Search: “kuwait”

The British boy band Blue, who had a number of hits in the early 2000s like All Rise, One Love, and Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word, is coming to Kuwait. Blue rose to fame as one of the top boy bands of their era, selling over 15 million records worldwide. I honestly didn’t know who they were, but that’s probably because I come from an era when New Kids on the Block and Take That were the popular boy bands.

Blue will be performing live on April 10 & 11 at the National Theater at JACC. Tickets are going on sale next Monday.

A few weeks ago, I shared photos of old Kuwait taken by Ghazi Sultan (1941–2007), a Kuwaiti architect and urban planner. Ghazi was regarded as one of the key figures in Kuwait’s modernization and is best known for the waterfront project, including Green Island.

Since that post got so much engagement, I was granted access to his full archive and I will be publishing posts in collaboration with @ghazihamadsultan whenever I come across something interesting. I already have a few posts lined up, starting with these photos taken by Ghazi Sultan of Kuwaiti homes in the 1960s, many of which were either under construction or newly completed.

To check out all the photos from his archive, click here.
To find out more about Ghazi Sultan, visit ghazisultan.com

I don’t eat wings so I never tried Wingstop. I can understand for example why Chipotle is so popular, but how good is Wingstop that it’s gotten more engagement than when I announced Chipotle was coming to Kuwait? I didn’t think it was that big of a brand, I’m so confused.

Thursday, January 23
Custom Auto Show
Family Fun with IKEA at Boulevard
The Scientific Center Green Market
Salhiya Nights Market
The Social Market

Friday, January 24
Custom Auto Show
Plugged in Music Fest
Children of the Time Machine
Family Fun with IKEA at Boulevard
The Scientific Center Green Market
Salhiya Nights Market
The Ascend Rock Climbing Games

Saturday, January 25
Qout Market at The Oasis
Custom Auto Show
Children of the Time Machine
Family Fun with IKEA at Boulevard
Classical and Romantic Songs Opera
The Scientific Center Green Market
Urban Sketchers at Al Bahar Village
Squid Game at Mishref Park
The Ascend Rock Climbing Games
Salhiya Nights Market
AAW Run for a Cause!
Charm Studio at Solelab

Wingstop, the popular American restaurant chain specializing in chicken wings, is opening in Kuwait. Apparel Group, the company that brought back Nando’s to Kuwait, is behind the launch and aims to open the first location within 2-3 months (around March or April).

Initially, they’ll be opening two locations: one in Bid’a where TGIF Nike used to be, and the second in Salmiya on Baghdad Street next to Trolley. Two additional locations are planned to open by the end of the year.

If you’re excited about their launch and want to stay posted on their opening, follow them at (tag removed, read note below)

Note: I made a mockup of how the hoarding for Wingstop might look like since it’s currently just white, just a fun preview.

Note2: I had initially tagged what I thought was their Instagram account but turns out they don’t have an account yet. Once they do I’ll update this post with one.

@dr_diecast_models is a Kuwait-based diorama artist I’ve admired for years. He specializes in driveway dioramas, with my favorites being his incredibly realistic recreations of deserted driveways with abandoned cars. Last week, I reached out to him to learn more about his story and see how he brings these dioramas to life.

Dr. Diecast (he wants to stay anonymous) has loved models and cars since he was young. One day, he built a diorama set for one of his models, and when his friend saw it he was impressed. That friend also happened to run a popular auction account and offered to help sell the dioramas if he could make two sets a week. The dioramas became popular, and his hobby quickly turned into something bigger.

The dioramas are 1:18 scale, meaning everything is 18 times smaller than its real-life counterpart. He builds all his sets in a small room tucked away in the corner of his house. I watched him work on a wall for one of his sets, and the level of detail and weathering he painstakingly applies with a paintbrush is mind-blowing. From the size of newspaper boxes to the dimensions of each brick, everything is accurately measured to stay true to scale.

His most popular sets are those depicting cars parked outside old homes, untouched for years, or cars that have been abandoned near electrical substations in neighborhoods.

The cars are a whole other story. He has his own ‘car bank’ you can choose from, but if he doesn’t have the car you want, he can help you source it. From there, it’s up to you whether the car stays as is or gets customized to look a certain way. My favorite is the red car covered in dust, with its protective cover ripped, the driver’s window smashed, and the typical white sticker with a red ‘X’ on the windshield. It’s such a mundane yet familiar real-life scene, and I love it.

Depending on the diorama, he charges around 65 KD, excluding the car. His customers are mostly in Kuwait but he also gets a lot of orders from around the GCC. If you want to check his work out more of his work head over to his account @dr_diecast_models

Update: The information below, shared by the athletes, was incorrect. They are not the first skiers to represent Kuwait or the first to compete at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championship. Kuwaiti skier Bashar Huneidi represented Kuwait in various FIS ski competitions between 1996 and 2008. In fact, BBC referred to him as a “desert skier” in a 2002 article about his efforts to get Kuwait into the Winter Olympics. I’m sorry for the error and for not verifying the athletes’ claims before sharing.

A a couple of years ago, I posted about Kuwait’s National Ski Team, and now, for the first time, they’ll be competing at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Austria next month.

Jassim Hassan and Faris Al-Obaid will both be competing in the Giant Slalom category. The Giant Slalom is an alpine skiing race that tests athletes’ technical skills and speed as they navigate a downhill course marked by widely spaced gates.

Kuwaiti athletes have been training and competing extensively during the winter seasons to rack up points, aiming to qualify Kuwait for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Though it’s an ambitious goal (think Cool Runnings), the points earned next month will be valuable.

To stay posted on their progress, follow their instagram accounts @the_kuwaiti_skier and @theunicornshepherd

Popular UFC fighter and most likely future middleweight champion, Khamzat Chimaev is going to be in Kuwait this weekend. He’s coming as a guest of honor for FERA Championship 2. Last year FERA Championship brought former UFC Champion and legend Jose Aldo to Kuwait and I actually ended up running into him at The Avenues wearing a dishdasha which was so bizarre.

FERA Championship is one of the largest MMA event that takes place in Kuwait, and this year it’s happening on January 17th. Tickets start at 10KD and if you want to find out more or book a ticket, their instagram account is @ferachampionship

Ghazi Hamad Sultan Bin Isa (1941-2007) was a Kuwaiti architect and urban planner who is regarded as one of the key figures in the modernization of Kuwait. He is best known for the waterfront project (including Green Island) which was developed jointly with Sasaki while working for the Ministry of Public Works. Ghazi Sultan is also renowned for his significant contributions to the Arab art movement. In 1969, he founded Sultan Gallery (@sultangallery) with his sister Najat Sultan, and it remains active to this day.

Ghazi’s son, Zahed Sultan (@zahedsultan), recently launched a website and Instagram page (@ghazihamadsultan) to honor his father’s legacy. According to Zahed, both platforms will be updated regularly, as his father’s archive holds a wealth of material to share.

One section of Ghazi Sultan’s website contains photos of Kuwait taken by him in the 1960s. I’ve decided to share these for now and will hopefully post more stuff from his archive in the future, espcially the architectural projects.

If you want to find out more about Ghazi Sultan, or view the photos he took, head over to ghazisultan.com

BYD are launching a new car electric sports car called the Yangwang U9 that can jump over potholes. That sounds like the perfect car for Kuwait.

Just a quick update on the Popeyes opening, their Instagram account is now live @popeyes.kw and they’ve posted a story saying they’re opening on January 30th.

I called basically every Japanese restaurant in Kuwait to see if they had all you can eat sushi and I just found the following four spots:

Sushi Restaurant at Courtyard
KD 8.990 Every Tuesday

Genki Sushi
KD 9.950 Every Sunday & Monday

Oishii Sushi
KD 18.5 Every Monday

Sintoho
KD 20 Every Tuesday

If you know of another spot that I might have missed, let me know in the comments so I can add it.

My internet has been super slow all day and seems I’m not alone. According to a Reddit user, @Kuwait_anon, the GCX/Falcon cable system is down which is causing significant internet outage in Kuwait. The GCX/Falcon undersea cable system serves as a vital international data route connecting the Middle East to global networks.

I haven’t been able to find another source for this information. Citra doesn’t have any details, and neither does my internet provider, Zain. However, based on how slow my internet has been today, having major undersea cables down could explain why.

A lot of people have been asking me whether there are any fireworks tonight. Here’s what I’ve been able to find.

The largest fireworks shows taking place tonight will most likely be at Al Khiran Mall, and possibly Al Mikshat on the Sheikh Jaber bridge.

According to a contact at TEC, none of their projects will have fireworks. So no fireworks at K Land, Winter Wonderland, South Subahiya Park, and Kuwait Towers.

Some hotels will have fireworks including Jumeirah Messilah Beach, but I don’t think they’ll be big shows. The advantage of Jumeirah over other hotels is that there are lots of empty lots around the hotel to park and watch the fireworks if you want to.

If you know of another place that will have fireworks tonight, let us know in the comments.

It looks like Lindsay Lohan is in Kuwait for the holidays. Lindsay was spotted by music teacher @fai_sms at the Lebanese restaurant Ibn El Jabal in Kuwait City.

In case you haven’t heard, Lindsay Lohan married Kuwaiti financier Bader Shammas a couple of years ago, which means she pops into Kuwait every so often. It’s pretty surreal—and the only way it could get more tabloid-worthy is if Al Pacino decided to spend New Year’s in Kuwait with his Kuwaiti girlfriend.