2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Just a reminder, Pret A Manger opens today so expect to see lots of people Instagramming their Pret coffee cups this morning.

This isn’t really “new” news but Khyber, one of the oldest Indian restaurants and the best chicken tikka restaurant in Kuwait closed down their Kuwait City location earlier this year and moved to Hawalli. I hadn’t gone back since covid so was surprised when I got to their city location to find a sign saying they moved.

The new location isn’t really as cozy or charming looking as their old city location, but the food is still the same and their spicy tikka still is the best.

If you’ve never had their chicken tikka you should definitely try them out. As an added bonus their new location is right next door to the kunafa place Nafeeseh so you can also pass by afterwards for dessert. Khyber is open from 11AM to 11PM and here is their location on Google Maps.

Aquapark which was the first water park in Kuwait got demolished a couple of years ago and just reopened again but with a new name, Bay Zero. I never went to the original Aquapark so I have no attachment to the old name or place but I do prefer the name Aquapark that’s for sure. The new park has been rebuilt from the ground up and is still the largest water park in Kuwait.

They’re open daily from 10AM to 10PM and the ticket price is 6KD (free for children under 4 years). Ladies’ day is currently still not available but will be available soon. Bay Zero is located right next to the Kuwait Towers, here is the link to Google Maps and they’re on Instagram @BayZeroKuwait

Below is this weekend’s list of events and activities, if I missed anything, please let me know in the comments:

Thursday, Oct 13
Classical Music Concert: The Four Seasons
Flamenco Performance by Arsa Toma
Bazzar Expo
Al Mulla Automobiles Padel Tournament
4th Asian U18 Athletics Championships
Space Month at Scientific Center
Meditative Coloring Workshop
Ceramics Workshop: Mud Vessel

Friday, Oct 14
Q8 Moto Academy Season Opening
Classical Music Concert: The Four Seasons
Bazzar Expo
4th Asian U18 Athletics Championships
Space Month at Scientific Center
ABBA Tribute Band Live in Kuwait

Saturday, Oct 15
Bazzar Expo
Sailing: Saturday Sunset Cruising
Workshop: Inkle Loom Weaving
4th Asian U18 Athletics Championships
Impression: Storytelling with Humood Al Khudher
Trash Tag Beach Cleanup
Space Month at Scientific Center

Exhibitions
Matter of Material – Sculptures from CAP Collection.
Warhol of Arabia by Raed Yassin

Activities
Ascend Rock Climbing
Cable Park
Ice Skating at the Winter Games Club
Indoor Karting
Little Jungle
Murouj Farm
Movement Classes at Omni Studio
Roller Blade at Roller Hub
Try Windsurfing
Yoga at Darātma

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

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

New This Weekend:
Blackout (3.8)
Halloween Ends (N/A)
The Good House (7.0)
The Stranger (7.3)

Other Movies Showing:
Amsterdam (5.7)
Barbie: Mermaid Power (6.5)
Big Trip 2: Special Delivery (N/A)
DC League of Super-Pets (7.9)
Don’t Worry Darling (6.3)
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (7.1)
Smile (6.6)
Tad the Lost Explorer and the Emerald Tablet (4.7)
The Dark Knight Rises – Rerelease (8.4)
The Woman King (6.3)
Ticket to Paradise (6.3)

The classic films below are currently showing at the 1954 Film House:

Classic Movies Showing:
Léon: The Professional (8.5)
The Shining (8.4)

The films below are also showing at the JACC Cinema:

Classic & Indie Films Showing:
Casablanca (8.5)
Costa Brava Lebanon (6.8)

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

For those of you who’ve been reading the blog for a few years, you might remember the Cinemagic Rooftop Movie Nights that used to take place in old Salmiya. That closed down years ago and since then no other venue really took over the role of focusing on indie films. But now JACC have launched something similar called “The Cinema”.

Every Saturday and Tuesday night JACC will be holding movie nights at their cinema where they will be playing mostly indie films or cinema classics. Last night I watched the 2021 film “Costa Brava, Lebanon” at the theater, and this coming Saturday I’ll be heading back to watch “Casablanca” in 4K as part of the 80th-anniversary showing. The other movie I’m interested in seeing is the original 1960 “Psycho” which also got remastered in 4K and will be showing at the end of the month.

The JACC cinema is actually fairly large for a small cinema and if I remember correctly can hold over 400 people. The screen isn’t the largest and the sound was a bit of an issue last night, but both didn’t stop me from enjoying the movie. The only major negatives were the stale popcorn and the freezing theater. MAKE SURE YOU BRING A JACKET OR HOODIE. THIS IS IMPORTANT. But other than that the seats were pretty comfy and if you get there early you can chill outside the building which is really beautiful at night.

The whole movie schedule for this month is on the JACC Instagram account @jacc_kw and you can purchase tickets (5KD) from the JACC website jacc-kw.com. To get to the cinema, you need to enter JACC from the very last parking entrance which I’ve highlighted in the photo above. Let me know if you have any questions and before you ask, yes movies do get censored.

Update: They’re calling “Cinema Hall”

Local banks have started testing Apple Pay after the Ministry of Finance dropped the idea of trying to levy a tax on Apple. Apple Pay allows you to pay by tapping your phone or watch to a payment terminal without needing to have your physical card on you. Apple Pay already works on our existing Knet machines but until now it hasn’t been possible to add your Kuwaiti debit or credit card to your phone.

All local banks are expected to launch Apple Pay at the same time, so no matter what bank you use, you’ll have Apple Pay.

I’m curious to see if adding a local Kuwaiti card to my US Apple account will cause some sort of conflict. I don’t think it will. Do you have a non-US card connected to your US Apple account? Does it change anything?

IKEA and electronic music artists Swedish House Mafia have teamed up to make everyday life easier for those who produce, perform, play, or listen to music. They’ve come together to launch the OBEGRÄNSAD collection which contains more than 20 products (including a record player) that are being launched globally this month. IKEA Kuwait confirmed their products will be launching here soon but hasn’t shared a date.

Personally, I need to pick up a couple of the records stands to replace the current IKEA wooden crates I’m using. They also have a cool records bag which I might pick up. You can check the full collection on the US IKEA page here.

You can also access the IKEA Kuwait OBEGRÄNSAD collection page but there isn’t anything there yet. Here is that link.

In case you missed it, the TikTok video below went viral a few days ago of someone in the US trying Shani for the first time.

@exoticmunchiezz Wood trying some exotic drinks. #drink #soda #arab #exotic #munchies #snacks #fyp #exclusive #high #cornerstore #evanstonillinois ♬ original sound – exoticmunchiezz

It’s been a while since I last complained about a business, but this experience was too much not to share. A few weeks ago I ordered a new MacBook Air from Apple.com. I sent the MacBook to MyUS forwarding mailbox and then selected the cheapest shipping option to Kuwait because I wasn’t in a rush to get it and I’m cheap like that. MyUS ended up shipping it with a courier I hadn’t heard of before, SMSA Express. I was like fine, whatever, I wasn’t in a rush anyway.

The package took around 10 days to arrive in Kuwait, similar to how long Aramex would take so it wasn’t too bad. But that’s when I ran into a problem. The package went out for delivery last Saturday, I didn’t get a call, and there was no attempted delivery. If you check the tracking via their website, it shows that it’s out for delivery, if you use their WhatsApp service to check the tracking, it says that the receiver requested a new delivery date. So I started calling customer support:

Sunday: I called customer support who told me they’d have someone call me back regarding delivery. Nobody did.

Monday: I call customer support again and they tell me their tracking system hadn’t been updated since September 25 and that my package was showing still in Bahrain. I tried to have them explain to me how my tracking data was more current than theirs and they couldn’t.

Tuesday: I called customer support again, they don’t have a local office so I have to keep calling their Saudi number btw (thank you Skype). They tell me my package will be delivered today or tomorrow.

Wednesday: I called customer support, and they told me my package will be delivered today.

Thursday: This time when I called customer support I made a big fuss about how my package has been out for delivery for one week and they keep promising me delivery every day and how no one ever calls me. I get transferred to a manager who promises he will make sure my package will get delivered today before 3 PM.

Less than an hour later while on my way to Shuwaikh, I get a message from their driver asking me for a location. I call him up and ask him if he prefers to deliver in Kuwait City which is the original address listed, or Shuwaikh since I’ll be there. He tells me he’s delivering to Wafra 🤦🏼‍♂️. My office is in a building called Wafra Downtown Tower, so the dispatcher had read te first word, ignoring the rest of the address and decided that my package should be delivered to the area Wafra. I explain to the driver that the name of the building was Wafra, but the address was Kuwait City, he told me the office told him to deliver to Wafra and that’s where his deliveries are. So I ask him if I could come to him, he said I could and that he was in Farwaniya, so I got his location and headed there.

I get to the driver less than 15 minutes later and find out that SMSA Express use a local courier called OCS Express for their Kuwait deliveries. I finally get my package from the driver but he then asks for a payment of KD23.900 for customs. I was like it’s a laptop, there is no customs on laptops in Kuwait. So I ask the driver for an invoice and he says he doesn’t have one. Told him there was no way I was going to pay without at least an invoice. So he calls up his office and I talk to a lady and explain to her the situation. She says she will send me an invoice later, I told her I needed it first before paying, it’s a normal request. She told me it would take around 5-10mins, I was like fine I’ll wait and hung up. A few minutes later driver comes up to my window and hands me the phone. It’s the lady again, supposedly the accountant isn’t there and the driver needs to go make his rounds. I told her I’d been chasing this package for a week and I even drove all the way to Farwaniya to pick it up, I’m not leaving without the package. I hand the phone back to the driver and he goes back to his car. A few minutes later he comes to me and shows me a WhatsApp he got of a photo of the invoice. It said 23.900KD so I ask him to send me the photo and I hand him the amount cash to get my package.

After he left, I look at the invoice carefully and they charged me 20.400KD for customs. So I call the company up and talk to the lady I had spoken to earlier and explain to her that laptops don’t have customs charges so how was I being charged customs? She transfers me to another person who I assume is an accountant or manager. The guy tells me the item costs 408KD which is why there is customs on it. I told him the value doesn’t matter since it’s a laptop, and there are no customs on laptops. He says the description says there were notebooks in the box as well. I was like wtf, they’ve written notebook cuz it’s a notebook computer and if he doesn’t, believe me, I still hadn’t opened the box and he can check! I then proceed to tell him it was illegal that they were charging customs on a laptop when the government doesn’t charge customs and that I was going to report them for this. He then told me they would refund me the customs charge of 20.400KD but not the remaining charges. I told him fine and I sent them a payment link and got my refund.

So much drama for such a simple thing as a delivery. The fact that I was being charged customs when I shouldn’t have been is also super dodgy. If you ever use MyUS make sure you don’t select the cheapest delivery so you don’t end up getting your items shipped with SMSA and OCS!

Last November, I broke the news that Pret A Manger was coming to Kuwait and now a year later, they’re finally opening up their first store. Pret will be officially opening next Monday, October 17 in Al Hamra Tower. To stay posted on their news, you can follow their Instagram account @pretkw.official

via @inspirededibles

ABBA
Tribute Band
Live in Kuwait on 14-October-2022
The Arena Kuwait, 360 Mall

THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC

After their performance in more than 65 cities from New York, Rome, Milan, London, Berlin, Paris, and Dubai, Finally the ABBA tribute Band will perform live at the Arena Kuwait on 14th October. Sing along with Abba’s biggest hits such as “Waterloo”, “Fernando”, “Take A Chance On Me”, “Dancing Queen”, “Mamma Mia”, “Money Money Money” and, of course, “Thank You for the Music” still have the power, as they did back then, to bring the audience to their feet.

The two-hour concert transports the audience back to the 1970s and brings the Swedish pop phenomenon back together again on stage in the form of a band whose appearance, sound, and gestures, as well as glitzy outfits and choreography, mimic the originals down to the last detail.

Don’t miss this day and join us on October 14th at The Arena Kuwait for an unforgettable concert.

Tickets start from KD 25 and are available at thearenakuwait.com/events/abba

Below is this weekend’s list of events and activities, if I missed anything, please let me know in the comments:

Thursday, Oct 6
Lets Be Aware Popup
Kids Storytelling at PCC: I Love You Little Monkey
Kids Weekend Activities at Discovery Place!
Hangouts at LAPA with Silverhammer & Friends
Melemele Karaoke’s Second Year Anniversary

Friday, Oct 7
Lets Be Aware Popup
Kids Weekend Activities at Discovery Place!
Sailing: Friday Sunset Cruising
Trashtag Beach Cleanup
18th Kuwait Rapid Chess Championship
Q8 Moto Academy Season Opening

Saturday, Oct 8
Lets Be Aware Popup
Polymer Clay Workshop: Pressed Flower
Glass Bead Making Taster
Terrarium Masterclass
Workshop: Watercoloring at the Habitat Museum
Emperor of the Mats Jiu-Jitsu Tournament
JACC Movie Night: Ibrahim
JACC Movie Night: Costa Brava Lebanon

Exhibitions
Exhibition: Matter of Material – Sculptures from CAP Collection.
Exhibition: My Name Is Woman – Maha AlAsaker
To Hug by Rita Hassouany

Activities
Ascend Rock Climbing
Cable Park
Ice Skating at the Winter Games Club
Indoor Karting
Murouj Farm
Movement Classes at Omni Studio
Roller Blade at Roller Hub
Try Windsurfing
Yoga at Darātma

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

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

New This Weekend:
Amsterdam (5.7)
Barbie: Mermaid Power (6.5)
Big Trip 2: Special Delivery (N/A)
The Woman King (6.3)

Other Movies Showing:
DC League of Super-Pets (7.9)
Don’t Worry Darling (6.3)
Minions: The Rise of Gru (7.4)
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (7.1)
Smile (6.6)
Tad the Lost Explorer and the Emerald Tablet (4.7)
The Siege of Robin Hood (2.7)
The Ogglies (5.1)
Ticket to Paradise (6.3)

Classic Movies Showing:
Avatar – 2009 (7.8)
Hocus Pocus – 1993 (6.9)
Léon: The Professional – 1994 (8.5)
The Dark Knight Rises – 2012 (8.4)
The Shining – 1980 (8.4)

The films below are also showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

IMAX Movies Showing:
Antarctica
Ocean Odyssey
Wings Over Water 3D

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

On more than one occasion I’ve read about pets requiring emergency help from a vet in the middle of the night and not getting it because the owners couldn’t find any veterinarians open. In some cases, the pet passed away because of this which is why I want to put together a list of vets that are available 24/7 in case someone runs into a similar situation in the future and Googles for information.

So if you know a vet that is available at late hours, please let me know in the comments.