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Registration for the first race of the stand-up paddleboarding race series is now open. The series is organized by the Kuwait Sailing School and will take place this coming Friday, May 20th. If you don’t have a paddleboard you can still take part by renting one from them.

There will be prizes for winners including a KD100 cash prize for first place while every participant will also leave with a medal. After the race, there will be food, drinks, and lots of socializing. Here are some more details:

Registration Fees: KD15
Equipment Required: SUP board not longer than 12’6″
SUP Board Rental: If you don’t have a board you can rent one for KD6

Friday’s race is part of a four-part series that will take place throughout this summer. For more information and to register, click here.

Washington Post published a not-so-nice article today about Kuwait that has been making its way around the web. The article, in summary, talks about how Kuwait is a significant polluter, has poor plans in eliminating emissions, and how nobody really cares, yada yada yada. One thing that did catch my attention though was in this paragraph:

An hour drive outside the dingy suburbs of Jahra, wind turbines and solar panels rise from clouds of sand — the fruit of Kuwait’s energy transition ambitions. source

What turbines?? I was pretty surprised I hadn’t heard of it before or seen any pictures. A quick search on Google Maps for “Shagaya Energy Park“, the name of the project, quickly pops up with imagery showing the turbines as well as the solar panels.

It’s on highway 70 which I’ve taken multiple times but I’ve only ever been as far as the Salmi scrapyard. The energy park is a short distance after which is why I never came across it. It might be worth checking out since it seems you can just drive up to the turbines if you go off-road. Here is the location on Google Maps

Does anyone know the process of replacing an old/damaged license plate? I’m currently in the process of restoring a car and I need to replace the front license plate with a new one since the one on the car currently is bent and worn out. I’ve only ever gone through the process of swapping a square plate to a Euro-style license plate so not sure what the process is for replacing a worn-out plate (if thats possible even).

Over the next days, you’ll be able to spot the international space station from within Kuwait during certain periods like tonight at 6:03 PM. The sightings usually occur within a few hours before or after sunrise or sunset since that is the optimum viewing period as the sun reflects off the space station and contrasts against the darker sky.

Based on photos online it looks like it should be really easy to spot without requiring a telescope, but the space station will only be visible for a few minutes per sighting so you need to be quick to catch it.

If you want to try and see it yourself, check out the sighting schedule.

Thanks Nibaq

Since we are on the subject of beautiful buildings that are being demolished, the Palace of Justice building in the city is next once the new location that is under construction is completed. 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.

There has been an uproar in this decision on Twitter with people asking that the building be saved and repurposed into a hotel or something. Hopefully, that happens but doubt it.

Out of curiosity, how many people here watched the last race of the Formula 1 season last night? I’m kinda curious to see how popular the sport has gotten in Kuwait especially after Netflix’s Drive to Survive series.

[poll id=”18″]

Ace Hardware opened up a new location at Boulevard Mall in Salmiya last week. The new location is bigger than I expected it to be, I think it’s bigger than the Hawally location. I now have two Ace Hardware’s near me now, the Hawally location and this Boulevard one but would have preferred a Bin Nisf close by as well. Ace is located on the ground floor next to Sears. Here is the location on Google Maps.

The Saracen Race is an obstacle race consisting of a 5KM run with a combination of various obstacles like monkey bars and climbing walls. This year’s Saracen Race is going to be held on December 10th and take place on Green Island.

Registration for the race is currently open and costs 25 KD. If you’re interested in signing up or want more information, click here.

The Contemporary Art Platform is celebrating its 10 year anniversary with a new exhibition called Face to Face II.

The exhibition features artworks loaned from some of Kuwait’s prominent art collectors and includes artworks by Amine El Bacha, Andy Warhol, Banksy, George Bahgoury, Kimiko Yoshida, Picasso, Yayoi Kusama, and much more.

CAP is open Saturday to Thursay from 10AM to 8PM. Here is their location on Google Maps.

One of the nicest museums in Kuwait, Al Salam Palace opened right at the start of the pandemic and so had to close again soon after. But, after a long delay, the museum is now open again.

Unlike other museums, Al Salam Palace isn’t a walk around freely museum but requires you to be part of a tour. They have two kinds of tours available, a standard tour or a VIP tour.

Standard Tour (English or Arabic)
Duration: 120 minutes
Cost: KD8

VIP Tour (English or Arabic)
Duration: 120 minutes
Cost: KD20

The English tour is only available on Sundays which is going suck for anyone with a day job since they’re only open from 10AM to 4PM. But, it’s a great place to visit so if you’re interested in booking, their website is aspm.com.kw

For a sneak peek at what’s inside, check out my previous post from when I took the tour. Link

It’s been a while since I put together a breakfast list and since my last list, some new places opened up, some closed down because of the pandemic, and some just stopped serving breakfast due to lack of staff. Below is the latest list I’ve put together along with their breakfast timings (note: breakfast timings, not operating hours). This is also not a list of every single place that serves breakfast in Kuwait, this is a curated list. If there is a restaurant you think should be added here, let me know in the comments.

My two go-to places are still Cocoa Room and Baker & Spice but check out the whole list below:

Angelina
9:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Baker & Spice
Weekdays: 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Weekends: 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Bakehaus
8:00 AM – 8:00 PM

Cocoa Room
8:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Dar Hamad
8:00 AM – 12:15 PM

Cheesecake Factory
Friday & Saturday: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Frankie’s
9:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Gia
Avenues: 7:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Avenues)
City / Salmiya: 6:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Ladurée
9:00 AM – 10:00 PM

Lazy Cat
Weekdays: 7:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Weekends: 7:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Lunch Room
360 Mall: 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
City: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Madeleine
Wednesday to Saturday: 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Madison & Heig
8:00 AM – 12:45 PM

Magma
9:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Mana
Avenues: 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

The Breakfast Club
6:30 AM – 3:30 PM

The Early Bird
Crystal Tower: 7:15 AM – 2:30 PM
Jabriya: 5 AM – 3:30 PM

The Kind Ones
6:00 AM – 6:00 PM

The Social Table
8:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Notably absent: Johnny Rockets, Barba, Bouchon, Princi and LeNotre. I couldn’t get a hold of them.

A local coffee shop called Blend launched a new campaign for a black-colored soft serve by using a visual of a guy in blackface. The guy in the photo is the local photographer @bonmr who is known for superimposing himself onto photos. Both Blend and Bonmr turned off comments on the photos after people started protesting their use of blackface.

As of this morning, Blend have completely removed the photo from their account while Bonmr still has the photo up with the comments disabled.

You’d think after the huge backlash last year after the popular Kuwaiti makeup up artist Ghadeer Sultan posted a photo of herself in blackface that people finally understood the negative connotation behind it. I guess not.

Even though I’m fully vaccinated it’s still taking me time to get back to old pre-corona habits. For example, it’s now been over a year since I last pressed an elevator button with my bare fingers. I told a friend the first thing I would do after getting vaccinated is press an elevator button and then lick my finger, but months after getting vaccinated I still can’t bring myself to press a button with my bare fingers let alone lick it after.

On the other hand, I’m getting used to going out and trying new places again so I’ll be going back to posting reviews soon like the good old days. Last week though three new places opened up (or reopened in one case):

Milk Bun
A new burger place opened up in the new 360 Mall extension brought to you by the same team behind Burger Boutique, Cocoa Room, and White Robata. The place looks really cool so check them out on Instagram @lovemilkbun

San Ristorante
Not a new concept since they opened a few months before the pandemic in Shaab, but last week they opened a new location in Avenues near Arabica. This means their Shaab location should hopefully be less busy now. So if you’re craving Italian food and haven’t tried them yet, make sure you visit their beautiful Shaab location. Their Instagram is @san.ristorante

Love Bird
Finally, last week the fried chicken concept Love Bird reopened. They had closed down for renovations and reopend last week with a funky new shop sign as well as an updated and larger menu. Sadly they’ve changed their fries which were THE BEST. Check them out on Instagram @thereallovebird

I recently heard that they might be demolishing Mishref Palace and obviously if true, that’s upsetting. But also no surprise since there seems to be a general lack of care for old important buildings in Kuwait. Anyway here are some videos showcasing the palace back in the 50s and a video showing the state of the palace today.

I think this would be such a great location for an art museum, similar to the Getty museum in LA. Does anyone know the actual name of the palace since I might be able to dig out some old photographs and videos?

I don’t recall this place at all and only found out about it recently. It was owned by Mahmoud Alghanim, the same person behind Pizza Italia and Prego and I believe it opened towards the end of the 80s or early 90s. It was located right next to the Kuwait Towers which is why I find it odd that I don’t remember it.