2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Completed all the way back in 2003, the Villa Moda department store in the Free Trade Zone was way ahead of its time. The building still stands there today but isn’t currently being used although a few years ago I heard a TV station or newspaper was going to take it over.

The owner of Villa Moda was the fashion entrepreneur, Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah who had a vision for a state-of-the-art retail experience. The exterior was designed by Italian architect Pierfrancesco Cravel who came up with the idea of creating the giant glass shell that mimicked the shipping containers in the port nearby. The 12-meter high steel poles in front of the building represented ship masts while sails were used in the parking lot to protect vehicles from the sun.

When Tyler Brûlé, the founder of Wallpaper* magazine heard Sheikh Majed was developing a new department store for luxury brands in Kuwait, he recommended he work with the London based interior designers Eldridge Smerin.

Eldridge Smerin were responsible for the design of Villa Moda’s main entrance area and lounge, public spaces and staircases, two levels of multi-brand fashion space, restaurant and café managed by @capriceholdingsrestaurants, as well as the landscaping around the building.

Villa Moda opened its doors in 2003 housing brands like Gucci, Prada, Bottega Veneta, Salvatore Ferragamo, Fendi, Etro and more. The total duration of the project from conceptual design to construction completion was impressively, less than a year.

For more photos of Villa Moda click here.

The original Villa Moda is still standing and was also ahead of its time (pictured below). The original Villa Moda was located on the Gulf Road opposite where Chilis used to be. Not sure when it opened but I remember going there back in the 90s.

Update: This post has been updated with more precise information. Also the Villa Moda building has now been demolished.

Kuwait had one of the first Karting tracks in the region and was a pretty popular sport before the 1990 invasion. Back in the 80s the Gulf Championship, the Middle East Championship and the World Championship were all held in Kuwait at the karting track in Ahmadi. One of the former racers Graham Hobson sent me the video above featuring his team back then called GH Karting. Graham used to work for KOC between 1983 and 1986 but now lives in Australia.

The video is an hour-long so you can skim through it if you want. He’s got one more video he’ll be sending me and I’ll upload that as well once I get it.

Update: Just uploaded a better version of the video with better sound
Update2: Below is the second video of the Middle East Karting Cup that was held in Kuwait back in 1986.

Recently there have been photos circulating of what looks like new cop cars. Usually, this happens when the Ministry of Interior are looking for new cars for their fleet and different dealers provide them with test units. So far the two models I’ve seen are the Volvos (above) and the new Nissan Patrols (below). Not that crazy about the Patrols but the Volvos look hot.

Update: Here are better shots of the Patrol

Back in April, I decided to buy a security camera so I could monitor my front door. Whenever I was ordering food I was having the drivers leave it at the front door, and I was also doing the same with my courier deliveries. Instead of having my packages delivered to my office which was closed, I was having them drop it off home instead. Since I didn’t want to sit around the house all day waiting for the drivers, I’d sometimes be out of the house when they deliver so I just have them leave the package at the front door. That was really the main reason I decided I’d get a security camera, just in case a package went missing I could see what happened.

At first, I wanted to get the Ring Doorbell cam but while checking out Xcite’s inventory, I found out about the Ring Stick Up Cam Battery and I realized it would work better for me. The quality of the video was higher than the Ring Doorbell, the battery also lasted longer and it was also cheaper.

Because I was mounting the camera outside my apartment door I didn’t want to run any electrical wires. I needed something I could mount easily and run on battery for a very long time. The Stick Up cam came in two versions, a wired and a battery version with the battery version promising up to 5 months battery life on a single charge. Xcite was selling the camera for 35KD which is pretty close to the Amazon price which was 31KD not including tax or delivery, so I ordered it from them.

Setting up the camera is a fairly easy process as long as you have a wifi signal where you’re mounting the camera. I didn’t have a strong wifi signal so I just bought a cheap 6KD Wifi extender from Blink and solved that issue. The camera has many features and customizable options but the most important ones for me were auto recording on movement and the ability to connect to the camera at any time for a live feed. Actually, the most important feature is the long battery life and it’s been two months since I’ve charged the battery and it’s slightly below half right now which is pretty great especially since I was playing a lot with the camera when I first got it. The camera also has a mic and a speaker so I could if I wanted to, communicate with the person outside my door.

One important thing to note is that if you want to save the videos you need to have a subscription plan with Ring. The camera doesn’t have a built-in memory and needs Wifi to work. Any video it records would be automatically uploaded to the cloud if you have a subscription plan. If you don’t have a subscription, then the only thing you’ll be able to do with the camera is connect to it for a live video feed and thats about it. The subscription cost isn’t that bad really, I’m paying $30 a year which includes a 60-day video history and the ability to download and share the videos. If you have multiple cameras around the house they have another plan for $10 a month for all your home cameras.

Overall I really like the product and the ease of use. The ability to save 60 days of videos onto the cloud and be able to access them from an app or their website is super convenient. At 35KD it’s also fairly accessible and the non-battery version is even cheaper but obviously not as convenient. If you’re interested in getting the camera, as of this post Xcite still has them in stock.

Global research company OMDIA released a 5G Market Progress Assessment report which shows Kuwait ranked 2nd worldwide. The report was based on five different assessment criteria that included spectrum availability, service launches, network coverage, 5G adoption and the development of a supporting ecosystem. You can check out the full report here.

One of the best things I did was get 5G, it’s been incredibly fast and even during the lockdown when every internet connection slowed down, I was still getting over 400Mbps. On average though, my connection both at home (Salmiya) and in the office (Kuwait City) hovers at around 550-650Mbps.

If you have Amazon Prime Video here is a good show for you to binge-watch, Hunters. The show is based in the 70s and stars Al Pacino as a leader of a secret team of Nazi hunters. The first season is only 10 episodes long so you’ll be done over a few days.

Back in April, I posted about the difficult to find book “Aftermath: Kuwait, 1991“. Well here is a pretty bizarre thing that happened to me. As I mentioned in that post, when the book was published back in 1992 there were two editions, the French edition called “FAIT” and the English edition called “AFTERMATH”. I posted about the French version since that was the copy I was able to get a hold of, but before getting the French version, I tried to get the English one.

Because the books were printed in limited quantity, they’re incredibly difficult to find and the prices can range from 100-200KD depending on the condition of the book. But, back in October, I found a used bookstore in Turkey selling the English edition of the book for just 2.5KD. It didn’t make any sense and it sounded too good to be true but because it was only 2.5KD, I decided to buy it to see what I’d get. Even the “Books on Books” edition of the book cost at least 10KD, so worst case I would get that.

I bought the book from Turkey and had the seller mail it to my PostaPlus MyBox UK account. He gave me a tracking number and it showed that it was delivered a week later, but it never showed up in my account. I waited and waited and nothing. So I figured the seller must not have put my mailbox number on the package, it’s happened before so I got in touch with PostaPlus after waiting two months and was like hey, I have a package missing, I’m guessing the seller didn’t put the mailbox number, here is the tracking number can you see if you ever received it? They replied saying they hadn’t received a package with that tracking number. I was upset obviously because I had found this incredibly absurd deal on a rare book and now that book is lost.

I eventually forgot about the whole thing and a few months later found a reasonably priced French edition of the book and got that instead.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, out of nowhere, a package shows up in my mailbox marked as a DVD. Right away I realize it could be the book since it’s around the same size as a DVD case. Sure enough, nearly 8 months after buying the book it finally got delivered to me last week!

I somehow managed to get AFTERMATH for just 2.5KD which is incredible, and now I have both language editions of this hard to find book. So here is life pro tip, ALWAYS make sure you and the seller put your forwarding mailbox number in the address.

Since I joined my gym (X Athletic) 10 years ago, this is the longest I’ve gone without gymming. With the new government 5 stage plan to normality, it’s also going to be at least 3-4 more months before gyms are allowed to reopen. That’s why this weekend I caved and ended up renting some gym equipment.

A friend had shared a story on their Instagram account about her gym renting out equipment. They had two packages, one that included dumbells, kettlebell, skipping rope, a mat and a cardio machine for 175KD a month, and another which included a bar with weights and a bench for 100KD a month. Both options weren’t cheap, but I was desperate.

I tried finding equipment to buy but everything was just absurdly overpriced. For example, I found a pair of 22.5KG dumbbells for 90KD, an adjustable bench for 320KD and a barbell without any weights for 90KD. None of it made any sense financially, so I decided I’d just rent for now. I figured I’d try the home workout thing without investing too much money, and if I liked it, I could then take my time looking for gym equipment.

So if you’re looking for a place to rent equipment from, I got mine from Elite Fitness. You can DM them on Instagram @elitefitnesskw or Whatsapp Anthony directly on 60603720.

Gym 37 also have rentals but they only have heavy equipment remaining and so I didn’t ask about their prices. You could DM them @gym37kw to check. Let me know if there are any other places renting and I’ll also list them below.

The post office has been closed since the start of the pandemic but it looks like they’ll finally be opening up on June 21st.

Even once open expect a delay in getting your package since they’ll have quite a backlog to go through. I saw the video above yesterday which is exactly how I picture our mail sorting facility on the first day of reopening.

Private couriers are also struggling with a backlog of orders while being understaffed, so be patient with them as well.

😔

Starting from June 6th, anybody whose driving license expired and renewed it online will be able to pick up their new one from the kiosks at Al-Naser Sport Club in Ardiya. They are open from 8AM to 5PM and here is the location on Google Maps.

source

I just took out my Alfa for a quick drive expecting the weather to be hot but surprisingly, it was great! I was initially going to just drive around the block but ended up driving all the way to the city via the Gulf Road. Would have kept going if it wasn’t close to curfew time.

I don’t think it’s always been like this. Back when I had a convertible I used to tell people you could drive it with the roof down 6 months a year. I’m going to have to revise that number since I’ve been driving my Alfa since mid-October. That’s nearly 8 months if I got the maths right. Obviously it’s too hot during the day but 5 onwards it’s really doable, I didn’t even break a sweat!

So if you’ve ever considered getting a convertible or a classic car but dismissed the idea because you figured you couldn’t drive it for most of the year, well, now you know you can.

The first day after lockdown I was REALLY craving french fries and burgers. I rarely ever have fries on a regular day but I must have been watching something on YouTube or seen a photo somewhere that made me really want fries (I’m that easy). I was craving Wachamean and although I couldn’t have it on the first day, I finally did yesterday and it was incredible, I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed fries as much as I did yesterday.

Wachamean like a lot of places now has introduced a carhop service which I’m a big fan of. I love drive-thru and carhop services, not because I’m lazy, but because I love eating in my car while watching YouTube videos. It’s a habit I picked up from my uni days although we didn’t have YouTube back then, or even internet on our phones. My other favorite burger place BBT (pictured on top) also has carhop so I’m passing by them today for lunch.

The quickest way to get your food during this pandemic is using these car services since delivery platforms are struggling with a shortage of drivers. Getting the food yourself also helps out the restaurants since they don’t have to pay the delivery apps their 20-30% commission fees. So not only is it faster to get the food yourself, but you also help out the restaurant that way so keep that in mind the next time you feel like eating out.

So what did you end up ordering?

After this past weekends press conference with the announcement of the 5-stage plan to recovery, there were many things left unclear, and some things that were just plain confusing. A lot of you had questions which is understandable.

Language Barrier
This is something I’ve already mentioned before. The majority of the messages shared right now are only shared in Arabic. The biggest issue with this is other than the fact a large part of society isn’t getting the messages, it results in a lot of fake news being shared with no way to verify if it’s true or not. It’s not that difficult to get stuff translated and information shouldn’t just be translated to English either since a lot of the low-income workers read neither English nor Arabic.

Too Many Channels
Another issue I think is how the information is being shared across multiple channels. There isn’t one official source where you can check to get all the Covid-19 related announcements, laws, and whatever. Right now there are around 6 different official Instagram accounts but they also share different information across their different channels. So you might find something on the Twitter account that’s not on their Instagram account, or you might find something on their Facebook page which is neither on the Twitter or Instagram pages. So not only do you need to follow all the Instagram accounts but also all their other social media channels as well just to make sure you’re getting everything. And that’s if you speak Arabic, if you don’t then you have to rely on random Instagram accounts or google translate newspapers.

My Blog
Which brings me to my main subject, the blog. Anybody who knows me personally knows that I love knowledge. I want to and need to know everything and I’m always curious which is why I’ve had no trouble finding content to post daily for the past 15+ years. I also love sharing and during this crisis, I realized there was a demand for information in English so I naturally started helping people by posting all the information in English so everyone knows whats going on. It’s a role I took on because nobody else was doing it right. But then the questions started rolling in. People had questions and they were coming to me because nobody else was answering it for them. The official accounts seem to ignore questions and so people had nowhere to go except blogs like mine or places like Reddit to try and get answers.

But this past weekend people had A LOT of questions after the press conference especially those who were either in locked-down areas or areas that were going to be locked down. I didn’t have any answers and the questions kept coming in and in. Add to that the angry and frustrated comments people were leaving and the Kuwait vs Expats arguments that were taking place and I just couldn’t take it anymore. I ended up closing down a number of posts for comments but then people started emailing me questions or direct messaging me on Instagram and Twitter. With everything that’s going on right now, I don’t need this anxiety.

It’s not my job to translate news to English or answer questions about area lockdowns or know if you’ll still be able to take your wife to the hospital. I’m sorry, but I don’t have any of these answers. I wish I did but to answer your questions I have to sift through various information all in a language I can barely read to try and make sense of things that don’t make sense.

So I’m no longer gonna do this. I’m going back to posting about things I find interesting no matter how superficial it might feel reading about a burger review with everything going on in the world. But that’s what my blog has always been about, just random shit I think is interesting to share. Happy Stuff.

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The local band Galaxy Juice just released a new track and it’s their first one in Arabic. The track is called “Subiya” (الصبية) which is the name of a desert in Kuwait located by the sea. The song is from their upcoming album, “Galaxy Juice and the Forty Thieves”.

For more music by local artists click here.