2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003
The Shakshooka farmers market is taking place tonight from 6 to 7PM outside Thouq in Souk Mubarkia. If you don’t know where Thouq is @thepantrykw have a map which you can see [Here]
Note: Bring cash and a carrying bag if you will be buying stuff
Photo above by @faisalthef
In case you haven’t been following up on this story check [this post] and [this post]. Last night I passed by the store with @neatkw since they offered to help tidy up the old man’s store. Yesterday was the first time I actually got to see the store properly from behind the counter and also upstairs and I am at loss for words. The place needs a lot more than just tidying.
Originally I thought that the old man was sleeping in his studio upstairs but when I went up I realized there was no bed and there was no studio. The top floor was just full of random junk, garbage, dust and even an old fridge that was over 40 years old. From what we could gather from the old man, he was sleeping on his chair on the ground floor of the store. The whole shop is just covered with a very thick layer of dust, there is barely enough room to walk and just two chairs to sit in. While trying to talk to the old man he casually pulled out a bunch of crisp 1/4 dinar notes dating back to the pre-1990 invasion like he just popped out of a time machine. He then proceeded to rip the notes up because he said they were illegal and he didn’t want to get arrested. Randomly all over the store are black and white photos probably dating to the 60s covering random events in Kuwait like sports, fires and even a flood. Communicating with the old man is difficult, he doesn’t have a timeline and he forgets a lot. You can’t tell if an incident that happened to him took place last week or took place 20 years ago.
So this is what’s happening now. The two kind ladies from @neatkw are going to try and find his sponsor and get more details off him. Then based on that conversation figure out what to do next. I personally think the old man needs proper care, somewhere like an old people’s home. He needs people around him to talk to and he needs someone to take care of him. If that doesn’t work out the idea is to make his store (which isn’t really a store right now just an indoor junkyard) more comfortable for him like replacing the old broken down film developer with a bed and clearing out all the garbage and adding other amenities like a proper bathroom.
Bait Al-Othman Museum opened earlier this year but I only got to pass by and check it out yesterday and to my surprise, it turned out to a lot bigger than I was expecting it to be. The museum covers various aspects of Kuwait’s history and showcases them in different rooms that are spread out across the museum. I loved walking around the place because I didn’t know what I would see next, they had a room about Kuwait Airways, a room with old currencies, an old barber shop, a drama room and a lot more other ones all covering historically important aspects related to Kuwait.
Entry fee was just KD1 and there’s a ton of parking outside where you could also see some old vehicles and even a plane. The museum is located in Hawalli behind Al Othman Complex on Bin Khaldoun Street. Visiting hours are 9:30AM to 12:30PM and 4:30PM to 9:00PM. They are open daily except for Friday mornings. Here is the location on [Google Maps]
The photos above are just some of the stuff you will see there since I didn’t want to ruin the experience for you by posting everything.
I’m going to start my review by saying I don’t have any pretty food pictures to go with this post. I didn’t have my camera with me because I wasn’t planning to write a review and even though I had my phone I couldn’t use it to take pictures during dinner. Since everyone is usually anti-socially glued to their phones during lunch or dinner, me and my friends have this thing we do where we pile our phones facedown on top of each other on one side of the table and no one is allowed to check their phone until the bill comes. If you touch your phone before the bill arrives then you get to pay the whole bill yourself. Not something you want to do, especially when you’re at a pricy restaurant like The Peacock.
I don’t want to talk about the food anyway which was delicious (as expected). Most of you already know Peacock from before they closed down and their menu is basically 99% the same as it was before. For those of you who’ve never been to Peacock then it’s basically one of the best Chinese restaurants in Kuwait and also probably one of the best restaurants in Kuwait overall. It’s definitely in my top 3.
Now the reason I changed my mind and decided to review the place was because of the service. Hands down I think Peacock have the best dining service in Kuwait. It’s just ridiculous the amount of waiters that appear out of no where to service you. No one is hovering and you don’t notice them but when you need a waiter they’re there before you even call them. A friend arrived late to dinner and when he sat down at the table I just watched as four different waiters surrounded him to take care of him as he was being seated. One had hot towels, the other filled his glass with sparkling water, a third poured jasmine tea and the fourth handed him the menu. It’s like being pampered at a spa.
Another great thing is how well the waiters know the menu. One of my friends is allergic to wheat so she asked a waiter about various dishes and he knew the exact ingredients. He was able to tell her if one dish contained corn starch or if another used wheat or not. They know their stuff. Also, all the items on the menu are numbered and the waiter knew what each number corresponded to which dish on the menu. And the menu his huge with like 80 or so dishes yet I somehow can barely memorize my phone number.
The only negative really is that with the reopening they’ve also increased the prices of their dishes. That was to be expected because of inflation and so the prawns dishes for example are around KD9 now. Other than that we had an amazing dinner and I’m so glad they haven’t changed much about the place.
The Peacock is located at the newly renovated Radisson Blu Hotel. If you’re interested in passing by you need to reserve by calling them on 25673000.
Interior shot taken from the Radisson Blu [Facebook Page]
A Kuwaiti Airways passenger plane used blankets and bed sheets to block an air leak discovered through an emergency door while the jet was en route from Thailand to Kuwait, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Passengers began to panic when they saw the pilot and cabin crew hurrying to block the leak caused by erosion of a small part of the door, the Kuwaiti Arabic language daily Alwatan said, citing Kuwaiti Airways sources. [Source]
On the positive side it looks like they might be getting 20 new planes by next year.
British Council is hosting their annual Education UK Exhibition which invites you to visit and speak with over 40 universities and colleges from the UK. EDUKEX 2013 will be held on the 2nd and 3rd of October in Sheraton Towers, Diamond Ballroom.
Entry to this event is free of charge but registration is required. Log on to the following website to register prior to the exhibition https://kw.edukexhibitions.org/
For more information please contact us on the following channels;
Telephone: +965 2251 5512
Fax: +965 2252 0069
Website: https://www.britishcouncil.org/kuwait-education-edukex.htm
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/britishcouncilkuwait
Twitter: @kwbritish
Instagram: @kwbritish
Note: Not related to the post below. Ok maybe just a little bit.
According to a recent ranking of top universities around the world, Kuwait barely makes the list coming in 701+ out of 800 (they just grouped the bottom 100 universities into one lump). Kuwait University was the only local university that made it into the top 800. On the other hand Saudi Arabia had 7 universities make the list including one that made it to #216, the highest amongst our neighbors. Oman, Qatar and the UAE all ranked higher than Kuwait as well.
Not good.
Check out the full rankings [Here]
Old KU photo above taken from [Here]
Q8Books is officially opening its door this coming Sunday. Other than a night full of cultural entertainment featuring artists Daxna, Monstariam, Dr. Foobar and Hamed Al-Refaei, Q8Books will also be introducing their outreach program. The bookstores opening hours will be 2 to 9PM and they’re located at Bayt Lothan (outside to the right of the main entrance). Pass by and follow them on Instagram @q8bookstore
Over the weekend I got to try AJ’s Food Truck and although I didn’t think much of the food I do love the idea of food trucks and I hope it catches on (and I’m guessing it will). With AJ’s Food Truck you have two options, you can either book them to come over with their truck and cater to you and your friends or you could follow them on Instagram and keep an eye out for when they park their truck somewhere so you could go and find them.
AJ’s Food Truck is a burger truck with a menu consisting of two kinds of burgers, a steak sandwich and a chicken burger. They also have sides like fries, onion rings and chicken tenders as well as drinks. But food trucks can of course be more than just burger trucks and I’d love to see a Chinese or Mexican food truck roaming around Kuwait.
If you want to find out more about AJ’s Food Truck you can check out their Instagram account @ajsfoodtruck
I found out last night that Katsuya by S+ARCK will be opening in the middle of October. Katsuya by S+ARCK is a Japanese restaurant that is designed by the famous product and interior designer, Philippe Starck. The franchise was brought to the region by Alshaya and their first location in Kuwait is located in Avenues Phase III near Gaucho Grill.
Picture above taken from the Philippe Starck website.
Update: Katsuya is now open [Link]
No idea from what year since the video doesn’t have a description. [YouTube]
I passed by Sharq today to check out the prices of the iPhone 5S. Most of the shops didn’t have it yet but the ones that did were selling the 16GB from KD320 to as high as KD360. Eureka Electronics also has the iPhone 5S in stock and they’re selling the 16GB for KD300. They also have the iPhone 5C 16GB for KD220.
Prices will obviously drop once the market is saturated.
So a lot of you have a read a few of my posts discussing different crimes under the Kuwaiti Penal Law and how the punishments were in Rupees. This caused quite a stir with a lot of people with many asking why the punishments were in Rupees instead of Kuwaiti Dinars. Some of the readers even claimed that those laws no longer applied because the punishments were in Rupees. Firstly that’s not true, the laws are still valid even though they are in Rupees. Secondly, below is an explanation on why Kuwait uses Rupees instead of Kuwaiti Dinars:
The History of the Use of Rupees in Kuwait
They were called the Arabian Gulf Rupees by the people that called our area the Arabian Gulf, and they were also called the Persian Rupees by the people that called our area the Persian Gulf. I decided that I am going to call them the Penal Law Rupees in this post.
The Penal Law Rupees were used in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the Trucial States (now famously known as UAE or should I just say Dubai). They were printed by India and it was used in Kuwait from 1959-1961. You can still find them on eBay selling from a few hundred dollars and all the way up to a few thousand dollars (I am so totally going through my granddads closet today! https://www.ebay.com/bhp/india-gulf-rupee).
The laws that have rupees as punishments and their implications
The Penal Law was promulgated (published) in 1960 which is why the punishments were in Rupees since that was the currency of Kuwait at that time. The currency was changed to Kuwaiti Dinars in 1961 (thanks to our awesome Constitution) and a new law had to be promulgated to change the Rupees to dinars. But you know how things take time in Kuwait and it took a little bit longer than expected to get this sorted… around 24 years.
In 1985 law no. 9 was published “for the replacement of the rupees by the Kuwaiti Dinar wherever stated in the Laws”, and in Article 1 of the law it states that rupees shall be exchanged to 75 fils, wherever they are mentioned in Kuwaiti Law.
So this is why Kuwait uses Rupees in the Kuwait Penal Law. If you want to read more about the Rupees history check out my sources [Here] and [Here].
If anyone finds Rupees in their mums closet then please email us a photo.
Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
Have a Kuwait law related question? Email me at [email protected]
The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.
Back in 2011, someone decided it would be smart to reduce the size of the middle sidewalk in old Salmiya by creating a dirt pit around all the trees. I guess the idea was that they would plant these pits with greenery which I was against since I knew no one would maintain it. I received some criticism regarding my views because I wasn’t being optimistic.
Well the picture above is how the median looks like over 2 years later. This is why I was suggesting the other day they plant fake grass in old Salmiya instead of destroying the beautiful Gulf Road with fake grass.
The Instagram blog and official account featured the account of Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah a few days ago. Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah who was the person behind Villa Moda has been taking photos of household objects on stark white backgrounds which has proven to be popular with his followers.
I’m not aware of any other Kuwaiti account that has been featured on Instagram before. The photo they featured has already received over 300,000 likes while the article on the blog has received over 1,000 notes. You can check out his account by following him on @majedalsabahkuwait and you can also check out the feature on him [Here]
Thanks @geekinkuwait
