Categories
Events

Cirque du Soleil in Kuwait Next Month

The famous contemporary circus ‘Cirque du Soleil’ is coming to Kuwait next month bringing OVO, their production inspired by the world of insects. The show will be held at The Arena with tickets starting at 25KD for the bronze seats and going up to 125KD for the royal seats.

It’s a family-friendly show and they will be performing in Kuwait over five days, from December 14th to December 18th. If you want more information or are interested in getting tickets, here is the link.

The Arena only




Categories
Cars & Bikes

Landcruiser FZJ – From Kuwait to Barrett Jackson

Last December, @classic_rides_q8 started posting pictures of his 1994 Landcruiser FZJ with Kuwaiti plates but all the photos were in Arizona. I’ve never met the guy but we’ve been in contact for a few years now through Instagram and it was because of his account I was able to find my first Datsun. So I sent him a message asking how he got the car to the States and he told me it was was a simple process using a RORO service and it cost him only $3,500 including taxes.

I think his plan was to use the car while he was there and then sell it before coming back to Kuwait. That plan changed when the car was accepted at the Barrett Jackson auction, the worlds great car collector auction. The car went on the chopping block and quickly sold for $38,500. You can watch the whole thing unfold in the video above which was originally posted on his Instagram account. It’s a pretty good-looking Landcruiser.




Categories
Television

The Office – Saudi Edition

This is an officially licensed remake of The Office but as a Saudi Arabian edition and I just added it to my to-watch list. Link




Categories
Sneakers

Review: Philips Sneaker Cleaner

Last week I spotted this cool-looking sneaker cleaner at Xcite and since it was selling for around 10KD I decided to buy it and try it out. I wear Ultraboosts 90% of the time and when I want to clean them I just throw them in the washing machine and they come out looking brand new. But, for the remaining 10% of the time, I wear sneakers that need to be cleaned with a brush by hand. This sneaker cleaner is basically a battery-operated brush.

I tried using it to clean a few pairs of sneakers and I don’t think it does a better job when compared to a normal brush nor do I think it cleans any faster. It comes with different brush heads for different sneaker materials and you still need a good sneaker soap but those can be found at local sneaker shops. When I picked up the unit they had an offer where if you spent 20KD or more you could get the sneaker cleaner for 4.9KD. I didn’t have anything I needed to get so paid full price.

Would I recommend it? I mean if you’re a sneakerhead it might be worth getting to add to your collection of cleaning tools, but if you’re getting it with expectations that it’s going to clean your sneakers better, it won’t. If you want one, here is the link.




Categories
Music

New Music: Altersal – Green Feather Feat. Bazila

Altersal, the lead singer of my favorite local band Galaxy Juice released a new single yesterday called “Green feather” made in collaboration with local artist and producer Bazila. The music videos was shot on Failaka island and directed by Argentinian animator Marina Di Milta.

Not sure how I feel about this single, to me it sounds more like a background sound in a movie than an actual song. My favorite tracks by Altersal are Saneman and You Never Listen, both of which have an 80s vibes to them so I kinda want him to do more of that. But you can listen to the single and decide for yourselves.




Categories
Movies

The Cinema Hall Presents: Daughters of Abdul-Rahman

The Jordanian film “Daughters of Abdul-Rahman” will be screening tonight at The Cinema Hall in JACC. The filmmaker Zaid Abu Hamdan will also be in attendance and a live discussion will take place after the screening.

Storyline: Years after escaping a dictated life, four estranged and offbeat sisters are forced to come together to find their suddenly-missing father. In their secret searching journey, secrets are revealed and more question marks are raised.

The film has won various awards and currently has a rating of 8.4 on IMDB. It’s in Arabic but has English subtitles. If you’re interested in attending the screening at JACC tonight, the film starts at 9PM and tickets are for 5KD. You can book your tickets by visiting jacc-kw.com/whats-on/




Categories
Animals

Kuwait Has So Many Street Cats & Purebreds. Here’s Why.

Last week two popular cat instagrammers visited Kuwait, @kittenxlady and @iamthecatphotographer. While here they met with a few cat rescuers who took them around and showed them our large street cat population. Because we see hundreds of street cats on a daily basis it ends up feeling very normal. It’s only when watching videos like the one above, or when we travel that we realize oh wait, that’s a lot of freakin cats!

The fact that there is no government animal shelter and instead, it’s just private individuals trying to manage and take care of the abandoned cats is really sad. But maybe it’s also a good thing since any attempt to manage the dog population always involved poisoning.




Categories
Promoted

PROMOTED: ABBA Tribute Band Live in Kuwait

ABBA
Tribute Band
Live in Kuwait on 14-October-2022
The Arena Kuwait, 360 Mall

THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC

After their performance in more than 65 cities from New York, Rome, Milan, London, Berlin, Paris, and Dubai, Finally the ABBA tribute Band will perform live at the Arena Kuwait on 14th October. Sing along with Abba’s biggest hits such as “Waterloo”, “Fernando”, “Take A Chance On Me”, “Dancing Queen”, “Mamma Mia”, “Money Money Money” and, of course, “Thank You for the Music” still have the power, as they did back then, to bring the audience to their feet.

The two-hour concert transports the audience back to the 1970s and brings the Swedish pop phenomenon back together again on stage in the form of a band whose appearance, sound, and gestures, as well as glitzy outfits and choreography, mimic the originals down to the last detail.

Don’t miss this day and join us on October 14th at The Arena Kuwait for an unforgettable concert.

Tickets start from KD 25 and are available at thearenakuwait.com/events/abba




Categories
Sports Strange

Padel Inside a Mall

The padel obsession has gotten so out of hand that courts are starting to pop up inside malls. Symphony Mall in Salmiya now has a padel court inside and oddly, I don’t think that’s even the weirdest place a padel court has popped up in Kuwait. I think the weirdest is the one located inside a car paint protection center and then there is another one located inside a car garage. I don’t think padel is even a thing anymore, is it?




Categories
Television

3 Shows You Should Be Watching!

We’re currently super lucky to have three epic shows running simultaneously. I’m sure or at least hoping most of you are watching them, if not you’re missing out big time!

The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power
First up is the new LOTR series on Amazon Prime Video. I used to be a massive fan of the movies and I remember when the original ones came out I refused to watch them until the extended versions came out on DVD. I even watched the original 1978 animated movie back in the 90s before I even knew what it was. But that was a long time ago and I was much younger so I wasn’t sure I’d still be into it. Turns out I am and this new series on Amazon is making me want to go back and binge-watch everything previously released again. The only downside is the first season is only 8 episodes which feels extremely short since there is so much more I want to see happen.

House of the Dragon
After Game of Thrones, the amount of pressure that must have been on the House of the Dragon team to deliver must have been as epic as the show itself. But, they’ve succeeded and House of the Dragon is in my opinion on the same level as GOT right out the door. It’s basically the same show, it uses the same formula, the same brutality, it still has lots of noble houses which I can never keep track of, and it even has the same opening intro score. House of the Dragon is currently streaming weekly on HBO Max.

Andor
Finally, the third show currently running and you should be watching is Andor, the new Star Wars series. This is the least Star Wars Star Wars from all the new shows that have come out so far. It doesn’t feel very Disney and I think that’s one of the main reasons that I like it so far, I don’t know where it’s going. While The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett were great, they felt too similar, even Obi-Wan Kenobi, I knew who the heroes were and that they were going to kick everyone’s ass. Andor has a completely different feel, kinda like how the movie Joker felt so different from the previous Batmans. Andor is streaming on Disney+.

So we have a new Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and Star Wars all streaming at the same time, crazy!




Categories
Cars & Bikes People

Around the World in the MAN KAT 8×8

I was picking up breakfast from Mcdonald’s next to the Kuwait Towers when I spotted this large military-like truck parked across from Mcdonald’s. I knew it wasn’t military because it had German plates on it and the words tourist printed in large near the front along with a German flag, I snapped a few photos and then later once back home decided to google it.

Turns out the truck is a MAN KAT 8×8 and is being driven around the world by a German lady called Petra. She started her journey on June 2020 and is currently in Kuwait having come from Iran.

I found a video on YouTube where she gives a tour of her truck and you can check that out below although it’s in German (inside tour starts at 19:30).

If you want to follow Petra on her journey or want to check out photos from her previous trips, her Instagram is @katweltreise




Categories
Animals

Whale Shark Lost in Khiran

A whale shark is currently lost and stranded inside one of the lagoons in Khiran. Whale Sharks are slow-moving filter-feeding sharks and feed almost exclusively on plankton and small fishes, and so pose no threat to humans. They’ve been seen a number of times before in Kuwait. Back in 2009 a whale shark got stranded in Marina Crescent and divers managed to free it again. In 2006 though the whale shark didn’t get as lucky when it got stranded in Khiran and ended up dying.

Based on the videos and information circulating, some boats were trying to chase the shark out and ended up running over it and cutting off one of its fins. The EPA had to issue a message to the public to explain that whale sharks are harmless and basically not to attack it.

You can check out videos of the whale shark on the instagram account @kayak4kuwait as well as stay posted on the EPA’s progress by following their account @epa_kw

A couple of years ago a whale shark got stuck inside a lagoon in Abu Dhabi and was freed in a dramatic rescue operation. You can watch that rescue in the video above.




Categories
Cars & Bikes Events Sports

24H Series Coming to Kuwait

The 24H Series sports car and touring car international racing series is coming to Kuwait. Kuwait Motor Town is set to host the final round of the 2022 24H SERIES, marking the first time a venue in Kuwait has hosted an international circuit racing event.

The inaugural Hankook 12H KUWAIT will take place from 30 November to 2 December, just over two months after the final European round of the 24H SERIES at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on 9-10-11 September and just six weeks before the 2023 season opener at the Dubai Autodrome on 13-14-15 January, with a format and a date for the event also confirmed.

To summarize, this is a pretty big deal. KMT opened in 2018 with the aim to eventually host international racing events and this will be the first of eventually many more racing to come. We have a pretty great track layout (video above) so I’m really interested to see how it works for races. To stay posted on this event and other, Kuwait Motor Town is on Instagram @kmtkw




Categories
50s to 90s

Golden Beach Hotel – Kuwait 1963

Last year I bought a vintage map of Kuwait and although there is no date on it, I think it’s from the early 70s because there is a Hilton ad on it and Hilton opened in 1969. You can view a photo of the map on my twitter and right now I’m trying to scan it so I can make a proper copy available online. The only issue is it’s taking too long to scan one section at a time with my small scanner and then stitch it together in Photoshop.

Anyway, one thing that caught my attention was an ad for Golden Beach Hotel. Not to be confused with the Golden Beach Casino that was located in Salmiya, Golden Beach Hotel was located where the National Assembly building is today. I hadn’t heard of the hotel and couldn’t find any information online so I left it at that. But then yesterday, while trying to dig up information in one of my books on the Spring Continental Hotel that was located in the Dalal Complex in Salmiya (where Video Club used to be), I found a photo and information on the Golden Beach Hotel. So here is the obscure info that nobody requested:

Golden Beach Hotel
Telephone: 39521
Location: Arabian Gulf Street, Kuwait

Rooms: 44
Baths: 44

Single Occupancy Prices
R/Bfst K.D. 5.000
Half K.D. 6.000
Full K.D. 7.000

Double Occupancy
R/Bfst K.D. 9.000
Half K.D. 11.000
Full K.D. 12.000

Breakfast K.D. 0.350 / 0.450
Lunch or Dinner K.D. 0.900

If you want to check out higher-res versions of the images here, they’re also on my twitter account.

Update: So my mum just saw the post and messaged me to tell me she spent a night at the Golden Beach Hotel in December 1972. She was heading to Abadan in Iran from Lebanon to see her aunt and she took the Kuwait Airways flight which transits through Kuwait. When she got to Iran turns out her aunt hadn’t gotten her a visa so they sent her back to Kuwait. Her flight back to Lebanon was the day after so she spent the night at the Golden Beach Hotel.

Once she was back in Lebanon her aunt got her the Iran visa and she headed back again. This time on her way back to Lebanon during her stop over in Kuwait she saw an ad to become a flight attendant for Kuwait Airways and she applied. And that’s how she became a flight attendant. So because of this random post I found out how my mum became a flight attendant.




Categories
Travel Videos

Kuwait Airways Review by Josh Cahill

Josh Cahill is a German-Czech aviation vlogger and airline critic who is considered to be the most-watched flight reviewer on YouTube. Yesterday he posted a video review of his flight with Kuwait Airways and spoiler alert, he had a wonderful experience. He liked a lot of things including surprisingly, the Chicken Kiev which he described as one of the best meals he’s had on any flight. Now I feel like I have to try it. Check out his review above.

Thanks Nidal