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Amer Zahr, the popular Palestinian American comedian is coming to Kuwait to perform his hilarious stand-up show, “The Truth”.

Amer has previously headlined at New York City’s world-famous Carnegie Hall and John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. He also served as a national surrogate for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders back in 2016. His comedy tends to draw on his experiences growing up as a child of Palestinian refugees, performing on topics like politics, society, culture, Palestine, and more.

If you’re looking for a night out full of laughter, he’ll be performing in Kuwait on April 23rd at 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm. The show will take place at the American University in Kuwait Theater in Salmiya and tickets start at KD15.

Amer is proud to partner with the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.

To get your tickets head over to tktfox.com

Last week artist Jad El Khoury was brought back to Kuwait to create a new mural in place of his erased one, that project was just one of many that the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters have in the pipeline.

NCCAL recently underwent a leadership transition that is instigating significant changes. They want to transform the public art scene starting with a commitment to providing increased opportunities for both local and international artists. By fostering trust between artists and the public sector, they hope to cultivate a vibrant public art community in Kuwait.

Their first project launched earlier this year and they called it “Al Fenn Al Thalith Murals Project” (roughly translates to “The Third Art Murals Project). The project is an open platform for artists that streamlines the process of obtaining permits to create murals on public property and spaces. They launched the project with an open invitation for people to submit their designs and if chosen, they’d then be able to paint them onto the electrical substations in that area.

With their first projects out of the way, NCCAL are now working on the next ones. One of the future projects targets what they call “trouble zones” all over Kuwait, breathing life into them with mural art. They also want to collaborate with a variety of entities such as Jedareyat, the Australian Embassy (future project in the works), and various private sponsors/collaborators.

I also found it interesting that NCCAL supports all local artists, regardless of where they’re from. Additionally, they aim to continue inviting international artists so they could bring diverse perspectives and experiences to the local scene.

NCCAL are currently in the process of setting up social media pages and an official website that will encompass all these projects, but for now, if you’re interested in obtaining a permit to create a mural on public property, you can do so through the NCCAL website, nccal.gov.kw

As you’re probably aware by now, a few weeks ago I got access to Tareq Rajab Museums’ (@trmkuwait) private photography archive. While going through the photos I found ones of the British Embassy under construction, as well an aerial photo showing the embassy with two large buildings in the background. The other two buildings were the Sheikh Khazal’s Palace (Bayt Al Ghanim), and Diwan Sheikh Khazal (Sheikh Abdullah Al Jaber Palace).

The three buildings are still there today, but only the British Embassy is not falling apart and is still being used today. So, I reached out to @ukinkuwait for some information on the building, and what they shared was very fascinating.

The embassy was commissioned by the political agent Colonel Harold Dickson, and designed by architect Robert T. Russell, chief architect to the Government of India. The building construction was completed in 1935.

Harold Dickson and his wife Dame Violet Dickson (Umm Saud), were the first residents of the embassy. There have been 15 political agents and 21 ambassadors that have lived in the current residence.

The Residence was built with Basra Bricks and steel girders from Scotland. It was the first building in Kuwait built with steel girders which allowed rooms to be bigger than the height of a tree. At the time it was built, the building was really stunning for guests because they had never been in such large rooms.

The house originally was heated in the winter by 12 wood/coal burning fireplaces. All but three have been enclosed and are no longer used except as a decorative piece. The main terrace is designed in an arc to help catch the sea breeze and that a portion of it will always be in the shade to help create a natural breeze when the wind is not blowing in the summer.

Originally the embassy did not have AC and at that time it was normal in the middle east for people to sleep on the roof during the summer. Colonel Dickson and his family did that as well. But, the colonel was a bad sleepwalker and his wife Violet was scared he would walk off the roof since there were no railings. Initially, she tied his toe to the bed to keep him safe. Later she had a custom 2-inch-deep bath made that was the size of his bed. When he went to get out of bed, he stepped into the water and woke himself up.

On the first day of the 1990 Iraq invasion, the Ambassador then, Michael Weston calculated the embassy had 30 days supply of food and water for himself and his head of the Political Section Larry Banks. More than 5 months later, surviving on a little more than canned food and stagnant water (they drank the swimming pool), Ambassador Weston and his head of Political, locked the Embassy and climbed out a window and made their way to Baghdad until the coalition forces assisted in liberating Kuwait a little over a month later.

Today, the British Embassy residence is still used as the ambassador’s residence, and so is considered to be the oldest continually occupied residential building in Kuwait.

Note: The colored photo is by Verity Cridland and taken in the early 60s.

Earlier this month, I got to visit the Red Bull Racing Factory in the UK. As a huge Formula 1 fan, it was an incredible opportunity and experience.

It all came about because of Red Bull MOBILE by Zain’s Weekly Rewards program. Every week Red Bull MOBILE by Zain has a small competition for their customers in which you can win various Red Bull related experiences and gear. Back in January they launched their biggest reward yet, an all-inclusive trip to visit the Red Bull Racing Factory in the UK. There would be two winners with each winner able to bring one companion with them on the trip.

Red Bull MOBILE by Zain asked me if I wanted to tag along on this trip with the winners, and I of course said yes.

The tour was insane, we got to see so much of the process behind designing and building an F1 car, and I couldn’t believe I was really there seeing it all in person. Majority of the tour involved being inside secured areas where no photography was allowed, but we were allowed to take photos inside their main hall where we were surrounded by the Red Bull championship-winning race cars, as well as the heritage department that works on restoring and keeping the older F1 cars running (they’re used for Red Bull Road shows around the world).

The winners of this trip were also F1 fans like me, one of the couples actually flew the next day from London all the way to Bahrain so they could be there for the first F1 race of the season. For sports fans, the Red Bull MOBILE by Zain rewards program is an incredible opportunity to win so many cool prizes from the world of Red Bull every week.

This Ramadan, Red Bull MOBILE by Zain also has an offer going on where all their plans are doubled. For example, with their Ready KD6 plan you now get 200GB’s and 200mins the first month instead of 100GB/100mins, and then the second month you get 400GB/400mins and the third month you get 600GB/600mins.

If you’re an F1 fan or just a sports fan in general, you should really think of signing up with them. For more info, check out @redbullmobilekw

Back in 2016, a beautiful wall mural by the award winning artist Jad El Khoury was commissioned on the side of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) building. The project had been sponsored by Jedareyat, a local volunteer group that scours the city for dead walls, and artists who can transform them into picture-worthy landmarks.

In 2020, controversy arose when the mural was painted over with white paint, completely destroying it. A lot of people were obviously upset about the incident, and what was a beautiful wall in the city turned into a generic white surface.

But there is now some good news! 

Jad has been brought back to Kuwait and has been commissioned to paint a brand new mural on the same wall again. The new artwork was commissioned by Froyo, the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters and in collaboration again with Jedariyat.

The building has been undergoing preparation over the past few days and is now ready to be painted on. Jad will be starting work tomorrow (Friday) and is expected to complete the artwork by next Wednesday. If you want to watch him paint his new mural, then you can pass by over the coming days during the day to check him work.

Jad’s previous artwork was titled “Single Man” and was inspired by him moving from Lebanon to Kuwait for work. The mural had represented a single person trying to fit into a new chaotic environment.

Since it’s the month of giving, I decided for this design highlight I’d post about Mariam’s Library, a corporate social responsibility project by local architects, Parallel Studio.

Mariam’s Library was created with the aim of providing enhanced educational opportunities to students situated in the village of Mwanyanya in Zanzibar. The project originated from Parallel’s Studio commitment to giving back to both local and global communities through their Parallel Gives Program.

The library has two main zones, the first is a designated area for reading and study. It was designed similar to a stage so to maximize seating capacity. The second zone is an open space meant for community engagement and group activities. The result is a space that fulfills both practical and aesthetic requirements.

Speaking of aesthetics, when it came to the design of the library, Parallel Studio made sure to balance traditional architectural elements with modern design principles, while still also respecting Zanzibar’s architectural heritage. The materials they used were carefully selected to honor both the environment and local craftsmanship. For example, they used clay bricks in both the exterior and interior since it helps cool down temperatures during the summer season, while the fiber corrugated roofing was installed to allow daylight to filter in and provide ambient lighting.

I love the look of this library and the initiative behind it. Plus, the fact that it took only 34 days from start to finish is impressive. To see more work by Parallel Studio check out their instagram @parallel_studio

Photos by Nassor Othman

If you’re a UFC Arabia subscriber then you probably already know they’re shutting down the service at the end of the month. UFC Arabia was the best way to watch UFC fights if you live in Kuwait (or the GCC). The service and features were great and the price was cheap, like 2KD a month and it included pay per view events which cost around 25KD each in the US.

But, they’re now shutting down the service and telling everyone to sign up to STARZPLAY, the new home of UFC Arabia.

I signed up to it and watched the last PPV event (UFC 299) on STARZPLAY and it SUCKED. I had two major issues:

First issue, you can’t rewind a live event. Most of the pay per view events start in the middle of the night and by the time I wake up around 7AM they’re nearly done. What I used to do with UFC Arabia is get on, press play, and quickly rewind to the start of the event so I don’t see any spoilers. I can even pause after rewinding so I can then make my coffee, sit down and start watching the fights.

With STARZPLAY you can’t do that, you have to watch live where the event is and you can’t rewind. So if I get on and it’s in the middle of the fight it’s like tough luck, I can’t do anything about it except maybe just not watch the fights in the morning as they’re happening and instead wait till after work or something. 
The second issue I had was that midway through the fights the STARZPLAY video stream died and didn’t come back. Thankfully UFC Arabia was still functioning so I just got on that and continued to watch the event there.
The whole STARZPLAY interface also sucks and it’s just too busy with so much going on. I tried watching old fights but it wouldn’t even let me change the commentary language, so I was forced to watch it in Arabic. It’s just a horrible experience compared to UFC Arabia.
So basically, if you’re a UFC fan living in the GCC you’re pretty much out of luck now.

Someone is selling a 2 day old Apple Vision Pro in the classifieds section for 800KD which is a pretty good price considering it also comes with the $200 travel case. If you’ve been wanting one but didn’t want to pay 1,200~KD for it, this could be a good option.

The size of the light seal it comes with is 31W, so if you need a different size you’ll have to buy one from Apple for $200. Finding out what light seal fits your face is easy since Apple will use your phone to scan your face and recommend you a size.

If you want to buy this used Vision Pro, here is the link.

Not sure why, but putting together this annual list of Ramadan buffets in Kuwait was exhausting this year. I think it’s definitely me since everyone answering the phone this year was actually prompt. Just a quick example, I realized I didn’t have Holiday Inn on my list so I sent them a DM at 7:30AM this morning and they replied back a minute later. Everyone seems to be on top of their game this year which made my life easier.

As usual, I’ve also highlighted the price variation from the previous year if applicable. You’ll find the variation in brackets after the price. More places increased their prices than decreased. The highest increase was Stambul at the Grand Hyatt, they increased their buffet price by KD5 this year. The biggest decrease was KD2 and four places did that.

Below is the full list divided into two parts, hotels and restaurants. If I missed a place let me know in the comments. I’m looking for really cheap buffets to add, I have a few listed but if you know of a place where the buffet is less than KD5, let me know in the comments.

HOTELS

Al Jahra Copthorne Hotel & Resort – Taima’a Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD9 (-0.900)
Telephone: 24590000

Courtyard by Marriott – Atrium
Buffet Price: KD16 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22997000

Crowne Plaza – Al Ahmadi Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD16 (-2.000)
Telephone: 1848111

Crowne Plaza – Al Noukhaza Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD17 (-2.000)
Telephone: 1848111

Crowne Plaza – Sakura Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD18 (Weekends Only)
Set Menu Price: KD14 (Weekdays Only)
Telephone: 1848111

Four Seasons – Jawaher Tent
Buffet Price: KD26 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22006000

Grand Hyatt – Stambul
Buffet Price: KD20 (+5.000)
Telephone: 22007698

Grand Majestic Hotel
Buffet Price: KD8
Telephone: 22254700

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

Hilton Resort – Teatro Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD19.9
Telephone: 22256222

Holiday Inn – Al Diwan Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD15.950
Telephone: 1847777

Inn & GO Hotel – Al Dallah Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD7.5 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22436686

Jumeirah Messilah Beach – Badria Tent
Buffet Price: KD22 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22269600

Jumeirah Messilah Beach – Garden Cafe
Buffet Price: KD22 (indoors) KD24 (outdoors)
Telephone: 22269600

Kuwait Continental Hotel – Darbar Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD5.5
Telephone: 22527300

Marina Hotel
Buffet Price: KD16
Telephone: 22230030

Millennium Hotel – Lamar International Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD15
Telephone: 22050505

Movenpick – Free Zone – Bays Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD13.9 (+1.900)
Telephone: 66100710

Movenpick – Al Bida’a – Breeze Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD15 (indoors) KD17 (outdoors)
Telephone: 22253100

Radisson Blu – Al Bustan Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD18.5
Telephone: 25673000

Safir Hotel – Fintas
Buffet Price: KD13.9 (+1.000)
Telephone: 25455555

St Regis – Diamond Ballroom Tent
Buffet Price: KD28
Telephone: 22422055

Symphony Style Hotel
Buffet Price: KD12 (-2.000)
Telephone: 25770000

The Regency Kuwait – Silk Road Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD24 (+1.000)
Telephone: 25766666

Waldorf Astoria – Al Kubbar
Buffet Price: KD27 (+1.000)
Telephone: 24774414

RESTAURANTS

Almayass
Set Menu Price: KD11.5 (-0.500)
Telephone: 25761001

Assaha Lebanese Restaurant
Buffet Price: KD12.5 (-0.500)
Telephone: 22533377

Avanti Palace
Set Menu Price: KD4.750
Telephone: 25751081

Babel
Set Menu Price: KD14.950 (-0.050)
Telephone: 22081111

Baker & Spice
Set Menu Price: KD12.5
Telephone: 96962816

Big C Restaurant & Cafe
Buffet Price: KD1.900
Telephone: 65683111

Dar Hamad
Buffet Price: KD12 (360 Mall) KD16 (Gulf Road)
Telephone: 22275555

Dean & Deluca
Set Menu Price: KD9.750 (Min 4 People)
Telephone: 22242224

Em Sherif
Set Menu Buffet Price: KD25
Telephone: 90977997

Francescas At The Top
Set Menu Price: KD18
Telephone: 90003858

Gulf Royal Chinese
Buffet Price: KD8.5
Telephone: 22622770

IKEA
Buffet Price: KD2.95 (+1.000)
Telephone: 1840408

Jihan Khanah
Buffet Price: KD10
Telephone: 1819991

Joori Min Beirut
Buffet Price: KD12 (-2.000)
Telephone: 22062068

Kuwait Towers
Buffet Price: KD15 (+1.000)
Telephone: 24965500

Leila Min Lebnen
Set Menu Price: KD15
Telephone: 22996414

Mughal Mahal – Hawally
Buffet Price: KD7.45
Telephone: 22626782

Palm Palace
Buffet Price: KD11.5 (+0.500)
Telephone: 67009575

Paul
Set Menu Price: KD10.5 (+2.000)
Telephone: 22208204

Saraya Palace
Buffet Price: KD9.5
Telephone: 25712998

Vapiano
Set Menu Price: KD7.950 (+1.000)
Telephone: 22597171

Villa Fayrouz
Buffet Price: KD12
Telephone: 22650052

Wok and Grill
Buffet Price: KD2.995 (-0.505)
Telephone: 64440089

Last month the first phase of the waterfront refurbishment was completed from Green Island to the Kuwait Towers, and now they’ve started the second phase which is from SVN all the way to Green Island.

They’ve already started bulldozing all the greenery and it’s really sad to watch. It didn’t really show much when they did it in the first phase because that strip wasn’t that green to begin with, but the strip from SVN to Green Island is actually very green with dense trees in some areas. The refurbishment although looks really nice lacks much greenery and so it’s going to be a pretty grey view on my way to work once the second phase is completed.

One thing I’m worried about is the wall of peace sculpture by Jafar Islah which is located next to Burger King. I saw them working in that area today, hopefully they’re not planning to remove it.

Update: Looks like a lot of people are up in arms about the removal of all the trees so TEC issued a statement about it which you can read here.

Update2: According to TEC, the Wall of Peace will NOT be demolished.

Here are this weekends events, let me know if I missed anything.

Thursday, March 7
Astronomers Diwaniya
IMPROV Comedy: The Last Laugh
Kuwait Inspire Drag Race Championship
Murouj Graish Market

Friday, March 8
Cleanup & Kashta
Kuwait Inspire Drag Race Championship
Murouj Graish Market
Spring Bazaar

Saturday, March 9
Red Bull Quicksand 2024
Madang Market
Shakshooka Market
Murouj Graish Market

While in London this week I watched Dune 2 in the cinema and it was the worst experience. I looked for a cinema in central London that was showing it in the IMAX 70mm format, and I think I found 3 or a handful of cinemas that were showing it in that format. The two best places for IMAX in London according to Reddit were BFI and the Science Museum, but I was booking on Saturday to watch on Sunday and both those theaters had Dune 2 sold out for the whole week. Eventually found seats at Odeon in Leicester Square. Wasn’t too excited about it since I hate that area because it’s so busy and packed with tourists, but whatever.

I wish I watched it anywhere else, even if it wasn’t in IMAX. The theater was huge, and the screen was probably huge, but because the theater was much much larger than the screen, the screen looked tiny. I swear I was like wtf, I could have just watched it on my iPad or at home on my TV, you can see in my photo above how small the screen looked like.

When the movie started I thought about leaving and just watching it once I was back to Kuwait, but thankfully I didn’t because it looks like Dune 2 was removed from the cinemas here. Both Cinescape and VOX are no longer showing Dune 2, most likely because it’s been banned due to scenes and a storyline related to religion? Not sure, but it’s not showing anymore. Oh well…

Update: Never mind, it turns out Cinescape removed Dune 2 from the cinema and will show it again in April, I guess during Eid. I don’t think I’ve ever understand this thinking process, but for those of you in Kuwait you now have to wait till April to watch Dune 2 while the rest of the world is watching it and talking about it now. On the bright side, at least it’s not banned, but by April it’s probably going to be available to stream for free on HBO MAX anyway from what I’m reading as well.

Let us know in the comments if you’ve watched anything interesting this week.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Weekend:
Phoenix (5.1)

Other Movies Showing:
Argylle (6.2)
Bob Marley: One Love (6.5)
DarkGame (5.9)
Fast Charlie (6.2)
In the Land of Saints and Sinners (6.1)
Madame Web (3.8)
No Way Up (5.3)
Red Right Hand (5.3)
The Beekeeper (6.8)
The Holdovers (8.0)
Wish (5.8)
Wonka (7.4)

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

Kuwait Airways is currently celebrating their 70 year anniversary, so I decided to share some old photos my mum took back when she was a Kuwait Airways flight attendant.

Back in the early 70s, my mum traveled to Iran via Kuwait Airways from Lebanon. On the way back while transiting at the Kuwait Airport, she saw a Kuwait Airways ad looking for flight attendants. So once she got back to Lebanon, she applied, got the job, and ended up moving to Kuwait a few months later.

Anytime my mum brings up her experience as a Kuwait Airways flight attendant, she always mentions how great it was, and how she got to travel to so many places and meet a lot of people.

Some of the photos I’ve shared here, I previously posted on the blog around 18 years ago, but in low res. I’ve now rescanned all the photos including new ones I hadn’t shared before, and then tried to restore and recover as much of the details and colors as possible without over editing the images.

Just to add a bit more context, the photos here range from 1974 to 1976, with the oldest being the one of my mum in the orange colored uniform. The uniforms in the photos were also designed by Dior, except for the orange one which was designed by Nina Ricci. Finally, the last photos which look like they were taken on a private jet were in fact taken onboard the Emir’s plane (Emir Sabah al-Salim Al Sabah) which she served on during the last period of her career.

I’ve uploaded all 16 photos to my Flickr account, to check them out click here.

I’m currently in London for the week and I haven’t been here since 2022, before we got Apple Pay in Kuwait.

One cool benefit I realized I now have on this trip is that I can use the London Underground by just tapping my phone on the yellow card readers. I don’t even need to double tap the side button or even activate Face ID, I just take my phone out of my pocket, touch the yellow card reader and it automatically takes the money from my account and lets me through. It also works if you have Google Pay but I haven’t tried that.

Another cool thing I got to try on this trip is the eGate at the airport. Because I have the Canadian passport and I was alone, I was able to use the egate at passport control which meant I didn’t have to wait in any line and was through passport control in under a minute. Anyone who’s had to wait in line for an hour at LHR knows going through in under a minute is just insane.

Other than that its freezing and wet over here right now. I keep forgetting how cold it really gets outside of Kuwait and so I never pack enough winter clothes.

I started watching Constellation this week. Not sure I like it, there are some interesting moments, but there’s a lot I also find really boring, mostly the none space scenes.

Dune: Part 2 is out this weekend, I’m at the airport now heading to London so I’m planning to watch it there. I’ve also filled my iPad with a ton of shows to watch on the plane including Mr & Mrs Smith, Obliterated, House of Ninjas, and the latest season of Formula 1: Drive to Survive.

Let us know in the comments if you’ve watched anything interesting this week.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Weekend:
DarkGame (5.9)
Dune: Part Two (N/A)
Inside Man (5.5)
Fast Charlie (6.2)
Stopmotion (6.4)
The Holdovers (8.0)

Other Movies Showing:
Argylle (6.2)
Bob Marley: One Love (6.5)
In the Land of Saints and Sinners (6.1)
Madame Web (3.8)
No Way Up (5.3)
Red Right Hand (5.3)
The Ancestral (4.3)
The Beekeeper (6.8)
Wanted Man (4.7)
Wish (5.8)
Wonka (7.4)

The classic film below is currently showing at the 1954 Film House:
Goldfinger (7.7)

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