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The first time I visited the camel races was back in 2013 and I posted a guide for anyone who wanted to experience it as well. Because it’s been awhile since I last went, I decided to pass by again and publish an updated guide.

This past Saturday I drove out to the Kuwait Camel Racing Club to see how much things have changed. I took my old Alfa because I recently replaced some parts on it and wanted a long trip just to make sure I installed everything correctly. The trip to the tracks took a bit less than an hour and didn’t feel like a long drive at all. Once I got to the tracks I noticed all the main gates were locked. For a second I thought they were closed but then I noticed SUV’s speeding across the desert in the distance and heading in the direction of the track, I figured there might be another entrance and drove in the direction they were all heading. Sure enough, there was a side gate open off the main road and I drove into the racing club.

Once I drove into the track I didn’t see any spectators, racers, employees or even any signs telling me where to go next. So I just started following other cars and ended up driving through another gate and onto a tarmac road adjacent to the race track. I then kept driving till I eventually ended up at the start line. You can watch the video above which shows you how to enter the tracks and get to the tarmac that takes you to the start line. If you don’t have an SUV you’ll be fine since I was able to get to the track in my Alfa.

If you want to watch the races there are two ways:

• The first way is you drive up to the start or finish line and park your car on the side and just watch the start or end of the races.

• The second way to watch the races is you drive around the track with the race as it’s taking place. There are four tracks technically, the main track for the camels to race on is a large wide dirt track surrounded by railings. To the right of the race track is a dirt track for the camel owners who drive next to their camels during the race to control the robot jockeys on the camels. To the left of the camel track are two paved roads also separated by railings, one for use by track employees and the camera vehicle, the second is for the spectators to drive alongside the camels during the race. I didn’t do that this past Saturday but I did do that the first time I went to the tracks and you can watch the video above to see how it looks (chaotic basically). The only difference now is the spectators road is paved instead of it being a dirt road like in the video. Back then you could also tune into FM 93.1mhz on the radio and listen to a live broadcast of the actual race as you drive around. I couldn’t test it this time since my Alfa doesn’t have a radio.

The races start at 1PM and last till 3 or 4PM depending on the week. They alternate between 8 races and 16 races a week, the more races the later they finish. This Saturday when I visited it was 8 races, 4 races with the large camels and 4 with smaller ones. The only difference between the two is the starting line shifts closer to the finish line for the smaller camels. Each race lasts around 15 minutes before the next one starts. They’re not that strict with timing, they basically wait till the races end and all the spectators drive back to the starting line before starting the next race. The races take place weekly starting in October and this year will end in the first week of March.

I definitely recommend you check the races out just don’t go with high expectations, it’s nothing fancy. If you have kids they’d probably enjoy seeing camels up close and you can get pretty close to the camels both at the start and finish line. If you want to visit the Kuwait Camel Racing Club, here is the link to Google Maps.

If you follow me on Instagram then you know I went to the camel races yesterday. I’ll be updating my old post with new info tomorrow but for today I wanted to share a post by Mark Lowey, an ex Kuwait National Petroleum Company employee who recently wrote about his experience at the tracks back in 1988 when he and his wife were living in Kuwait.

Lots of pictures and a good write up, you can check out his post here.

I’ve been visiting the old Sultan Center in Salmiya since I was a kid in the 80s, I even spent my after-prom with friends at the Jeans Grill Restaurant that used to be open 24 hours a day upstairs. They used to have a Sega Genesis demo unit connected to a TV upstairs in the 90s, so when I ditched school I’d head to Sultan Center to play videogames (dumbest idea since that’s where my mum did her grocery shopping). Back before there were malls in Kuwait, Sultan Center used to be a go-to place on weekends which sounds bizarre now, but if you think there isn’t anything to do in Kuwait today, you should have been here back when there really wasn’t anything to do.

Over the years I’ve heard multiple of times that they were planning on closing down the location. I think the rumors started when they opened the Shaab branch (which later closed down) and then the rumors got stronger after they opened in Boulevard. But that doesn’t look like it’s happening anymore since they just completed a major facelift and renovation to the store.

Because of all the nostalgic memories I have with the place you’d think I’d be upset about such a major facelift but honestly, the place now looks so much better. It’s probably the nicest looking supermarket in Kuwait reminding me of places like Waitrose in Dubai. They also now have Xcite and Intersports branches upstairs now which is another positive. The only issue I really have with the refurbishment is the check-out area seems smaller than it was before, but other than that I really like the new look. They even uplifted the exterior dropping the light beige color for dark grey. Not a bad job at all really, I’m impressed.

My shawerma life needs a bit of an upgrading. Anytime I feel like having shawerma I tend to hit up the old school place Jeita which is down the street from me or Shawerma Shakir and that’s about it. I passed by another old time favorite recently, Bader Al Badoor but the shawerma was pretty dry and unexciting unlike I remember it so I don’t think I’d go back there. But, yesterday I tried a place on Restaurant Street called One Cut (pictured above) based on a recommendation by @thetravelingapron and it was pretty great. Made me realize I’m probably missing out on so many new shawerma places that have popped up over the years.

So I’m curious, what are your favorite shawerma places right now? Might revive my old Shawerma Review series again (circa 2007) if there are enough places I should check out.

Totally random and insignificant post to everyone but this post is for people googling looking for a certain brand of oil for their car. My FJ and Lotus get their oil changed at the dealer, but my Alfa and Datsun I change the oil myself. Previously I was getting my car oil from Auto1 on Canada Dry street but they only carried the Lukoil brand and the last time I went they didn’t even have the right viscosity grade I needed. There’s a BMW spare parts store nearby that carries the Liqui Moly brand of oil but they also never seem to have the viscosity I needed and they’re overpriced. But, I recently found a place in Shuwaikh that carried a ton of oil from different brands and grades and its now my goto place for oil.

If you’re looking to buy oil for your car they carry a number of brands including Liqui Moly, Lukoil, Lucas, Kassel, Kendall, Mercedes-Benz, and Shell. Their Instagram account is @q8.oil.center and here is their location on Google Maps (large sign outside that says Motor Plus and also Kuwait Oil Center).

This couldn’t have come at a better time, over the weekend I was working on my Alfa and realized I needed some tools that I didn’t have. I was trying to figure out where I could get them from when a friend messaged me to tell me that Ace Hardware was now online. I checked their Instagram account and didn’t find anything about it but when I did a google search I found AceKuwait.com

The first day I couldn’t order anything since it seems there was an issue with their website but I tried again yesterday and it worked. I think they’re still in a soft launch phase which is why they haven’t announced it.

Then over the weekend I also found out the Bloomingdale’s website was now live as well. I was looking for Grown Alchemist hand creams since Etheco were sold out and ended up at the Bloomingdales website. They also were out of Grown Alchemist hand creams but they’re stocked up on other brands.

It’s pretty impressive how both these places were able to adapt and move their stores online in such a short period of time. I know West Elm is also coming online pretty soon and other than that maybe the only other place I’d like to see go online is probably Sephora. Hand sanitizers are drying up my hands a lot so all I have been doing is buying different hand creams and hand masks to counter the effects. Oh and if Bin Nisf moved online that would also be great.

What store do you want to see online?

Note: The Aafaq Bookstore website is now working and you can use the code KAFD for free delivery in Kuwait except for Sabah Al-Ahmad residential area and Ali Sabah Al-Salem.

Update: Bin Nisf just went online a few hours ago, perfect timing! Link

Because of the Corona outbreak, all of the Al Salam Palace Museum tours have been canceled until further notice. It sucks because they had just opened, but if you’d still like a peek inside of the museum, then check out this website. You’ll find a bunch of photos and a video of the museum there that should give you an idea of what to expect once the tours start again.

Update: Found this video online as well that gives you a nice walkthrough.

Last May, I was lucky enough to be invited on a private tour of the new Al Salam Palace Museum which was recently restored. The museum was expected to open end of last year but I guess due to some delays it just opened now.

Al Salam Palace was built in the late 1950s and was used to accommodate visiting heads of state. During the 1990 invasion, the palace was completely destroyed and stayed abandoned for years until the restoration project started back in 2013 to turn it into a museum. The palace is located right next to JACC and consists of three main museums:

Museum of Kuwait’s History through its Rulers
Museum of Al Salam Palace History
Museum of the Civilizations that inhabited Kuwait

You can only get a tour of the museum and there are two kinds right now:

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

VIP Tour (Arabic)
Duration: 60-120 minutes
Cost: KD20

The Al Salam Palace website is up right now with more information and booking options, you can check it out at aspm.com.kw. You can also follow them on isntagram @aspm.kw

CAPSULE, the “Virtual Experience Center” have taken it upon themselves to recreate the Kuwait Motor Town race track virtually. The track is extremely accurate to the point they might have replicated the same tire skid marks that are actually on the track.

So if you’ve been wanting to experience the race track but haven’t been able to then this is a pretty good alternative since the simulation is fairly realistic.

If you’ve never heard of CAPSULE or been to it then you should check out my previous about it here. A virtual experience center is an arcade that allows you to experience virtual reality games. They’re located near Avenues and you can check them out on instagram @capsulevec

If you’ve never been to the Red Palace (or Red Fort) in Jahra then you should really check it out. Back in 2013 I went to Jahra for the first time and made a fun day out of it and I decided to do it again last week with a friend who themselves hadn’t been to Jahra before.

We started off by having lunch at the Kuwaiti restaurant The Seventies. It’s located next to a bunch of interesting things which makes it a great spot to visit first. Right next door to it is an artificial lake with swan paddle boats, the largest City Center I’ve seen (reminded me of Walmart), and there’s an amusement park that used to be called The 99 Village after the comic books.

After we were done killing time in this area we headed to the Red Palace which opens at 4:30PM. There is plenty of parking inside the Red Palace grounds and we were the only ones there except for this one security guard. Once we parked we told him we wanted to go inside to check out the palace and he unlocked the main gate for us and then all the little rooms inside.

The Red Palace was the site of the Battle of Jahra in 1920 between Kuwaiti and Saudi forces and so is a historical site. If you go with very little expectations the place is actually a really great place to check out. There isn’t a lot inside, there are four rooms which each sharing a subject relating to the Kuwaiti past but the real fun is walking around the palace, exploring the grounds, and taking pictures. The sky was beautiful and the sun was setting as we got there so I ended up getting some great shots.

Going all the way to Jahra just to check out the Red Palace might not be worth it alone, but when you combine it with a bunch of other activities it’s actually really fun. Entrance is free and they’re open from Monday to Saturday from 8:30AM to 12:30PM and then again from 4:30PM to 8:30PM. On Fridays they only open in the afternoons from 4:30PM to 8:30PM. Here is their location on Google Maps.

A Kuwaiti makeup artist was accused of racism after she posted a video and a picture of herself painted in dark makeup, in what critics condemned as blackface.

Ghadeer Sultan first posted a short video clip on her Instagram page on Wednesday, with the song We Are the World playing in the background, showcasing her different looks in a range of skin colours and wigs.

She then posted a photo of herself in blackface, which has garnered more than 44,000 likes.

Sultan’s page, which has two million followers, was then inundated with comments denouncing her blackface while others argued she had done nothing wrong. Source

This happened last week and I thought with all the negativity she’d end up removing the photos and videos but she hasn’t yet. Not only that but she’s also been reposting all the negative news articles about her that are being published in the media into her instagram story. So not really sure what to think about all of this. I hadn’t heard of her until last week but don’t think she’s actually racist, just unaware that blackfacing can be deemed offensive.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ghadeer Sultan – غدير سلطان (@ghdor.sultan) on Dec 31, 2019 at 11:31am PST

After the photos and videos went viral she posted the following statement and apology yesterday on her story (spelling mistakes fixed):

I’m sorry, I can see how blackface event must have been frustrating for you. I appreciate how difficult it must have been for you to deal with blackface. However it was absolutely not in my intention…

I was trying to show how artists could show things in a professional way.

I am professional artists and I did my best to show the beauty in colors.. the people and my millions of followers who knows me would definitely know what I’ve meant by doing this and what is my feelings towards all people’s and all colors.

Thanks for alerting me to blackface. I recognized that this can’t have been an easy thing to deal with and I’m so sorry that I have caused you to feel humiliations however on the contrary I looked more beautiful in my dark colors…

I’ve tried to explain several times why and how I’ve done this and what was my goal behind it, but I can’t really change the sensitivity behind the whole issue.

You were absolutely right to bring this to my attention, so I can immediately resolve any issues or any misunderstanding with my loved followers…

I will try everything I can to get this fixed and live with all people with love joy and peace once again… I am fully committed to my followers to show how artists could make your life peaceful and beautiful…

I will work on resolving the miss understanding and I will be careful in approaching or touching another culture, so we can all enjoy the beauty behind the arts..

Love u all

I think she’s the only influencer that’s made the news for something negative and then apologized. But, she still hasn’t removed the video or any of the blackface photos and don’t think she will.

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If you still shoot with 35mm film then you know how difficult it is to find a place that can still develop film and how expensive it is. Previously I’ve recommended Ashkanani in Salmiya as an option but because of the cost of chemicals, they tend to wait until there are multiple film rolls and then batch develop them all together. This means the process could take a week or a month, you never know but they’re also expensive charging KD10+ per roll.

But, a few days ago I was at Souk Al Watiya behind Sheraton Hotel in the city and spotted a small store that still had a 35mm film development machine. The place charges KD2.5 to develop a roll and then 100fils per photo print. This means a roll of 36 shots would cost you around KD6. Not only is it cheaper than Ashkanani but they’ll also develop them quicker for you since they have no problem developing a single roll of film at a time.

If you’re looking for a place to develop film then this is a good alternative to Ashkanani. The store doesn’t have a name but it’s on the ground floor of Souk Al Watiya near one of the exits. Here is the location of the complex on Google Maps.

Kuwait ranks last once again, a position it also held in 2018 and from 2014 to 2016. It still places last and second to last for the ease of settling in and quality of life, respectively, though it has improved for personal finance (from 50th to 38th in 2019). Results for working abroad remain bleak, though: Kuwait places 60th. While expats are mostly satisfied with the state of the economy (63% positive ratings vs. 63% globally) — the majority (59%) moved there for work-related reasons — 36% are unhappy with their work-life balance. All in all, Kuwait is the country expats would recommend the least. Source

I really think all this has to do with the simple issue that expats are made to feel unwanted in Kuwait.

There is this app called FaceApp which allows you to change your age, hair color, hairstyle and other features, but unlike other apps that do similar effects, this one is actually incredibly realistic. Like scary realistic. Been having fun with it all morning so if you haven’t tried it out yet it’s available on both iOS and Android devices. Link

It’s time to ace it!

In the past couple of years Kuwait has grown tremendously in the food and beverage market, and the more it does the more there is a need to deliver a higher quality. With third wave coffeeshops popping up all over Kuwait City, finding fresh roasted coffee that also tastes great was surprisingly elusive. Therefore, we decided to do something about it. We did not set out to change the world, just a small corner of it.

Ace was founded in 2017 out of the mere enjoyment of good coffee, our deep love towards coffee inspired us to open a coffeeshop that offers a great fresh ground coffee outside the dense area of Kuwait City. We started up with Mahboula and recently opened two new branches in Jabriya and Sabah Al Salem. We offer a great quality of coffee, good food and an exceptional customer service in a cozy environment. At ACE we are devoted to high standards of quality and simplicity, offering a beautiful aesthetic in an intimate homey vibe for our visitors’ daily coffee run.

Since its inception, we are aiming to inspire more sustainable communities in Kuwait. Being a sustainable coffeeshop we collaborate with a number of initiatives to come full circle, whether it’s sourcing our coffee from local roasters in order to ensure freshness or donating coffee compost for it to be consumed as an eco-friendly natural fertilizer to make use of our ground coffee waste, we are dedicated to supporting our community. We also engage in coffee education and making coffee equipment/tools accessible for coffee making at home.

Ace is simply an intimate cozy spot for people to stop for a good cup of coffee and a little more. This place is made for you, to take a break and unwind while enjoying a tasty cup of fresh roasted coffee and a snack. We care about the process as much as the outcome, and we are very transparent about it. We follow a sustainable kind of approach and we put an effort in everything we do. Our care extends to the community we operate in, we support it, nurture it and act responsibly towards it. If you enjoy having a good time and appreciate a good cup of coffee and socialize then you’re the one!

Here is the Instagram account @acecoffeekw, and here is the [Google Maps] location for Sabah Al Salem, and here is the [Google Maps] for the Jabriya’s branch.