2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Thanks MSM

The scale model (above) of the Kuwait Cultural Centre (rendering below) is currently being exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts for the summer. From all the projects that are currently being worked on this is the one I am most excited about. I just love the design.

Check out the scale model [Here]
Check out more info and renderings [Here] and [Here]

The British noodle bar chain WOK&GO have now opened up at Al Hamra Tower.

This past long weekend I spent it in Lebanon and among the activities I did the most fun was an ATV road trip adventure. I didn’t really know what to expect, I had just previously heard off a friend that you can take an ATV trip with a guide from the popular ski area Faraya, all the way to the Cedars (a few mountains away) and back. The trip ended up being just unbelievably fun.

Depending on where you stay in Lebanon, getting to Faraya will take you anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour with no traffic. Faraya is a popular destination in the winter since a lot of ski resorts are based there, but in the summer, it’s a popular destination for outdoor activities like offroading, mountain biking, camping and ATV exploration. I had booked a bunch of ATVs for me and my friends before arriving to Lebanon and because we wanted to start the day early we got to the starting location in Faraya at around 9:30AM. From there we got geared up, given basic safety tips and the chance to try out the ATVs before heading out on our trip.

The trip is 80% off road with the rest of the time being tiny tarmac roads. It was an incredibly fun journey full of beautiful scenery and general seclusion with no people for miles and miles away. The route heading out was different than the route coming back so that way we didn’t get to experience the same scenery twice. We weren’t expecting the weather to be cold so we didn’t get jackets but our guide recommended we got some since we would be going up to the highest peak in Lebanon (around 2,750 meters high). Luckily we found a small store near the starting point that rented out ski jackets and good thing we got them because with the jackets on we were still freezing our asses off in some stages of the trip.

The journey in each direction took around 3 hours and we past through a variety of different environments and terrain. We were constantly putting on and taking off our jackets and the road surface would change from rocks to dirt and to sand as we went up and down different peaks and valleys. Our destination was a small restaurant in the middle of nowhere next to a beautiful lake. Once we were done with lunch we headed back to our starting point but this time on a different route and an extremely beautiful one filled with green fields, lots of hills and a dirt trail (a lot more comfortable than a rocky one).

The total journey with lunch lasted just over 7 hours but time really flew by quickly and I even wished it had lasted longer. There were a lot of interesting things we got to see along the way as well. At one point I thought I was going to get kidnapped when a man on the side of the road walked towards me with an M4A1 Carbine Assault Rifle as I drove by. Luckily turned out he was after something/someone on the other side of the road and not me. We also got to drive through huge (and I mean HUGE) cannabis fields where at one point a dodgy looking lifted pickup truck filled with men tried to stop us as well. Our guide had also told us we would be driving through snow walls as high as 6 meters. Of course none of us had believed him since we were in June so you could imagine our surprise when we did end up surrounded by 6 meter snow walls at one point of the trip.

This was an incredibly fun adventure and one I really can’t wait to go on again. Since we were four people the cost for the trip was $225 per person (guide included). If you’re less than four it’s $250 and if you’re more than four you could probably negotiate a better price. You could also share an ATV with someone else since it can hold two people and that way split the amount. But I have to say it was EXTREMELY worth $225. Make sure if you do take this trip to expect to end up covered in dust and dirt. Also bring a jacket with you as well. We rented the ATVs with the guide from a place called Red Runner. Their phone number is +9613178866. Have fun!

While the world is becoming less peaceful, Kuwait moved up a few spots and came in 37th place out of 162 in the most recent Global Peace Index report (Iceland came first). The peace index uses a variety of different stats to generate an overall ranking including:

– Level of organised conflict
– Relations with neighbouring countries
– Level of perceived criminality in society
– Political instability
– Terrorist activity
– Number of homicides per 100,000 people
– Level of violent crime
– Likelihood of violent demonstrations
– Number of jailed population per 100,000 people
– Nuclear and heavy weapons capability
– Ease of access to small arms and light weapons

Amongst our neighboring states Kuwait ranks 3rd behind Qater (19) and UAE (36). For their full findings and stats visit their website [Here]

Pecha Kucha Night #9 will be held on June 26 at the Amricani Cultural Centre on the Gulf Road at 7PM. 20 images x 20 seconds will be presented by:

Laila Al-Hamad
Tara Norris
Rana Alomani
Liali&Lamees Nijem
Nada Al-Ragom
Hussa Al-Humaidhi
Ali Al-Yousifi
Faisal Al-Nakib

Date: Wednesday, June 26th 2013
Time: 7:00PM to 9:00PM
Location: Amricani Cultural Centre on the Gulf Road

For more information visit their Facebook page [Here]

Thanks Lanoush

The new Kuwait University building under construction caught fire again earlier today for the second time this month. Pretty weird.

Thanks Mohsin

The Eight is a new project by Tamdeen that will feature 70 sea view apartments, in-line retail shopping, fine dining, cafes, and drive thru services that vary from financial institutions to fast food restaurants. The Eight is going to be located in Sabah al Salem, West of the Fahaheel express way and adjacent to the sea. Based on the 3D renderings it looks like it’s going to be a mini city of a sort with lots of stores and restaurants surrounding the apartment block. Check out all the pictures and more information [Here]

Since this weekend was a long one, the long term parking at the airport was completely filled. Usually I’d wait outside until someone leaves but I figured this time around it wasn’t going to happen so I decided to park at the short term parking lot instead. According to the sign at the entrance of the short term parking, the cost would be 200 fils for the first hour and then 400 fils for every hour after that. Calculating that into a day would mean it would cost you KD9.4 for 24 hours which is a ridiculous sum. Luckily, thats not the case.

The short term parking has a maximum fee of KD4 a day. Although expensive, it does mean if you’re traveling for just the weekend and the long term parking is full then you could park in the short term one as an alternative option. I left Thursday morning and came back Sunday morning and the total was KD16, double the price I would usually pay if I had parked in the long term lot.

Over the weekend while in Lebanon I oddly found out about a farmers market located here in Kuwait called Shakshooka. I hadn’t heard of it before and the fact that someone living in Lebanon knew about it while I didn’t was a bit weird. I was planning to visit the next Shakshooka so I could write about it but turns out Danderma beat me to the punch since she posted a full write up on it on her blog earlier today. So check out her post [Here]

Photo above by @faisalthef

The Daily Mail Online have an article on the tire graveyard out in Sulaibiya. According to the article the tire graveyard is so big it can be seen from space. That’s not really true though since the tire graveyard is actually visible on Google Maps which is not really the same as being seen from space. A bit exaggerated but then again this is the Daily Mail. You can check out their article [Here]

The Italian restaurant Vinny’s is opening a new location in Arraya Tower opposite Burger Boutique. Their current and only branch is located at 52 Degrees.

Update: Turns out Vinny’s closed in 52 Degrees because they are relocating to this new location.

A few days ago Jordan defeated Kuwait 21-0 in the Women’s Asian Cup qualifying. This comes after Kuwait lost to Uzbekistan 18-0 in the first qualifying round. You can watch all 21 goals in the “4 minute long” highlight reel above. [YouTube]

They’re watching us! [YouTube]