2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

I can’t be alone in thinking how great Kuwait Airways has become right? I just got to the airport because I’m traveling today and once I got there it was pretty busy. I thought to myself it’s going to be such a disaster inside even though I didn’t have any bags to check in. I printed my boarding pass from one of the machines, got to immigration and breezed through it and then the same with security. I’m now sitting down near one of the gates just 30 minutes after arriving to the airport. That was really fast for a busy airport.

I try to fly Kuwait Airways as much as possible because of how good the overall experience has become. The planes are comfortable, the airport terminal better than the other ones we have and so far I’ve never had issues finding parking in the long term lot. It’s not Qatar Airways but it’s much more convenient when flying direct than to stop in Doha or Dubai first. I really like Kuwait Airways.

If you haven’t been to Monoprix yet you’re missing out on a lot including their Water Bar. The Water Bar is their selection of premium water and it’s similar to how Dean & Deluca had a nice premium waters section when they first opened that looked like a vodka section. But, what makes Monoprix different is how expensive some of the bottles are with their most expensive one costing 40KD for a bottle of “handcrafted water” called Bling H2O which was voted the best tasting water in the world.

I’m not about to drop 40KD on a bottle to find out how good the water tastes but I might get a less fancy 5KD water the next time I get invited to dinner at a friend’s place. It could be the Kuwait equivalent of bringing a bottle of wine. Although, since we are on the subject of alcohol, Monoprix does carry a good selection of non-alcoholic wines, Champagnes, and even whisky.

AAB World, everyone’s favorite photography and videography store is expanding! When I first started buying from AAB World they had a small kiosk-like store in the basement of Shamiya Coop (it’s still there) and what made them special back then is how specialized they were. They carried different camera brands and also brought in some of the best photography accessories so they quickly became really popular.

In 2014 they opened their Symphony Mall location a few years later they doubled their size by taking over the shop next door. Now it looks like they’re going to more than quadruple their size by moving to the old DXL space right across from them. I love how they’ve grown over the years and I still continue to get all my camera gear from them even though I don’t shoot as much as I used to.

Yesterday the Ministry of Commerce issued guidelines to differentiate between a regular rainbow and LGBTQ+ flags with the hashtag ‘participate in censorship.’ At first, I was like is this the most pressing issue they have right now? But then a friend pointed out they might have done this because people were probably flooding them with complaints about LGBTQ+ flags being sold in Kuwait when in reality, they’re just products with regular rainbows.

How to Tell a Good Rainbow from a Bad Rainbow:
🌈 = Rainbow and has 7 colors = Good Rainbow
🏳️‍🌈 = LGBTQ+ flag and has 6 colors = Bad Rainbow

World Music Day (or Fête de la Musique) is an annual music celebration that takes place on June 21st and is celebrated worldwide. In Kuwait, it’s going to take place on June 22nd and will feature regional acts from UAE alongside some of our local musicians and artists.

The event will be taking place at Yarmouk Culture Center from 6PM to 9PM and tickets are KD12. If you want to go then you can get tickets from this Link

Spunsprinkles, the cotton candy experience store opened their new location this past weekend at 360 Mall. The new location is so much bigger than the previous one with a total of 6 cotton candy stations and a small seating area. If you’ve never been to Spunsprinkles before, they’re a cotton candy store that allows you to build your own customized cotton candy cup or cone with a whole variety of different toppings. They have over 24 different cotton candy flavors and the experience is really fun for both adults and children. I’ve posted about them before and you can check that post here.

If you want to pass by, the new location is located in the 360 Mall food court next to Cinescape. For more info they’re on Instagram @spunsprinkles

Not sure how many of you have experienced the Assima parking lot but it might be the worst mall parking in Kuwait right now. It doesn’t help that the building is located on a super congested street, but I also think it has to do with how you get in and out of the parking as well. Even when there isn’t traffic, navigating the parking lot is tedious with a lack of proper signage, too many aggressive speed bumps and a layout that’s very confusing. At night the situation is made worse with the higher footfall, last week a friend of mine was stuck for over an hour just trying to get out of the parking lot and that seems to be a normal occurrence.

Supposedly this past weekend the mall was going to try something new to help reduce the parking issues but I’ve already given up attempting to even go there at night. When a friend called me asking for tips on where to park I told them to park across the street in the KIPCO parking lot and walk over, they called me later that evening when after leaving Assima telling me how ingenious that idea was because the Assima parking was so packed and chaotic.

Below is the list of events for this weekend. As usual if I missed anything please let me know in the comments:

Thursday
Exhibition: I Am Here – Manuella Guiragossian
Exhibition: My Name Is Woman – Maha AlAsaker
Exhibition: Deconstructed Phyche – Sheikha Al Habishi
Exhibition: “The Mystic Letters” By Antonella Leoni
Exhibition: ‘The Emir from Poland’ – An exhibition about Wacław Seweryn Rzewuski
Cinema Thursdays at the IFK: Des Hommes
LAPA Open Day – Music, Dance, Fine Art and Drama.
JACC: Gipsy Kings featuring Tonino Baliardo

Friday
Summertime Thrifting
Dunes & Ripples Studio Visit
JACC: Gipsy Kings featuring Tonino Baliardo

Saturday
Exhibition: I Am Here – Manuella Guiragossian
Exhibition: My Name Is Woman – Maha AlAsaker
Exhibition: Deconstructed Phyche – Sheikha Al Habishi
Exhibition: ‘The Emir from Poland’ – An exhibition about Wacław Seweryn Rzewuski
Grand Mosque Tour
Storytelling: Safety
Sunset Cruise & Coffee
Trash Hero: Kuwait Towers Beach Cleanup

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

New This Weekend:
Offseason (4.8)
Project Gemini (3.3)
Pursuit (2.7)
Shut In (6.0)
The Elfkins

Other Movies Showing:
Fireheart (6.1)
Jurassic World Dominion (6.2)
Last Seen Alive (5.9)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (6.9)
The Bad Guys (7.0)
The Batman (8.1)
The Cellar (5.3)
The Northman (7.3)
Top Gun: Maverick (8.7)

Classic Movies Showing:
Saving Private Ryan (8.6)

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

IMAX Movies Showing:
Antarctica
Asteroid Hunters 3D
Ocean Odyssey
Turtle Odyssey

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

Every now and then I get comments under old recycling posts or emails asking me who they can contact to pick up stuff for recycling. It’s usually paper waste or old electronics that they want to recycle because they care about the environment. Well, I finally have an answer to that question now.

Enviroserve is a recycling facility in Kuwait that originally started off focusing on e-waste. I posted about them a few years ago but since that post they’ve grown to offer full recycling services and last year they introduced it to individuals and companies.

Enviroserve now recycles the following:
– Electronics
– Paper and Cardboard
– Plastics

Their pick-up rates are pretty decent. If you want a one-time pick up its 5KD, if you want a weekly pick up it’s 10KD a month, and if you want a monthly pickup it’s 48KD a year.

To find out more or to book a pick up, click here.

One thing a lot of people like to do in the summer is head to one of the islands off the shore of Kuwait and chill there for a day. If you don’t have a boat or yacht that wasn’t so easy to do before but now there are a lot of different ways of finding one to rent.

The easiest way to get a boat is probably using the app WAVES. I just counted 36 yachts available for rent in the app with prices starting from 25KD. The starting prices listed are a bit misleading since most yachts have a minimum hours you need to rent. If you’re planning a trip to Kubbar for example, expect to pay 200KD and upwards for the trip. There are smaller boats for cheaper, but they won’t be as fast or comfortable. The WAVES app is fairly easy to navigate and book with and most importantly, you don’t need to create an account if you just want to browse.

To check out the WAVES app, click here.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to use the WAVES app and prefer contacting the yacht owners directly, there are a lot of different Instagram accounts that offer boats and yachts for rent. Here are some of them:

7 Oceans Yacht Rental
Adventure Icon
Aloha Beach Boat Rental
Aquarium Boat Rental
Deverano Kayak Rental
Jigging and Fishing Cruises
Luxury Yacht Rental
Maria Luxury Yacht Rental
Neom Yacht Rental
Queen Nina Boat Rental
Sanpedro Fishing and Sea Trips
Sea Adventures Q8
Soud Yacht Rental
Summer Winter Trips
Uber Marine

I’m sure there are more accounts I’ve missed so if you know of any more let me know in the comments. Also if you’ve tried any of them and had a good or bad experience, let us also know in the comments.

Bakers’ Point is a new supermarket that focuses on everything baking-related. They describe themselves as “the first all-inclusive baking destination” and they might be just that. I passed by over the weekend and the place is pretty nice and fairly big for what is essentially just a baking supplies store.

The supermarket is divided into three essential parts. The first area is filled with all the different ingredients you might need (they have a huge variety of flour btw), the second section is frozen and refrigerated items, and the last section is baking tools and accessories.

It’s a pretty nice idea and a lot of the items come in wholesale packaging which is great if you’re a pro-hobbyist. They oddly don’t have a website but they are open daily from 7AM to 10PM. If you want to check them out they’re on Instagram @bakerspoint.kw and here is their location on Google Maps.

Basic Beach is a cool new and local sustainable brand with designs inspired and influenced by the oceans and its creatures. All their waterwear is made out of recycled material while their packaging is made of plants that decompose after a short period of time and can be used as compost.

Their first collection includes rashguards, swim shorts, surfsuits and fun t-shirts designed by local Kuwaiti artist @notnorrah. Their stuff isn’t too crazy expensive so if you want to shop their collection, they’re on Instagram @shop.basicbeach and their website is basic-beach.com

Yesterday Monoprix finally opened in Assima Mall so I passed by briefly today to check it out and wow. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but definitely not what I saw. Monoprix is easily the nicest looking supermarket in Kuwait right now. Like completely blows everything else out of the water.

Everything from the veggies section to the fish section looks incredible and its definitely going to be my new goto supermarket.

They have a shop and go service as well where you can shop for groceries and then have them deliver it to you later. While browsing the shelves I found a lot of brands I hadn’t seen anywhere else so it’s not just the same products in a nicer environment.

On the other hand, there aren’t any self check out stations which sucks. If you want to pass by check it out, they’re open daily from 9AM till midnight.

The Palace of Justice building was designed in the late 70s by the Scottish architect Sir Basil Spence, the same architect behind the Coventry Cathedral. The building was scheduled to be demolished once the new building under construction next door was completed but thankfully that isn’t happening anymore. The National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters has added the Palace of Justice on the list of modern heritage sites (source) which means it should no longer be demolished.

Happy for the Palace of Justice, but sucks that places like the Ice Skating Rink didn’t get added to the list.