A few pictures have been uploaded online by the company fabricating some of the wildlife that will be placed inside the Natural History Museum at the soon to open Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre, and they look really really good.
The other day I said you could see what looks like a shark hanging on display while driving by on the Gulf Road, turns out its a primitive whale (a Basilosaurus, pictured above).
The Quetzalcoatlus pictured above even got featured in the November issue of National Geographic! [Link]
Yesterday some drone photos of the Kuwait Motor Town race circuit were floating around on WhatsApp. Not sure why I didn’t think of going there and taking a drone photo of the circuit myself since Google Maps really hasn’t updated the view since construction started. These drone photos, on the other hand, show that a lot of progress has been made and that the hardest part of the construction, the paving of the track asphalt is basically done. You can also see the dragstrips in the photos as well as the grand stands under construction.
The first phase of the Kuwait Motor Town Race Circuit is targetted to open by the end of March, I’m hoping that’s still on track. I’m so excited!
If I was stuck on an island and could choose to have one dessert with me, it would probably be an eclair (or a Kinder Bueno). It’s one of my favorite desserts and I recently found a place in Kuwait that had a good variety of eclairs to choose from as well as millefeuilles. The place is called Millesaveurs and until a few moments ago I thought it was a French franchise. But, while trying to get some information for this post I realized its actually local creation. I haven’t tried anything other than their pastries so can’t recommend the food, but what I can say though is that their eclairs are pretty good and you should try them out if you’re an eclair fan. Their packaging is also pretty premium looking and presentable so it would make a great gift when invited to dinners.
If you’re interested, Millesaveurs is located in the basement of Crystal Towers but they’re also available on Carriage. Their instagram account is @millesaveurskwt
Later today some parts of highway 50 and the 5th ring road will be closing down due to the GCC Summit. There are expectations that the closures will result in traffic chaos, but as of 9AM, there seems to be less traffic than usual. This will probably change once the roads close down at noon, but not a bad start to the day.
Update: A reader made me realize that at 12PM Google updated the map of Kuwait to highlight the closed roads. Impressive.
Madison & Heig which I posted about back in September have finally opened up their doors. Madison & Heig is a locally created bistro and bakery with the main menu created by @chefbasmah, and the desserts by @faysbaking, both of whom are super talented chefs. They’re currently in their soft launch phase so they’re only open from 5PM to 11PM.
For photos and the exact address, you can check out the Madison & Heig instagram account [Here]
Refit is a local app that allows you to connect with various freelance fitness trainers in Kuwait. Say you want to learn how to box or how to play basketball, or maybe you just want to get fit, then you’d use this app to find a suitable trainer.
To find a trainer all you need to do is open the app, find the sport you’re interested in and then go through the list of the available trainers and book an appointment. You could also use the app to purchase supplements of healthy snacks.
Right now the app doesn’t have that many trainers to choose from but the more popular it gets the more trainers would sign up to it. The app is available on iOS and if you’re interested, you can download it from [Here]
The Cinemagics rooftop screenings are now back again after a long hiatus. During the time off they upgraded a few things including the cinema screen which is now larger than their older inflatable screen. The new screen is also permanently fixed and so will improve the overall image quality of the projected films. They also removed the bulky inflatable couches and replaced them with more compact and comfortable bean bags. This also means their roof can now fit up to 100 people comfortably.
The screenings will be taking place every Thursday and Saturday and are free. I’ve posted the first two movies up on the events page and you can check them out [Here]
Originally expected to be completed by the end of this year, the completion time for the Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre in Shaab has now been pushed back a tiny bit towards the end of January, early February.
The exhibits are already being fitted and I’ve been seeing trucks the past few weeks unloading more and more stuff. If you look carefully while driving by on the Gulf Road you can even spot dinosaurs and I think even a large Shark hanging on display.
The Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre is currently one of the largest cultural and science projects in the world and once complete will house four museums, Natural History, Science, Islamic and Space.
A friend of mine recently flew to Dubai with flydubai and ended up on their new 737 MAX aircraft. He sent me pictures of the interior and it looked ridiculously good. Firstly, business class now have flatbeds which will be super convenient for long-haul flights. The second thing I liked was the economy class seats which had a very tasteful color scheme and huge screens behind every seat.
In total, flydubai will have six of these 737 MAX aircrafts by the end of the year and they’ll be used to flyto their furthest destinations including Bangkok, Prague, Yekaterinburg, and Zanzibar. For more information and shots of their new planes, click [Here]
Kuwait Skydive is the first skydiving center to open up in Kuwait. They’ve only just opened and they’re offering tandem jumps out of a plane with an instructor, as well skydiving lessons.
The cost of a tandem jump with Kuwait Skydive is KD160. That’s KD5 cheaper than the cost to skydive in Dubai which was where everyone was going previously.
Kuwait Skydive also offers an AFF course for KD1,000. The course includes 8 jumps and takes around 7-10 days to complete. Once you’ve completed the course you’ll receive your own jump log book and you’ll be able to start jumping out of the plane by yourself.
Their jump location is in Khiran and they’re open daily except for Sundays. Currently, they’re only accepting booking via phone since their website is under construction. So if you’re interested you can call them up on 65566226. For more information you can also visit them on instagram @kuwaitskydive or kuwaitskydiveco.com
I recently found out about an instagram account in Kuwait that sells cool looking vintage typewriters. The majority are in Arabic but they do get English ones every now and then as well. Vintage typewriters can make a great gift, especially to a writer. For example I once bought a friend of mine who used to write poems a vintage typewriter, the same one Leonard Cohen used to type up his first poetry book (pictured above). They loved it and it was fully functional so they were able to use it right away. So if you’re looking to get one for yourself or as a gift, check out the instagram account @8.6s
So the reason I was in Bahrain this past weekend was to take part in the Bahrain GP Open Track that took place on Friday. During one of the racing sessions, I experienced my first spin out and captured it on video. It had been raining earlier in the day and although the track had mostly dried up, the red and white rumble strips on the corners were still damp and I drove over one after running wide and completely lost traction.
The interesting part for me was how the experience felt a lot longer than it actually was. As soon as I started spinning out, in my head I started to go back and try and remember what I learned when I took drifting lessons a few months ago. I then let go of the steering wheel while at the same time I started thinking, ok, I might be heading towards the wall on my right side, if I hit it, I’ll probably mess up the whole side of my car. Then I started wondering how much that might cost in repairs and how long I was going to have to wait for the parts to arrive. During this time I was also trying to figure out where on the track I was and which way I was facing. When I saw that I was starting to point in the right direction, I took a hold of the steering again to control the spin. Luckily, I ended up with a perfect 360 spin and didn’t hit a wall or another car (I was going somewhere between 150-170km/h at that point). As soon I was facing the right way again I just stepped on it.
All those thoughts and discussions I was having in my head happened in just 2 seconds although it felt a lot longer while it was happening. I think I now kinda understand when people say life flashes before your eyes just before you die, or in my case, spin out. Anyway, you can check out snippets of Friday’s open track day in the video below compiled by the Bahrain International Circuit.
