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Last week the pioneer Kuwaiti filmmaker Khalid Al Siddiq passed away at the age of 76. Khalid was behind the first feature film to be made in Kuwait (and the GCC) which was released in 1972 called “The Cruel Sea” (Bas ya Bahar).

The film caught the attention of the international film community after it was released including film critic Roger Ebert who wrote the article below (source):

Promising first from Kuwait
By Roger Ebert

In term of film production, the Middle East remains a largely undiscovered territory. There are a handful of nations with healthy movie industries – Israel, Iran and Egypt come to mind – but their product has been mostly for home consumption. That’s started to change in the last few years and Wednesday’s session of the Chicago International Film Festival presents excellent new films from Kuwait and Iran.

“THE CRUEL SEA” (8:45 p.m. Wednesday) takes place before the discovery of oil in Kuwait; the people are desperately poor and scrape by with subsistence farming and fishing. And of course, there is always the long shot: The possibility that an oyster-diver will discover a pearl.

The movie is the first feature, not only for its maker but for its country. Director Khaled el Seddik, who did graduate study at the University of Southern California, returned home to make Kuwait’s first feature. He has resisted any temptations to make a flashy or trendy film, and is true to the rhythm and values of Kuwait’s peasant life of many years ago. And so the picture has a strange emotional undertow; the characters behave toward each other in conservative, almost ritualistic ways, yet their emotions come across all the more strongly.

The story involves a young man (Mohamad Monsour) who is shamed by his family’s poverty and by his inability to impress the family of the girl he loves. He vows to become a pearl diver, to return to the sea that crippled and half-blinded his father. The director gives us measured and perceptive portraits of the dignity with which the men face the sea, and his conclusion is not simply tragic but very bitter.

The film won the FIPRESCI award at the 1972 Venice Film Festival and since then has been playing in film festivals around the world (source). If you haven’t watched the movie, it’s available with English subtitles on YouTube and I’ve embedded it into the post above.

Kuwait Karting has been under construction for a pretty long time but it’s finally open. Located inside Kout Mall, Kuwait Karting is an indoor track that is composed of multi-levels with an overall length of 512m making it the largest of its kind in the region.

There are two tracks, a small junior track for kids and a larger one for adults. The junior track is for children 7+ and can hold up to 5 cars at a time with sessions that are 6 minutes long. The adult track is for ages 13+, can hold 16 cars at a time and the sessions last slightly longer at 8 minutes. Both tracks use electric karts.

They’re open Saturday to Wednesday from 1pm to 10pm and 2pm to 11pm on Thursdays and Fridays. They’re opening later today for the first time so I don’t have their prices yet, but once I get them I’ll update this post. For more info they’re on Instagram @q8karting

Update: Here are the prices

Adult Track
Weekday: KD 6
Weekend: KD 8

Juniors Track
Weekday: KD 3
Weekend: KD 4

I’ve been to Netherlands, Belgium, and France so far on this trip and Covid precautions have been fairly different in those three places, even though they’re right next to each other.

Netherlands (Amsterdam)
As soon as I left the airport I no longer came across a place that required masks other than the Apple Store. The Apple Store handed out masks at the entrance and required you to sanitize your hands as well but everywhere else it was mask-free. Restaurants did require you to be vaccinated and I just showed them my Immune app status.

Belgium (Bruges)
No masks were required anywhere and none of the restaurants I ate at asked me for my vaccine status.

France (Normandy)
I’m spending a couple of days in some coastal towns in the North and the situation here has been very similar to Kuwait. You need to wear a mask when indoors and restaurants require you to be vaccinated. For restaurants, the Immune app can be used with no issues.

When driving across borders I did not require a PCR test and there was no border patrol anyway to check. I honestly couldn’t even tell I entered a new country, not unless I used Google Maps to check.

So far this normal life no mask thing has been really cool and weird especially when we’ve been required to wear them in Kuwait for over a year now.

Yesterday I finally left Kuwait for a vacation, my first trip since the pandemic started and the experience turned out to be much more simpler than I had anticipated.

I chose to fly Kuwait Airways to Amsterdam. I’ll be staying here for a couple of nights before I start making my way down to Paris over the next few days driving through Bruges (Brussels on the way back), then hitting up some spots in the North of France before heading down to Paris. When planning the trip I looked at direct flights, I didn’t want to deal with hubs and changing planes so my options were really limited. But, picking Kuwait Airways turned out to be the best idea.

The airport in Kuwait was fairly busy but lots of empty spots in the long term parking. A lot of people including security officers weren’t wearing masks so the atmosphere was fairly laid back. On the plane we also didn’t have to wear masks which was great. I did two PCR tests before I traveled. I did the first one and then realized for Amsterdam I needed a test taken 48 hours before the trip and mine would have expired by the time I landed so I took another one to be safe. Nobody even checked them, not in Kuwait nor in Amsterdam.

In Amsterdam nobody is even wearing masks, it feels so weird, feels like everything is normal again and I’m loving it. Places are super busy, restaurants packed and nobody has a mask on except for a the odd tourist here and there, I love it. The only two places so far that have checked to see if I’m vaccinated or not was passport control at the airport, and a restaurant I had dinner at last night. For both I just showed them my immune app.

I’ll be posting about my trip while I’m here, I haven’t done that sort of posting in forever so I’m looking forward to it. If anyone has any questions about the process of flying out of Kuwait, let me know in the comments.

The Kuwait Motor Town race track is open again for the public and they’ve started off the season with a ton of events. I think they’re playing catchup to all the events we missed last year because they managed to fit a season’s worth of activities into a single month. There are also some other things happening this weekend so check out the full list below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Art from the Islamic Civilization
Exhibition: Maker’s Movement
Treasure Hunt – Searching for treasure in the museums
KMT Drag Open Day
KMT Car Open Track Day
Sunset Paddling (Kayaks & SUPS)

Friday
Exhibition: Maker’s Movement
TRI-IT KIDS SERIES: Aquathlon
Treasure Hunt – Searching for treasure in the museums
Friday Sunset Sailing
KMT Motocross Open Track Day
KMT Motorcycle Open Track Day
KMT Drag Open Day – Test and Tune
KMT Car Open Track Day

Saturday
Exhibition: Art from the Islamic Civilization
Exhibition: Maker’s Movement
Treasure Hunt – Searching for treasure in the museums
Saturday Sailing
Miseen Scene Club: 99 Homes
KMT Motocross Open Track Day
KMT Race Car Open Track Day
KMT Drag Open Day – Test and Tune
KMT Car Open Track Day

As usual, if I’ve missed an event, let me know in the comments below.

If you’ve been to Al-Rai area recently you might have noticed a Nike store that was under construction next to True Value. The construction work is now complete and the store is officially open, turns out it’s their new outlet location.

The Nike outlet is two floors, the ground floor for men and the top floor for women. They had a ton of stuff for sale and all heavily discounted. I was hoping to find some cool Metcons for sale but ended up finding only one color combo which I didn’t like but you might find something you like.

If you want to check the place out they’re open 10AM to 10PM on weekdays and 10AM to 11PM on weekends. Here is the location on Google Maps.

Another week another ban. Over the weekend there was a tragic incident on the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Causeway, a group of cyclists were riding in front of their support and safety vehicle when a car carelessly overtook the vehicle, hitting and killing a cyclist before fleeing the scene.

This was the second time a rider got killed on the bridge. In 2020 a similar accident occurred resulting in the bridge being open only to cyclists on Friday mornings. That turned out to be a temporary solution since Friday mornings reopened to cars again soon after.

Because of the death, a decision was made yesterday to ban all recreational activities on the bridge. Meaning no more cycling, running or any other form of activity anymore.

It’s a really frustrating situation. On the one hand, it is dangerous to ride bicycles on the roads in Kuwait, any road no matter how big or small. Drivers are extremely careless with most nowadays driving with their eyes down at their phones instead of the road ahead. But also, the bridge should have been built with cycling and running lanes similar to most large bridges around the world.

As expected, cyclists in Kuwait are upset with the ban and they have a right to be since there are no bike paths in Kuwait. The only place I’m aware of which is long enough and safe enough for bikes is the Gulf Road walkway, but a couple of weeks ago there were rumours that bicycles were going to be banned on that pathway due to them being “a danger” to pedestrians (Update on this below). So what options do cyclists have?

What’s worse is that the bridge has become a popular spot for illegal car races, and people still tend to dangerously park their cars on the side of the bridge to take selfies.

The whole thing is very upsetting and frustrating but I hope the authorities realize that cycling is a fast-growing sport in Kuwait and needs support.

Update: Rumors regarding the ban of bicycles on the Gulf Road pathway are not true or at least the info being shared got lost in translation. The illegal rental of bicycles is whats not allowed and only illegally rented bicycles are being impounded. Source

A lot of Alshaya restaurants closed down during the pandemic last year and most of those locations got picked up by local concepts. The latest two local concepts to open are Doh! and Thick, they both opened up in place of where IHOP used to be in Grand Avenues. Also, Little Ruby’s and Roto are about to open up where Katsuya used to be leaving only the 400 Gradi location in The Forum area that still hasn’t reopened. That large spot got taken over by Burger Boutique and I’m hoping it’s going to be a new OFK location or a Burger Boutique Black. If you want to see a list of all the Alshaya restaurants that closed down, check out my previous post here.

I was at JYSK yesterday in Shuwaikh looking for something when I found a sign pointing to an outlet in their basement, so I checked it out. Turns out it was the outlet store for AAW brands and it was pretty huge and packed. Some of the brands I spotted were:

Eastpak
Vans
The North Face
Jansport
Patagonia
Siemens
BOSCH
Coleman
and more..

If you’re looking for outdoor or winter gear for travel, or backpacks for school, you should check them out. Here is their location on Google Maps.

I’ve been meaning to try Bonjiri ever since they opened a few months ago but only got around to passing by last night. Bonjiri is located a couple of streets down from my place in Salmiya, right next to Tampopo. It’s actually for the same owner as Tampopo, Chef Maryam Alnusif (or just Mimi).

Yakitori means grilled bird in Japanese and that’s what the menu at Bonjiri mainly revolves around. The menu has a small appetizer section and a main section featuring a large selection of skewers, each made using a different part of the chicken. For example, you can order a chicken skewer that is made of inner thighs, or back meat, or breasts. If you’re really adventurous you can choose chicken tail, liver, or knee cartilage. There is no meat on the menu but there is duck, and sometimes, depending on her supplier, there could be seafood (there was octopus last night).

Since I hadn’t tried 90% of the chicken parts on the menu I had Mimi choose the skewers for me which resulted in a fairly exciting experience. I didn’t know what I would get until it was served to me and I was down to eat whatever she grilled as long as it wasn’t chicken wings (I’d rather eat chicken ass -which I did last night- but not eat chicken wings). Looking at my bill now, I had a total of 6 or 7 skewers with my favorite easily being the Tsukune Don. Tsukune is a chicken and duck meatball and comes with a side of tare egg yolk. You’re meant to burst the egg yolk using the tip of the skewer and then mix the sauce up before dropping and rolling your skewer into it. Once you’re done with your skewers, you pour the remaining sauce over a small bowl of butter rice and eat that. It was really delicious and like everything else I tried last night, it was a new flavor I hadn’t experience before.

The interior to Bonjiri is also one of my favorite parts. Mimi took everything she learned with Tampopo and created a new space that was similar in concept, just with all the bottlenecks and issues of Tampopo sorted out. The interior has a bar on both sides surrounding the kitchen which is now located in the middle of the space. Visually it looks like nothing else in Kuwait and as busy as the place will get, it won’t feel overcrowded and tight like it does at Tampopo.

Bonjiri has two prices for the skewers, KD1.750 for the main ones and KD1.500 for the “bold” skewers. There are also a few appetizers to choose from and an Eton Mess dessert to finish up with. If you’re interested to check the place out, they currently open only on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays from 3 to 9 PM. So if you can’t make it today, you’re going to have to wait till next Sunday to pass by. Here is their location on Google Maps and you can find them on Instagram @bonjiri.yakitori

Around 12 years ago I was introduced to a restaurant that had Korean BBQ, the only condition was I wouldn’t be allowed to post about it. I didn’t mind that, I had a few places that were just mine and not to share and just added Golden Dragon to that list. It was one of my favorite places and I used to frequent it a lot. It used to always be busy since the Huawei staff lived in a building nearby and they’d always pack the place. But, a few years ago I just stopped going, no particular reason, maybe because it was too far or some other reason I forgot, but I only went back again for the first time last week.

Golden Dragon is a small hole-in-the-wall Chinese/Korean restaurant in Mahboula. It used to be an interesting-looking space because of the network of DIY-looking vents that ran around the ceiling and would drop down to the table (the picture above is an old picture I took). These vents could be pulled down onto the table and be used to extract all the smoke and carbon monoxide coming out of the charcoal grill located in the middle of every table.

The place looks a lot different now, based on images posted up on Google it looks like the change happened 3 years ago around the time I stopped going. The interior is a lot darker than it used to be and the walls are now covered in wood with all the seating replaced with wooden benches and tables. It kinda looks more like a steakhouse than a Korean grill. The other major change is the fact the charcoal grills are no longer in the middle of the table but off to the side with the smoke extraction system built into the grill. It doesn’t work as efficiently as the previous system but does look more professional. I personally don’t like the way the place looks like now, and because the vents don’t work as well, you will 100% leave smelling like a BBQ.

I’ve only tried one thing on their menu, the beef. That’s it, never tried anything else on the menu nor am I interested to try anything else. I just like getting the raw beef and grilling it on the charcoal grill. I hate that the grill is off to the side now since previously when I’d go with friends everyone would grill their own food in the middle of the table. With the new set up you now need to assign a griller to do the grilling and that person is going to be the one closest to the grill.

The beef is still as good as I remember it being. They slice the beef a bit thicker now but it still tastes the same. The price of the dish is KD3.5 and you would need one per person plus maybe veggies on the side to grill (I go for sweet potato). I’m not aware of any other place in Kuwait that has a charcoal grill built into the table so Golden Dragon is unique in that. If you want to check the place out, here is their location on Google Maps.

The game-changing all-new Peugeot 508 GT 2022 has been completely re-imagined to emphasise Peugeot’s new sharp, futuristic design language. Its exemplary road-handling, efficient new engines, and, countless technology features is a quantum leap in terms of quality and innovation, making the new Peugeot 508 a game-changer in the executive salon segment, challenging premium automotive brands.

A bold design

The designers behind the new Peugeot 508 stated their aim clearly; to move away from the conventional boot-lid, four-door shape and evolve the design towards a five-door fastback.

The front end’s purposeful stance is highlighted by the radiator grill, complete with a chrome-plated chequerboard effect, it sits between the LED headlights with the famous Peugeot Lion centered on its grill and the 508 logo on the bonnet.

Vertical LED daytime running lights provide a distinct identity, and the bonnet has been lowered to enhance the dynamic look perfectly aligned with modern Peugeot design language, as well as the roof line of the new Peugeot 508 is low and sleek – following premium sector design cues.

Cutting-edge technology: PEUGEOT i-Cockpit®

Inside the new Peugeot 508, the focus is on quality and originality. The premium instrument panel is centred around the latest version of the exemplary Peugeot i-Cockpit® which is now in its third generation.

PEUGEOT i-Cockpit® includes:
• A compact steering wheel
• 8-10-inch HD touch-screen
• Head-up display unit with a high-resolution 12.3-inch digital screen
Entirely customizable with six different display modes, the i-Cockpit® head up display unit is positioned above the steering wheel and presents driving information within the eye line of the driver.

High-end/ sporty finishing and first-class quality

The 508 GT features a refined, yet sporty interior and is fitted with comfortable AGR certified, red Nappa leather seats- or optionally black Alcantara & Nappa leather seats which envelops passengers in a soft, modern, refined environment. The car is also equipped with a wide-opening panoramic sunroof that floods the cabin with light, a hands free tailgate with a foot sensor and a premium audio system by Focal® for unmatched acoustics.

An intense driving experience

The new Peugeot 508 is faithful to its DNA and benefits from technology and dynamic expertise developed by the PSA Group ensuring a sensational driving experience and breath-taking performance.

The new Peugeot 508 features the PureTech turbo engine with six-speed EAT6 automatic gearbox has an electric gear-lever with one-touch control and electric power-steering ensures the perfect balance between smooth and firm handling for all driving situations.

Exclusive offer for Peugeot 2022 models

Peugeot is offering exclusive offers that you don’t want to miss out on, ranging from Lease to Own programs to 6 yrs offer for your peace of mind!

Lease to own program starting from 145 KD monthly!

6 years peace of mind exclusive offer:
• Starting from 6,950 KD
• 6 years warranty or 150,000 km
• 6 years maintenance or 100,000 km
• 1 year comprehensive insurance
• Highest trade in value

Follow us on Social Media!
Instagram: instagram.com/kaico_peugeotkwt
Facebook: facebook.com/PeugeotKwt

The all-new Ford Bronco models are now on display in Kuwait. When Ford launched the new models last year they were greeted with a lot of fanfare since Ford went back to the original Bronco design from the 60s and gave it a facelift but kept the retro stylings. The Broncos only started shipping in the US a couple of months back but we now have a few on display in Kuwait but only available to pre-order.

The Ford dealer didn’t get any cars in stock yet and for those who pre-ordered last year, they’re expecting to receive their cars sometime in December or January. If you pre-order a Bronco now then expect to get your car sometime in February 2022 if there are no delays.

The entry-level Bronco starts at KD 12,400 for the 2-door, and KD 14,400 for the 4-door. Here are all the prices for the different variants available:

Big Bend
2-Doors KD 12,400
4-Doors KD 14,400

Outer Banks
4-Doors Cloth KD 17,200
4-Doors Leather KD 17,800

Wildtrack
2-Doors Cloth KD 17,600
2-Doors Leather KD 18,100

Wildtrack with Sasquatch Package
4-Doors Cloth KD 19,200
4-Doors Leather KD 19,700

Badlands with Sasquatch Package
4-Doors Marine Grade Vinyl KD 19,800
4-Doors Leather KD 20,600

If you want more details on the above, you can download the PDF containing the different variants, packages and their options over here.

There is a new roller skating rink opening soon in Salmiya called the Roller Hub. They haven’t opened yet but they’ve already stirred up controversy with their prices:

1 Hour – KD20
45 Mins – KD15
30 Mins – KD10
15 Mins – KD5

Their post has over 100 comments calling them out on the over-the-top pricing. To put it in perspective, you can go ice skating for 1.5 hours for just KD5. Check them out @rollerhubkw

Also found the video above that gives a sneak peek look at the rink.

So last week I posted about DesertCart and ever since that post I’ve been searching for other items I want but wouldn’t be allowed to ship with Aramex. While adding one such item to my cart, I got an option to ship for free if I agreed to become a DesertCart Plus member where for just 5KD a month I would get unlimited free shipping. That didn’t make any sense. Does that mean I could order a bowling bowl every day and not pay shipping for it? I decided to investigate things further.

Firstly, DesertCart already has a flat shipping rate of 3KD for items valued under 30KD and free shipping for items over 30KD. That alone is a great deal. But when you read the fine print on their website, (which also applies to their “unlimited free shipping” offer) you’ll see the big “but”:

We have a flat 3 delivery charge for all orders below KWD 30. If your order is KWD 30 or above, your order is delivered for free! You can see the final cost of your order after adding an item to your cart. If the item you have ordered is oversized, an extra shipping charge may apply. If your item exceeds a courier’s standard dimension or weight, they may charge an additional fee. We will communicate this with you before we charge your order.

I highlighted in bold the sentence that caught my attention so I got in touch with customer support via their live chat to get clarification on what exactly constitutes being oversized? What a frustrating and waste of time that was. Their support staff seemed to have been trained to maneuver around a straightforward answer but I kinda managed to squeeze out a number from them, 1-1.5KG. According to the first live chat operator (yup I contacted a bunch), as long as the item was below 1 to 1.5kg, they would ship it for free.

That’s actually not a bad deal, 5KD a month to ship an unlimited number of items that weigh around 1KG. But why isn’t that information on their website, why not make it clear or mention it in the fine print? I needed someone else to confirm that to me. So I got in touch with customer support a second time on a different day and no matter what I asked I couldn’t get an accurate answer from them. Instead, I was fed with the generic answer below:

We do not have the option to check if the item is considered oversized. Normally, if the item has large dimensions or is heavyweight, the international merchants apply the extra shipping charges before shipping the item.

At this point, we notify the customers if they are willing to proceed with the order by accepting the additional shipping charges or the customer can cancel the order from the order status page.

The merchant can only confirm the shipping charges once we proceed with the order.

When I highlighted to them that the “merchant” is Amazon and they don’t charge extra for heavy items, they responded to me with the following:

We are not affiliated with Amazon. Desertcart ships products from merchants around the world mainly from the UK, US, and India, and some from local UAE merchants. We cannot confirm what are items considered as oversized as the merchant can only confirm the shipping charges and not us. But in my experience, items that are 5kg is considered as heavyweight and the merchant might ask for the extra shipping cost

This is where their lack of transparency really bothered me. They ARE a storefront for Amazon and they ship the items to their warehouse (forwarding address in Delaware) before shipping to the UAE and then to Kuwait. You can copy-paste any product name no matter how it’s written on Amazon and DesertCart will pull up the exact same item, with the same photos and the same reviews. The customer support person got very defensive when I called them an Amazon storefront.

They were also still being very vague about what weight wouldn’t be eligible for free shipping and the fact you need to purchase the item, pay for it, and then be told if you would pay shipping is bad practice. So I kept at it trying to find out more, I decided to give them a call which didn’t result in anything new either since the person over the phone was also programmed to reply the exact same way. They recommended I email them which I did only to be also given a generic reply.

I really want to like these guys but they’re making it really difficult. They’ve also scored terrible on Scam Detector which doesn’t help their case either.

But, I still wanted to see how this free shipping works so I decided to order a lightweight and cheap item that I needed but wasn’t worthwhile to ship with Aramex, an adapter for my tire inflator. Even trying to order that was a horrible experience. The item on Amazon would have cost me around KD2.200 with tax and shipping to my Aramex address. The price on DesertCart was listed as KD2.900 which is slightly more but they need to make money as well plus currency conversion, etc, so that’s fine. But, when I would select the item to add it to my cart, the price would jump up to 7.5KD (check above). It kept happening over and over and not only with this item but with others as well. I can’t tell if it’s a buy-in their system (they have a ton of them) or if that’s part of their business model. I’d search and find an item I want and the price would say 3KD, when I click on it changes to 5.9KD. It was very frustrating. But after exiting the page and coming back in, and trying it out from the iPhone App and different browsers, I finally managed to click on the item and not have it triple in price. I added the adapter to my cart, chose to become a DesertCart Plus member (it’s free for the first month), and placed the order with free shipping.

We’ll see how it goes, I’ll also try and order a few more items of varying sizes to see what will pass and what will be considered “heavyweight”. I’ll post another update once everything arrives. If in fact, this all does work out, they might be a good option to ship items that Aramex won’t as well as ship items that aren’t too heavy. Let’s see.