2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Just a quick update on the Popeyes opening, their Instagram account is now live @popeyes.kw and they’ve posted a story saying they’re opening on January 30th.

This weekend, Kuwait will be hosting the Nawi Wellness Summit 2025, a three-day event focused on health, fitness, and wellness. The event will run from January 9th to 11th and take place at The Arena in 360 Mall. It will be open daily from 10:00 AM  to 10:00 PM and is free to attend.

The summit won’t be a typical event; instead, it will feature engaging and immersive experiences, including:

Exhibition Hall: Explore top companies and brands showing their newest health and wellness products and services.

Interactive Workshops, Seminars, and Panels: Join activities for adults and families, including hands-on workshops, educational talks, and inspiring discussions.

Nawi Museum: Discover Kuwait’s sports history through a unique and immersive installation that takes you on a journey from Kuwait’s pearl diving days, to modern sports achievements.

Entry is free to the exhibition hall which has all the participating booths, retail area as well as food and drinks.

If you’d like access to the workshops, panel discussions, and NAWI Museum, then you need to purchase a VIP ticket. The VIP ticket costs KD25 and gives you 3-days access to the summit and allows you to register in any workshop or panel discussion. The workshops and panels will be held in English or Arabic, with translation provided in English for Arabic discussions and in Arabic for English discussions.

Nawi aims to inspire healthier living, bring people together, and highlight Kuwait’s role in wellness. If you want to register for the event or find out more, head over to yallanawi.com or check out @yalla.nawi

I called basically every Japanese restaurant in Kuwait to see if they had all you can eat sushi and I just found the following four spots:

Sushi Restaurant at Courtyard
KD 8.990 Every Tuesday

Genki Sushi
KD 9.950 Every Sunday & Monday

Oishii Sushi
KD 18.5 Every Monday

Sintoho
KD 20 Every Tuesday

If you know of another spot that I might have missed, let me know in the comments so I can add it.

I’ve been using Wiyak for nearly four years now, mainly when I drop off a car at the garage and need a ride home or to the office. Occasionally, I’ll use them for meetings in the city where parking is a hassle. Their service is practical, the cars are spotless, and I genuinely enjoy using them.

Initially, they launched as a premium ride-booking app, but they’ve since evolved to offer a variety of services, including Cabs, Rides, Rentals, MSAED and Winch service.

Cabs is their affordable taxi service, while Rides is their premium offering, allowing you to choose from a range of cars, including a Rolls-Royce Ghost. Rentals is Wiyak’s chauffeur service, ideal for extended business engagements, shopping outings, or just fun trips with friends where having a car waiting for you is a must.

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MSAED and Winch are two unique services unrelated to being driven around. With MSAED, their drivers can pick up items for you or even buy something on your behalf and deliver it, perfect for ticking errands off your list. Winch is straightforward: if your car breaks down, you can request a tow truck to pick up both you and your car and take you wherever you need to go.

All five services are conveniently accessible through their app, making it practical to manage everything with just one account. To learn more or download their app, visit their account at @wiyakrides.

My internet has been super slow all day and seems I’m not alone. According to a Reddit user, @Kuwait_anon, the GCX/Falcon cable system is down which is causing significant internet outage in Kuwait. The GCX/Falcon undersea cable system serves as a vital international data route connecting the Middle East to global networks.

I haven’t been able to find another source for this information. Citra doesn’t have any details, and neither does my internet provider, Zain. However, based on how slow my internet has been today, having major undersea cables down could explain why.

This week I finished Yellowstone. I was up to date before this last season started, but since my wife hadn’t watched Yellowstone before we binged watched all 5 seasons over a period of around 3 weeks. It’s such a great show with such a good last season and finale. If I had a Top 10 tv shows list it would be in it for sure.

Other than that I watched the movie Anora this week. What a great movie, so chaotic and funny, I loved it. The trailer doesn’t really do it any justice, nor does the movie description. Just watch it.

Let me know in the comments what you recently watched or planning to watch.

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

New This Week:
Arthur the King (7.0)
Boonie Bears: Time Twist (6.1)
Nosferatu (7.8)
The Man in the White Van (6.0)

Other Movies Showing:
Better Man (7.0)
Gladiator II (7.0)
Gunner (3.2)
Home Alone (classic) (7.7)
Kraven the Hunter (5.7)
Moana 2 (7.1)
Mufasa: The Lion King (6.7)
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (7.5)
The Bridge Curse: Ritual (5.3)
Wicked (8.1)

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

Yesterday I started receiving forwards to my @248am account from followers. They were sending me a video created by four content creators (@bukhaleefa,@oalthuwaini,@bo6aleb,@dr_m_alkandari) who had essentially taken my post about the story of Haydo, translated it to Arabic, and then used it as a script for their video on the same subject. It’s basically a word for word copy of my post with no mention of where they got their script from. They even used the exact same footage I had dug out for my post.

The four content creators combined have a total of over 4 million followers so I’m assuming they’re popular although I only recognize one of them. Based on their names I think two of them are doctors? I don’t know, but it’s just so weird that “content creators” seem to think it’s ok to copy someones work and not even credit them. It’s what I posted about recently, we live in a society where copying other peoples work is normalized. I remember watching a video a few months back where a “content creator” was responding to accusations that he was copying other peoples videos by saying its normal to copy and everyone does it. No it’s not normal.

The Haydo story isn’t mine to own obviously, it’s a historical event. But, the story they chose to share is mine. It’s my post, I did the research, I wrote and put the article together picking what I thought were the most important details to share. I edited the article so that it was fun and interesting to read, and then I spent two days looking for videos and photos that I thought were the best to go with it. So to have 4 established “content creators” to just translate my post and turn it into their script two days later because they ran out of their own creative ideas is frustrating.

Anyone that copies my content I usually report straight to Instagram. Sometimes I contact the person directly and ask them to remove the post, other times I just head straight to Instagram. Although Instagram are a bit slow, so far every time they’ve removed the infringing post and given a strike to the person that copied it. I think once they get two strikes they get some restrictions. I’ve already reported their post, but in this case I feel Instagram won’t be able to do anything since their post is in spoken Arabic while my post is written and in English. So it will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Actually, as I wrote the last sentence, I realized a much simpler way for instgram to realize they’ve copied my post. Without going into too much details for now, they essentially used something they could have only gotten from me. So I just submitted a second complaint to Instagram so that way in case the first one doesn’t work, the second one should.

I’ll post an update once I hear back from Instagram.

Qout Market, the market that started the whole markets trend in Kuwait is back again for a new season.

This year, Qout Market is happening at a brand-new location, Mishref’s Oasis, with the first one taking place on Saturday, January 25th.

Stay updated on the new season by following @qoutmarket

Atyab Al Marshoud has been part of Kuwait’s history since 1925, when founder Sulaiman Al Marshoud, initially arranging transportation for Hajj pilgrims, became intrigued by fragrances during a trip to India. He soon opened Kuwait’s first fragrance shop, sourcing oud and bakhoor from Southeast Asia. His fragrances quickly became popular, attracting the attention of Kuwait’s royal family. Upon Sulaiman’s passing, his sons Abdulrazaq and Waleed continued expanding the family business.

In 1991, Waleed Al Marshoud borrowed 8,000 KD to open the company’s first Salhiya store while serving as a police officer. Years later, his son Marshoud registered the brand in Paris, hoping to collaborate with a high-end perfumery. When that deal fell through, he strategically reclaimed the inventory, accelerated sales efforts, and launched a factory in Paris by 2015. These moves propelled the company’s growth, eventually leading to a global presence of 86 stores, 500 sales points, and revenue surpassing 25 million KWD.

Eager to break into London’s luxury scene, Marshoud initially aimed to partner with Harrods, but strict regulations made it challenging. Undeterred, he opened a standalone store in Knightsbridge in 2020. In 2022, after two years of development, they launched Marshoud 4 Red which became an instant hit among both local and international audiences. The store’s revenue surged over 400%, prompting Harrods to revisit a partnership offer, which Atyab Al Marshoud declined to protect its London exclusivity.

As they celebrate 100 years, Atyab Al Marshoud is more than just a brand, it’s a legacy. A reminder of how something as simple as a scent can carry stories, evoke memories, and connect generations. atyabalmarshoud.com

A lot of people have been asking me whether there are any fireworks tonight. Here’s what I’ve been able to find.

The largest fireworks shows taking place tonight will most likely be at Al Khiran Mall, and possibly Al Mikshat on the Sheikh Jaber bridge.

According to a contact at TEC, none of their projects will have fireworks. So no fireworks at K Land, Winter Wonderland, South Subahiya Park, and Kuwait Towers.

Some hotels will have fireworks including Jumeirah Messilah Beach, but I don’t think they’ll be big shows. The advantage of Jumeirah over other hotels is that there are lots of empty lots around the hotel to park and watch the fireworks if you want to.

If you know of another place that will have fireworks tonight, let us know in the comments.

It looks like Lindsay Lohan is in Kuwait for the holidays. Lindsay was spotted by music teacher @fai_sms at the Lebanese restaurant Ibn El Jabal in Kuwait City.

In case you haven’t heard, Lindsay Lohan married Kuwaiti financier Bader Shammas a couple of years ago, which means she pops into Kuwait every so often. It’s pretty surreal—and the only way it could get more tabloid-worthy is if Al Pacino decided to spend New Year’s in Kuwait with his Kuwaiti girlfriend.

I originally posted about Haydo back in 2006. But, this is the story again with some details corrected. I no longer know what the original source of my information was, but there were some timeline inaccuracies and some exaggerated details. So this is as accurate as the story can be with the information I found.

Back in October 1981, Kuwait played a World Cup qualifying match in New Zealand. Just before kickoff, some Kiwi fans displayed an offensive banner reading “Stick to ya camels” as the Kuwaiti team came onto the field. Kuwait went on to win that match, 2–1.

A couple of months later, the two teams met again, this time in Kuwait. The Kuwaiti Football Association adopted a camel named Haydo as its mascot, and just before the game started, they brought out a few camels to parade around the stadium—demonstrating Kuwait’s pride in its heritage. Kuwait drew the match and secured qualification for the 1982 World Cup in Spain.

Kuwait was the first Arab country from Asia to qualify for the tournament. A Spanish newspaper later claimed the Kuwaiti national team would be late to the World Cup because they would be “traveling on the backs of their camels!” Contrary to that prediction, Kuwait arrived early—so early that neither journalists nor locals knew they were even in Spain.

In an effort to gain attention, the head of the Kuwaiti Football Association told a French journalist (who was there to cover the arrival of the French team) that “the Kuwaiti team would withdraw from the competition unless they could bring their mascot, Haydo.” Within hours, the hotel was packed with reporters keen to find out more about the camel mascot.

Eventually, the Spanish authorities and the hotel manager agreed, allowing the Kuwaiti team to bring their camel as long as it stayed in the hotel’s backyard. The head of the Kuwaiti Football Association then called the Moroccan Minister of Sport, requesting that a camel be sent to Spain as soon as possible. He also ordered a custom T-shirt for it.

All the buzz surrounding the camel drew a lot of attention from locals and journalists, making Kuwait’s presence truly felt. From that point on, Haydo became the official mascot of the Kuwaiti national team.

This week I watched half of Deadpool & Wolverine, and also half of Fly Me to the Moon. Still need to finish both just been pretty busy. Barely watched anything else. It turns out the second half of Yellowstone season 5 isn’t on Peacock or Paramount+ and instead I need to buy it from the AppleTV store (or any digital store basically). Haven’t started it yet.

New Superman trailer is out and it looks really good. Other than that I’ve added a bunch of movies to my watch list for this coming week:

Anora
Juror #2
Saturday Night
Small Things Like These

Let me know in the comments what you recently watched or planning to watch.

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

New This Week:
Better Man (7.0)
Get Away (5.9)
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (7.5)
The Bridge Curse: Ritual (5.3)

Other Movies Showing:
Gladiator II (7.0)
Gunner (3.2)
Home Alone (classic) (7.7)
Kraven the Hunter (5.7)
Moana 2 (7.1)
Mufasa: The Lion King (6.7)
Survive (4.6)
The Painted (6.1)
Wicked (8.1)

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

So just a quick update related to my post yesterday.

Aramex just called me now, at first she said that she is calling me to verify my delivery information. So right away I called her out on it and told her what information exactly are you verifying? For the past 4 days everyday you’ve been updating the tracking info saying there is missing delivery information and yet there is no way for me to contact you. What exactly is missing?

She then backtracked and said she misspoke, and she is actually calling me to verify my phone number because the driver went out for delivery yesterday and tried calling my numbers and couldn’t reach me.

I told her it was bullshit and they’re lying. I told her nobody tried calling me yesterday and to check the drivers phone if that is the case. I didn’t hold back, I told her all week long the issue was the address wasn’t correct, then suddenly the address is fine and the driver is out for delivery but I’m not picking up? It’s all lies.

Update: As predicted, magically they now have the proper delivery information and my shipment will most likely be getting delivered now.

Let me know if this has happened to you. Whenever I order anything from Amazon straight to Kuwait, I either get the packages shipped via FedEx, or Aramex.

When the package gets shipped by FedEx, I don’t run into any issues, the packages get delivered straight to me without delays.

On the other hand, if the package ships with Aramex, it’s a completely different story.

The package doesn’t go out for delivery, instead Aramex starts blaming me for the delay either by stating they attempted to deliver the package and I wasn’t there, or that the delivery information is missing. This happens basically all the time.

Amazon sends me a message daily saying my package is on hold because Aramex is saying there is missing delivery info. Aramex doesn’t attempt to call me to get the “missing” info. I also can’t called Aramex to ask them what info is missing since there isn’t a way to talk to a human being and their automated system doesn’t have an option for updating delivery or whatever. They also have an automated WhatsApp system that you could in theory try and get a hold of a real person through, but I haven’t been able to get someone myself to verify that actually works. Yesterday I tried that and I’ve been on hold for more than 24 hours now and haven’t gotten a hold of anyone.

So the package usually stays in limbo for a few days, Aramex telling Amazon they can’t deliver cuz of missing info, and I can’t call Aramex to give them whatever missing info they want. Then, a few days later magically Aramex somehow manages to get the missing info and send my package out for delivery.

I have a theory to why they do this, I believe it’s so that they don’t look slow in front of Amazon. They blame the customer so that it’s not their fault for being late. End of the year when Amazon audits there delivery speed it won’t show any delays in delivery that way.

So let me know if you’ve run into this problem before because I’m sure it can’t be happening just to me.

Update: This is hilarious but I have another package that was meant to be delivered today and they couldn’t because “We’ve attempted to deliver the shipment, but the office was closed. Not to worry, the delivery has been rescheduled”

They tried to deliver at 11:39AM so obviously they are lying because the office was open at that time. This summarizes my issue with them, they keep coming off as liars. If they were just honest and were like “Sorry we couldn’t deliver the package today because it’s the holidays and we have too many shipments to deliver” I would have understood and be ok with it. But saying the office is closed when it isn’t, come on….