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A few burger places have recently popped up in Lebanon and I decided I would try a new place every day on this trip. So far I’ve tried two places and have ended up with mixed results which you could read about on my Lebanese blog [Here]. Best part is, since I’m on vacation everyday is a cheat day!

I found out about this yesterday and I think it’s a great idea. The 3 Club along with Viva are launching a campaign to collect a thousand pairs of wearable running shoes from now till the end of Ramadan. Once all the running shoes is collected they will be sending them to Africa and given to people who really need them. So if you have sneakers lying around you don’t wear anymore (I know I do), then follow the instructions below.

For more information check out the The 3 Club blog [Here]

The donation boxes as of now are currently located in the following locations:

Extreme Sports – Tilal and Salmiya
Viva HQ – Salmiya
Lashes Salon for ladies – Yarmouk
Baking Tray – Kuwait City
Tatami – Kuwait City
AUK – Salmiya
ACK – Mishref

Wayne Carini from the Discovery Channel show Chasing Classic Cars was in Kuwait last February for the Concours d’Elegance and since then I’ve been watching every episode hoping to catch the one on Kuwait. Well turns out Kuwait won’t be showing up until this fall according to a source of mine. Once it does get released I’ll link it on the blog but for now here is an interview Wayne did at Marina Crescent when he was in Kuwait. [YouTube]

Just a minor note. I’ve gone ahead and separated the events section so that it can function by itself. What this will allow me to do is post more events in that section without over running the main blog with random event posts. I will continue to post events on the main page here but only ones that I think should be highlighted. You can access the events section by clicking on the events tab in the navigation strip on top.

I haven’t been to Failaka since the late 80s but looking at these pictures taken by Kenneth I’m thinking I should really pay a visit and maybe even spend the night since the hotel above looks great. [Link]

The Kuwait National Planetarium is one of those things that not a lot of people know too much about. I personally like the planetarium for two reasons, the first is because it’s located in the Kuwait National Museum which is a must see. Most of the museum is closed because it was never repaired after the Iraqi invasion but even so I love going there and remembering how beautiful it was back in the 80’s. It also looks a bit creepy at night all burnt and abandoned which can also be nice in it’s little weird way. The second reason I like the planetarium is because it’s actually interesting and well taken care of. Since not a lot of people go there the place is in great shape and the tech is pretty up to date since it only got rebuilt around 10 years ago and just recently they installed a new projection system.

They’re open Monday to Saturday with morning and afternoon shows at the following timings:

Morning Shows
9:30 / 10:30 / 11:30 / 12:00

Afternoon Shows
5:00 / 5:45 / 6:30

No morning shows on Friday. Saturday mornings shows are at 9:30 and 10:30 only. Sundays they’re closed. For more information you can call them on 22451195 and 22456534 The entrance is free!

Here is the location on [Google Maps]

Information and photos collected from Mathai and My Travels, My Experiences.

I was checking LoYAC’s Blog again today and found a post on a pizza eating competition that was held two days back at Pizza Inn. The winner was Fahad Al-Baroud (pictured above) who managed to eat 13 and 3/4 pieces of pizza in 12 minutes. I’m personally still waiting for McDonald’s to hold a burger eating competition. You can read more on this event [Here]

This is a pretty interesting activity to do and it doesn’t involve being outdoors. LAPA which stands for the LoYAC Academy of Performing Arts offers a variety of classes in Hip Hop, Break dance, Salsa, Fitness, Drama, Guitar, Violin, Arabic Orchestra, Puppet theater, and Ballet. The classes operate on a six-week basis and at KD36 per course I think it’s very reasonable. Here are the timings:

Hip hop (mixed): Wednesday 6-8 pm
Hip hop (females): Saturday 12:30-2:30 pm
Break dance: Saturday 6-8 pm
Salsa: Monday 8-9:30 pm
Drama: Thursday 7-9 pm
Guitar (English): Sunday 5-9 pm
Guitar (Arabic): Thursday 5-7 pm
Violin & Arabic Orchestra: Sunday 5-9 pm / Tuesday 5-8 pm
Ballet: Monday 6:30-8 pm / Thursday 5-7 pm
Fitness: Monday 5-6:30 pm / Wednesday 4-6 pm / Saturday 4-6 pm

If you’re interested in taking any of these classes you can call them on 96653377. For more information check out the LOYAC blog [Here]

I know this might sound a bit odd but the weather at night isn’t bad at all for riding your bike. I used to ride my bike only during winter but the past 2 weeks I’ve been riding it in our current summer heat and I’ve really been enjoying it. It’s really not as hot at night as it is during the day.

The first time I went riding was last week when the weather was very humid. I dropped my car in Kuwait City to get detailed and since I needed to leave it there overnight I ended up riding back home on my bike. I thought the humidity would bother me but it actually helped keep me cool. Then this week I started riding my bike to the gym and back home. It’s a 30-40 minute ride (depending on the headwind) from my house in Salmiya all the way to my gym which is just before the Kuwait Towers. Because I take the Gulf Road sea path the weather is a bit cooler and I don’t end up feeling too hot or bothered.

So if you’re looking for an activity to do in the summer then biking can be a good one. There are a bunch of places in Kuwait that sell bikes but my favorite brands are Cannondale, Trek and Specialized. The Cannondale dealer is Sultan Motor Sports (tel 24826723) but they don’t bring a large variety of models sadly. The Trek dealer is Extreme Sports (tel 22254567) and they have a very large and nice showroom in Tilal Complex in Shuwaikh (pictured above) as well as a decent website [Here]. The Specialized brand of bikes I haven’t been able to find in Kuwait yet. You can also find some bikes at Go Sport in Avenues including a few Trek models and there are a few shops in Salmiya that carry new and used bicycles, you can find them with Google maps [Here]

There is also a bike club which organize rides nearly every week. You can check out their website [Here]

I think I’m going to continue to ride to the gym all summer long. If you have a bike you really should take it out. Keep in mind I’m talking about night time riding here (7PM and onwards) and not daytime riding. I would highly recommend not riding during the day!

This Friday Discovery Channel will be airing an episode of Building the Impossible that will feature Sabah Al-Ahmad Sea City. I don’t recall ever hearing about Sea City and looking at the aerial shot above, it seems like a pretty humongous project. No idea what time they’ll be airing the episode but you can watch the trailers on the Masahati blog [Here]

Update: Here is the project on Google Maps [Link]

Update2: Here are the timings for Discovery Channel. The show was shot in HD but the below schedule is for SD.

This has to be one of the strangest parking lot accidents I have seen. BlogLaish has more pictures you can check them out over [Here]

Just spotted a bunch of really old ads on Bloglaish which I hadn’t seen before. I didn’t even know Tikka had a logo before the “I Like it Spicy” guy. [Link]

Chocolate and Chocolate posted about a new pizza place that’s opening up called The Upper Crust Pizzeria. It’s a Boston based franchise from what I’ve read so maybe someone who’s studied in Boston could tell us if it’s any good. They don’t say where they’re opening but based on the picture they’ve posted (check above) it looks like the Bidaa area. It’s opening up in Abu al Hasaniya’s “The Village”.

The other pizza place that’s opening up is the Lebanese chain Margherita which is opening up in Arabella.

Looks like pizza’s are the next big thing.

Update: A third pizza place is opening called Homeslice in Shaab.

Just found out about this by mistake and thought it was worth sharing. I’m kinda surprised I hadn’t heard of this before.

Pavilion of Kuwait
With its exhibition hall buried approximately 20 feet under a marble dome, the pavilion was designed as a sculpture with flexible wooden arms that open and close to resemble a palm leaf. Through this design, the people of Kuwait expressed their history and life as follows: When the arms are closed like a seashell, it represents the protection of the Kuwaiti people. When the arms are halfway open it resembles a tent, which is a house for the Bedouin people to protect them from the desert storms. When the arms are fully opened, as shown in the photograph, it acts as a ship’s sail which explains Kuwaiti’s lives as traders and explorers of the sea before their blessing with oil. The building is made of poured concrete steel reinforced wooden arms which also provided shade during Seville’s hot summer days.

Inside the pavilion you could see a six minute video of the Kuwaiti people before the Gulf War, art, scale models of ships used for fishing and trading before the discovery of oil, and scenes of their Bedouin life. [source]

This architecture structure was built as part of the 1992 Universal Exposition in Seville, Spain. You can check out some pictures of it [Here]

Corbis has some pictures as well which you can view [Here]

Fahad just posted his guide for fat loss during Ramadan on his blog. If you’re interested in losing weight (or not gaining weight) this Ramadan then it’s worth a read. Here is the [Link]