2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Starting February, if you have a Kuwaiti passport you no longer require a visa to travel to the UK. Instead of the traditional visit visa, you will require an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) which costs £10 (4KD) and is valid for two years.

The UK ETA application process is straight forward and you should be able to complete the online form in a matter of minutes with the following information:

• Personal details
• Passport data
• Travel information
• Answers to some basic security questions

The only other requirements are:

• A valid Kuwaiti passport
• Credit or debit card to pay the UK ETA fee
• An email address to receive notifications

Most applications will be processed within 3 days, so you can apply for it right before you trip. This move is part of the UK plan to digitize their border by 2025 and applies to Kuwaitis, GCC citizens and Jordanians.

To stay posted or for more information, follow @ukinkuwait

TWG Tea is a Singaporean luxury teahouse chain. I hadn’t heard of them until earlier this month when I was in Dubai Mall and noticed them there. I was craving tea so I went up to their tea “bartender” and he started asking me what I wanted. I gave him an idea of what I felt like having, mainly something with no caffeine and had a fruity smell. He then made me smell two kinds of tea and I ended up picking one called Happy Hour, a decaf green tea that smelled so good I spent more time sniffing it than drinking it. Watching him make the tea was fun and the whole experience was pretty great which is why I’m now interested in the fact they’re opening in Kuwait.

I used to be a huge fan of Teavana before they eventually closed down and I haven’t really gotten back into tea since. Things might change now since from what I saw, TWG has similar style teas to Teavana, basically the flavored teas.

The first TWG location in Kuwait will be in The Avenues on the top floor of the Prestige section, right outside the Harvey Nichols entrance, and right on top of Maria Tash. Their instagram is currently active with coming soon posts @twgteakw

The Staged in Kuwait IMPROV comedy night is starting again and will be taking place on Thursday, January 25th.

This is my favorite local comedy show and if you’ve never been to one of their shows, you definitely should.

Tickets start at KD 10 and the good seats tend to sell out quickly. If you’re looking for something fun and different to do then check them out. Link

The Shagaya Renewable Energy Park is located around an hour and a half drive from the city and it’s HUGE. To give you some perspective, if you drove at 100KM/h, it would take you around 5 minutes to get from one end to the other. Last week I was lucky enough to get permission from KISR to visit the project and get a tour of the different renewable energy resources Kuwait is currently experimenting with.

The Shagaya Park is part of Kuwait’s vision for producing up to 15% of the energy from renewable energy sources by the year 2030. The energy park is a small-scale pilot project where three different renewable energy sources were installed with the objective so to be able to asses medium term costs and performances, and be able to make decisions on which technology to be employed in future plants. The 3 renewable energy sources installed are:

10 MW Wind Farm
10 MW Photovoltaic Plant
50 MW Concentrated Solar Power Plant

The wind farm uses wind to turn turbines to produce the energy. The photovoltaic plant uses solar panels to convert sun light into electricity. Finally, the CSP plant uses mirrors to direct sunlight onto a central tube filled with oil which then heats up water which drives a steam turbine to produce electricity. The advantage of the CSP plant which I discovered on this tour is that it can continue to produce electricity even during the night. That’s because there are two large tanks filled with 33,000 tons of molten salt that store heat during the day, and then continue to produce energy at night.

All the power generated from the park is fed back into Kuwait’s power grid. Since the park has been operational for a few years, they’ve collected enough data to decide on moving forward by expanding the Photovoltaic Plant. Kuwait uses the most amount of energy from 12PM to 4PM in the summer which is also when the Photovoltaic Plant’s generate the most electricity. This is why the government recently launched a tender to build a 1.1GW photovoltaic plant which will be installed at the park.

You can’t access the park without permission from KISR, but if you want to drive to it and check out the wind farm from outside the park, here is the location on Google Maps.

The new season of True Detective comes out on Monday starring Jodie Foster. I’m looking forward to it because haven’t really been watching much lately.

I’ve started The Expanse all over again, I think the first time I watched it I stopped at season 3, and then completely forgot the storyline and characters so now restarting and going to watch it all the way through.

What have you been watching?

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

New This Weekend:
Lord of Misrule (5.3)
The Beekeeper (6.8)

Other Movies Showing:
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (6.0)
Ferrari (6.8)
Migration (7.5)
Night Swim (N/A)
The Iron Claw (8.1)
Wish (6.0)
Wonka (7.4)

The classic films below are currently showing at the 1954 Film House:
Rush Hour 2 (6.7)

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

52 years ago to this day, boxing legend Muhammad Ali visited Kuwait as part of his broader trip to the Gulf region, which included his religious pilgrimage to Mecca.

During his visit to Kuwait, he engaged in various activities including meeting with local leaders, interacting with fans, and spreading messages of peace and unity. He was given a hero’s welcome and everywhere he went he was accompanied by an entourage of famous media personalities and athletes.

Thanks to the archivists Bader Alshaiji, I was able to get a hold of some photos of Muhammad Ali’s visit to share with my readers. A lot of these photos haven’t been seen since they were originally published 50 years ago.

For more photos from Ali’s visit, click here.
Make sure you visit Bader’s Instagram account if you’re interested in more old photos of Kuwait @badshaiji

This is a simple, but fun and very cute idea. Local design studio Mud Architects were commissioned to design a stall for Doh! at the new food hall in Khiran Mall.

Taking inspiration from the location of the food hall being in a beach town, Mud decided to create a large donut floatie. The design choice was a nod to both the brand’s fun identity, and the coastal vibe of Khiran, creating an eye-catching and engaging presence inside the food hall.

Photos by @mashkanani

A couple of years ago I bought an Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor for my home and for the longest time ever, I found it totally useless. The data for my indoor air quality never changed, it was always stable, so after reading the data for the first time it felt like the device was useless. I think I actually might have even left a review on Amazon saying how useless the device was because I wasn’t using it anymore since the data was always the same. But, I just bought two more of the same devices for my home.

Recently I’ve been renovating my apartment, I had ceramics work, painters, guys doing microcement, and more. All the work took place over different points in time and the data my smart air quality monitor was collecting and showing me was actually pretty helpful, and kinda scary.

The Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor connects with my Alexa devices on the network and provides me with the following data:

Temperature
Humidity
Particulate Matter (PM 2.5)
Carbon Monoxide
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

With the ceramics people there was a lot of dust caused by the cutting of the tiles, and so the PM would spike up, with the microcement guys some of the chemicals they were using would caused the VOCs to spike, with the painters my apartment humidity level shot up and the PM levels were pretty high cause of the plastering. It was constant data and alerts to the point I went out and bought two air purifiers and a de-humidifier to try and help keep the levels down and stable. It actually got me so interested with my apartments air quality that I decided to get two more devices and plug them into some other spaces around the house.

The device is tiny, fits in the palm of my hand and runs on USB power so you can hide it pretty much anywhere. I tried to see if there were alternative options that were maybe cheaper or better but I couldn’t find any, Amazon’s device is the best bang for the buck. They sell the device for around $55 which seems like a bargain when compared to other devices on sale. IKEA have a device they sell for 17.5KD, but theirs doesn’t connect to wifi so you can’t monitor the data or check the history through the phone.

If you’re looking for an air quality monitor for your home, check it out. Amazon won’t ship direct to Kuwait so I had to ship to my Shop&Ship account.

Yesterday SALT, the Dubai based burger concept opened in Blajat and the line to get in was HUGE. Their marketing agency sent me a couple of photos of the line, and I measured the distance of it using Google Maps and the line was basically at least 70m long. Insane.

A lot of people online were poking fun out of people who were waiting in line and I don’t get why. Sometimes if you want to experience something thats popular, you’re going to have to wait in line. Thats how it is.

When I was in Paris a couple of years ago I waited in line for over an hour and a half to try out a ramen place. I also waited 40 mins in line to try Shake Shack in NY back in 2010. I waited more than FIVE HOURS in line for a Foo Fighters concert because I wanted to be up right in front of the stage. So I have zero issues with people waiting in line for things, be it a burger, a Pokémon card or whatever. There is nothing wrong with it.

Let people be.

If you want to pass by check the place out, they’re open daily from 4PM to 12AM (last order at 11:30PM). Here is their location on Google Maps.

Principale, the Italian chef-driven restaurant on the Gulf Road is launching a new seasonal outdoor restaurant in their garden right by the sea.

If you aren’t familiar with Principale, it’s the rebirth of the old popular Italian restaurant Nino, and opened up in Nino’s original location near the Kuwait Towers.

Olivio is being described as a “pure alfresco Italian restaurant inspired by coastal Italy” and will have a fixed menu serving mostly grilled food. They will be soft launching tomorrow (Sunday) but by invitation only. It will remain by invitation only until the official launch of the restaurant on January 25th.

I’m invited tomorrow so I might post updates here after. But, to stay posted on their opening, follow them on @oliviokw

Update: Here is some more info they just sent me, there will be light art installations at the pop-up and they were created by Berlin-Kuwait based architecture and design practice BBPJ DESIGN. The installations were inspired by Pantelleria Island located off the coast of Sicily.

Atyab Al Marshoud is Kuwait’s oldest fragrance company and was established all the way back in 1925. Atyab Al Marshoud also has the distinction of being the first fragrance company in the Gulf region.

It’s a family owned business and the new generation has been successful by adding a modern edge to keep the brand current, without losing the historic and traditional aspects that are at its core.

In the last 5 years, Atyab Al Marshoud has been expanding around the GCC and now has over 56 branches. A few years ago they also started venturing into Europe with their first store opening in Knightsbridge, London back in 2018. Now, they’re about to open their second European store, this time in Marbella, Spain.

Atyab Al Marshoud is expected to open in Marbella this coming February, and they’ll be located in the popular Puerto Banús area. To stay posted on the launch, follow @atyabalmarshoud

Not much happening because the county is still in mourning but here are some events taking place this weekend, let me know if I missed anything:

Thursday, January 4
The Avenues Sky
Shlonik? Healing Circle

Friday, January 5
The Avenues Sky
Super Run Race
3rd Show Jumping Event

Saturday, January 6
The Avenues Sky
Creative Printmaking Conference
3rd Show Jumping Event
Snail Mail Workshop for Kids

I haven’t watched any TV all week since I’ve been in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I did get to watch Wonka last night and it wasn’t bad, didn’t realize it was going to be a musical until it actually started. I didn’t realize “The Iron Claw” was released or would have watched that instead!

Let me know what you watched this week in the comments below.

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

New This Weekend:
Ferrari (6.8)
Night Swim (N/A)
The Iron Claw (8.1)
Three Robbers (6.9)

Other Movies Showing:
Alice in Terrorland (3.2)
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (6.0)
Migration (7.5)
Napoleon (7.0)
Thanksgiving (6.9)
Wish (6.0)
Wonka (7.4)

The classic films below are currently showing at the 1954 Film House:
Rush Hour (7.0)

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

I’m still out of the country on vacation so posting is going to be slow till I’m back. But, I did come across an interesting TikTok account that might be my favorite at the moment.

@jahra.removals is an instagram account I’m guessing run by the Jahra baladiya or someone that works there and it’s basically non stop videos of bulldozers destroying illegal structures constructed there. There is a bit of ASMR involved and what I love is the fact there is no prep work, the bulldozers just destroy things as they are.

@jahra.removals #بلدية_الكويت #بلدية_الجهراء #فريق_الازالات #ازالة_المخالفات #قسم_ازالة_المخالفات #سعد_العبدالله #جنوب_سعد_العبدالله #الجهراء ♬ الصوت الأصلي – jahra.removals

Clearly other people are also entertained by these videos with a few having over half a million views and one video (above) with 1.7million views.

Here is the link.

Dunes is a new project by TEC located in Blajat and its going to be a beachside kashta experience.

There will be different kashta setups to pick from and they will include catering. The menu will be two kinds of cuisines catered by Meat Moot and L’ETO

You’ll be able to book a kashta through the TEC app either for the whole day, or just for breakfast, lunch or dinner. They’ll also be open daily from 10AM to 11PM.

Dunes is expected to open in the coming two weeks, to stay posted follow them on @duneskwt