane descended at a high rate and the pilot didn’t follow the proper regulations. No lives were lost.

A higher resolution of the photo is available here, and a full report of the incident can be downloaded from here.

Kuwait’s traffic authorities imposed a ban on delivery motorbikes on highways and Ring Roads starting from October 3, 2021 due to a rise in accidents. According to the Traffic General Department, the new regulation, issued to ‘streamline the delivery motorcycle service’ in the country, prohibits bikes delivering items to use the first, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh Ring Roads, in addition to roads 30, 40, 50, 60 and 80, as well as Jamal Abdul-Nasser Road and Jaber Causeway. source

No idea how delivery bikes are going to get around now, maybe just take the Gulf Road to everywhere? What should happen instead of banning them is to make the motorbike license test harder and at the same time enforce traffic rules (for everyone). But obviously banning things is always our go-to fix.

Also for those emailing me asking me to post a complaint about Deliveroo’s new service charge, I’m not going to. It’s a small fee and you can always use Carriage or Talabat if you don’t want to pay it.

I have such a long to-do list of places to try but honestly, just haven’t been in the mood to pass by and try most of them. Since my list isn’t getting any smaller, I’m just going to share it here in case anyone else is looking for a new place to try:

Bakehaus – They just opened up at The View Mall
Bob’s Drive-In – Burger place with branding thats a bit too similar to Big Boy
Bonjiri – A yakitori spot by the chef behind Tampopo
Deep Dish – A deep dish pizza place (might be an alternative to Boccini)
Its Hidden – A secret restaurant that seems over priced
Koto – New Japanese delivery concept
Madeleine – A brunch concept thats open only on weekends
Pb – Just opened and serving both pizza and burgers
PETE’S – Another pizza place but this one serves NY style
Phet Phet – A thai food concept thats delivery only and the only place on the list that I’ve actually tried. I like it and think they might have the best Pad Thai ever.
Top Notch – Another burger place, this one near AUK in Salmiya

Anything else new? Let me know in the comments.

Why are sidewalks so disliked in Kuwait? As a person that likes to walk to places, especially since I live in a commercial area, I find it so frustrating that I can’t walk one street down my apartment building unless I’m willing to walk through garbage bins, a sandy lot, and on the street with cars racing by. But this isn’t new, it’s always been like this and nobody cares obviously or else sidewalks would have been an important part of the urban planning. What is new is the fact there was an important and heavily used sidewalk a couple of blocks down from where I live which recently got removed. The issue is that they didn’t provide the pedestrians with an alternative sidewalk and this has now created a pretty dangerous situation.

Right outside the Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre (Map), there was a sidewalk that runs from the inside road, around the museums, and then connects to the Gulf Road. It was a heavily used sidewalk because it’s the only road that connects the densely populated neighborhood with the Gulf Road while also connecting Salmiya to Shaab. But, due to construction work taking place there, they temporarily (I hope it’s temporary) removed the sidewalk to make more room for the cars. And that’s fine, except for the fact they didn’t temporarily provide an alternative route for pedestrians. So pedestrians are continuing to take that route (to get home or get to the Gulf Road), but now instead of walking on the sidewalk, they’re forced to walk on the road with cars speeding by dangerously. At night the strip is also poorly lit making it even more dangerous.

I’ve seen families walking on the road, young teens, and employees heading to or from work. I wouldn’t be surprised if there haven’t already been multiple incidents where pedestrians were hit by cars on this strip. Hopefully, someone reading this post can help sort this problem or let me know who to even complain about something like this even though I doubt they would care.

A couple of weeks back a video of tires burning at the tire graveyard went viral. The problem is the video of the fire that went viral was actually from the huge 2012 fire at the tire graveyard. Back then all the tires were piled up together in one large pile (check out the photos here) but after that big fire, they started separating them which you can see in the satellite photo here.

Even after separating them fires continued to break out just not as big. Even the satellite image linked above has a fire in it, thats how often fires were occurring.

But recently, after a fire broke out back in April, the EPA decided to start moving the tires to a new location and piling them into smaller piles with a much larger distance in between to try and prevent any chance of a large fire breaking out.

A follower shared a link to the @trtworld account which recently shared photos of this new graveyard and I thought the pictures looked great which is why I’m sharing them here. This is currently a temporary solution until more recycling centers are built or the tires exported. For a few more photos, check out the trtworld post here.

Thanks Nidal and Syed

Originally opened in 1983, the Kuwait National Museum was badly damaged during the 1990 invasion and had remained mostly closed since. There were plans to demolish the museum and build a new one but thankfully in 2014, they decided to refurbish and fix up the existing buildings which I think was a great idea. If only the same was done to the ice skating rink or Sawaber.

The picture above was taken by @111.street. Here are some interesting links related to the museum:

History of the Kuwait National Museum
Inside the Kuwait National Museum
The Kuwait Heritage Museum
Preopening Video – 1983

A couple of months back the Grand Mosque tours were reactivated again and this time they have a new permanent calligraphy exhibition featuring work by calligraphers from all over the world.

The tours are available by booking only for Saturdays at 10AM while walk-in tours are available on weekdays from 9AM to 11AM and then again 4PM to 6PM. UPDATED CHECK BELOW

In addition to regular Covid health instructions, there is also a dress code: no sleeveless shirts nor short shorts for men, and full-length cloaks and headscarves for women. If you’d like to book a tour you can contact Jenan on 22342367 or just head there during the middle of the week for the walk-in tours.

Here is the location on Google Maps.

Update: Saturday tours no longer require pre-booking, walk-in tours are now available on Saturdays as well.

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:

New This Weekend:
Alone (6.2)
Candyman (6.2)
Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman (6.6)
The Night House (7.0)
The Protege (6.6)

Other Movies Showing Now:
A Quiet Place Part II (7.3)
Black Widow (6.8)
Cruella (7.4)
Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (6.1)
F9: The Fast Saga (5.2)
Free Guy (7.7)
Meander (5.8)
Reminiscence (7.4)
Rogue Hostage (3.1)
Snake Eyes (5.7)
Space Jam: A New Legacy (4.4)
The Green Knight (7.4)
The Suicide Squad (7.5)

Classic Movie Showing Now:
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (8.8)

The films below are also now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

IMAX Movies Showing Now:
Antartica (N/A)
Backyard Wilderness 3D (7.7)
Turtle Odyssey (7.2)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.

A beautiful photo taken by Jules Pearson which I had to share.

A few weeks ago I decided to finally upgrade my toolbox with a proper set of tools. Over the years I’ve been buying tools as I needed them and that has resulted in a bag full of random brands, missing pieces, and duplicate items. Since I use my tools a lot because of my cars, I decided to reboot my toolbox and put together a nice set of some great brands and great tools.

There are two very popular hardware stores in Kuwait, Ace Hardware and Bin Nisf, but there are a ton of other smaller or more specialized stores in Kuwait which is mainly why I wanted to put this list together. There isn’t one store that carries everything so if you want to build a kit with the best of different brands you’re going to have to visit different locations. Below is a list of my favorite places that carry some great brands, most of them are only available in the stores they’re listed under. I’ll only be listing the brands I think are worth mentioning, for example, Bin Nisf carries a lot of brands but not many quality ones. Also, some brands like Bosch, Dewalt, Stanley, Makita, etc are sold in all hardware stores so I haven’t mentioned those as well. Check out the places below:

A friend of mine put this list together on Twitter of the various trends we’ve gone through over the years and I thought it was so on point!

2010: Year of the Cupcake
2011: Year of the Froyo
2012: Year of the Gelato
2013: Year of the Karak
2014: Year of the Pistachio
2015: Year of the Pudding
2016: Year of the Chicken Burger
2017: Year of the Lotus
2018: Year of the Coffee
2019: Year of the Healthy Diet Boxes
2020: Year of the Shawarma
2021: Year of the Matcha

The only thing missing is the San Sebastian cheesecake phase we went through back in 2018.

via @_M87

Books for Cancer is an online-based used bookshop run by girls where all the proceeds go to Al-Sidra foundation to help support cancer patients psychologically and financially. They carry mostly English books but also some Arabic ones and they sell both children’s books and adult books.

For more info check out their instagram account @booksforcancerkw or check out all the books on their website booksforcancerkw.com

Thanks Fahed

Last month I posted about a restaurant in Avenues that accept cryptocurrency as payment and now there are two more shops that accept crypto.

Outwest: The local lifestyle shop now accepts Bitcoin as payment

VI BY VOGULARITY: The local fashion label now accepts Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Ethereum as payment

Better Books: They have over 10,000 books including some really old ones and they accept Bitcoin as payment.

If you know of any other local shops that accept crypto let me know in the comments.