2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Photo by Ahmad Dashti

Back in 2015 I posted about an abandoned zoo project off the 6th Ring Road. Turned out the abandoned project was a small zoo. Around 10 years ago there used to be a small zoo in Fintas called The Little Jungle but it closed down when the government took over the land to convert it to a residential area. To compensate the owner, the government gave him a much larger land off the 6th Ring Road so he could rebuild his project. I guess the owner ran into financial problems and the project was abandoned until last month when the project was completed and The Little Jungle finally opened its doors again.

Photo by Abdulghani Abulkareem

The Little Jungle is a mini zoo with various exhibits holding a variety of animals including giraffes, zebras, kangaroos, and even weirdly, a Pomeranians exhibit. I haven’t passed by the place but I had a couple of friends visit during Eid and one complained about the terrible organization while the other told me it’s no better than our main zoo but can still be fun for really young children.

Photo by Khaled Aljeeran

The weather has gotten pretty warm but they are opening in the evenings from 4PM to 9PM so it still is doable. Entrance is 2.5KD per person and they have a bunch of videos and highlights on their Instagram account that showcases the zoo @littlejunglekw. If you want to visit the place, here is their location on Google Maps

If you’ve been there let us know about your experience in the comments.

The Ahmadi Music Group have been pretty active this season, I think they’ve had three events already this year and this weekend they’re having another one. This coming Thursday and Friday, AMG will be holding a lecture concert about Beethoven and the 5th symphony which many consider being the best-known piece of classical music ever written. The event is taking place at JACC and tickets are on sale now starting at KD10. Click here to book.

Currently, if you want to watch Disney+ you need to use either a SmartDNS or VPN service but in 30 days’ time, Disney+ will officially launch in our region. Starting June 8th you will be able to access and sign up to Disney+ in Kuwait using your local credit card and stream their shows and movies without requiring a DNS or VPN service.

Personally, I only use Disney+ to watch The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett so I tend to subscribe to watch the new seasons, and then cancel my subscription once the season is done. But, I know parents who like Disney+ for their kids, so if you have kids you might like it too.

Right now Disney+ has an early bird offer, if you subscribe to the service from now till June 19th, you can get a year’s worth of Disney+ for the price of 8 months which is $71.50 (22KD). It’s not much cheaper than the US subscription which is $79.99 a year, but their monthly subscription is $7.99 while ours is going to be $8.99. I think our price is more expensive because they’re including some shows from Hulu like The Kardashians and How I Met Your Father, but don’t quote me on this.

If you want to sign up, head over to disneyplus.com

Not sure what feels weirder, the fact that Slider Station has been open for 15 years, or the fact that I’ve been blogging for so long that I have a review of Slider Station when it first opened. Time does fly!

Back in 2007 the food scene was a lot different in Kuwait, there were definitely not as many burger places or cool restaurants as there are now. It’s not easy for a restaurant to stay consistently good or relevant for so long, and the fact that Slider Station has managed to accomplish that is incredible.

The same company that owns Slider Station just opened up a new restaurant last week in Avenues called Midar that serves authentic Kuwaiti seafood. I booked a table for this weekend and can’t wait to try the place out.

The local racing season is over now because it’s gotten really hot but here is a video of the fastest recorded lap around KMT. The record was broken back in January with the British-made Radical SR3 RSX sports car that managed to lap the circuit in 1:36.27. In comparison, regular sports cars take over 2 minutes, in my Lotus the fastest I’ve managed is 1:56, and better drivers with faster cars generally will be somewhere between 1:45-1:55, so yeah 1:36 is really fast.

Yesterday the non-profit media organization NPR posted an audio and written newstory on the Bidoon hunger strike that recently took place in Kuwait. If you’ve always wanted a better understanding of the situation with Bidoons, it’s worth a listen and at just 5-minutes long it won’t take too much of your time. Link

Photo by Dave Tavani

The movies below will be showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:

Movies Showing:
Ambulance (6.2)
Encanto (7.2)
Escape The Field (N/A)
Fireheart (6.1)
Memory (N/A)
Morbius (5.1)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (6.9)
The Bad Guys (7.0)
The Batman (8.1)
The Lost City (6.6)

Classic Movies Showing:
Braveheart (8.4)

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

IMAX Movies Showing:
Antarctica (N/A)
Asteroid Hunters 3D
Turtle Odyssey (7.2)

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

The short answer is no, it’s not getting banned. Well, not yet at least. Yesterday an MP tweeted that a padel tournament was shut down because of inappropriate clothing and the mixing of opposite sexes which led to people thinking that new stricter measures were coming to the sport. But, according to @kuwaitnews, this isn’t true. The padel tournament didn’t get shut down and is still on.

So padel isn’t on the chopping block for now.

The first Johnny Rockets in Kuwait that’s located in Salmiya has closed down. According to Johnny Rockets, they are renovating the store which makes sense since it really hadn’t changed at all since they first opened in the mid-90s. I’d know because I was in high school back then and the Johnny Rockets opening was a big thing (nothing else really existed other than Fuddruckers).

I like that it hadn’t been renovated because it still held all my high school memories like the table where I sat on my very first date or the table where me and my friends used to chill at. On the bright side at least they’re reopening again.

The comedian Mo Amer was on Jimmy Kimmel to talk about his new comedy on Netflix when they briefly bring up Kuwait since it turns out Mo was born here. I know Mo from the show Ramy where he plays the role of Ramy’s Muslim cousin but I had no idea he was born in Kuwait and lived here till he was 9. He only ever ended up leaving because of the 1990 invasion. How random.

Since I just got back last week from my vacation I’m not leaving again but I’m curious to where people are thinking of traveling to. Lebanon used to be a popular destination but with the recent issues, a lot of people are steering away from it so I’m guessing Dubai is most likely the most popular spot.

[poll id=”19″]

There is a guy in Kuwait who imports motorbikes from Japan and he has a bunch of Honda Ruckus bikes for sale. I always found the Ruckus to be a very cool and funky-looking bike but they don’t bring them to Kuwait. He’s selling them for 450KD each which is way below retail so they’re probably not brand new. He also has some Honda Monkey’s although I’m not sure how much he’s selling those for since I didn’t ask but they’re also fun-looking little bikes.

The Ruckus is not an electric bike by the way, it’s a proper 50cc scooter and at 450KD it seems like a pretty good deal. If you want one, check out his Instagram @q8_motorcycle. He also has some other interesting bikes for sale.

Update: A reader sent me a picture of his two Honda Monkeys (above) which he bought from a Honda dealer in Thailand. It cost him around 900KD per bike and an additional 391KD per bike to ship them to Kuwait and get all the paperwork done. They’re such great old school looking bikes!

A few days ago Saudi Arabia banned the movie “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” for including an LGBTQ character called America Chavez. Some news sites published that Kuwait had also banned the movie but according to Cinescape, that still hasn’t happened. When I asked them for confirmation on the ban for my post they responded with the following message:

We have no knowledge of the mentioned

Kuwait’s Ministry of Information censors all movies / set age ratings / cut scenes / ban movies

Not Cinescape, we’re waiting for the ministry’s official decision regarding the movie during their working hours, from Sunday to Thursday

Thank you for contacting us

So although Kuwait will most likely follow the footsteps of Saudi and ban the movie, as of right now it isn’t official yet and the movie is still listed on the Cinescape coming soon page.

Zahra Marwan is an extremely talented visual artist who was born in Kuwait. When the British rule ended in 1961, her father failed to register his citizenship and so was considered stateless (Bedoun). Although her mother was Kuwaiti, Kuwaiti law stipulates that the citizenship of the children is passed on from their father so Zahra was born stateless. As more and more rights of Bedouns were removed, Zahra and her family left Kuwait and immigrated to the United States.

Zahra’s Instagram account is filled with beautifully painted memories and dreams, many of which are related to her time growing up in Kuwait. I’ve got one of her illustrations hanging on my wall and I love it along with the story behind it. I actually met Zahra a few months ago when she was visiting Kuwait and she’s as bubbly and imaginative in real life as her illustrations depict her to be. She’s a great storyteller, not only with her illustrations but also with her captions which is why when she recently published a children’s book, I ordered a copy right away.

“Where Butterflies Fill the Sky” is a book based on the true story of her and her family’s immigration from Kuwait. Her story and memories are beautifully illustrated and written making it as fun to go through for adults as it is for children. Sadly, I just checked all the online English bookshops in Kuwait and none of them seem to carry the book. I ordered mine from Amazon so I guess you’d also have to get it from there. She has a Kindle version available if you don’t want to wait, but I’d definitely recommend the hardcover edition. Here is the link to the book on Amazon.

Also make sure you check out Zahra’s Instagram account @zahra_marwan

The LEGO store at The Avenues moved to a new larger location closer to the food court, the same location where Tim Hortons (RIP) used to be.

Judging by the photos, it doesn’t seem to be that much larger than the older space, but the storefront is definitely bigger and since it’s on a corner, the space looks more inviting with all the glass windows. The store officially opens later tonight.

Update: Just got the press release and it seems the new store isn’t larger than the older one, just a different location with a new look. There is a replica of the Kuwait Towers made using 21,591 LEGO bricks, a LEGO magnifying glass that allows you to view a model in detail, and there are hands-on play opportunities.