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Over 1,500 students from 75 schools will be cleaning up 25 beaches tomorrow in an hour. The campaign titled “Rescuing Our Coasts in an Hour” is not meant only to clean the coasts but also to encourage and teach students the value of voluntary work. [Source]

I really like the idea but it could also be very demotivating for the students if they visit the beach again after the weekend and see all the litter back again and their hard work gone to waste. Even though the baladiya has added a ton of new garbage bins all along the coastal pathway (like every 10 meters), a lot of people are still ignoring them.

While we’re on the subject, whatever happened to the KD1,000 fine for barbecuing in a public place? They should bring it back and create another fine for littering as well.

Picture above from the Doha beach clean up [Link]

The P2BK event for 2013 will start tomorrow and last for the next two weeks. This year the set up is a lot more interesting with an outdoor old souk that was built specifically to host this event. There will be a ton of Kuwaiti businesses participating including already established ones as well as new ones and since the weather is fantastic right now it should be pretty enjoyable checking all the various stalls out.

The event is taking place at the Mishref Fair Ground and will be open from 10AM to 10PM. You can visit the P2BK website for some more information but most of their sections don’t seem to be working right now. [Website]

Over the holidays I stayed in two different hotels in two different cities and I had really good experiences with both of them. If you’re planning to go to Amsterdam or Paris I would recommend you check these two out:

Le Citizen Hotel – Paris
I took the train from Amsterdam to Paris and the hotel was around a 15 minute walk from the Gare du Nord station. At first I thought the hotel was going to be far away from everything but it turned out to be close to the Metro and walking distance to many popular places (by walking distance I mean 30 to 60 minute walks). The hotel overlooks a canal and so doesn’t have any buildings blocking the views from the window. I stayed in the Zen room which was really spacious and super trendy with a colorful lounge like area, a large bathroom and a beautiful bed. I didn’t wanted to leave the room. The wifi at the hotel is fast and free and the staff were very friendly. The next time I go back to Paris I’m definitely staying at this hotel again. [Link]

Albus Hotel – Amsterdam
Although my room at the Albus wasn’t as great looking as Le Citizen it was still modern and trendy. What I really loved about the hotel though was the location. The hotel is a 30 minute walk from Amsterdam Centraal or a 10 minute tram ride. You’re also close to a lot of popular hotspots in Amsterdam and no matter where I went, all the roads somehow led back to the hotel. In case of late night munchies there is a McDonalds and a Chipsy King 2 minutes away from the hotel. The hotel staff were friendly and the internet is free but… only at the slow 256K speed. If you want faster internet you need to pay for it. I’d most likely stay at this hotel again on my next trip, great location and not very pricey. [Link]

Over the weekend I visited Jahra for the first time with a friend and I have to say it turned out to be a lot more interesting than I was expecting it to be. Below are some things I would recommend doing if you do decide to visit (listed in the order I visited):

Al Sabeenat
Al Sabeenat is a traditional Kuwaiti restaurant located in Jahra. The place is pretty spacious and on a Friday for lunch we had no trouble at all finding a place to sit. I had the morabyen and it was pretty good and price wise they seemed similar to Freej Swaileh. The restaurant is also located near a resort, a mall and The 99 Village which makes it a convenient starting point. Here is their location on [Google Maps]

Random Art
I found this by chance hidden behind a building and I thought it was pretty cool and very random. There were two walls, one had bicycles mounted all over it while the other had designs created with hubcaps. To find the place you need to enter the mall near Al Sabeenat and come out the other side where you will find a Red Tag store. The two walls are located behind Red Tag so you need to make your way to the back of that building (there are some hidden stairs behind the mosque). Here is the location on [Google Maps]

The 99 Village
Take an amusement park and slap some stickers with The 99 superhero characters and you end up with The 99 Village. Wasn’t that disappointing a visit since they had a sack slide which I was able to slide down a few times. But sadly they didn’t let me jump on the trampolines. Here is the location on [Google Maps]

Hungry Bunny
Hungry Bunny was one of the first fast food burger joints in Kuwait and so it holds a big nostalgia factor. I had the Super Bunny and I thought it was pretty decent and tasted very similar to what I recall a Super Bunny tasting like in the 80s. But, unless you have childhood memories of the place, Hungry Bunny might not be for you. Here is the location on [Google Maps]

Red Fort
We ended our visit to Jahra with a tour of the Red Fort (or Red Palace). The Red Fort was the site of the Battle of Jahra in 1920 between Kuwaiti and Saudi forces and so has historical importance. The fort was smaller than I expected it to be and not that exciting as well but entrance was free and it was nice to walk around inside. Here is the location on [Google Maps]

Even though nothing we visited had a wow factor, when combined all these places provided for a pretty entertaining afternoon.

The Green Caravan Film Festival is back for the 4th time and will be taking place in Kuwait from March 9th to March 12th. The film lineup for this festival are the following:

CHASING ICE
Follow National Geographic photographer James Balog across the Arctic as he deploys time-lapse cameras designed for one purpose: to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers.

IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT
A rare behind-the-curtain look at the Earth Liberation Front, the radical environmental group that the FBI calls America’s ‘number one domestic terrorist threat.’

THE TSUNAMI AND THE CHERRY BLOSSOM
Survivors in the areas hardest hit by Japan’s recent tsunami find the courage to revive and rebuild as cherry blossom season begins.

THE CITY DARK
THE CITY DARK is a feature documentary about the loss of night. After moving to NYC from rural Maine, filmmaker Ian Cheney asks a simple question – do we need the stars? – taking him from Brooklyn to Mauna Kea, Paris, and beyond. Exploring the threat of killer asteroids in Hawaii, tracking hatching turtles along the Florida coast, and rescuing injured birds on Chicago streets, Cheney unravels the myriad implications of a globe glittering with lights – including increased breast cancer rates from exposure to light at night, and a generation of kids without a glimpse of the universe above. Featuring stunning astrophotography and a cast of eclectic scientists, THE CITY DARK is the definitive story of light pollution and the disappearing stars.

THE ISLAND PRESIDENT
After bringing democracy to his country, President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, the lowest-lying country in the world, takes up the fight to keep his homeland from disappearing under the sea.

The film festival is taking place at Bayt Lothan and admission is free. For more information including the schedule visit the festival website [Here]

The weather is so perfect for this right now.

Saturday, March 2nd 2013 at 7:30pm
THREE COLORS: RED
The last film of the 3 Colours trilogy as well as the last film that Kieslowski ever directed before his death two years later, and winner of multiple awards as well as being considered one of the best films of all time, Red follows a young model living in Geneva who makes a connection with a retired judge, which opens a new door in her life in seeing the connection between him and his surroundings.

Thursday, March 7th 2013 at 7:30pm
TINY FURNITURE
Winner of Best Film at SXSW and nominated for best script at the Independent Spirit Awards, and shot entirely on a 7D. Aura returns home from her Midwest liberal arts college to her artist family’s TriBeCa loft with nothing but a film studies degree, a failed relationship, and a lack of direction. She takes a job as a hostess at a restaurant and falls into relationships with two self-centered men while struggling to define herself.

Saturday, March 9th 2013 at 7:30pm
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN
The best reviewed film of 2012, winner of countless awards including Best Documentary at the BAFTA’s and at the time of writing this is nominated for the same award at the Oscars (expected to win), Searching for Sugar Man follows Two South Africans who set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock ‘n’ roller, Rodriguez, after finding out that although he was one of the biggest names in South Africa, no one had heard of him in his home back in America.

Thursday, March 14th 2013 at 7:30pm
THE KID WITH A BIKE
Winner of the 2011 Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, and holding a rating of 96% on rottentomatoes.com, and directed by the multiple Palme d’Or winning filmmaking duo The Dardenne Brothers, The Kid with a Bike is a subtle masterpiece of naturalistic filmmaking. Abandoned by his father, a young boy is left in a state-run youth farm. In a random act of kindness, the town hairdresser agrees to foster him on weekends.

Saturday, March 16th 2013 at 7:30pm
GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES
Called “one of the greatest and most powerful war films ever made” by acclaimed film critic Roger Ebert, and universally considered one of the best animated films ever made, Grave of Fireflies is a tragic film covering a young boy and his little sister’s struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.

Thursday, March 21st 2013 at 7:30pm
ANNA KARENINA
On many top ten of 2012 lists, and nominated for over 25 awards worldwide, and praised for its entirely original take on a familiar story, with a unique visual style by award-winning director Joe Wright, Anna Karenina is set in late-19th-century Russia high-society, where the aristocrat Anna Karenina enters into a life-changing affair with the affluent Count Vronsky.

Saturday, March 23rd 2013 at 7:30pm
UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES
Winner of the 2010 Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Uncle Boonmee is a magical film that centers on the last days in the life of its title character. Together with his loved ones – including the ghost of his dead wife and his lost son who has returned in a non-human form – Boonmee explores his past lives as he contemplates the reasons for his illness.

Thursday, March 28th 2013 at 7:30pm
PRIMER
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004, Primer is the experimental cult sci-fi classic that people have been talking about since its release. A brilliant film shot on a budget of just $ 7,000, Primer follows four men in a suburban garage who have built a device that they’re not sure about. Two of these man see the potential as too valuable to market, and begin to experiment with how far they can take it. They eventually have to face the question, “If you always want what you can’t have, what do you want when you can have anything?”

Saturday, March 30th 2013 at 7:30pm
CENTRAL STATION
Winner of multiple awards including Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival, Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes and the BAFTA’s. An emotive journey of a former school teacher, who write letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, in search for the father he never knew.

Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in – and appreciation for – the art of film-making. Cinemagic movies are screened in the old Salmiya, on the roof on top of Alghanim Electronics and LG and there is no entrance fee. Here is a link to their Facebook group [Link]

There’s currently a British Spitfire on display at 360 Mall as part of the “Aircraft” Exhibition that’s currently taking place starting from today until the 27th. The 70 year old Spitfire fighter aircraft was flown during World War II and is still operational and had been on display at the British Royal Air Force Museum since the end of the war. I’m not in Kuwait so I can’t pass by but if you’re looking for something to do this weekend then this exhibition sounds interesting. [YouTube]

Although this might be hard to believe, Batcha is a dish I’ve been wanting to try for a very long time. I had heard about it from a friend who had heard about it from another friend who most likely also heard it from someone else which would explain why I was told Batcha was actually a soup containing sheep balls, eyes, bones, brains, liver and tongue. That’s (disappointingly) not what Batcha turned out to be.

I was told there was a small restaurant tucked away at the corner of a traffic intersection in Kuwait City that serves only Batcha so I headed there with a friend of mine expecting to try the soup I described earlier. Instead it turned out Batcha was just sheep head and hooves. We decided to order their largest platter which included a sheep tongue, sheep head and four hooves. A short time later we were served two bowls of what looked like hot water mixed with oil. Not very appetizing but turns out it’s the broth that the heads and hooves were boiled in. We also got some fresh Irani bread as well and some greens. While we were trying to figure out what to do with the bowl of broth the waiter came back with our platter. It didn’t look appetizing either, but I wasn’t expecting it to.

The bowl of broth according to the waiter is a soup but I decided to use it as dip instead. I took a piece of Irani bread, put some tongue and sheep head on it and then dipped it into the broth and took my first bite. It tasted as good as it looked, not that great. But I was there for the experience so I tried to eat as much as I could. The hooves, those were the most difficult thing to eat since they looked really gross. It’s mostly skin and when I peeled the skin off and tried to eat it, I bit on something hard which turned out to be the nails of the sheep. Who knew sheep had nails?

I really didn’t eat much neither did my friend and our plate was left mostly full. But, I would still recommend the place. The thing is it’s a strange and exotic dish with the added benefit of not having to travel to some far away country to experience it. So if you’re into trying strange dishes you should pass by and give it a shot. Here is a map to the location [Map]

The video above of the impressive shot that took place during the recent ITTF Kuwait Open has been making its rounds around the internet today. What I find more impressive is how an important event like the ITTF Kuwait Open took place in Kuwait and very little knew about it. Based on the news stories on the ITTF website, it looks like it was an important event yet I don’t recall seeing any advertising for it. Not a lot of activities like this take place in Kuwait so I’m sure a lot of people would have been interested to watch it. [YouTube]

If you’re staying in Kuwait during the holidays then this is something you can do. Below is the Cinemagic’s rooftop movie schedule starting this Thursday:

Thursday February 21st, 2013 at 7:30PM
THE WHITE RIBBON
Winner of the 2009 Palme D’or at Cannes, and directed by living maser Michael Haneke. Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years just before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. The abused and suppressed children of the villagers seem to be at the heart of this mystery.

Saturday February 23rd, 2013 at 7:30PM
BULLHEAD
Nominated for best foreign film at the 2011 Oscars, and winner of many international awards for best film and best actor. A young cattle farmer is approached by a veterinarian to make a deal with a notorious beef trader. But the assassination of a federal policeman, and an unexpected confrontation with a mysterious secret from Jacky’s past, set in motion a chain of events with far reaching consequences.

Thursday February 28th, 2013 at 7:30PM
THE CLASS
Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, as well being on over 20 top ten of the year lists, The Class follows teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau who plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.

Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in – and appreciation for – the art of film-making. Cinemagic movies are screened in the old Salmiya, on the roof on top of Alghanim Electronics and LG and there is no entrance fee. Here is a link to their Facebook group [Link]

This incident happened a couple of days back. It seems they were filming something on Blajat Street and the horse escaped and got hit by a car. The horse died and the uncensored photo looks pretty gruesome. No idea what happened to the car that hit the horse or the driver. [Link]

Warning: Link will lead to graphic image

Thanks Rayboy

Phuket Thai was a restaurant that came highly recommended by a few of my readers. It’s a small place in Salmiya and it’s actually pretty near to where I live. I was actually a bit concerned that if the place did turn out to be great I’d end up eating there all the time and gaining weight. Turns out that’s not going to happen.

First impression as I walked in wasn’t that great since The interior looked gloomy and old. Me and my friend sat down and waited for someone to hand us the menus but no one did. There was one woman in the restaurant behind the cashier but she was busy talking on the phone. Finally a guy came down from upstairs and noticed us sitting and gave us the menus. There are two menus, one with photos and numbers and the other with numbers and descriptions. You flip through the photos menu and if you find a dish that looks interesting you get the number and then flip through the other menu to find out what it is. Not very practical but we ended up ordering the following:

Tom Yam Soup (Seafood) KD1.750
Tom Kha Soup (Seafood) KD1.750
Fried Wonton (Shrimp) KD1.500
Prawns on Toast KD1.750
Pad Thai Fried Noodles KD1.500
Steamed White Rice KD0.500
Sweet & Sour Shrimp KD1.750
Panang Curry (Beef) KD2.000

We started off with the soups which were pretty good with lots of seafood inside (although the crab was literally cut up and thrown in there with shell and all). The starters followed soon after but they were pretty disappointing. The fried wontons were super greasy while the prawns on toast were the most disappointing prawns on toast I’ve had so far. The toast was burnt and there was just too much sesame seed on top. Once the main courses arrived things picked up again but just slightly. The Pad Thai was really greasy and the sweet & sour shrimp was bland although to be fair, it’s a Chinese dish and my friend shouldn’t have ordered it in the first place. The beef curry on the other hand was pretty good and if I was to go back I’d order it again.

Finally when it came time to pay the bill we found out they didn’t accept Knet. I looked everywhere for a sign that says they didn’t accept Knet but couldn’t find any. At Thai Chow for example they have a large paper plastered on the entrance door saying they didn’t accept Knet. That way you can go to an ATM machine before having lunch. Since Phuket kept the no Knet fact a secret it created a bit of awkwardness since I had to leave the restaurant and drive to the nearest ATM machine in Salmiya while my friend stayed behind waiting for me. Not very cool.

Overall I was fairly disappointed with the place. Even though it’s seems really popular I just didn’t have a good experience myself. If you’re interested in trying the place out it’s located right behind Dodo and Kout Way on Baghdad street in Salmiya. Their phone number is 25714805. Make sure you have cash.

I’ve been getting emails from people who heard a really large explosion around the Ahmadi/Subhan area. Does anyone know anything about it?

Update: According to the Ministry of Defense, the sound was the result of an air force jet breaking the sound barrier during the GCC joint war games that are currently taking place in the desert.

PechaKucha Night #8 will be held on February 20th which will coincide with the 10 year anniversary of PechaKucha. 20 images x 20 seconds will be presented by:

Deema Al-Ghunaim
Dalal Al-Hashash
Aseel AlYacoub
Heba Al-Ali
Lewis Chapman
Ehsan Abdulrasoul
Yousef Abdalaal
Dalal Al-Bannay
Zahra Ali Baba

Date: February 20th, 2013
Time: 7:30PM
Location: Cinemagics Rooftop, Salmiya

For more information visis their Facebook page [Here]

Big news for wildlife in Kuwait when K’S PATH, together with KOC, released the first mammal into the recently completed Abdaliya nature preserve. The animal in question, a long-eared hedgehog, was found in a garden near the city. Long-eared hedgehogs are solitary mammals that spend much of their lives alone, except during breeding season which occurs in March, just after hibernation. This year, we are planning to relocate many more hedgehogs and fox into the preserve, taking them from high-risk areas or from areas where they are abundant.

Our goal is to create an ecosystem thriving with native wildlife. In the coming months, we will begin efforts to release more hedgehogs as well as Ruppell’s Fox in to the preserve and will be installing nesting boxes and perches for native birds.

You can look forward to more updates on this project soon. Want to make a difference? Keep wildlife wild. Don’t hunt. All forms of hunting are illegal by Kuwait law. Illegal hunting (poaching) has caused the local extinction of many species, and we are constantly finding dead birds around Kuwait. Finally, keep up with or even contribute to our work by visiting K’S PATH on [Facebook]

Post by John Peaveler
Managing Director
Kuwait Society for the Protection of Animals and Their Habitat (K’S PATH)