This has to be the first for Kuwait because I haven’t seen one like it here yet. Down the street from my place in Salmiya, right towards the end of the 4th Ring Road, they’re constructing a pedestrian bridge that uses escalators instead of your usual stairs. The pedestrian bridge is also covered so I’m guessing it will probably have airconditioning as well.
I find this odd because the area is pretty ghetto so it’s weird we’re getting such a fancy pedestrian bridge. Now I’m wondering if this has anything to do with the Metro plans. I know in the metro map (pictured above) there is meant to be a station in this area and there is plenty of room around this bridge for one as you can see in the map below. Could this be connected to it?
Back in September, they announced that part of Salem Al Mubarak Street was going to be turned into pedestrian only. I took the video above this morning right outside my apartment building to show you the current status, and as you can see the project has progressed considerably since my last post on the street.
My biggest issue with the project was that they had killed 25 trees on that street that had been there for over 50 years. They’ve now planted new palm trees instead which although is a nice gesture, palm trees just don’t offer any shade and can’t house as many birds as the older trees did. I really wished they had managed to keep those older trees.
In any case, the street is starting to shape up and I think they’re trying to have everything done by February 25th which right now seems unattainable.
But, a new issue is starting to pop up and that is gentrification. Because the street is getting fixed up, the value of real estate around it is also going up. My rent was already slightly increased since my building is suddenly now in a prime location, people are also now bidding on the empty stores in my building which previously nobody wanted. I’d really really hate it if my apartment rent goes up to the point where I’ll be priced out and be forced to move.
On the bright side, they haven’t sorted the parking issue in the area. Parking in my neighborhood has always been historically terrible and now they’ve gone and removed all the parking spots on the main street without adding any new ones. With this street facelift, we’re now going to have even a higher influx of people come into the area than before, so the parking situation will be even worse which is kinda great for me. Hopefully this parking mess is going to help keep the popularity of the area down to a reasonable level, which in return should keep my rent at a reasonable level.
Kuwait Motor Town is set to open next month and the logo for it has now been revealed. From the reactions I’ve been seeing, most people don’t like it mostly because it looks like the Kellogg’s Special K logo. Although I don’t really like the logo, I think its fine.
It’s not a great logo by any means, but compared to other F1 circuit logos below, I think things could have been a lot worse. I mean other than the Baku City Circuit logo and probably the Red Bull Ring, most of the logos are pretty terrible. If Mexico with all their super talented designers ended up with the horrible Autodromo logo pictured below, we’re pretty lucky to end up with our Kellogg’s Special K one.
If you’d like to see the full branding presentation of Kuwait Motor Town, click [Here] They’ve removed the work from their portfolio but you can still access it [Here]
Duckling is a new little restaurant that opened up a couple of days ago that specializes in duck. The place is pretty tiny with just 4 tables, but that’s because their main focus is going to be on delivery once they get on Carriage sometime within the coming week.
I visited with a friend and we ordered nearly everything on the menu but my favorites were probably the Dizzy Dough, which are homemade dumplings stuffed with duck meat, and the Quackola which is a pulled duck sandwich. This isn’t a fancy duck restaurant, it’s a small fast casual place run by a couple of guys who wanted to open a restaurant but didn’t want to open another burger joint. Prices are pretty reasonable but you’re going to need more than a sandwich to fill you up.
They’re not on Carriage yet but they will be soon. If you want to pass by them they’re open from 2PM to 11PM and they’re located right next to Kipco Tower in the city [Google Maps]. To stay posted on their delivery launch, just follow them on Instagram @duckling_kw
The picture above was emailed to me a few days ago by a reader who grew up in Kuwait in the 1950s. It was taken at the Anglo-American School in Ahmadi in the early 1950s. The headmistress was called Miss Ussher while he’s the little kid in the bottom right in the white shirt and shorts (Norman Young). Next to him are his classmates Ian Hickman, David Tristram and Marcia Brown.
Anyway, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted an old video of Kuwait, but they’re pretty hard to come by. I’ve decided to share two videos below, one is of Kuwait in 1977 while the other is of Kuwait in 1997. Is 1997 considered old? I’m not sure anymore. Below are the videos and their timelines in case you want to skip through them:
Kuwait – 1977
0:09 Old port
0:47 Al Sabah Hospital
1:12 Gold market (looks like Souk Mubarakiya)
1:50 Fahad Al Salem Street
2:20 Sheraton Hotel
2:25 Kuwait Towers under construction
2:33 Villas under construction
2:52 Arriving at persons home
3:50 Gas station
3:55 Car dealership
4:39 Gas station
Kuwait – 1997
0:00 Seaside – Bnied Al-Gar
1:27 Cityscape
2:45 Green Island and the sea
5:21 Old Salmiya
6:07 Al Salam Building
6:32 Old Salmiya
7:47 Hungry Bunny
8:32 Entertainment City
In case you didn’t watch the episode last April when it was first aired on HBO, VICE have released the episode “Fast Food of Arabia” that features Kuwait onto YouTube. Here is a summary of the episode:
As Americans become increasingly health-conscious and junk food sales plateau in the States, fast food companies are spreading to new global markets, expanding their revenue — and the waistlines of their customers.
VICE correspondent Gianna Toboni travels to Kuwait, now one of the most obese countries on the planet, to witness the health effects on a country deep in the throes of an unlikely obsession with U.S. fast food.
For my previous post on this episode, click [Here]
I’ve been watching a bunch of canceled comedies with a friend of mine and decided to list my favorite ones so far. Even though these shows were canceled after the first or second season, they’re still some of the funniest shows you can watch on TV. I think most actually got canceled because the stars on the show became too famous or moved on to bigger things, and not because they weren’t successful shows. Anyway, here are my recommendations:
Bored to Death
This show stars Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis and Ted Danson. Schwartzman’s plays the role of a struggling writer who gets dumped by his girlfriend and then decides to live a double life by pretending to be a private detective.
Hello Ladies
This show stars Stephen Merchant who many of you might not have heard of, but he collaborates a lot with Ricky Gervais and is the co-writer and co-director of The Office, Extras and Life’s Too Short. In this show, he plays the role of a British web designer living in Los Angeles trying to find the woman of his dreams.
Life’s Too Short
This show is written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and stars Warwick Davis. Warwick Davis plays a fictionalized version of himself, a struggling dwarf actor trying to find work. The show had a ton of cameos that included Liam Neeson, Johnny Depp, Steve Carell, Val Kilmer and even Right Said Fred.
Party Down
Starring Adam Scott from Parks & Recreation and the super funny Ken Marino (both pictured above). Party Down is about a bunch of actors who are trying to make it big but end up working as party caterers.
Burning Love
Burning Love is a parody of reality shows similar to the “The Bachelor” and is produced by Ben Stiller. The show features a ton of great comedians and a whole lot of cameos by famous actors incuding Kristen Bell, Jennifer Aniston, Ben Stiller and Adam Scott. The show also stars Ken Marino who plays the bachelor in the first season while the second season of the show stars the funny June Diane Raphael who plays the bachelorette.
I’ve always heard of counterfeit alcohol that’s bottled locally, but I think this is the first time I see how an operation looks like. The photos below have been making their rounds on WhatsApp and shows how dealers bottle and label bottles. Although the photos are being labeled as taken in Kuwait on WhatsApp, they’re actually from Saudi Arabia (the logo is of the Saudi National Guard).
One of the dangers of illegally obtaining alcohol is you never know what you’re really buying.
The IMPROVengers comedy night is back and taking place tonight. There are still seats available so if you’re looking for something to do tonight, I highly recommend this. Here is the list of all the events taking place this weekend:
A couple of days ago the Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre was inaugurated by the Emir and the event was broadcasted live on TV. In case you missed it, the ceremony is now available to watch on YouTube.
The cultural center will be open to the public later this month.
A couple of months back I attended a “Marine Mammals of Kuwait” seminar which focused mostly on dolphins and whales. It was kinda upsetting because it turns out we don’t have that much data on the whales and dolphins located in our waters. We don’t even have a proper database that archives sightings and we have too many local organizations that don’t seem to work or share data together. I actually had a huge rant I wrote right after attending the seminar but decided against posting it because I’m trying not to let shit like this get to me.
Sharks & Rays of the Arabian/Persian Gulf is a book I found out about after attending the seminar. I was sharing my frustration with a friend of mine and she told me about a Kuwaiti biologist who had a deep interest in sharks, so much so that she published this book that documents the sharks and rays in our waters. The book was only available on Amazon or The Palms dive center, so I didn’t end up picking it up until a few days ago when I found out that the book was now available at the Scientific Center gift shop.
The book costs KD10 with 60% of the income going to support sharks and rays research around the Arabian Peninsula. So if you care just a little bit, then you should really pick up a copy of this book.
I posted my first blog post ever exactly 15 years ago to this day. It wasn’t on 248AM, I launched that two years later, it was on another blog called qHate. Back then I was still living with my parents, I was piss-ass broke and didn’t really know anyone in Kuwait. Crazy how that was just 15 years ago since a lot has happened over that time. It’s kinda scary when I think about where I’ll be 15 years from now, probably in L.A. working in the electronics section of a Walmart would be my best bet.
My computer setup back in 2003
There are dates that represent important moments in my life, I was born in 1978, 1988 was my first trip to L.A., the Gulf War in 1990, graduating from high school in 96 and so on.
I’ve seen this building a bunch of times and always wondered what it was. The below was taken from archofkuwait:
Bait Ghaith Bin Abdullah Bin Yousif was built in the 1930s. It is located in Sharq, near the Museum of Modern Art, which was previously Al Sharqiah School for Girls.
Bait Ghaith is one of the old Kuwaiti houses and represents social, economic and cultural features of Kuwaiti society in the past. The house features an intertwined architectural layout typical of the original urban structures in old Kuwait City, particularly in terms of its empty space, its multifunctional features and the way it was built.
The house is located on a 280 sq.m. of land and was adjacent to several stores and houses including the Rashid Al Omer, Humoud Al Mutawa’, and Abdullah Al Madhi houses. The house of the late Ghaith Bin Abdullah Bin Yousif comprised a backyard, two rooms, a store, a bathroom, a kitchen and an upper room for his privacy. The house also contained a cistern to store water.
Ghaith bin Abdullah Bin Yousif was a merchant who used to buy goods and merchandise such as fruits, crates… etc. from ports and ship it to various countries by boats.
Today the Ghaith house maintains its characteristic architectural features, such as the wooden ceiling, the beams, and some of the wooden doors. In addition, the rooms still present the original construction of walls made of sea rocks. The National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters refurbished and maintained the building as an example of the old Kuwaiti architecture.
