2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

The second season of Winter Wonderland is opening its doors on October 15th, and tickets just went on sale a few moments ago.

Last year tickets were really difficult to come by so this season they increased the number of tickets available for sale everyday up to 15,000. That should hopefully solve the sparsity faced last year.

This season there are also two kinds of tickets available to purchase. The regular ticket is 5KD but there is a new second ticket option that is in partnership with Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre located next door. The new ticket costs 8KD and gives you access to both Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre and Winter Wonderland. With this ticket you also get the benefit of being able to park in the cultural centre’s underground parking.

Tickets are available now but as of this post the app and website were crashing. I’m guessing that’s due to the number of people trying to get tickets. Link

I thought the events were starting to pick up but I guess it might be still a bit too warm. Below are some events I found taking place this weekend, if I missed anything, let me know.

Thursday, October 12
Bunka x Cadillac

Friday, October 13
Game Night at Bonjiri

Saturday, October 14
IFK Brunch in the Garden
Storytelling with Aseel AlYaqoub
Sunrise Paddling
Risograph Workshop

Exhibitions
The Eye of The Sky Drone Photography Exhibition
Sacred I by Yasmine El Hazek
SIF, An Introduction by Mohammad Kassem

There are two new shows that I was looking forward to watching and are now premiering this weekend, Lessons in Chemistry and the new Frasier reboot. Also, and I’m not even slightly joking here, but one show I look forward to on weekends is The Kardashians.

A new episode comes out every Friday and the Hulu series is the only reality show I watch. It’s a lot of fun, there is drama, gossip, humor, cringe, but mostly, a lot of humor. I also like playing a game where I try to guess if it’s winter or summer on the show because there is no way to know. In the same scene Kanye could be wearing a huge ass leather bomber jacket, beanie and rain boots while Kim is in a Skims tank top. Really every scene is like that, the sisters go out to lunch and half of them look like they’re at the beach and the other half look like they’re about to go skiing.

Anyway, let me know if you watched a good show or movie this week.

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

New This Weekend:
Goldbeak (4.4)
The Exorcist: Believer (5.1)
The Getback (7.5)
The Island (4.3)

Other Movies Showing:
A Haunting in Venice (6.7)
Desperation Road (5.7)
Expend4bles (5.1)
PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie (6.1)
Saw X (7.2)
Sound of Freedom (7.8)
The Canterville Ghost (7.6)
a href=”https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11858890/”>The Creator (7.3)
The Equalizer 3 (6.9)
The Inseparables (7.5)
The Nun II (6.3)

The classic films below are currently showing at the 1954 Film House:
Coraline (7.7)
The Addams Family (6.9)
The Thing (8.2)

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

A few years ago I came across the photo above taken by George Rodger in 1952 of the first elephant in Kuwait. Initially, I thought the elephant was for our current zoo, but that couldn’t have been possible since the zoo opened much later, in 1968. Turns out there was another zoo in Kuwait before that called “Salwa Garden”.

Salwa Garden was the first zoo in Kuwait and the first modern zoo in the Arabian Gulf. It was established in Rumaithiya by Sheikh Jaber Al-Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in 1954 back when the area lacked basic infrastructure like roads or electricity.

Sheikh Jaber traveled to India and Africa in search of animals, and whenever he got the animals he also brought with them their minders to help ensure that the animals received proper care. He also strived to establish near-normal conditions for the animals. For the Himalayan bear for example, he purchased ice slabs for it from the Al-Ghanim ice factory until it adapted to Kuwait’s climatic conditions. He also made sure that all the animals were well fed and medically cared for.

The garden was called “Salwa” because it was an Arabic term for recreation and entertainment. Admission was free because Sheikh Jaber wanted to share his love for nature with others and it the garden ended up attracting both locals and foreigners.

A decade after establishing the garden, Sheikh Jaber decided to close it due to rapid urbanization and the establishment of the Kuwait Zoo in Al-Omariyah which he ended up donating most of his animals to.

It’s a really interesting story and if you want to read more about it, there is a great paper written by Rua Alshaheen, Yousef Alharoun and Mohammed Alajmi called “A case study of Kuwait’s Salwa Garden” which has a lot of info and where I got most of mine from.

There is also a book called “Salwa Garden” that was published by Mona Al-Sabah which contains information as well as a lot more photos of the garden.

This is the most random thing ever, I can’t tell if they’re trolling or not. YouTube

Drops, my favorite groceries delivery app just received the iPhone 15 Pro Max and they’re launching them on their app tonight.

They just have one model, the iPhone 15 Pro Max 256GB and in the hard to find “Natural” color. If you order before 10PM you’ll get the phone delivered within two hours or else you’ll get it the next day.

I’ve been using Drops for nearly 2 years now, and I’m a pretty loyal customer but I only recently found out they also sell electronics and home appliances. They have a lot of different Apple products available on their app and even TVs.

The phones are available in limited supply for 464.9 KD, so don’t miss out! @dropskuwait

A couple of hours ago the Sadu House officially revealed the Sadu brick road which they’re calling “AlSadu Street”. The street is located adjacent to the Sadu House and was inspired by their appreciation and deep comprehensive study of the Sadu techniques and patterns.

Here are some interesting facts about the street:

• AlSadu Street consists of 190,000 custom-made bricks.

• AlSadu Street took 10 workers and 300 hours to complete.

• The bricks used in AlSadu Street are custom made multi-purpose Kuwaiti bricks in colors that match the Sadu pieces.

• The Sadu patterns were transferred digitally and rendered in a graphic design to meet the nature and shape of the street without altering the motifs and patterns.

• During the design process, a graphic structure was created for the street to shape the Sadu motifs to match the shape and size of the bricks.

• AlSadu Street is located within the Qibla area and connects four prominent cultural museums and centers.

• The street draws inspiration from AlSadu‘s vibrant design motifs, specifically “the Shajarah pattern” 

• The Shajarah pattern is the one of the most complicated design of the Bedouin weaving.

• The Shajarah pattern consists of a vertical strip of geometric patterns in the center of the rug, usually woven with black thread within specific squares. each showing a geometric pattern depicting some aspect of Bedouin life.

They have more photos on their instagram account but if you want to check it out in person here is the location on Google Maps.

Chops is a new restaurant located in the city and it’s opening its doors tonight.

They preferred not to showcase much of the interior, as they want to provide customers with an in-person experience. However, I can mention that they have a nice seating area right on the main road that resembles an indoor garden, which I think will be a popular spot this winter.

The food is described as being American influenced, but instead of offering typical menu items, they’ve created a fusion by introducing unique and fresh flavors into familiar dishes.

The opening hours to begin with is from 6PM to 10PM and it’s walk-ins only, so no bookings required. They’re located on Ahmed Al Jaber Street, across from Dar Al Awadhi, so check them out. @chopskuwait

Kuwait is currently holding the 2023 IBF World Bowling Championship and I don’t think anybody knows. The international sporting event which started on October 4th and is ongoing until October 15th is taking place at the Kuwait Bowling Sporting Club in Salmiya. The bowling alley is one of the largest in the region with 48 bowling lanes and when I passed by yesterday, they were all being used for the event.

The men’s competition includes teams from Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, UAE, Oman, Iran, Jordan, Malaysia, Czechoslovak, Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Colombia, Canada, Egypt in addition to Kuwait.

The women’s teams include Korea, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, China, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Denmark, Germany, Colombia, Canada in addition to host Kuwait.

There is plenty of seating if you want to go and watch the event live. When I passed by there were multiple matches taking place simultaneously and I just moved from one area to another to watch the games. Entry to watch the event is free and the matches start at 9AM and continue throughout the day till around 5PM. You can check out the schedule below.

The event is also being streamed live online. They have 4 cameras streaming simultaneously and you can watch those on YouTube. Link

Don’t miss the Draconid meteor shower tonight.

The shower will be visible just after sunset and throughout the evening hours. Expect to see around 10 meteors streak across the sky per hour which is less than other showers, but the advantage is, they’re going to be moving slowly. The Draconid meteors are know to move slower than other showers so they should be visible for one or two seconds instead of disappearing in a blink of an eye.

You don’t need a telescope or any special equipment to view the shower, but if you want the best viewing conditions then it helps to be as far from artificial light as possible.

One of my favorite places to order Mexican food when I’m at work is Holy Guacamole. I don’t remember how I found out about them but I know that it was their neon green and pink branding that initially caught my attention. Their main location is near my office in Kuwait City, right across from the Liberation Tower which is why I like ordering from them since the food always arrives quick and hot. Recently, they opened two new locations, one at the new Blajat beach project, and the other inside the Food Hall at 360 Mall.

Not a lot of people know this but Holy Guacamole have two Mexican Chefs running their kitchens which is why their food is pretty authentic. Chef Rafael Vega is currently stationed at the Food Hall while Chef Fernanda Barrera at Balajat.

The Blajat location is permanently there but their 360 spot is only a pop-up untill the end of the month. Their space is in the back corner and they’re selling some of the merch there (lots of pink) and also their new menu items including the Hamour Taco and the Smash Taco Burger.

If you’ve never tried them you really should. Their main Kuwait City branch is open 24 hours while their Blajat and 360 Food Hall locations are open from 11AM to 11PM. Check them out @holyguacamolekw

Russell Peters, the incredibly popular stand-up comedian is coming to Kuwait for the final leg of his Act Your Age World Tour. It’s pretty crazy how we just got Mo Amer last month and now we’re getting Russel Peters as well.

He’s only going to perform in Kuwait for one night only and it’s happening on November 8th at The Arena. Tickets just went on sale and they start from 20KD for the Bronze and go up all the way to 120KD for the VIP.

If you’re interested to book, head over to The Arena website. Link

Below is this weekends list of events. The camel races are also back but because of the hot weather the races start at 5:30AM so I’d wait till the weather properly cools before going to one.

Thursday, October 5
Lego Show
Comedian Around Cars Getting Coffee

Friday, October 6
Lego Show
Fera Championship

Saturday, October 7
Lego Show
Speak Up Kuwait Mic Night
Assima Mall Kids Reading
Fera Championship

Exhibitions
The Eye of The Sky Drone Photography Exhibition
Sacred I by Yasmine El Hazek

This week I started watching Gen V, the new show on Prime Video that takes place in the same world as The Boys. The best way I can describe it I guess without spoiling it much is if Euphoria and The Boys had a baby you’d end up with Gen V. Like The Boys, it’s also a very violent and bloody superhero series but this one takes place at a super hero college and deals with younger heroes who are still discovering their powers and abilities. It’s really fun and as of this post there are only 3 episodes out which I binge watched on the same night. I definitely recommend it.

What did you watch this week?

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

New This Weekend:
Accused (6.5)
Desperation Road (N/A)
Saw X (7.2)
The Canterville Ghost (7.6)
The Inseparables (7.5)

Other Movies Showing:
13 Exorcisms (4.3)
A Haunting in Venice (6.7)
Blue Beetle (6.8)
Cats Museum (4.4)
Elemental (6.8)
Expend4bles (5.1)
Gran Turismo (7.0)
PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie (6.1)
R.A.D.A.R.: The Adventures of the Bionic Dog (5.4)
Retribution (5.3)
Sound of Freedom (7.8)
Supercell (4.3)
The Creator (7.3)
The Equalizer 3 (6.9)
The Kill Room (6.9)
The Nun II (6.3)

The classic films below are currently showing at the 1954 Film House:
Coraline (7.7)
The Addams Family (6.9)
The Thing (8.2)

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

Back in May I posted that Nando�s, the popular South African franchise was coming to Kuwait and looks like it’s now official.

Yesterday two opening soon hoardings came up, one at The Warehouse Mall and a second one at Al Kout Mall announcing that Nandos was opening this December.

Nandos originally opened at The Avenues back in 2007 but ended up closing down shortly after. This time Apparel Group are bringing them back, the same company that has Tim Hortons and Jamie’s Italian (which is also opening in Kuwait).

Thanks Ram