2:48AM – Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Did you Outbid me on the Harvey Lloyd Slides?

Over the weekend I got outbid on some Harvey Llyod slides of Kuwait dating back to 1979. They were being sold as part of an estate find and according to the seller, there were 180 film slides of Kuwait covering a wide range of subjects. I didn’t think anyone would be interested in them but I ended up getting outbid on them by someone I’m guessing is some kind of collector in Kuwait since their bidding history involves a lot of old Kuwait stamps.

So in case whoever won these slides reads my blog, can you please get in touch with me? I was planning to scan all the slides and share them here so maybe we can still do that.

7 Comments on Did you Outbid me on the Harvey Lloyd Slides?

Coronavirus Food & Drinks

No More Coffee Pickup or Drive-thru

Post date March 29, 2020
16 Comments on No More Coffee Pickup or Drive-thru

Yesterday the Kuwait Municipality announced that starting today you can only get your coffee delivered. Up until yesterday you could still pick up a coffee from your favorite coffee shop or use their drive-thru service. I’m guessing the reason behind this decision is that having your morning coffee isn’t considered essential and so no reason for you to leave the house or wait in a busy line just to get it. On the bright side, most coffee shops are now on the delivery apps and Arabica have started delivering hot coffees as well.

16 Comments on No More Coffee Pickup or Drive-thru

Coronavirus

Don’t Spread Rumors

Post date March 26, 2020
7 Comments on Don’t Spread Rumors

Don’t spread the rumors
Follow government and official sources#rumors #kuwait #socialmedia #moikuwait pic.twitter.com/Xg6np9RCyy

— MOI – وزارة الإعلام (@MOInformation) March 25, 2020

7 Comments on Don’t Spread Rumors

Coronavirus

Decreases in Kuwait Coronavirus Cases

Post date March 26, 2020
24 Comments on Decreases in Kuwait Coronavirus Cases

I’ve been checking Kuwait’s official COVID 19 website daily to monitor the number of Coronavirus cases that get published daily and just a few moments ago they published that there were 0 new cases to report. It had already been on a decline for the past few days and I really hope we continue at this pace. Also:

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus on Wednesday commended Kuwait’s response to the novel coronavirus, especially in view of transparency and reporting.

Speaking to KUNA, Ghebreyesus also lauded Kuwait’s close coordination with the WHO over the fight against the virus, known as COVID-19, pointing out the role of the organization’s regional office in this regard.

He said the Kuwaiti government has a long experience in controlling respiratory malfunctions, citing its response to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) as a relevant unequivocal paradigm. Source

I really hope people don’t start thinking everything is OK now. I’ve noticed a lot more people out during the day and I’m worried this is gonna cause the number of cases to increase again or stricter rules being put in place. The local influencer Concept15 had a funny but serious bit on Snapchat the other day (video above) where he talks about how people are treating the situation like Ramadan, where you can do whatever you want before 5 and then after 5 you avoid Corona. We’re going to end up in a full 24-hour curfew at this rate. Stay at home people it’s not a vacation…

Update: They reupdated the website again and it now shows 13 new cases not 0 🙁

24 Comments on Decreases in Kuwait Coronavirus Cases

Coronavirus Music

Stay Home from JACC

Post date March 26, 2020
3 Comments on Stay Home from JACC

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by مركز الشيخ جابر الأحمد الثقافي (@jacc_kw) on Mar 25, 2020 at 11:11am PDT

The song above was created for JACC by a bunch of local musicians whom played their parts individually while in isolation in their homes.

3 Comments on Stay Home from JACC

Kuwait

Ice Skating Rink Being Torn Down

Post date March 25, 2020
17 Comments on Ice Skating Rink Being Torn Down

This is really sad.

via @MohammadKAlJass

17 Comments on Ice Skating Rink Being Torn Down

Coronavirus

Some Co-op’s Allowing Kuwaitis to Skip the Long Lines

A couple of days ago my friend was telling me that she went to her local Co-op and spotted the chairs outside with people sitting and waiting to get in. So she went up to the guy in charge and asked him where she should wait. He then asked her if she was Kuwaiti and when she said yes he told her she didn’t have to wait and they let her in. This morning I read a post on reddit about a similar situation where they were also letting Kuwaitis enter without having to wait in line while expats were forced to wait. It doesn’t seem to be happening at all co-ops but it’s still pretty messed up that it’s even happening. It’s like every time I feel like the rift between expats and locals closes, something like this happens to open it up again.

75 Comments on Some Co-op’s Allowing Kuwaitis to Skip the Long Lines

Coronavirus

Undercover Cops Patrolling the Curfew

Post date March 23, 2020
39 Comments on Undercover Cops Patrolling the Curfew

I was out on the balcony awhile ago during the curfew because there was a loud noise down the street. A large group of people were yelling Allahu Akbar (out their windows I’m guessing) so I took out my phone to try and record it when I noticed an undercover cop car coming down the street. I had seen three guys standing under their building so I knew things might get interesting and decided to record the cops. As expected they ended up spotting and then catching the guys.

They didn’t arrest them, they let them go but not sure if they gave them a warning or took their ID cards or something. It’s pretty cool to see my back streets being patrolled during the curfew and with unmarked vehicles which is pretty smart.

39 Comments on Undercover Cops Patrolling the Curfew

Coronavirus

The Curfew isn’t that Bad Actually

Post date March 23, 2020
17 Comments on The Curfew isn’t that Bad Actually

So yesterday was the first day of the curfew and it actually wasn’t bad at all. I live in a commercial area of Salmiya so it’s always busy with people out and about and cars always backed up on my street. It’s generally fairly noisy but not last night. Last night my neighborhood was very quiet which made me realize, this is probably how it feels like living in a normal residential area. I’ve not really experienced that since I’ve lived on the exact same busy street all my life so it was a nice change.

The best part of the evening was getting videos on Whatsapp of cops pulling people over who were out past the curfew. I took a bunch of those videos and clipped them all together so you can check them out above. I also added a funny one at the end.

Another thing I enjoyed doing was watching videos people were taking of the empty streets from their balcony. It would have been cool if we had live street webcams but since we don’t you could use the “Snap Map” feature in Snapchat instead. A few people also flew their drones yesterday to capture video of this never before seen situation like the one below.

لقطات من الساعات الأولى لحظر التجول الجزئي في الكويت#كورونا_في_الكويت pic.twitter.com/2iGN1THiQH

— Dhari Al-Sarraf (@DhariAlSarraf) March 22, 2020

Overall not bad for Day 1, now just 21 days to go.

17 Comments on The Curfew isn’t that Bad Actually

Coronavirus

Photo: Scene Outside a Co-op

Post date March 22, 2020
13 Comments on Photo: Scene Outside a Co-op

As part of the new safety measures, they’re limiting the number of people inside co-op’s at any one time, and every customer will also have their temperature taken at the entrance. The picture above was taken at the Mishref Co-op where they’ve set up chairs outside for customers waiting to enter the supermarket.

13 Comments on Photo: Scene Outside a Co-op

Coronavirus

The Curfew is Gonna Suck

Post date March 22, 2020
65 Comments on The Curfew is Gonna Suck

I know why they implemented a curfew for us, I think it’s great that they did, but it’s still gonna suck. For someone who is usually constantly out and about, since the public holiday started I’ve spent 99% of my time at home working during my work hours and then playing videogames and watching TV for the rest of the day.

But, whenever I felt like I needed to reset, I’d hop in my car and just go for a long drive. Now I won’t have that freedom anymore. It sounds like something small, but it was my way of coping with the whole thing and it helped me not feel like I was stuck at home.

Like with everyone (I’m assuming), it’s been pretty difficult having to adjust to this new lifestyle. My eating habits have changed, I no longer exercise, I don’t see people and now I’ve got three more weeks of this left at least. I’m gonna end up like Tom Hanks in Castaway at this pace.

How is everyone else coping with all this? Are some of you still going in to work or is everyone now working from home?

65 Comments on The Curfew is Gonna Suck

Coronavirus Shopping

Qortoba Co-op Shopping Carts

Post date March 19, 2020
10 Comments on Qortoba Co-op Shopping Carts

Qortoba Co-op are sterilizing all the shopping carts after use and then covering the handles with a plastic seal. I love how everyone is adapting to the current situation and fairly quickly too.

Thanks Aisha

10 Comments on Qortoba Co-op Shopping Carts

Coronavirus Kuwait

On the bright side…

Post date March 19, 2020
6 Comments on On the bright side…

Because there are fewer people on the roads and fewer factories working right now, the air quality in Kuwait has to be the best I’ve ever seen compared to 358 “Hazardous” which was the highest I’ve seen it reach. Source

6 Comments on On the bright side…

Coronavirus Food & Drinks

Support the Restaurant Industry

Post date March 18, 2020
68 Comments on Support the Restaurant Industry

A lot of you don’t know this but for the past two and a half years I’ve been working in the restaurant industry. It’s a really challenging field and I’m working harder than I have ever done but I’m also loving every minute of it. Right now the restaurant industry all over the world is facing a major crisis. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of restaurants have had to stop operating dine-in and those who offer delivery have had their sales drop considerably.

I’m still ordering food in as I usually do and in the rare occasion when I need to get out of the house, I’m going and picking up the food myself. But, a lot of people have stopped ordering and that’s really hurting restaurants (of all sizes). I’m trying to do my part in trying to support local restaurants and with the number of discounts and offers right now it’s a good time to be a customer. Below are some of my favorite places which I’m supporting:

Delivery
Abby Shawaya – Best pulled chicken sandwiches (musa7ab)*
China Kitchen – My favorite neighborhood Chinese restaurant
CHKN – Best fried chicken sandwiches in the world* (I’m serious)
Clean Eats – My favorite vegan restaurant
Enab Beirut – They’re one of my favorite Lebanese delivery places
Frankies – One of the hottest breakfast spots in town now delivers
KAU – One of my favorite burger places right now (order the truffle burger)
Lavan – My favorite Indian restaurant now also deliver
Momo Zaa – The Bhutanese dumpling place now deliver
Leila Min Lebnen – My other favorite Lebanese restaurant
Lucky Bun – Another favorite burger place (order the Ooh Mami with an extra patty)
Madison & Heig – Probably the best bakery in town right now
Roto – Delicious wood-fired rotisserie chicken
Rustic Thai Kitchen – Authentic and delicious Thai food
Tampopo – Best Ramen in town easily!
Vigonovo – Still my favorite Italian restaurant in Kuwait
Wachamean – Order the Wacha Burger with an extra patty

Pick up
BBT – I love this tiny burger place
Shawarma Shakir – Their spicy meat shawerma is the best

You can also support your favorite restaurants by following them on instagram and writing reviews about them. If you have a favorite little place you want to support, let us know about them in the comments below and what kind of food they serve.

*One of the brands I work for

68 Comments on Support the Restaurant Industry

Shopping

Kuwait Shopping Websites (2020 List)

Post date March 17, 2020
208 Comments on Kuwait Shopping Websites (2020 List)

Because everyone is trying to stay at home right now, I realized it was the perfect time to post an updated version of my local shopping websites list. I’m sure I’ve missed a few so if there are any local websites which you think I should add, let me know in the comments.

Categories (click link to jump to the section)
Babies / Children
Beauty / Self Care
Books
Car Accessories
Coffee
Computers
Electronics
Fashion
Flowers / Perfume
Food Products
Furniture
Hardware
Hobbies
Homeware / Kitchenware
Lifestyle / Accessories
Music
Pets
Pharmacies
Phones & Accessories
Photography / Video
Plants and Garden Supplies
Sports
Stationary
Supermarkets
Toys / Board Games
Video Games
Other