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.
تواجد سعادة الشيخ #عبدالله_الاحمد الحمود الصباح مدير عام #الهيئة_العامة_للبيئة ورئيس مجلس الادارة في منطقة صباح الاحمد البحرية لطمأنه رواد البحر والشاليهات من القرش الحوتي المتواجد بالمنطقة حيث ان هذا النوع من اسماك القرش يعتمد على العوالق النباتية في غذائه كما يقوم بفلتره الماء pic.twitter.com/U7ATmqGgUd
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.
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
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
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.
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.
I’ve been putting together a list of shows that you should watch (or not watch) and because I didn’t post it sooner the list is fairly huge. So I’m going to go through it fairly quick:
Cheer – On Netflix, a reality show about cheerleaders, I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought it would. Got totally sucked in just 5 minutes into the first episode.
Severance – One of the most beautiful shows in a very long time or maybe even ever. It’s also starring Adam Scott, Christopher Walken, Patricia Arquette and John Turturro whom I all love. But, I did find the show very slow moving but it’s still worth watching. It’s on AppleTV+/
Julia – I wasn’t expecting much and was caught off guard. A great show, really entertaining, it’s based on a true story and it’s starring Niles and Lilith from Fraiser.
We Own This City – If you’re a fan of The Wire you’re gonna love this. Like The Wire, this series is also based in Baltimore and stars a ton of actors from The Wire (but now 20 years older). One of my favorite shows on TV and it’s on HBO.
The Essex Serpent – Started watching it because of Claire Danes but quickly got bored of it. It’s on AppleTV+.
Physical – I had bookmarked this show ages ago but only started watching it recently. It was really really good and nothing at all like I expected it to be. Definitly recommend watching it. It’s on AppleTV+
The Baby – It’s on AppleTV+, I got bored by episode 3.
The Terminal List – The series stars Chris Pratt which is the biggest issue with it. It was fun to watch but I’m so used to Chris being the goofy character on Parks & Rec that it feels really weird watching him try and be this serious angry maniac. It’s on Prime Video.
Industry – What Euphoria is to Sex and the City, Industry is to Billions. Would definitely recommend it. It’s on HBO.
The Patient – Just started watching this new show starring Steve Carell. I’m two episodes in and it seems interesting but I have a feeling I might get bored in a couple of episodes. It’s on Hulu.
Welcome to Wrexham – Rob McElhenney from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Ryan Reynolds partner up to buy a football team in Wales. This isn’t a joke, it’s actually based on real life. So bizarre. It’s streaming on Hulu.
I Love That for You – Light-hearted comedy, would watch or at least have playing in the background. It’s on Showtime.
City on a Hill – If you can’t tell I’m a huge fan of crime dramas and this show is no exception. Stars Kevin Bacon who is so incredibly good, like one of my favorite actors on TV right now. Season 3 is streaming right now on Showtime and is produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
Pinot is a digital artist that was living in Kuwait up till 2014 and is incredibly talented in pixel art and animation using vintage computers. He gained worldwide fame through the service Vine which back before Twitter acquired it, used to allow users to share six-second-long looping video clips. Eventually a digital agency in New York found out about him and offered him a job so he packed up and left Kuwait with his family to work and live there. Since then he’s gotten even more popular with nearly 400K followers on Instagram and even ended up on an MKBHD episode where he showed Marques how to paint on an old Mac.
His Childish Gambino video that went viral
Sadly back in June he suffered a stroke and fell into a coma. Since then he’s been gradually progressing ever so slowly and eventually was taken off life support since he started breathing by himself. He also started making hand gestures and moving one of his arms and legs and is still slowly improving.
Art for Pinot is an initiative from the Indonesian NFT community to help him by inviting fellow creators to donate their artwork as a form of support. If you’re an artist reading this you can help by donating an artwork. For more information visit bit.ly/ArtforPino
If you’re just curious and want to check out some of Pinot’s work, his Instagram is @pinot and his twitter (which he posts animations in progress) is also @pinot
If you want to stay updated on his progress, his wife is sharing updates on her Instagram @ditut
The new Netflix series starring comedian Mo Amer was released a few days ago and has been getting great reviews. You might know Mo from the popular Hulu series ‘Ramy‘ who is also a creator of this show.
A few months ago I discovered Mo was actually born in Kuwait and lived here till the age of 9. I only found out when he brought it up during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel (embedded below). The only reason Mo left Kuwait was because of the 1990 Iraq invasion.
A friend just sent me the video above he took of 360 Mall on fire. Looks like it’s in the new extension near IKEA but hard to tell from the video if its the mall parking that’s on fire or the actual mall. Will post an update once I get more details.
Lessons of Darkness is a film about the Kuwaiti oil fields in flames directed by Werner Herzog and released in 1992. I posted about the movie 8 years ago but it wasn’t available to stream online back then, and now it is.
The style is similar to movies Baraka and Samsara where footage is combined with beautiful music except, in this case, the beautiful footage is mostly of horror and destruction. The first few minutes look like a scene out of a sci-fi film and it’s really an epic-looking film overall.
The film is available on YouTube and in HD. I have no idea how long it will be up there until it gets pulled for copyright reasons so if you haven’t watched the film this is your chance to do so. Here is the link.
Today marks the 32nd anniversary of the 1990 Kuwait Invasion. Every year on the anniversary I like to share some links related to the war, here they are:
Free Kuwait
This is a website that focuses on the campaign that was led by Kuwaitis in exile and is loaded with photos and information.
Kuwait Invasion – The Evidence
This is a website that contains over 1,200 pictures taken right after the 1990 invasion as photographic evidence to all the destruction caused by Iraq.
Short movie: Hearts of Palm
Hearts of Palm is a short movie set on August 2nd 1990 and deals with Kuwaiti students living in Miami Florida during the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait.
The Class of 1990
This is a short documentary about reuniting classmates years after the 1990 Iraqi invasion.
BBC Documentary: The Last Flight to Kuwait
A series of documentaries on Iraq begins with a look at the fate of British Airways flight BA149 to the Far East in 1990. As the plane landed in Kuwait, Saddam Hussein invaded, capturing its crew and passengers.
Lessons Of Darkness
This film surveys the disaster of the Kuwaiti oil fields in flames, with little narration and scarcely any interviews. Hell on Earth is presented in such transcendent visions and music that one can only be fascinated by it.
Yesterday I dropped off my FJ Cruiser at the Toyota dealer since I’m trading it in for the new Hilux. I’ve had the FJ Cruiser for over 12 years and didn’t really think I’d ever sell it. I loved it so much I even ended up buying a 1980 FJ (video below, more on that another time). But, after test driving the Hilux earlier this month, I decided I’d part ways with it. 12 years! I was still working in advertising when I bought the car, I was married, I had a dog, I had a completely different life and so it all feels really weird.
I bought the FJ back in 2010 for 10,450KD and yesterday when I dropped the car off, it had done 250,053KM. If the dealer had actually called me a day earlier I might have been able to coordinate it properly so I could hand it over to them with a perfect 250,000 mileage. Over the years I’ve had only a few issues with the car so it’s been pretty great considering how much abuse it’s taken from me. Right after the warranty expired I ended up having a problem with my AC. A common issue with the FJ where the AC evaporator needs to be replaced, a job that involves having the whole dashboard pulled out. That cost me around 650KD to get sorted at the dealer. 5 years later the problem happened again although the second time it cost me 400KD to get fixed. Finally, the last issue I had with the car happened last month when I had issues with my brakes. The dealer wanted 1,000KD to fix but I ended up fixing it outside for 220KD with a used part. Other than those three issues, I’ve had no other problems at all.
Servicing the car was never an issue either which is why I really wanted to buy another Toyota. I actually feel lucky that the two dealerships I deal with, Toyota and Lotus both have been really great. I’ve dealt with other dealerships before and these two by far are the best ones I’ve experienced. They’re also the exact opposite of each other. Toyota is probably the largest car dealership in Kuwait with multiple service centers and a ton of staff, while Lotus is probably the smallest dealership with just one tiny service “corner” and only a handful of staff.
The dealer took the car off me for 2,850KD which isn’t pretty bad considering the original cost of the car and the fact it’s 12 years old. I could have sold it for higher myself directly to a buyer, but I didn’t want to go through the hassle of dealing with different people, the price negotiations, or the process of transferring the ownership.
It was pretty sad letting go of the car but I think it’s for the best and I should pick up my Hilux tonight or tomorrow. I ended up going with grey and got to finally see it in person a couple of days ago after it had finished the pre-delivery inspection. The dealer didn’t have any cars in stock other than the white test drive vehicle so I had to wait till their shipment arrived to see the color in person. I’ll probably post about the Hilux once I get it, but for now, I just wanted to dedicated a goodbye post to my FJ.
The first indoor skydiving in Kuwait is set to open soon in Sabah Al Salem. The indoor skydiving place is called Ozone and is part of a larger complex that will house a huge indoor climbing center, a crossfit gym and a spinning studio.
The project is still under construction but they’ve already finished installing the windtunnel and looking at the photos and videos they’ve also been playing around with it.
The climbing wall also looks pretty huge as you can see below. The only thing that sucks about this project is that it will be located in the already heavily congested Sabah Al Salem area.
If you want to follow Ozone, their Instagram account is @o3_kw and here is the location on Google Maps.
Over the weekend I was reading passages from a book by a British journalist who was describing Kuwait after visiting it back in 1831. The book written by Joachim Stocqueler is called “Fifteen Months’ Pilgrimage Through Untrodden Tracts of Khuzistan and Persia, in a Journey from India to England.” It’s two volumes but the passages I was reading were from volume 1. I thought it was interesting and wanted to share two page from one chapter which you can read below:
Koete, or Grane as it is called in the maps, is in extent about a mile long, and a quarter of a mile broad. It consists of houses built of mud and stone, occasionally faced with coarse chunam, and may contain about four thousand inhabitants. The houses being for the most part square in form, with a courtyard in the centre, (having the windows looking into the yard,) present but a very bare and uniform exterior, like, indeed, all the houses in the Persian Gulph. They have flat roofs, composed of the trunk of the date tree. The streets of Koete are wider than those of Muscat or Bushire, with a gutter running down the centre. A wall surrounds the town on the desert face, but it is more for show than protection, as it is not a foot thick. To keep up the farce, however, a trench has been dug around the wall, and two honeycombed pieces of ordnance protect each of the three gates. Beyond the wall, nothing is to be seen but a vast sandy plain, extending to a distance of more than sixty miles. Not a tree, not a shrub affords the eye a momentary relief.
Koete within the walls is equally sterile, it literally yields nothing; and when to this is added the fact of the water being far from sweet, it is difficult to conjecture how such a site could have been chosen for the establishment of four hundred families. I was informed that the Arabs had only been in possession of the place about one hundred and
fifty years, and that previously to that period it was occupied by Englishmen and their forces, who received or conquered it from the Portuguese, in whose hands it enjoyed some notoriety during the plenitude of their importance in India.
It certainly is a commodious harbour for small craft, and may probably have been occupied by the Portuguese, (the English could have had nothing to do with it, ) on account of the command it gives over the mouth of the river of the Arabs, and the power it thus conferred of interrupting the Turkish and Venetian trade with India.
If you want to read more, the full book is available to download in PDF format. Passages above start at page 18. Here is the link.
Also an original copy of volume 1 is available on eBay if you want to buy it. Seller is asking for $3,000 but I was able to negotiate down to $1,350. Here is the link to the book on eBay.
Photo on the very top is unrelated and from 1903. Source
Yesterday I listed a bunch of landmarks that were demolished over the past few years but I didn’t mention Messilah Beach since I’m not really sure whats going on there. It’s meant to be closed for renovations but I don’t know if they’ve completely demolished it or not. Based on Google Maps, it looks like it’s still there but in any case, the video above is a 3D animation of what Messilah Beach will eventually look like once it’s completed.
Just going off the video it looks like it will be a less approachable more premium beach. What was great about the old Messilah Beach was how affordable and accessible it was to everyone. I used to go there when I was in school since it was the only nice beach we could afford.
The new renovated Messilah will contain:
6 Restaurant blocks
Swimming Pool and Wet Recreation areas
Jogging Track
Hard and Soft Landscaping
450 Car Parking spaces
Entertainment City became another landmark in Kuwait to get demolished and joined a long list of other important places that were demolished in recent years including:
Shaab Park
Bait Lothan
Kuwait Airways Building
Al-Sawaber
Aqua Park
Ice Skating Rink
The Original Chamber of Commerce
