2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

A couple of years back Discovery Channel aired an episode of Building the Impossible that featured Sabah Al-Ahmad Sea City. Back then I hadn’t heard of the project but ever since I did I’ve been frequenting the place as often as I can mostly for activities like wakeboarding. Anyway a reader left a comment on my old post letting me know you can now watch “Sea City – Building the Impossible” online. I’ve already watched them before but if you haven’t check out this [Link]

Shop and Ship who are known for their US forwarding mailboxes have given their website a much needed facelift. Other than the fact the website looks better it’s also a lot more organized and easier to navigate.

One new feature I noticed is the tracking page now gives you an idea on when your package will be delivered to Kuwait. This was a much needed option and I’m curious to see how accurate it is. Check out the redesigned website [Here]

The Guardian have a pretty long article on Kuwaiti musician Fatima Al Qadiri who just launched a new album yesterday. Her new album is called ‘Asiatisch’ and from the songs I heard off it I didn’t really like any of them and I’m not the only one either. But, its still cool she’s doing what she’s doing and you can check out the article on her [Here]

Thanks Simon

Monstariam who is a good friend of mine took off on a cool road trip a few days ago which he will be turning into a short documentary. He’s an extremely talented graffiti artist and he always has problems finding supplies locally so recently when he was looking for Montana spray cans he found out the closest dealer is all the way in Jeddah Saudia Arabia. So he got together with some friends and decided to go on a road trip in search for Montana. They’re documenting their journey all along the way and they already hit Jeddah yesterday so they should be making their way back to Kuwait soon. So check them out on instagram @sprayhunt

Last month when I posted my photographic journey of Salam Palace I mentioned that right next door to the palace a huge project is currently under construction. I was shown renderings of the buildings and they looked out of this world but due to the secretive nature of this project (they want it to be a surprise to everyone) I wasn’t allowed to take any photos to share on the blog. Luckily with a little help from a friend of mine (thanks Khaled!), I was able to source out the images of the project online.

The site of the huge project is the old flag square opposite the church in Kuwait City [Map] and when completed will house four structures, an opera house, a music center, a theatre and a library. The official name for this cultural centre I believe will be “Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Centre”. The buildings will be made out of titanium shells and will have no pillars at all on the inside. When I met with Al-Diwan Al-Amiri they told me the project was expected to be completed in 18 months and I truely believe that will be possible due to the amount of resources they’ve assigned for this project. The project is already two months ahead of schedule.

As you can see from the images this project looks really stunning and like nothing else we have ever done in Kuwait. Its also located on the coastal road so it’s in clear sight for everyone to see. This is the quality of design all government projects should have but sadly don’t and I personally can’t wait until the project is completed.

Enjoy the renderings, I found them [Here]

The image of the note above has been circulating on whatsapp and instagram as the new KD1 bank note that will be released at the start of Ramadan. The problem is the image thats circulating is not the new banknote, it’s actually a commemorative banknote issued back in 2001 on the 10th anniversary of Liberation Day. For details on this banknote and others visit the Central Bank of Kuwait website [Here]

Last month I mentioned that Edo was opening a new branch at Sahara Country Club and it turns that they are not the only restaurant thats opening there. A new “village” is being built right next to the resort and it’s going to be called the Sahara Restaurant Village. I was able to obtain some names of the restaurants and shops that will be opening there but this list is unconfirmed. The places I’ve been told that will open there are:

Slider Station
Burger Boutique
Villa Fayrouz
Tatami Japanese Restaurant
Edo Japanese Restaurant
52 Degrees
Caribou Coffee
Costa Coffee
Inspire Fitness
Athletes Foot

Construction recently started but all the restaurants and shops are expected to open at the same time on November 1st.

According to Kuwait Times, the government will no longer kill stray dogs but instead will capture them and deport them. Yeah I know deportation sounds funny but by that they actually mean they will be sending the dogs to countries who would want them.

That’s a lot better than the alternative which is having guys driving around with shotguns killing them or having the government poison the dogs. [Link]

This weekend was pretty busy at the Avenues. First the boring stuff, iHop is opening a second branch at the Avenues, this time in phase one. I can understand why we have so many Starbucks, I might be able to understand why we have three Pinkberrys, but I really don’t understand why we need two Shake Shacks and now two iHops.

[YouTube]

In other news, there was a fight at the Avenues this weekend this time involving girls. You can watch that video above although its not very clear. On the other hand there was a guy walking around casually with a large dead lizard. Thankfully Avenues security called the police and had him escorted off their property. You can watch that video below.

[YouTube]

Someone uploaded an old report on the 1988 Kuwait International Rally. It’s 30 minutes long so I would recommend skimming through it unless you really want to watch it all. If you’re into old commercials then fast forward to the two commercial breaks, the first one starts at 13:35 while the second one starts at 22:18. Check out the video below.

[YouTube]

This is too funny.

Thursday
Paragliding Festival
Alice in Wonderland
Shakshooka Nomadic Farmers Market
Announcement and Discussion of Acquiring Modernity
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: A Brief History of Time

Friday
Paragliding Festival
Alice in Wonderland
Armenian Dance & Music Evening

Saturday
Paragliding Festival
Alice in Wonderland
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: Persona

If you’d like to share an event on the blog click [Here]

Photo above by @faisalthef

SAVECO is a new supermarket that opened up in Al Rai right next to Lu&Lu hypermarket. A friend had recently passed by and told me it was worth checking out so I passed by yesterday during the day and ended up leaving pleasantly surprised.

I’m not sure when exactly the supermarket opened, but I’m guessing it was sometime this year. The place is immaculate, extremely tidy and the aisles are super wide. My favorite section is probably the health and beauty section where all the shelves are backlit making everything look really good.

I’m not sure how the supermarket compares in product selection to other supermarkets. I do all my shopping at Sultan Center and it seems every supermarket in Kuwait has more products and a larger variety than they do. There is one brand of dish washing soap which I really really love (Dawn with Olay), I love it so much that when I realized Sultan were not restocking it anymore I went to 3 other Sultan branches to buy up whatever remaining stock they had. I thought the brand discontinued their partnership with Olay since Sultan just started bringing regular Dawn but yesterday I found shelf after shelf of it at SAVECO. They also had a huge selection of none dairy milk like soy, almond, hazelnut, rice etc.. again this might be normal all around Kuwait but compared to my supermarket the selection was a lot bigger.

Going all the way to Al Rai to shop isn’t practical for me but the supermarket looks great and as a friend put it, it feels very therapeutic shopping there. The biggest issue is probably parking but if you come in from their back entrance avoiding the whole 4th Ring Road entry and parking mess you’ll be a lot better off. Check out the map above of how to get there using the road 55 entrance. Also here is the location on [Google Maps]

Rajeev Suri who was appointed as the new Nokia CEO a couple of days ago was raised and spent a major part of his life here in Kuwait.

Thanks Chris

One eye on you. A short-eared owl stretching and relaxing in a nature reserve in Kuwait. (© Mohd Khorshid/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

The photo above is one of the entries to the 26th annual National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest. Check out some of the other entries [Here]