2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Yesterday I was given a tour of the new Kuwait T2 airport terminal, which is a candidate to get a LEED green building certificate. LEED is a certificate that is awarded to buildings whose construction and design incorporate sustainability methods.

I was first given a tour of the outside of the terminal before making our way inside. Usually, the renderings look better than the final result but I think in this case, it’s the other way around. I don’t think the renderings do the building material and color justice, it’s much more impressive in person. Also, seeing the multiple arches from various angles and noticing how they layer in some areas creates a visually stunning experience that you need to see in person to appreciate.

The airport is huge and not just when compared to our existing airports, it’s proper international standard airport huge. From what I could tell the airport structure had been completed and the majority of the work I saw taking place was at the aircraft gates, the parking lot area, and the large bridge that will take the cars up to the arrival area. I wasn’t given a completion date but according to previous articles published, the deadline for completion is later this year.

One thing that caught my attention while walking around the construction site was how clean it was. That’s part of the requirements in the construction phase when you’re aiming for a LEED certificate, they have a dedicated crew whose job is to go around the site cleaning it up and recycling as much of the waste possible. Right now 86% of the collected waste is recycled which is extremely impressive. Obtaining a LEED certificate involves more than just recycling waste. For example, they sealed off AC ducts during construction to prevent dust from entering and compromising air quality once the airport is operational. We won’t even get a “new paint smell” when the airport opens because they’re controlling the kind of chemicals used inside the paint. It’s a legit operation.

After walking around the airport yesterday and imagining how it’s going to look once it’s completed, I can’t wait for it to open up. It’s the airport we’ve always wanted, I just hope by then we get Smart Gates for passport control.

Don’t forget to get your loved one a Shani today. shaniday.com

The Palestinian Culture Center has been operating in Kuwait since the early 1970s. Every year they hold an exhibition with the aim to keep this vibrant culture alive and support underprivileged women and children in the camps.

This year the heritage exhibition will mark the launch of Palestinian Cultural Week. Starting today till Thursday, the Palestinian Culture Center will be holding its exhibition at the Women’s Cultural & Social Society in Khaldiya from 10AM to 8PM.

The exhibition will have hand-stitched dresses, shawls, and cushions for sale, as well as handmade ceramics, books, and food aimed to preserve the Palestinian national identity and showcase how it adapts to modern times.

Below is the schedule of the rest of the events this week:

For more info check out @palestiniancc

Sam Chui, one of the most popular aviation and travel vloggers in the world was invited to Kuwait by Kuwait Airways recently. That was a couple of weeks ago when the airline made a number of announcements including the revealing of the new flight attendant uniforms. His video of the trip just went up and there really isn’t anything revealing or controversial.

But I did find one thing odd, Sam was getting a tour of the Kuwait Airways headquarters and the CEO mentioned that the building was inspired by the stealth bomber. I thought that was an odd design decision for a civilian airline headquarters.

Over the weekend Forbes Middle East revealed their annual list of 100 Middle East’s Most Powerful Businesswomen and 8 from Kuwait made it this year. The U.A.E. and Egypt scored the most entries at 15 and 12, followed by 11 from Saudi Arabia and then Kuwait.

Check out Kuwait’s top 8 below:

Eissa & Jude is a small local husband and wife business dedicated to creating high-quality wooden toys to inspire mindful play. Because they’re a local brand, the wooden toys are inspired by everything we grew up with in our unexplored desert. I posted about them when they first launched in early 2021, but since then, they’ve launched their online shop, added a lot more toys to their collection, and have exploded in popularity.

Recently they showcased their toys at the Nuremberg International Toy Fair, the largest international trade fair for toys and games. They were the first Kuwaiti toy company to showcase there, which is a pretty big deal since it’s a lot of international exposure.

Their toys are created, designed, and produced in Kuwait by local talent at a beautiful family farm. Check them out @eissa_jude and eissa-jude.com

Below are all the events I found taking place this weekend. If I missed anything, let me know in the comments:

Thursday, Feb 9
Shrek The Musical
The Promenade Family Fun
DAI Musical Evening: Evgeny Khmara
Kuwait TECH Expo
Hangouts at LAPA
Art & Pizza Bash

Friday, Feb 10
Shrek The Musical
RED Expo
Kites Watching in Bnaider
Kuwait TECH Expo
Touch of Hope
Discover Pre-Oil Kuwait Walk
Kuwait Sieger Show
Yoga & Horses
Qesati x Art Scene
Porsche Club Festival

Saturday, Feb 11
Shrek The Musical
RED Expo
Kuwait TECH Expo
Mega Study Abroad Expo
Treasure Hunt At Alshaheed Park
Workshop: Embroidery & Sewing
Trash Tag Beach Cleanup
Kuwait Stadion
Kuwait Sieger Show
Master the Oats
Love & Art Workshop
Cinema Night at Al Andalus
Movie Night Sea Cruise
Clothing Swap & Shop

Exhibitions
Ala Taraf Lisan Al Ard
Life Forms & Indigo Expressions
Speculative Horizons

Activities
Albohayra Farm
Ascend Rock Climbing
Indoor Karting
Little Jungle
Murouj Farm
Movement Classes at Omni Studio
Roller Blade at Roller Hub
Yoga at Darātma

Museums to Visit
Abdullah Salem Cultural Center (ASCC)
Amricani Cultural Center Museum
Bait Al Othman Museum

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:

New This Weekend:
Ghoster (3.9)
Living (7.5)
Sound of Silence (N/A)
Titanic: 25th Anniversary (7.9)

Other Movies Showing:
Avatar: The Way of Water (7.8)
Bandit (6.4)
Blood (6.9)
Finnick (5.7)
M3GAN (6.1)
Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre (7.2)
Pinocchio and Friends (6.7)
Plane (6.9)
The Amazing Maurice (6.4)

The classic films below are currently showing at the 1954 Film House:
Beauty and the Beast (8.0)
The Lion King (8.5)

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

The Kuwait-based Netflix series ‘The Exchange‘ launches today, and after watching two episodes the other night at the show’s premiere, I can’t wait to binge-watch the rest of the season.

‘The Exchange’ is based in Kuwait in the 80s and is inspired by true events. It follows two women who decide to work at the stock exchange, an industry dominated by men at that time. I found the first two episodes very entertaining, and I already have favorite characters and storylines that I’m invested in. It’s that good of a show, and for people like me who grew up in Kuwait in the 80s, it’s super nostalgic.

The series premiers today at 11AM on Netflix and will be available to watch in 190 countries. The show is in Arabic but has English subtitles.

Update: The show is now streaming on Netflix, the whole first season so we can binge-watch it.

Last week I posted that it’s been 20 years since I started blogging and that got me thinking about all the great things I was able to do because of the blog. My memory isn’t great so I most likely left some out, but here are some of my favorite things I got to experience because of my blog:

Visiting the USS Truman Aircraft Carrier
I was invited to tour the aircraft carrier stationed in the Arabian Gulf. They flew me out to the carrier on a military plane and then we landed on the flight deck. I watched fighter jets take off and land while standing just a few meters away from them, I was then given a tour of the hangar deck, the bridge, the watchtower, and all the other cool areas of the aircraft carrier before finally flying back to Kuwait. As a kid that grew up wanting to be a fighter pilot, this was a dream come true.

Breitling WingWalking Experience
I got to sit on top of a biplane while it flew me around. I mean, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience right there.

Formula 1 – Abu Dhabi
I was invited by the Abu Dhabi tourism board to attend the F1 race and all the events attached to it. I was given a tour of the city by the city, I got front row tickets to every concert including Depeche Mode and Jay-Z, and I even got to attend a yacht party with Maradonna and David Hasselhoff. An insane experience for a huge F1 fan like myself.

Jebel al Jais in a Ferrari
Ferrari sent me to Dubai and gave me keys to one of their cars for a day. Obviously, the first thing I did was drive to Jebel al Jais. It’s a mountain road that many consider being one of the greatest driving roads in the world and so I got to tick that experience off my bucket list.

Visiting Audemars Piguet in Switzerland
Not many people might find this experience interesting, but I’m fascinated with how things are made. I got to visit one of my favorite watch manufacturers, see how the watches were made, and meet some incredibly talented craftsmen. The whole experience was very educational.

Baselworld
Trafalgar sent me to the largest watch show on earth to cover it for my blog. The show which ran from 1917, ended back in 2019 and so I feel very lucky to have experienced it during its prime (before the Apple Watch).

CES – Las Vegas
Huawei sent me to the largest consumer electronics show in the world, CES. For someone who loves tech and grew up reading about CES in magazines, this was another dream come true moment. 

I’m really thankful to all the brands (plus the US Embassy), including the ones not mentioned above, for giving me so many great and fun experiences over the years.

Mr. Holmes Bakehouse, the San Francisco bakery that went viral in 2017 with the invention of the cruffin, is now a Kuwaiti-owned concept. Mr. Holmes is now owned by Nejoud, the same company that owns the brands % Arabica, Eighty Six, Le Relais de l’Entrecote and Marble Slab in Kuwait.

Nejoud and Mr.Holmes Bakehouse have been in franchise talks since 2018, but Mr.Holmes got hit badly during the pandemic and ended up filing for bankruptcy, which is how Nejoud ended up buying them out.

This past weekend Mr. Holmes popped up at Qout Market, and in case you missed them, they’ll be back at the next Qout Market on February 18th. Their first branch will be located in Kuwait City, right next to Eighty Six, and soft open right after the next Qout Market.

If you’re bored of padel and are looking for a new sport, fencing might be an interesting and unique one to try out. Kuwaiti gold medalist Reem Alshatti coaches under the academy Haus of Fencing three times a week and at a relatively reasonable price of 15KD for a class or 100KD for 12 classes.

All the equipment and uniforms are provided.

If this sounds like something you want to do, then you need to sign up for their two-day beginner’s workshop. The workshops happen a couple of times every month and cost 30KD. They’re fully booked for February, but their waiting list for next month is now open.

Sign up on their website, hausoffencing.com or visit them on Instagram @hausoffencing

Back in October, the ultra-low-cost airline Wizz Air started flying out of Kuwait with Abu Dhabi being the first destination. Now they’re adding two more destinations, Rome and Vienna.

Starting this summer, round-trip flights to Vienna from Kuwait will start at 44KD, while flights to Rome will start at 47KD. Both destinations are direct flights, and the prices I shared don’t include add-ons like luggage or picking your seats. If you’re a Wizz Air member (easy to do), you can get the flights even cheaper.

For comparison, the cheapest ticket with Kuwait Airways to Rome is 128KD. After all the add-ons you might want with Wizz Air, expect to save around 40-50% compared to a regular airline ticket. wizzair.com

Twenty years ago, I, along with my oldest friend (@nibaq) and my sister (@rampurple), decided to launch a blog together called qhate.com. To give you an idea of how long ago that was, none of the social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter existed back then. Gmail wasn’t even born yet; some of you reading this weren’t born yet either.

After launching Qhate, the blog quickly turned into a war blog covering life in Kuwait during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The blog gave the world a glimpse into our lives during those uncertain and sometimes scary times. If you want to check it out, the blog is still up; it’s a time capsule.

When the war ended, we decided to stop that blog and start different solo projects; mine eventually became 248AM.

I’m incredibly thankful for all the benefits the blog has gotten me over the years, including the relationships I have formed, the memorable experiences I’ve had, and the financial benefits it has provided. (Insert all the cheesy hashtags here)

So thank you for all your support.

Note: It’s so weird that I published this post on Instagram first. When I initially started Instagram it was meant to support the blog but now the blog feels like it’s the Instagram accounts backup.

The annual camel racing tournament starts this Saturday, February 4th, and will last until February 9th. If you’ve been meaning to go to the races but have been putting it off, now would be the best time to go.

There will be races every morning and afternoon except for the last day when it will only be held in the afternoon. Below are the start times of the races:

Sat Feb 4 – 8AM and 3:30PM
Sun Feb 5 – 8AM and 1:30PM
Mon Feb 6 – 8AM and 1:30PM
Tue Feb 7 – 8AM and 1:30PM
Wed Feb 8 – 8AM and 1:30PM
Thu Feb 9 – 3:30PM

There is no entrance fee and you can either watch the races from the track stands or drive up to the starting lines and watch the start of the races.

Here is the location on Google Maps.