2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Last year while visiting the set of the Netflix show, The Exchange, I saw an old Kuwaiti village being constructed for another show. The village was looking amazing and very realistic, but I couldn’t take photos to share since the show hadn’t been released yet.

A few weeks ago I remembered the village again and got in touch with Beyond Dreams, the studio behind The Exchange to see if I could pass by to take some photos. Turned out my timing was perfect since they had built an even larger village since my last visit, and it was for a new show that is airing on TOD and beINDrama this Ramadan called “Zaman Alajaj” (Time of Dust).

The village is huge, if you stand on one side you can’t see the other, there are alleyways, animals, and even a small farm with real vegetables growing. There is a street filled with shops, a village square, homes, and even a graveyard. So many details and all very realistically reproduced.

What is even more incredible is that the village is located in the suburbs, and not out in the middle of the desert. So one minute you’re stuck in traffic, and the next you’re walking around an old village with no cars in sight. The feeling is very bizarre, and because there are no tall buildings outside the wall, it really adds to the feeling that you’re in a village in the middle of nowhere.

All the structures are real and functional, so it not just a facade. If you open a door there is something behind it, it could be someone’s home, or it could be a shop selling spices, there will be something. The details are all there, and I remember it was the same thing when I visited the set of The Exchange.

Zaman Alajaj is being produced by Abdullah Boushahri, and the same team behind The Exchange. The story follows Wijdan (played by Mona Hussein), a woman seeking refuge from her abusive father and ends up infiltrating this simple village. It’s a drama with an intense and suspenseful storyline filled with conspiracies and conflict.

The series was produced for TOD and so will air exclusively on TOD and beINDrama. If you want to check out the trailer, it’s now up on @tod.tv

Note: This is a private set built for the show and so it not accessible to the public.

Kuwait Airways is currently celebrating their 70 year anniversary, so I decided to share some old photos my mum took back when she was a Kuwait Airways flight attendant.

Back in the early 70s, my mum traveled to Iran via Kuwait Airways from Lebanon. On the way back while transiting at the Kuwait Airport, she saw a Kuwait Airways ad looking for flight attendants. So once she got back to Lebanon, she applied, got the job, and ended up moving to Kuwait a few months later.

Anytime my mum brings up her experience as a Kuwait Airways flight attendant, she always mentions how great it was, and how she got to travel to so many places and meet a lot of people.

Some of the photos I’ve shared here, I previously posted on the blog around 18 years ago, but in low res. I’ve now rescanned all the photos including new ones I hadn’t shared before, and then tried to restore and recover as much of the details and colors as possible without over editing the images.

Just to add a bit more context, the photos here range from 1974 to 1976, with the oldest being the one of my mum in the orange colored uniform. The uniforms in the photos were also designed by Dior, except for the orange one which was designed by Nina Ricci. Finally, the last photos which look like they were taken on a private jet were in fact taken onboard the Emir’s plane (Emir Sabah al-Salim Al Sabah) which she served on during the last period of her career.

I’ve uploaded all 16 photos to my Flickr account, to check them out click here.

I’m currently in London for the week and I haven’t been here since 2022, before we got Apple Pay in Kuwait.

One cool benefit I realized I now have on this trip is that I can use the London Underground by just tapping my phone on the yellow card readers. I don’t even need to double tap the side button or even activate Face ID, I just take my phone out of my pocket, touch the yellow card reader and it automatically takes the money from my account and lets me through. It also works if you have Google Pay but I haven’t tried that.

Another cool thing I got to try on this trip is the eGate at the airport. Because I have the Canadian passport and I was alone, I was able to use the egate at passport control which meant I didn’t have to wait in any line and was through passport control in under a minute. Anyone who’s had to wait in line for an hour at LHR knows going through in under a minute is just insane.

Other than that its freezing and wet over here right now. I keep forgetting how cold it really gets outside of Kuwait and so I never pack enough winter clothes.

Time Keeper, the extremely popular watch platform, has opened their first store called Time Gallery, but it’s not your everyday regular watch store. Time Gallery is a way for them to share unique brands and watches with those who appreciate the mechanical timepieces.

The store is located in Salhiya Complex and they’re authorized dealers for a number of interesting watch brands including Behrens, ClockClock24, Gerald Charles, Lebois & Co, Nivada Grenchen, Graham, Ikepod, Raketa and more. They also WOLF watch winders and boxes, leather and rubber straps for different watch brands, as well as watch related books.

The store is pretty cool looking with all the watches out on display. My favorite two brands were probably Lebois & Co and Raketa. Lebois & Co had a vintage look since the watches were all based on their vintage line. Raketa on the other hand is a Russian brand with their own in-house movements and have a very interesting and unique look to them. Also the fact they carry the brand WOLF is great since when I wanted one of their boxes, I was forced to buy it online because there was no local dealer back then.

If you’re looking for a new unique watch or if you’re just into watches and want to check out something new, Time Gallery is located on M1 of Salhiya Complex. Just head up the escalator and walk straight, they’ll be on the right hand side. @timegallerykw

This past week felt long and exhausting but if you have the energy for it, here is this weekends list of different things you can do:

Thursday, February 29
Artisan Expo at Al Shaheed Park
Perfume Expo
Ramadan Food & Household Exhibition
Campfire Kashta
Scientific Center Green Market
Disney’s Peter Pan in the Courtyard

Friday, March 1
Artisan Expo at Al Shaheed Park
Perfume Expo
Ramadan Food & Household Exhibition
Scientific Center Green Market
Sharing is Caring Bazaar
BLS Spring Market

Saturday, March 2
Qout Market
Artisan Expo at Al Shaheed Park
Perfume Expo
Ramadan Food & Household Exhibition
Much Ado About Nothing
Scientific Center Green Market
Sharing is Caring Bazaar

I started watching Constellation this week. Not sure I like it, there are some interesting moments, but there’s a lot I also find really boring, mostly the none space scenes.

Dune: Part 2 is out this weekend, I’m at the airport now heading to London so I’m planning to watch it there. I’ve also filled my iPad with a ton of shows to watch on the plane including Mr & Mrs Smith, Obliterated, House of Ninjas, and the latest season of Formula 1: Drive to Survive.

Let us know in the comments if you’ve watched anything interesting this week.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Weekend:
DarkGame (5.9)
Dune: Part Two (N/A)
Inside Man (5.5)
Fast Charlie (6.2)
Stopmotion (6.4)
The Holdovers (8.0)

Other Movies Showing:
Argylle (6.2)
Bob Marley: One Love (6.5)
In the Land of Saints and Sinners (6.1)
Madame Web (3.8)
No Way Up (5.3)
Red Right Hand (5.3)
The Ancestral (4.3)
The Beekeeper (6.8)
Wanted Man (4.7)
Wish (5.8)
Wonka (7.4)

The classic film below is currently showing at the 1954 Film House:
Goldfinger (7.7)

The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.

Last week I was given access to the Tarek Rajab Museums’ private photography archive, and over the coming weeks I’ll be sharing my favorite finds. But, since it’s raining today I figured I’d share the first batch of photos taken after “The First Flood”.

I posted about the first flood back in September, but the photo I had found then was low resolution. That’s why I was pretty surprised to come across three high resolution photos in the Tarek Rajab Museum’s archive.

In Kuwait, the year 1934 is sometimes called Sanat Al Haddamah (the year of destruction) since torrential rains caused a lot of destruction to the old town of Kuwait.

Within only an hour, Kuwait witnessed unprecedented torrential rains that reached 300mm and caused raging floods and waters that swept away a third of the mud houses in Kuwait.

These three photos show the aftermath of the flood.

According to an article on Arab Times, Kuwait Airport is ranked the 7th worst airport in the world according to Skytrax, the airline and airport review and ranking site. I tried to figure out how Arab Times got their top 10 list but I couldn’t figure it out, on another list also by Skytrax, Kuwait is ranked the 6th worst airport.

6th or 7th, it doesn’t matter really. Previously another airport and airline review site, AirHelp, had ranked Kuwait Airport the 2nd worst in the world, but suspiciously after that ranking, Kuwait stopped appearing on their list.

I’m traveling tomorrow with British Airways from Terminal 1 and not really looking forward to it, although truthfully, since Terminal 4 and the Jazeera terminal opened, Terminal 1 has been pretty chill. It’s just visually an ugly terminal with nothing to do once inside.

While on the subject of airports, I remember reading online somewhere that the fee for long term parking at Terminal 1 got increased from 2KD per day to 5KD per day, can anyone confirm that?

UPDATE: Due to the bad weather, the air show has been postponed till tomorrow, February 26.

The Kuwait Army has a number of events taking place today at the Kuwait Towers on the occasion of National & Liberation Day:

2:00 PM – Military Band Performance
4:00 PM – Airshow
4:30 PM – Folklore Band Performance

The Kuwait Army are also displaying some of their military vehicles in the Kuwait Towers parking lot for the public to explore.

If you want to head to the towers but don’t want to get stuck in traffic, then it would be a good idea to park in the city, in the area around Hamra Tower for example, and then walk over. @kuwaitarmyghq

Over the past couple of days there have been rumors floating around about Elon Musk coming to Kuwait. It’s being reported by some local news sites which I hadn’t heard of before, which is why I’m marking this as a rumor for now.

Allegedly, Elon Musk is expected to visit Kuwait in the next few days for discussions aimed at establishing Kuwait as a global hub for artificial intelligence.

This is where things gets strange, there is a secretive GPU cloud startup in Kuwait called Omniva that have plans to build a huge data center in Kuwait. The company is headed by big names who came in from companies like Amazon AWS, META and Microsoft. The data center which is under construction is located at the entrance of Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City (Road 278). source

I reached out to Elon Musk and Omniva to confirm all this, but I haven’t heard back from them yet.

The first phase of the new refurbished waterfront has now officially been completed. The first phase stretches from the Green Island all the way to the Kuwait Towers and has been given a complete facelift with new sidewalks, dedicated jogging and bicycle paths, as well as new lights, bins, benches and more.

The second phase of the project is from Green Island to Al Shaab slipway and is expected to be completed in October.

Runners will be glad to know that the running track is cushioned so it will be easy on your knees. Both the running and bike paths have distance markers so you can also tell how far you’ve run or cycled. For more pictures, click here.

Provin (@weareprovin) is a local brand that provides customers with access to high quality supplements and herbal remedies.

They carry around 100 brands including some really popular ones like NOW, Goli, Optimum Nutrition, Sundown and many more. If you aren’t sure what supplements you might need, not an issue, they have a short quiz you can take. I took the quiz and chose “Brain” as my health goal since I have a horrible memory and after answering a few questions, the app recommended three different supplements that could help me out. They make finding the right supplements for you really easy.

Because Provin is an online store, they’re also able to keep their prices very competitive. If you compare their prices to international platforms, they are generally similar once you factor in shipping and customs, but with the added benefit of having your supplements delivered in under 3 hours.

Right now Provin have a crazy Hala Cashback offer going on for the holidays. If you spend 25KD in their store, you get 25KD back as credit in your wallet, simple as that! Spend 25, get 25 back plus they will also deliver for free during this period.

This is a limited time offer so head over to their website provin.me

Here are this weekends events, let me know if I missed anything:

Thursday, Feb 22
Winter Garden Market at Al Shaheed Park
Hala February Market at Murouj
Classic Car Show at The Promenade
Fireworks at Khiran Mall
COMFEST
K-POP Night

Friday, Feb 23
Winter Garden Market at Al Shaheed Park
Hala February Market at Murouj
Celebrations at ASCC
Al-Farsi Kite Festival
Classic Car Show at The Promenade
Fireworks at Khiran Mall
Cars & Coffee at Green Island
COMFEST
Khalifouh Heritage Village

Saturday, Feb 24
Winter Garden Market at Al Shaheed Park
Hala February Market at Murouj
Celebrations at ASCC
Al-Farsi Kite Festival
Classic Car Show at The Promenade
Korean Market at MADANG
Fireworks at Khiran Mall
COMFEST
Khalifouh Heritage Village

Sunday, Feb 25
Winter Garden Market at Al Shaheed Park
Hala February Market at Murouj
Celebrations at ASCC
Al-Farsi Kite Festival
Free Entry to Scientific Center
Fireworks at Al Kout Mall
Khalifouh Heritage Village

Monday, Feb 26
Winter Garden Market at Al Shaheed Park
Hala February Market at Murouj
Celebrations at ASCC
Al-Farsi Kite Festival
Free Entry to Scientific Center
Drone Show at The Walk
Hike Mutlaa
Khalifouh Heritage Village

I’m obsessed with Masters of Air. After the first two episodes I wasn’t really that impressed with the series since I had just finished watching Band of Brothers and The Pacific, but now that I’m 5 episodes in, I don’t want it to end.

I’m not invested in any of the characters, I actually might only be able to pick one out in a line up, but as long as I’m with them on the bomber on our way to a bombing mission, I’m heavily invested in whomever is on board.

If you’re a fan of the series, check out the @appletv instagram account since they have a bunch of cool behind the scenes photos from the series as well as linking to the actors personals instagram accounts.

Let us know in the comments if you’ve watched anything interesting this week.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Weekend:
Bob Marley: One Love (6.6)
Red Right Hand (N/A)
The Ancestral (4.3)
Wanted Man (4.7)

Other Movies Showing:
Argylle (6.2)
Clown Motel (2.9)
In the Land of Saints and Sinners (6.1)
Madame Web (3.8)
Migration (7.5)
No Way Up (5.3)
The Beekeeper (6.8)
Wish (5.8)
Wonka (7.4)

The classic film below is currently showing at the 1954 Film House:
Titanic (7.9)

The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.

On the occasion of National Day and Liberation Day, @alshaheedpark in collaboration with @martyrskuwait created a light installation composed of LED roses. There are 1,329 roses in the garden, each representing a Kuwaiti martyr.

The installation is located in Al Shaheed Park Phase II, and if you want to take photos, I’d recommend visiting during sunset so that your photos don’t end up very dark.