2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Ricardo Camacho, one of the leading architects behind Al Shaheed Park posted some more information on Phase II which I posted on yesterday. Ricardo mostly discusses the thinking process behind Phase II and the numerous obstacles they had to be aware of.

Following the research survey of numerous youth-related facility units within Kuwait City’s urban perimeter, the Al Shaheed Park extension (phaseII) assumes a mixed program along the following facilities: a. Educational; b. Social/Culture; c. Health; d. Food+Beverage; e. Retail; f.Sports. The majority of the program typologies assumed for this site, encompass a range of facilities (outdoor and indoor) that in Kuwait are usually in centralized locations within a residential neighborhood and directly connected to institutional facilities such as schools, mosques and Coops.

His full post is on Linkedin and you can check it out [Here]

This accident took place yesterday in Hawalli. Super nasty, no idea why that guy took the turn so fast. On the other hand with dashcams becoming prevalent, we’re bound to see more WTF videos like this.

Back in March while driving on the 40th I nearly ran over a body lying in the middle of the road. It was a scary moment which I was able to capture on my dashcam. You can watch that video above, it’s not graphic, but there is a dead body involved so you might want to skip it if you’re squeamish.

via Frankom

Construction of Phase II of Al Shaheed Park started in February and is expected to be completed before summer of next year. The new phase will be more than just a park and include the following: A Parkour area, a miniature new Kuwait, a miniature old Kuwait, a multipurpose youth complex, tree top climbing obstacles, board and interactive games area, an open air performance center and a skate park.

If you drive by Al Shaheed you can spot the area under construction, it’s located between where Al Shaheed Park is right now and Discovery Mall. If it’s anything like Phase I then we should be in for a treat. Check out the higher resolution version of the map above [Here]

Last year I posted about a frame shop in Shuwaikh which I used to customize a frame for one of my prints. Since then I’ve used two other shops as well, not because the original one I posted about wasn’t good enough, but mostly because I didn’t feel like going to Shuwaikh every time I needed a frame done.

Boushahri Group Photography And Graphic Arts
Most of you know Boushahri from back in the days when you needed to get your portrait photo taken for passports or civil IDs. Nowadays they’re a pretty tiny setup mostly just printing your digital photos and picture framing. I had a large black and white photo I needed framed along with a white mount so I decided to try Boushahri since they’re really close to my house. Their frame shop is located behind their photography shop and they had a large variety of frames to choose from as well as different colored mounts. I briefed them on the job, got a quote on the spot for KD15 which was really reasonable and was told the frame would be done in a couple of days. The next day they called me up and told me my frame was ready to pick up. Good service and a great price. Here is their location on [Google Maps]

Elegant Frame & Art (Mashmoom)
I had been trying to get a hold of the Michael Kagan print above since end of 2013 and I finally managed to get a copy only a couple of months ago (long story involving lots of drama with the artist). Because of the importance of this print to me and the way I wanted it framed, I didn’t think my Shuwaikh guy would be able to do it. Although I’m sure Boushahri could, I figured I’d take it to a place that had more experience. There used to be a store near Salhiya called Elegant Frame & Art, I say used to be because when I passed by the location it turned out they had moved. I posted on twitter asking if anyone knew where they moved to and someone from Elegant Frame & Art contacted me telling me they moved to Sun City inside a store called Mashmoom. So I headed there, met with the specialist, briefed him on what I wanted and left. I had two prints by Michael, the one pictured above and another one thats roughly twice as tall. They told me they would need around a week to get it done and they’d let me know how much it would cost. Two days later they messaged me to tell me it would cost KD40… per frame! I thought that was too expensive but I honestly didn’t want to drive back to Sun City in Shuwaikh to pick up the prints nor was I in the mood to brief someone else on the job. So I ended up haggling and managed to drop the price down to KD60 for both. Five days later the frames were ready to pick up. They ended up framing the prints exactly like how I wanted them framed and it was pretty much a perfect job except for two things. One of the frames has what looks like a bit of glue/dirt on the inside of the glass, luckily it’s over a colorful spot so doesn’t really show, there was also a bit of glue/dirt on the white frame which I managed to clean up myself. The other issue is with the frame border, I had originally briefed them that I wanted the thickness to be 2.5cm but when I gave them the go ahead on the job I told them I wanted it changed to 2cm instead. They kept it 2.5cm. On the positive side, they stuck like little cork bumpers on the back corners of the frame so not to damage the wall you’d be mounting on. Here is their location on [Google Maps]

So overall my experience was fairly positive but if I had to choose between the two I’d definitely go back to Boushahri. They’re more conveniently located, their prices were pretty good and the finishing of the frame was great. I think they’re going to be my go to place from now on instead of the Shuwaikh guy just because they’re located down the road from me.

The two hottest video games launching this month are already out in Kuwait. Uncharted 4 launched in Kuwait two days before the US release and Doom which is supposed to launch this Friday is already out in Kuwait since yesterday. Both games are available at Rihab Complex or if you’d rather not go to Hawalli you can always get them online from GamesQ8.

I was planning on getting both but I just downloaded OpenRA, the fan improved C&C Red Alert project and I’m currently addicted to it. Me and my friends used to play Red Alert all day long back when I was in university so it looks like I’m going to busy with this for the next few days. If you’re a Red Alert fan you need to check this out [Here]

Kuwikipedia is a website I setup yesterday just for fun. I get people emailing me questions all the time and most of the time its questions I had previously answered which becomes frustrating. So I decided from now on anybody that asks a question related to Kuwait I’d post it up on Kuwikipedia along with the answer.

But, I’m hoping it could become community driven site where people could come in ask questions and other people from Kuwait could answer it for them. I don’t have any idea if this will work or not, might end up just being me answering all the questions but since it didn’t take much time to setup, I’m not really losing anything.

So check out Kuwikipedia [Here]

This is part of the last bunch of photos I have from my last trip to the KOC photography archive. I should pass by and get some more but for now, here are some old photos of the old Kuwait airport. Not sure where this airport was located so if someone could let us know that would be great.

Tiger Tiger the new pan-asian restaurant by the guys behind Ora is currently open in pop-up form for just this week in Kuwait City. Their menu is small and composed of the below three starters and three mains:

Starters KD2.5
Duck Spring Roll
Shrimp on Toast
Cream Cheese Wonton

Mains KD4.5
Orange Chicken
Thai Chili Beef
Kung Pao Shrimp

If you want to try them out they’re only going to be open until Thursday (May 12) from 6PM onwards. Here is their location on [Google Maps]

Responding to complaints filed by citizens living in block 12 in Salmiya concerning being surrounded by ‘bachelors,’ the municipality recently launched a campaign in the area, giving bachelors three-day eviction ultimatums before disconnecting electricity as instructed by municipality director Ahmad Al-Manfouhi.

Head of the inspection team Ritadh Al-Rabee’ said that the team distributed 20 warning notices to house inhabited by bachelors and said that electricity would be disconnected and owners would be fined. He added that once the ultimatum is over, the municipality teams would be escorted by a police force to evict residents. “The law will be equally applied to everyone without any wasta,” he stressed, noting that if any officials intervene, their names and positions would be reported to the municipality director. [Source]

This doesn’t make any sense at all plus is really unfair and then to top it off they’re giving them just 3 days to move out? WTF?

Back in 1993 when the first ever UFC fight was held (UFC 1), the main idea was that they wanted to match up the different martial arts against each other to see which one of the combat practices would dominate. So they got 8 different fighters from different fighting backgrounds, like one was a sumo wrestler, another was a kick boxer, another a jujitsu master etc.. and made them fight each other in a tournament. In the end Royce Gracie the jujitsu master won the tournament but all the fighters became pretty much recognized because of the fact they took part in what became the first mixed martial arts event.

One of the fighters that probably stood out the most though was Art Jimmerson, a boxer who went into the fight wearing just one boxing glove. The image on top became pretty memorable so it was a pretty cool surprise to find out that Art is in Kuwait coaching at a new boxing gym. How random is that? The new gym is called The Hook and I just called them up and they told me they’re opening up tomorrow (Monday, May 9th). You can check out their instagram account @thehook.kw or check out Art Jimmerson’s account @artjimmerson

Looks like opening up an Indian restaurant is going to be the next new thing for small Kuwaiti businesses. After the success of places like Namaste and 12 Chutneys, a lot of people seem to be jumping on the Indian cuisine bandwagon. I know of at least 4 new Indian restaurants that are opening up soon with the one pictured above opening up next to Slider Station (where Atari used to be located).

I find this pretty annoying.

Since it’s a holiday tomorrow I figured I’d share this list today. The standouts this weekend are the AlSalmi Meteor Shower Trip, Matilda the Musical, the Kuwait National Triathlon Championships and the Cross Cultural Diwaniya. Check out the full list of events taking place over this long weekend below:

Wednesday
Conference: Women in the Corporate World
Exhibition: It’s a Mad World
Exhibition: What’s Your Location?
The Art of Yoga 2

Thursday
Exhibition: It’s a Mad World
Exhibition: What’s Your Location?
Profoto Light Shaping Seminar
AlSalmi Meteor Shower Trip
Aim High Toastmasters Club 4th Anniversary Celebration
Kuwait Vape Festival

Friday
Matilda the Musical
Taichi in the Park
Toastmasters Division “I” Annual Speech Contest

Saturday
Matilda the Musical
Kuwait National Triathlon Championships
Cross Cultural Diwaniya

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so double check info with organizers.

Collaborative workspaces aren’t something new in Kuwait, Niu for example has been around for over a year now so when I was approached by the newly opened collaborative workspace Reyada to pass by and check them out, I was a bit hesitant. I personally don’t really see a benefit for these spaces, the private offices usually start from around KD300 for something really tiny and you usually can’t get a business license with them. On the other hand me and a couple of friends where able to rent a small office in the city in a pretty prime location for just KD350… and most importantly, it was licensable.

But I decided to pass by Reyada anyway since I had a bit of time to kill plus I wanted to check out Crystal Tower where they’re located since my gym (Core Fitness) will be moving there pretty soon.

Reyada has two different kinds of spaces available, private and open. Private is basically your own office which starts at KD300 and fits two people. They also have something called dedicated desk, which is basically your own desk in a private room but that private room you share with other tenants. Both these options really didn’t excite me much but the next thing did.

Their open coworking space is what I found interesting, not just because the space looked pretty nice but because of the affordable entry point. You can become a “permanent resident”, meaning you can use the coworking space daily for KD100 a month OR, become an “originator” for just KD15 a day. Their originator plan is a pay as you go one where you sign up, pay KD15 a month and get access to the coworking space for a day and their conference rooms for an hour. When you use up your day you can top up with more days at KD10 per day. I do a bit of design freelance every now and then and my meetings usually take place at the clients office or Starbucks. Having the option to hold my meetings in a pretty fancy tower (with plenty of parking) and inside a private meeting room is very convenient. And because I don’t do this often, KD15 is a reasonable price to pay.

Reyada is still in a soft launch phase until their website launches in the next few days, then you’ll be able to sign up to their packages, book your days etc.. all from their website. For now, if you want more information on them you can check out their instagram account @reyada_co

The picture above has been circulating on whatsapp with people thinking it’s real. It’s funny, but obviously its not real. Why? Because the messages on these signs usually read like they were created using google translate, this one uses proper English. Secondly there would at the very least be a grammatical mistake or something misspelled while this sign doesn’t have any faults.

The Kuwait Child Rights Society Ministry of Health have launched a new national child protection hotline as part of the Kuwait National Child Protection Program. The number is 147 and you should call it if you know of a child that is being abused, if you’d like to help and protect a child or if you have any questions related to child abuse.

There is a child that I’ve spotted a few times in the evening selling tissues at the traffic light on the Gulf Road that takes you to the second ring road. I might give them a call the next time I see him there. I mean there are always cops there at that traffic light, but they never seem to care that there is a young kid under 10 years old working at 9PM selling tissue packets at a busy intersection.