2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Yesterday, the Environment Public Authority reopened the Jahra Nature Reserve to the public for the winter season. The reserve is considered to be the first eco-tourism project in Kuwait with the aim of increasing environmental awareness and appreciating the landscape.

Since it’s a reserve, visits are guided, and you’ll only have access to selected areas, with no wandering off on your own.The reserve has three observation outposts, and you’ll need to select one when booking your visit. Each visit is limited to an hour and a half.

The cost of visiting the reserve is KD10 for a group of up to 5 people, and increases the larger your group is. If you’re interested in visiting the nature reserve, you can book through the Sahel App, or through the EPA website.

Lots of events and markets taking place this weekend, below are my favorite ones.

Thursday, November 28
Snow White Pantomime
Murouj Market
Turbo Nights Car Show
Bogsha Market at Green Island
Long Live the Olive Tree Festival
Threads of Resilience Palestinian Exhibition

Friday, November 29
DAI Fall Festival & Market
Murouj Market
Turbo Nights Car Show
Bogsha Market at Green Island
Jazz Cafe Live
Long Live the Olive Tree Festival
Wellness Weekend & Market
Threads of Resilience Palestinian Exhibition

Saturday, November 30
Murouj Market
Turbo Nights Car Show
Bogsha Market at Green Island
Wellness Weekend & Market
Threads of Resilience Palestinian Exhibition
Shakshooka Market

What a week of shows, I watched both Silo and the new Dune: Prophecy this past week and damn both are so good, Dune especially, and especially especially Travis Fimmel, Ragnar from Vikings who I feel is playing the exact same whacky/crazy character but in Dune and I love it.

I was also sick earlier this week so ended up binge watching Elsbeth and Matlock. Both shows pretty similar kinda. I used to watch the old show Matlock so was curious how I’d find the new one and surprisingly it wasn’t too bad. Had fun binge watching all the episodes up to the latest one.

Let me know in the comments what you recently watched or planning to watch.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Week:
Black Cab (4.1)
Day of the Fight (6.7)
Elevation (5.6)
Here (6.2)
Moana 2 (7.1)

Other Movies Showing:
12 Angry Men (classic) (9.0)
Gladiator II (7.0)
Panda Plan (6.1)
Red One (6.7)
The Well (5.1)
The Wild Robot (8.2)
Venom: The Last Dance (6.3)

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

The popular Marina Hotel Kashta is back for a new season! Known for its beautiful location, charming setup, and wide range of amenities, it has become a favorite among guests over the years.

The kashta setup is located right on the beach, offering a breathtaking backdrop of Kuwait City and a serene view of the open sea.

You can book one of two daily sessions, the Sunset Kashta runs from 4 PM to 7 PM, and the Dinner Kashta from 7:30 PM to 11 PM. Each session offers a unique experience with different packages and prices:

Sunset Kashta
Time: 4PM to 7PM
Includes: A set menu with salad, pizza, sandwiches, fries, desserts, and a selection of cold and hot drinks.
Price: 14KD per person

Evening Kashta
Time: 7:30PM to 11PM
Includes: A buffet and live stations featuring salad, soup, pizza, pasta, vegetable biryani, shawarma, BBQ grills, fries, desserts, and a selection of cold and hot drinks.
Price: KD20 per person

They also offer private cabanas for groups of at least 5 people.

For bookings, visit the link in the @marinahotelkwt bio or call 60074802.

I had to take down my last post because it upset some important people involved in the event. At this point in my life, I don’t have the energy for unnecessary arguments, so I decided it’s best to move on.

Thanks for your understanding, and I appreciate your continued support.

The Kuwait Motor Town racetrack is now open again to cyclists every Monday and Tuesday, and it’s free.

The track is 5.6KM long but has 3 different configurations, each a different length so you can pick and choose which part of the track you want to ride on. The track isn’t flat but has elevations which makes for a more fun ride.

There are a number of advantages to cycling at the racetrack over lets say the Gulf Road bike path. For one, you won’t have to dodge stray cats or pedestrians, it’s also a lot more chill of an experience because it’s empty and very quiet. There usually aren’t that many riders at the track and even if there are, there is plenty of room for everyone. You could have your headphones on playing music and not have to worry about another cyclist coming up behind you because the track is so wide making it very easy to overtake.

The track is beautiful at sunset, but even after the sun goes down, you can keep riding under the track lights.

If you want to try riding at the track, they open to the public from 4PM to 8PM on Mondays and Tuesdays. It’s free and doesn’t even require registration, just get to the track, park your car and then ride into the racetrack. There is a security guard there with a sign in sheet, just put your name and number and continue onto the track. The only requirement is a helmet. Also note, you can’t bring rollerblades, scooters or skateboards onto the track, but if you want to walk, jog, or run around the track you can. They also don’t rent bikes at the track, it’s BYOB.

If you don’t know where the track is, here is the location on Google Maps. To stay posted on KMT activities and events, head over to @kmtkw

Al Waseet Pools has been Kuwait’s leading swimming pool company for over 40 years. As Kuwait’s first pool specialists, they have built a legacy of trust, becoming the go-to name for everything swimming pools.

Recently, Al Waseet completed an exciting new project, a slight departure from their usual work, they installed the largest hydrotherapy pool in Kuwait.

Hydrotherapy swimming pools are specialized pools designed for therapeutic exercises and relaxation, commonly used for physical rehabilitation, pain relief, and stress reduction. These pools are usually heated to a comfortable, consistent temperature which helps to relax muscles and improve circulation. The water buoyancy reduces the weight and strain on joints, making it easier and less painful to perform exercises and movements, which is especially beneficial for people with conditions like arthritis, back pain, or mobility issues.

The hydrotherapy pool was installed at the Retirees Wellness Center, Thukher, part of The Public Institution for Social Security. It features state-of-the-art aquatic therapy equipment, including underwater treadmills and bikes, resistance jet technology, support bars, handrails, and more.

This is a project they’re especially proud of, given the benefits it will bring to retirees. For more information on Al Waseet, or if you’re considering a pool for your home or a maintenance contract, visit their Instagram account @waseetpools or website waseetpools.com

Found these two photos in an Aramco Magazine from 1969 with the following caption:

The young, tiny state of Kuwait has an ambitious program of special education for the handicapped. The Blind may complete a program of arithmatic and reading and writing in braille with training in leather work or manufacturing wicker furniture.

Made me wonder if we have a similar program today.

Photos by Khalil Abou El Nasr

Khalifouh Village\ is a Kuwaiti heritage village which is owned and built by the popular Kuwaiti actor, Khalifa Khalifouh.

Khalifa worked on various TV shows featuring old Kuwaiti villages and was unhappy with the quality of workmanship in the show-built sets, so he decided to build one himself. Khalifouh Village was designed and built to resemble a real village, complete with a mosque, a bakery, a tea shop, a theater, and a main square.

The village offers a lot of cool photography opportunities, and if you have kids then they’ll love running around exploring the space.

The village which is located in Wafra is reopening again on weekends starting from this Friday. Opening hours will be 1PM to 9PM and for more info you can check out their account @khalifouhvillage and here is the location on Google Maps.

via @salmaninho

In celebration of 125 years of Kuwaiti-British friendship, JACC is hosting British Film Week as part of their November program. Running from November 25 to 28, two British movies will be screened each day and includes classics like the iconic James Bond ‘Goldfinger’ and family favorite, ‘Paddington’.

If you’re into cars then you might be interested to know that the Aston Martin DB5 that actually appeared in the movie Goldfinger will also be displayed at JACC.

Tickets cost 3KD and can be booked through the JACC website, for the full schedule and more info, head over to jacc-kw.com

Thanksgiving is coming up so I’ve put together two lists, one of restaurants that are serving Thanksgiving dinner, and the other of restaurants that have Thanksgiving dinners to take home. Last year there were more options for dine-in but this year, as of now, it looks like it’s only Radisson Blu. Update: More dine-in options have been added.

If there is a place you know serving Thanksgiving dinner that I haven’t listed, let me know so I can add it to the list:

Dine-In
Little Ruby’s
Radisson Blu
Santolina at SVN (for members and their guests)

Take-Out
Baker & Spice
Dean & Deluca
Four Seasons Hotel
Little Deli
Madison & Heig
Monoprix
Paul
Radisson Blu
Santolina at SVN
Sawsan
Sultan Center
Symphony Style Hotel

A couple of days ago, the Erab International Festival, the largest equestrian event in Kuwait, kicked off. This year, the festival is even bigger, running for 10 days from November 21 to November 30.

The festival features four main equestrian shows:

• Working Equitation
• Sword & Tent Pegging
• Dressage
• Arabian Horses Pageant

In addition to the equestrian shows, there’s a wide variety of entertainment for both adults and children. The organizers have brought in three street performers from Covent Garden in the UK to perform throughout the festival. These are the same talented performers you might have seen while wandering around Covent Garden, now here in Kuwait for this event.

In addition to the Covent Garden performers, the festival features food stalls, a mini zoo, various VR experiences, and even a comedy show.

The event is being held at the Bait Al-Arab Stables near Murouj and runs daily from 3 PM to 10 PM. For tickets and the full schedule, visit erabfestival.com

When the M1 iMac came out back in 2021, I bought one with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive. It was fast, especially after moving up from an old Intel-Mac iMac. More than 3 years later the iMac was still great, I never felt it was slow and really didn’t have any issues with it except for two things:

• The color no longer suited my apartment. I went through a major redesign last year and the green iMac wasn’t working in my space.

• The second issue I had was with the hard drive, 1TB wasn’t enough anymore and I kept running out of space. I couldn’t solve it with an external drive since majority of the space was taken up with my Photos library. I thought about moving it to an external drive but I read I would end up with issues which I didn’t want to risk or deal with.

I was also honestly looking for an excuse to pick up the Mac Studio, I loved the way it looked and just wanted to have one. I kept building a Mac Studio hoping I’d eventually pull the trigger but I kept hesitating and eventually knew I was too late to buy one since it was due for an M3 or M4 upgrade. I stayed patient and then the M4 Mac mini was announced.

It looked like the Mac Studio, but was a lot more smaller and much more cheaper. So I pulled the trigger and bought one.

Initially I wanted to get the Mac mini with the M4 Pro chip, but after realizing how much upgrading to 2TB was going to cost me, I decided not to go with the Pro. I never had a speed issue with my M1, and from what I read about the M4 Pro, I wouldn’t really benefit much from it anyway so to save some money I decided to stick to the “regular” M4. I ended up upgrading the RAM from 16GB to 24GB, and the hard drive to 2TB. The hard drive upgrade cost me $800! That’s more than the cost of the Mac mini by quite a bit. It’s crazy, but I guess that’s how Apple manages to set the entry price of the Mac mini so low, they make up for it with the upgrades. $200 to go from 16GB to 24GB RAM, and $800 to go from a 256GB hard drive to a 2TB one. $1,000 worth of upgrades on a $600 computer!

But, overall it was still a lot cheaper than the Mac Studio I had been building on the Apple website for months now which is why I still pulled the trigger.

I ended up buying the Apple Display from Xcite since they were selling it for KD499, similar price to apple.com not including tax or shipping. Once you include tax and shipping the price shoots up much higher than Xcite. You can find the display cheaper on Amazon but even then, once you add tax and shipping the price ends up being similar to Xcite.

Now that I have everything installed and running I really love my new setup. The Mac mini is really small and doesn’t take up much space on my desk. The Apple display is big and beautiful as well, it’s not much bigger than the iMac screen (24″ vs 27″), but it does give me much more room to have two windows open side by side comfortably. It also expands my USB-C ports by an additional 4 ports, and has a Mic built in which is great since the Mac mini doesn’t have a mic.

Having 2TB is probably the biggest relief since I don’t have anxiety about running out of space and this should last a pretty long time with me since I don’t really store any large video files or anything of the sort on my iMac, just my photos which are around 600GB, and work and blog related files which are less than 300GB.

The only negative I have with the Mac mini is that the headphone jack is on the front which means if I want to physically connect them to my speakers I need to have a wire running out the front. I have KEF LSX speakers next to my display and with my previous iMac I ran them over Bluetooth. But it isn’t very reliable as in every few days the speakers lose sync with the video on my Mac and I need to disconnect and reconnect to get them to sync again. With the Mac mini I was hoping to connect them with an optical out or audio out but from the back. I have a USB-C to headphone jack adapter but decided to get a USB-C to optical out and ordered one from Amazon. But I now have another issue, the adapter I got doesn’t support volume control from the Mac so that’s around 15KD wasted and I either need to find another optical out that supports volume control, or just give in and use my USB-C to headphone jack and connect the speakers that way.

But other than that I don’t have any complaints, and no regrets with my purchase either!

This is a collaboration we didn’t know we needed. CAF and KDD have come together to bring a new drink called the Chocolate Latte. The drink combines everyone’s favorite KDD Chocolate Milk with CAF’s signature coffee and is available as hot or iced.

This isn’t the first time CAF has collaborated with KDD. Their first partnership in 2016 featured the KDD Ice Cream Sandwich, and to date, over 2 million of them have been used.

The new Chocolate Latte is available today in all 21 CAF branches. @cafcafe

Silo is back for season 2 and that was pretty much the only new thing I watched this week. Other than that been busy catching up on shows. I finally caught up on Clarkson’s Farm and currently nearly done with High Potential and The Artful Dodger. I traveled this week so haven’t watched that much television.

Let me know in the comments what you recently watched or planning to watch.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Week:
12 Angry Men (classic) (9.0)
The Well (5.1)

Other Movies Showing:
Canary Black (5.3)
Gladiator II (7.0)
Panda Plan (6.1)
Red One (6.7)
Smile 2 (7.1)
Terrifier 3 (6.7)
The Wild Robot (8.2)
Venom: The Last Dance (6.3)

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