2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

A couple of months back I got a new iPad Mini from Xcite and posted a review about it. I spoke about how it would most likely replace my 12.9″ iPad Pro for traveling because of it’s small form factor, and since that post, I’ve actually done just that. I’ve taken my iPad Mini on three trips so far and here is a quick followup review.

Firstly, as I had predicted, the size of the iPad Mini is perfect for traveling. It’s light so it doesn’t add much weight to my backpack, and it’s small enough to fit on the plane’s dropdown table even when not fully extended. I wish I had a photo but I also managed to fit it right next to my food tray, I just had it angled on a corner so I could eat and watch my shows at the same time. The battery life has also been great, unless you’re on a long-haul 16-hour flight from Dubai to LA, you’re not going to need to charge the iPad Mini for the whole trip.

I did come across a downside though and that’s the storage space. I have the 64GB version which I thought would be more than enough for storing shows and movies for my flights but that’s not the case. Well, I also like to take a lot more shows and movies than there is time to watch because I like to have options. So for a two-hour trip I’d like to have around 20 hours worth of content to watch and I can just choose what I want. I mix it up with different genres as well as durations, so some 20min shows, some longer 50min ones, some comedy, some drama etc. But now I’m traveling to London tomorrow and I don’t have enough space to carry the ratio of content to trip duration (In my case it’s like 10:1 I guess 😅). So far this is the content I have downloaded for my trip:

Amazon Video
The Outlaws – 6 Episodes

Apple TV+
CODA – Movie
Severance – 1 Episode
Slow Horses – 1 Episode
The Afterparty – 4 Episodes

HBO MAX
Julia – 3 Episodes
Raised by Wolves – 4 Episodes

Netflix
Indian Matchmaking – 4 Episodes
Formula 1: Drive to Survive – 3 Episodes
Cobra Kai – 6 Episodes
Space Force – 6 Episodes
The Tinder Swindler – Movie
Kate – Movie
Murderville – 6 Episodes

Paramount+
Star Trek: Picard – 4 Episodes
Mayor of Kingstown – 4 Episodes

Showtime
American Rust – 4 Episodes

Not sure if you think that’s a lot or not but for a 6+ hour trip that’s not enough content for me to pick and choose from. In addition to the above, I have around 21 magazines downloaded and I just tried downloading one more and it’s telling me I don’t have enough space. So unlike what I originally stated in my review, 64GB actually isn’t enough and I’d now recommend the 256GB version instead. Other than that, the iPad Mini is the perfect media companion on flights. Here is a link to my previous review.

In May 1960, an international competition was held for the architectural project for the Kuwait National Museum which would be located in the cultural district of the 1952 Master Plan of Kuwait. The competition was won by French architect Michel Écochard and the museum was finally opened in 1983 where it stayed open up until the 1990 invasion. The museum was badly damaged during the war and most of the buildings remained closed (some photos of the destruction here). There were talks at one point of demolishing the museum and building a new one but thankfully in 2014, it was decided to save the existing museum by restoring it.

The restoration project is now complete and the museum is currently in the process of getting ready to reopen. I got invited to a sneak peek of the museum, something that I’ve been wanting for years. I was lucky enough to visit the museum back in the 80s, and although I don’t remember much of it, I do appreciate the fact that they decided to restore the landmark building instead of demolishing it as is the case most of the time.

The Kuwait National Museum is part of the Qibla Cultural District (Google Maps) which includes the Sadu House, the National Library, and Al-Qibla School for Girls Education. The main museum complex comprises of four buildings each housing a different part of Kuwait’s history:

Building 1 – Archeology of Kuwait
Building 2 – Ethnographic History of Kuwait
Building 3 – Ancient East
Building 4 – Ancient East

Buildings 1 and 2 are already open while buildings 3 and 4 are the ones heavily damaged during the war and the ones I got to tour. Buildings 3 and 4 are the largest buildings and will cover art in the Ancient East starting in the 3rd millennium BC going through Arabia before Islam, then the beginning of Islam, followed by the full chronology of Islamic Art.

All four buildings are connected by closed bridges. This means once you enter a building you can navigate the whole museum without stepping outside making it very convenient during the hot summer months.

Minor changes were made to the structure of the buildings, large semi-opaque windows were installed to bring in more daylight, and some minor new stairs and walkways were added due to updated fire safety requirements. All the work looked very tasteful and well-executed although I do wish they had kept the original pink brick facade.

There is also a planetarium outside the museum which you’ve most likely seen driving by on the Gulf Road since it’s the building closest to the road and its round spherical shape is hard to miss.

The planetarium is also in the final stages of renovation and will be reopening soon.

As I mentioned early on in the post, buildings3 and 4 of the museum are currently in the process of getting ready to reopen. They’re expecting that would happen in two years’ time, around 2024. In the meantime, buildings 1 and 2 are open and you can visit those now, here is my previous post about them. Link

Due to the pandemic, I haven’t put this list together since 2019. But, buffets are back now and so is this list.

A couple of observations, obviously a lot of restaurants closed down which is sad. But, I also noticed that most of the small places either reduced or kept their prices the same, while the more premium offerings increased their prices considerably. For those applicable, I highlighted the price increases over the 2019 price in red, and the decreases in green. The most expensive buffet award this year goes to St Regis Hotel at KD25. The most affordable offering goes to IKEA for their set menu at KD2.950, or to Inn & GO Hotel for their KD6 buffet.

Here is the full list divided into two parts, hotels and restaurants:

Hotels

Al Jahra Copthorne Hotel & Resort – Taima’a Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD12
Telephone: 24590000

Courtyard by Marriott – Atrium
Buffet Price: KD15 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22997000

Crowne Plaza – Al Ahmadi Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD16
Telephone: 1848111

Four Seasons – Jawaher Tent
Buffet Price: KD24 (+3.000)
Telephone: 22006000

Hilton Garden Inn – Avenues
Buffet Price: KD20
Telephone: 22262000

Hilton Resort – Teatro Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD19 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22256222

Inn & GO Hotel – Al Dallah Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD6 (-4.500)
Telephone: 22436686

Jumeirah Messilah Beach – Badria Tent
Buffet Price: KD24 (+4.000)
Telephone: 22269600

Millennium Hotel & Convention – Lamar International Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD14
Telephone: 22050505

Movenpick – Free Zone – Bays Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD12.5 (+0.500)
Telephone: 24610033

Movenpick – Al Bida’a – Breeze Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD15
Telephone: 22253100

Radisson Blu – Al Bustan Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD16
Telephone: 25673000

Safir Hotel – Fintas
Buffet Price: KD14.9 (+3.000)
Telephone: 25455555

St Regis Hotel – Coral Tent (Previously Sheraton Hotel)
Buffet Price: KD25 (+5.000)
Telephone: 22422055

Symphony Style Hotel
Buffet Price: KD14 (+1.000)
Telephone: 25770000

The Regency Kuwait – Silk Road Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD22 (+3.000)
Telephone: 25766666

Restaurants

Ahwet Zeitouna
Buffet Price: KD12
Telephone: 22214999

Al Noukhaza
Buffet Price: KD16
Telephone: 24732100

Almayass
Set Menu Price: KD13.5
Telephone: 25761001

Assaha
Buffet Price: KD12 (+2.500)
Telephone: 22533377

Babel
Set Menu Price: KD14.5
Telephone: 22081111

Dar Hamad
Buffet Price: KD16
Telephone: 22275555

Enab
Set Menu Price: Starts from KD5
Telephone: 22063000

IKEA
Set Menu Price: KD2.950 (+0.700)
Telephone: 1840408

Jihan Khanah
Buffet Price: KD10
Telephone: 1819991

Joori Min Beirut
Buffet Price: KD12
Telephone: 22062068

Kuwait Towers
Buffet Price: KD13 (+1.000)
Telephone: 24965500

Naranj
Buffet Price: KD10.950 (+0.450)
Telephone: 22268666

Paul
Set Menu Price: KD8.5 (+0.550)
Telephone: 22208204

Saraya Palace
Buffet Price: KD7 (-2.000)
Telephone: 25711101

Vapiano
Set Menu Price: KD6.950 (+0.950)
Telephone: 22597171

Villa Fayrouz
Buffet Price: KD12 (+2.50)
Telephone: 22650052

If you think I missed a place, let me know in the comments below.

The Undertaker went on a PR tour recently ahead of his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame and during one of his interviews, he recalled the infamous incident he had on KTV with fellow wrestler Vader and Kuwait TV host Bassam Al Othman. WWE (previously WWF) was performing in Kuwait back then and both wrestlers went on KTV’s Good Morning show to be interviewed by Bassam. During the interview, Bassam asked Undertaker and Vader if wrestling was fake. In response, Vader flipped over the table they were sitting at and grabbed Bassam by the tie, asking him if it seemed fake while using foul language. If you haven’t watched that old interview before, I’ve embedded it below.

According to The Undertaker in his recent interview with SHAK Wrestling (video below at 14:50 minute mark), they actually ended up arresting Vader after the incident:

“I remember them whisking me out,” he said. “When everything broke down, I remember Jerry Brisco grabbing me and like, ‘let’s get in a car, we’re getting out of here.’ I look back and I see Leon like, ‘Take, what do I do?’ I was like, ‘I’ll see you at the hotel, brother.’ Because I am getting pulled, I am physically getting pulled to get into the car before everyone gets arrested. We just didn’t know. I knew that was going to be a bad decision right away and it was. He didn’t leave with us, he had to stay there for a week or so after we all left.”

I never knew Vader was arrested but I found another show on KTV that discussed the aftermath of the incident and supposedly, after the interview, the Good Morning show host ended up pressing charges on Vader at the police station. Two scrawny cops then went and arrested Vader who was put under house arrest for a couple of weeks until the WWE eventually managed to get him out.

The anniversary of this incident is actually in a few days since it took place on April 12th, 1997. Good times.

The photo above of Souk Mubarakiya was taken by the photographer Mohammed Alomran and shows the amount of devastation that was caused by the fire on Thursday. A reader whose dad owns two stores that got burnt down told me on Thursday some workers were saying the fire started because of a welder who was working near flammable fragrances and this was later confirmed by the authorities.

There is even a video going around which you can watch above shows where the fire originally started. Sadly it looks like the huge fire might have been prevented if people had tried to extinguish it before it grew. Stores in the market had already suffered a considerable amount of financial damage due to the pandemic, this was going to be the first Ramadan where things were back to normal, and then this happened. Sucks.

To celebrate the month of Ramadan, Off-White™ has released an exclusive capsule collection that will only be available at their stores in Kuwait, Dubai, and Riyadh. The 17-pieces take on various interpretations of relaxed silhouettes and modest dressing in honor of the holiday.

If you don’t live in Kuwait, Dubai, or Riyadh, the items can still be purchased from Off-White™ but only through their website. The Off-White™ store in Kuwait is located in the Prestige section of the Avenues. Their local Instagram account is @off___white___kuwait

Around 3:15 PM I was heading back to the office from Shuwaikh when I spotted a fire in the distance. As I got closer I realized it was in Souk Mubarakiya, so I parked my car behind the old Central Bank of Kuwait building and walked over to where the fire was. The scene was pretty unreal when I got there since it was mostly business as usual. Like you can see the HUGE smoke rising in the background a couple of alleyways down, but everyone was pretty casual going about their day like it wasn’t a big deal.

Once I got to the alley closer to the fire, things were completely different. The fire was pretty loud with lots of pops and bangs, and there was the sound of glass breaking everywhere. You can also feel the heat of the flames from where I was standing which was at the main entrance to the alleyway that has Shamam and the fish market on the right, the bukhour, and the fragrance market on the left. The left side was on fire at that point but the fire was creeping towards the Shamam side via the roof.

View from Shamam

The firefighters were still not on this side of the market and there was a huge amount of onlookers as well as regular folks who were trying to put the fire out themselves with water hoses and extinguishers. Lots of food shops had moved their gas cylinders into an open square along with wooden benches and seating that I guess were from one of the tea shops.

By the time I left around 6:30 PM, the police had shut down the area and had forced people out of the market. I don’t know why it took them so long to close the market, it might be because they were initially understaffed, but by 6:30 there were hundreds of police and firefighters on the scene and I even saw firetrucks from the National Guard arriving.

I was sharing everything live on my Instagram account so if you want to see the videos and photos I took, I’ve created a temporary highlight on @mark248am

This is the last weekend before Ramadan begins and it’s kinda slow but still a few things going on. Below is this weekend’s list of events, if I missed anything let me know:

Thursday
Exhibition: Seeking Refuge by Amira Behbehani
Exhibition: “Creatures Floating in Absurdity” by Mohamad Omran
Exhibition: Graduation Ceremony by Aseel AlYaqoub
Ramadan Food & Household Exhibition
Treasure Hunt at ASCC
SADI 2022 – Reviving our Roots
Q8 Comedy Club Stand Up (Arabic)
Kuwait Motor Show
Comic Festival Convention
Kuwait Motor Town Open Track Day
Sunset Paddling

Friday
Albohayra Farm
Ramadan Food & Household Exhibition
SADI 2022 – Reviving our Roots
Kuwait Motor Show
Comic Festival Convention

Saturday
Exhibition: Seeking Refuge by Amira Behbehani
Grand Mosque Tour
Albohayra Farm
Ramadan Food & Household Exhibition
SADI 2022 – Reviving our Roots

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

New This Weekend:
Morbius (5.0)
The Ledge (5.1)

Other Movies Showing Now:
Ambulance (7.6)
Blacklight (5.0)
Encanto (7.8)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (9.2)
The Bad Guys (N/A)
The Batman (9.0)
The Lost City (7.2)
The Requin (2.6)
The Tiger Rising (4.6)
The Wolf and The Lion (6.0)
Uncharted (7.2)

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

IMAX Movies Showing Now:
Antarctica (N/A)
Asteroid Hunters 3D
Backyard Wilderness 3D (7.7)
Turtle Odyssey (7.2)

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

Back in 2019 I bought my first RIMOWA bag, a medium-sized check-in Original which is part of their aluminum series. Since then I’ve fallen more in love with the brand and ended up purchasing two more, a cabin version of the bag and a large check-in.

I bought the large bag recently, back in October when I was in Europe. I ended up shopping a lot more than I expected and so couldn’t fit all my stuff in my medium-sized bag and so decided to buy the large one to match my other two. I used the bag once on that trip to fly back to Kuwait, and then I used it again when I went to Istanbul last month.

When I got to Istanbul I removed the sticky luggage tag from the handle and noticed the paint peeled off the handle. I don’t mind my bag getting dented and scratched up, it’s part of the reason I got a metal suitcase to begin with, but paint peeling off the plastic handle just looked bad. It was also weird because it didn’t happen with my other two bags which I’ve owned for longer and traveled with a lot more. I figured it must be a production issue so once I got back to Kuwait I shot off an email to customer support on the main RIMOWA website to get the problem sorted under warranty.

In less than 24 hours I got a response back from RIMOWA asking for my bag’s serial number as well as asking me some questions and if I could share a photo. Then the next day I got a phone call from the RIMOWA dealer in Kuwait who were super nice and asked me to drop off the bag whenever I was free to their store in Avenues. When I did drop the bag off they even offered to fix the dents on my bag which I told them to not to. A day or two later I got a call back telling me the bag was ready to pick up, they had replaced the handle with a new one.

It was super easy, probably the easiest warranty fix experience I’ve ever had with any brand which is why I wanted to write about it. After living with the RIMOWA bags for a few years now, and after having dealt with the local dealer, I can’t recommend the brand enough. No competition, they’re the best travel luggage you can get.

Arby’s in Kuwait closed down a couple of years ago but it looks like it might be coming back. The previous Head of Food & Beverage for the Emirati company Majid Al Futtaim has just joined the company Inspire Brands and taken over the role of Director for International Business for the Middle East.

Inspire Brands is an American company and the owner and franchisor of Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Sonic Drive-In, Jimmy John’s, Rusty Taco, Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins.

I’m a huge Arby’s fan so hopefully this does mean it’s coming back. Also, it would be completely random if they opened Sonic here.

Thanks Moey

There is an event opening tonight at Sadu House titled “Reviving our Roots“. Here is some info:

An exhibit that highlights the works of this year’s generation of SADI artists: Sulaiman Al Omar, Noor Al Fayez, Ali Al Yousefi, Noor Ebrahim, Talah Al Sayer.

SADI 2022 challenged artists to revisit their inner roots and the roots of Sadu; learn the basics of the craft, explore the raw materials and ideas that evolve into each weave, and reimagine the elements of Sadu through contemporary expression. Each artist deconstructed the rationale and processes behind Sadu, reigniting their relevance in today’s contemporary context.

If you’re interested in checking it out it’s from 7PM to 10PM. Google Maps

The largest comic convention in Kuwait, COMFEST starts today but sadly yesterday it was announced that cosplayers would no longer be allowed at the event.

Cosplaying is when people dress up as characters from a film, book, or video game and is a huge part of comic conventions (pictured above). But, due to pressure from an official, they were told not to allow cosplaying since it went against sharia law, public morals, and local customs.

So now we can add cosplay to the growing list of things banned in Kuwait.

The American actress Lindsay Lohan is back in Kuwait again. Last year she got engaged to a Kuwaiti who lives in Dubai, and the two are now in Kuwait to celebrate their engagement. I guess we’re going to randomly start bumping into her at places like Cocoa Room and Avenues now. Those who grew up watching her in movies like The Parent Trap and Mean Girls and were fans of hers probably find all this a bit unreal.

Looks like a fire broke out early this morning at the new Kuwait Airport terminal that’s currently under construction. Going by the videos and photos on Snapchat the fire looked pretty big.

The photo below was taken from the adjacent highway which helps show the scale of the fire. Hopefully nobody was injured.