Over the next days, you’ll be able to spot the international space station from within Kuwait during certain periods like tonight at 6:03 PM. The sightings usually occur within a few hours before or after sunrise or sunset since that is the optimum viewing period as the sun reflects off the space station and contrasts against the darker sky.
Based on photos online it looks like it should be really easy to spot without requiring a telescope, but the space station will only be visible for a few minutes per sighting so you need to be quick to catch it.
If you want to try and see it yourself, check out the sighting schedule.
This Saturday is the start of the GCC Camel Racing Tournament so if you’ve ever wanted to visit the camel races, then this is the weekend to do so. Below are all the other events I managed to find for this weekend and as usual, if I’ve missed anything, let me know in the comments.
It’s been a year now since the DJI Mini 2 got launched but I just got mine a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been wanting the DJI Mini 2 ever since it was released so a few weeks ago I got in touch with Xcite and asked them if I could get one to review. I’m not a drone expert so this review is directed at other people like me, beginners basically. The Mini 2 shoots in 4K, is pretty tiny, and it’s also really light weighing just 249g. If you want more detailed specs of the Mini 2 there are tons of videos on YouTube that do just that. Instead, I’m going to give you my opinion on why I think this is the best drone a beginner can get right now.
Full disclosure, I have a long-standing relationship with Xcite who provided me with this drone. They’ve been very supportive of the blog from the very early days and they’ve lent or given me a number of items over the years to review, as well as hooking me up with discounts. I’m a huge Xcite fan.
I’m not sure where to start this review since I’m really excited about the drone, and I wasn’t expecting to be. If you’ve never owned a drone before it can be a bit intimidating at first and even if you have had a drone before, maybe a basic one like the original Mini 1 or the Spark, then flying probably still intimidates because of certain limitations like the battery life and connection issues. At least those were the two things that kept me from flying my drone often and both those things no longer are an issue with the Mini 2.
The last drone I had was the DJI Spark which was pretty good but most of the time I’d have connection issues once it got to a certain height, distance or if I was flying in an area like Salmiya which caused a lot of interference. It was freaky because I didn’t want to lose the drone and it made me a lot more cautious whenever I wanted to take it out. The DJI Mini 2 on the other hand uses a different connection technology called OcuSync and I think this is my favorite new feature. I haven’t had a single situation, not even for a second where I had a connection problem. I’ve flown it out far and as high as it can get and haven’t had a signal drop or even a low signal warning. It’s made flying the drone so much more enjoyable and it’s given me much more confidence.
The other feature I’ve been loving on the Mini 2 is the battery life which now lasts up to 30 minutes. That’s a lot of time which is great cuz I always felt so rushed with the Spark which only had around 15 minutes of battery life. Last week I headed out to Sulaibikhat to film the flamingos and I actually spent a lot of time just hovering my drone low near the water just watching them on my screen. It would take around 5 minutes to reach them since I was parked pretty far from their location and another 5 minutes to get back but with that, I still had around 20 minutes left of just pure stalking time. It’s enough time to get completely immersed and zoned out, I literally spent all my time just watching flamingos catch their food and eat as if I had my own private National Geographic channel. Whenever the battery was going to die the drone would just let me know and then start flying back to me. Really easy.
OcuSync and the battery life together have made me want to take out the drone more often and not have to worry about anything which is why I think it’s the perfect beginner’s drone. I can just focus on shooting and not worry about the other things. When the weather was misty this past weekend I just parked next to the Kuwait Towers and casually took the drone out to see if I can capture the towers coming out through the fog. It’s such an easy thing to do now and it’s because I’m no longer worried about flying the drone. After reaching a height taller than the towers I realized the fog was too high and had completely engulfed it, so I decided instead to fly towards the city to see if I could capture Hamra Tower. I didn’t end up getting a good shot but just the fact that I was able to on a whim head into the city with my drone is something I’d never have done with the Spark.
The DJI Mini 2 is really everything I’ve wanted into a drone. Something small, light, have a long battery life, and no connection issues. It’s made me want to fly the drone much more and given me the confidence to do so. If you want to get into drone photography, this has to be the best drone to start off with. I got the DJI Mini 2 “Fly More Combo” pack which comes with three batteries, a charging hub, extra propellers, and even a nice carrying case. The price of the full package is 175KD and you can get one from Xcite.
Forbes Middle East posted about Yarmouk Park few days ago. Yarmouk Park is recognized as being the first environmentally friendly park based on recycled materials and waste. If you haven’t been to the park before you can check out some more photos of is @forbesmiddleeast
I was at the Kuwait Airways terminal a few days ago and I spotted a robot called Airporter that is there to help carry your luggage. I couldn’t use the robot because when I touched the screen to wake it up, the robot had a message on it saying it only worked from 9:30AM to 12:30PM. But I did find a video on Youtube of a similar robot which you can watch in action below.
There were instructions on how to operate the robot which you can see here but simply put, you let the robot scan your boarding pass, put your carry-on bags onto it and press go. The robot then follows you to your gate.
There was only 1 robot that I saw so definitely just there for show and fun.
I hadn’t heard of Duck Park until a few days ago when I stumbled on an old post by @natureinkuwait. It’s a small park located in Shaab that has a small pond and ducks!
The photos on Instagram looked a lot nicer than it was in reality but that mostly has to do with the fact there wasn’t any water in the pond when I passed by. Not sure why there’s no water but there were a few ducks there just playing in the mud. The park overall is pretty nice, small but looks well taken care of and features a climbing rope section for kids along with some swings and toys. There are also birdhouses scattered around including a pretty large one with multiple holes and a rooster that was roaming around freely.
If you want to pass by and check out the park, here is the location on Google Maps.
Things are a bit slow this weekend but with the rising cases of Corona it’s probably a good thing. There are some outdoor activities taking place this weekend though, so you can still go out and be safe. Check out the full list of events below:
The other day out of the blue I remembered this drink I used to have back in the 80s called Hapi. I used to only have it in one place, a drive-thru car wash I used to go to with my dad. It was in their vending machine and I think it tasted like root beer. I doubt it was a popular drink and don’t think a lot of people remember it.
Anyway, just a random flashback for those who might remember the drink.
I got this video as a forward but didn’t post it since there was no way of knowing if it was in Kuwait or not. But, the local news media picked up the story, and turns out it was indeed in Kuwait. A lion escaped from captivity and was found roaming the streets before the owner found it and carried the lion back home. The weirder part is the environmental police attended the scene but didn’t confiscate the animal but instead helped the woman get the lion back into her captivity. I guess the plan to ban wild animals never materialized. Link
Update: There is some good news and bad news. The good news is the lion was actually rescued and is now at the zoo. The bad news is that the lion was found to be blind, deaf, and malnourished. They are currently investigating to see if she was born like this or if something happened to her.
I left the house yesterday not realizing half of Kuwait was flooded and headed to Shuwaikh to pick up some car-related stuff. Getting into Shuwaikh was a mission since the cops had blocked off a bunch of roads that had flooded. I was in my lifted FJ so wasn’t too concerned about getting stuck in a flood and ended up getting everything I needed without having to deal with the usual heavy traffic. For example, the main Toyota spare parts branch on Canada Dry street was completely empty except for me when usually I would need to take a number and then wait 15 minutes or longer for my turn.
A bunch of videos got circulated yesterday over whatsapp and social media and so I picked out the best ones and compiled them into the video above in case you didn’t get to see them.
“Flasher” is a locally made movie that’s currently playing in local theaters. The name of the movie makes it sound like it’s about a guy who exposes his genitals in public, but obviously, it’s lost in translation and I think they just mean the flashing lights on top of police cars? Or maybe it is about a flasher? I’m not sure, I probably have to watch the movie to find out but it actually looks like it could be fun to do anyway going by the trailer.
Last weekend the weather was terrible but this weekend it looks like its going to be nice and sunny. Lots of events and things to do this weekend so take a look at the full list below:
To get a sense of scale on how huge this new T2 airport terminal is going to be, if you look carefully you’ll spot people standing in the middle of this photo. For a lot more photos of the new terminal, click here.
Looks like cops are getting police buggies to use this winter in the desert. That’s not a bad idea considering how a lot more people have started hanging out in the desert but what I’d also like to see are garbage buggies.
The amount of garbage I came across in the desert last year was just so sad. Since people just like to litter everywhere we might as well have desert cleaners that go around picking up after everyone.
