Sultan Center seems to be expanding since they recently opened their Promenade Mall location in Hawali and now they’ve got two more locations opening up. The one above is at the Alfa gas station on the Gulf Road next to Shaab Park. That location has been empty ever since Alfa took over that gas station years ago and it seems Sultan Center have now taken it over and are opening an “Express” location there.
The second location they’re opening up is a pretty surprising one, they’re opening in Bneid Al Gar in the Massaleh Towers. I say surprising because the other than the Massaleh Towers, the area around them is pretty ghetto.
Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers have opened up their first location in Kuwait at the Avenues opposite The Cheesecake Factory. A friend of mine passed by and tried it for lunch and according to him they only have two items on the menu, chicken fingers and a chicken burger. His recommendation? Skip the chicken burger and order the chicken fingers instead.
Four Seasons have published a press release a few days ago listing their new hotels that will be opening in 2016 and they had the below little tidbit on the Kuwait branch:
The first Four Seasons in Kuwait will be the 263-room Four Seasons Hotel Kuwait at Burj Alshaya in the central business district. An Italian dining concept created around three wood-burning ovens as well as a pan-Asian restaurant – both with outdoor terraces on the penthouse level – will be among five food and beverage options. Interiors by Yabu Pushelberg will include a spectacular indoor pool in the beautifully designed spa and fitness complex.
I just checked out the portfolio of Yabu Pushelberg and based on his previous work, I’d say we’re going to be in for a treat. [Link]
Update: Hotel is now expected to open on February 15, 2017.
The blog was down this morning due to some technical issues. Basically the blog was infected with a malware and I had to restore the blog to an older backup from last week. Currently going through everything to see what information/comments the blog lost and trying to restore things to normal. Please bear with me.
Update: Everything is back to normal, no posts or comments were lost.
Not a very big list of things to do this weekend but there is a decent variety. The biggest thing taking place is the Startup Weekend but the mariachi concert seems interesting as well. Check out the full list below.
A reader sent me the two news articles below to check out. Both covering the same story but each with their own interpretation on the nationality, airport and container the marijuana was found in:
Kuwait Times
Customs officers at Sheikh Saad Al-Abdallah airport foiled a Sri Lankan man’s attempt to smuggle two kilograms of marijuana inside two cans of dried chili. He was sent to the Drug Control General Directorate (DCGD) for questioning. (Sep 13)
vs
Arab Times
An Indian expatriate was arrested at Kuwait International Airport for attempting to smuggle two kilograms of marijuana into the country. According to an informed source, when customs officers were checking the luggage of the passengers who arrived in the country on Friday, they noticed that one of the passengers was nervous. They checked his details to discover he is an Indian expatriate and they checked his luggage to find marijuana hidden inside a pack of almonds. He was arrested and referred to the Directorate General for Drug Control for necessary legal action against him. (Sep 13)
On top of those inaccuracies, I’m not an expert here but how the hell do you fit 2KG of marijuana in your luggage yet alone in a chili can or a pack of almonds? So much of the above doesn’t make any sense. Check this video on YouTube to see how 2KG of marijuana looks like [YouTube] (Spoiler: It’s huge)
Update: Arab Times have posted the same news story again for a second time today with a slight adjustment.
Arab Times (Try #2)
Customs officers at the Sa’ad Al-Abdullah Airport recently foiled an attempt by a Bangladeshi to smuggle 2 kilos of marijuana in to the country, reports Al-Anba daily. According to security sources, the suspect arrived at the Kuwait International Airport from a neighboring country. The drugs were reportedly hidden between chili powder packs.
Note they don’t mention its a correction, they just treat it as a new news story. So they basically could be copying pasting old news as new news to fill up their pages and no one will be any the wiser.
A friend of mine wanted me to post about this but I told him unless it was a really slow news day and I was desperate for content I wouldn’t. Well I’m desperate for content so it looks like I’m posting about this. There are a bunch of people in Kuwait who have setup Instagram accounts for their pets with two being pretty popular. Those two accounts actually have more followers than me which I’m not sure what to think of. Below are five animal accounts I was told about, if you know of anymore let me know.
Not sure if this is new but I just found out about it yesterday and find it very odd. Instagram is blocking alcohol related accounts in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia (and maybe other countries as well). If you try accessing accounts like @absolutvodka, @heineken or @jackdaniels_us you’ll be met with a message stating you can’t follow them in your region. I don’t understand the reasoning for this and if it’s Instagram or the brands themselves blocking access. It’s not like we can drink any alcohol by visiting those accounts. Plus the ministry doesn’t even ban alcohol related websites in Kuwait, you can visit Heineken.com now and it’s not blocked. Oddly enough @budweiser, @greygoose and @stoli are accessible on Instagram and so is @playboy. To add to the confusion, if you visit the blocked Instagram accounts from your browser they’re accessible.
Spotted the notice above at my local Sultan Center. Kinda seems a bit too soon to start not accepting old currency since it’s barely been a year since the new ones were introduced.
Update: According to the Central Bank of Kuwait website, the old currency (5th issue) will no longer be accepted anywhere starting October 1st. After that date you’ll have until April 2025 to exchange your old currency for the new one by visiting the CBK Banking Hall. [Link]
Has anyone here dropped OSN (or any other cable provider) for Netflix and Hulu? I’m currently subscribed to OSN just for the History and Discovery channels but for the first time ever I’m actually considering canceling my subscription. I’ve started spending more time with Netflix and Hulu so don’t see a reason anymore to keep my OSN subscription.
Right now I’m paying around KD12 a month for my OSN subscription which is $40 a month (the Pinoy Plus Extra package). Netflix costs like $8 a month, Hulu is another $8. If you want to be all fancy you can add the Showtime Network to Hulu for another $9. If you want to splurge, you can add HBO GO which is $15. All combined come out to $40. I get a ton of more shows than I do with my OSN subscription and I can watch them whenever I want, from wherever I want.
For those of you wondering how to get Netflix, Hulu and the rest working in Kuwait it’s easy. Previously I’ve recommended using a VPN but unless you had a very fast connection and a decent VPN service, there would be a lot of slowdown. Now I’d recommend using a smart DNS service. It’s cheaper than VPN, faster and it’s really easy to setup. I tried three different DNS services but ended up going with SmartDNSproxy.com.
Have you dropped your dish provider?
Update: I just called OSN and cancelled my subscription. Update2: I’ve dropped StrongVPN and instead started using SmartDNS so updated the post to reflect that.
Last week after posting about how the new Iftah Ya Simsim was now being filmed in Abu Dhabi instead of Kuwait, two readers commented that even though Iftah Ya Simsim was being shot in Abu Dhabi, some of the editing was still being done in Kuwait. One of the readers even invited me to pass by the GCCJPI facilities to check it out which I did.
GCCJPPI stands for Gulf Cooperation Council Joint Program Production Institution. A super long name but if you grew up in Kuwait during the 80s, all it takes is one look at their logo to recognize who they are. GCCJPPI are behind some of the most memorable shows on television back in the 80s. They were behind most of the popular Arabized cartoons and they also created shows like Salamatak (سلامتك), Quff (قف) and of course the Middle East version of Sesame Street, Iftah Ya Simsim.
The GCCJPPI facilities are located in Salmiya across the street from Souq Salmiya. It’s a building I’ve driven by on numerous occasions but never really paid any attention to. The ground floor of the building has one of the largest theaters in Kuwait containing 850 seats while the rest of the floors are offices, recording and editing studios and my favorite, the GCCJPPI archives.
I had assumed all their archive was lost during the 1990 invasion but turns out they still have copies of everything, their archive is stacked old tapes. According to Nawaf Alshallal, the technical advisor who was showing me around, the Kuwait GCCJPPI office is currently digitizing their whole archive which I got to take a peek at. Not only are they digitizing all their videos but they’re also scanning all their old photos as well. Since I recently watched the documentary “I Am Big Bird” I was curious to see if they had behind the scene photos taken on set of Iftah Ya Simsim. Turns out they did and I flipped through them and there’s some really great never before seen stuff. I’ve already submitted a request to get a copy of these photos so I could share them on the blog. Hopefully I get the approval.
From what I felt during my visit, the GCCJPPI are finally coming back to life. I was even told they’re planning on bringing back Salamatak and Quff which is something I think we really need. I just hope whatever they create ends up on YouTube because theres no way I’d go back to watching KTV again.
We regret to share that early last morning the storage room in our shelter caught fire and burned down. Fortunately all our staff and animals are safe and did not suffer any injuries or burns as the storage room is located outside the animal sheltering building. Thanks to the speedy response of the Wafra fire department, the fire was contained and doused well in time. We are presently investigating the electrical problems that caused the fire, the electrical damages, and measures to avert future accidents. Cleaning and clearing is in process at the shelter.
Meanwhile, we urgently need dog and cat supplies since the fire burned all dog and cat food in our storage room. Please help us and spread the word to enable us to feed our 200 dogs and cats.
We need:
(1) Pedigree dog dry food (kibble)
(2) Whiskas or Friskies cat dry food (kibble)
(3) Cat’s Pride cat litter
If you are able to donate, please email us at [email protected] to arrange for a pick-up of the supplies. Anything you donate will be much appreciated!
It’s been awhile since I’ve put a things to do list but thats because there wasn’t much taking place over the summer. Now it looks like things are starting to pick up again, it’s still not a big list but it’s a start.
It looks like Instagram ads have started popping up in our region. I spotted the ad above in my feed while another user spotted a Kraft ad. As I mentioned in my previous post, they’re soft launching at first with some preset partners, two of which seem to be Kraft Foods and Unilever. If you run into any ads let me know in the comments, I’m trying to figure out who all their partners for this soft launch are. On the other hand according to a blog post by Instagram, they’ve opened Instagram advertising to all businesses in the US market so Kuwait will most likely follow before the end of the year.
