Search: “kuwait”

Burger King Kuwait is currently running a pretty cool campaign where depending on the last number on your car plate, they’re giving away free tenders!

All you need to do is order any meal at one of their 39 drive-thru locations around Kuwait and whatever the last digit of your car plate is, you’ll get that number of tenders for free. I checked my cars and I have one that ends with the number 8 so I’m pretty much set.

It’s a limited time offer so if you want your tenders, go get them now.
To find out more, visit their instagram @Burgerkingkw

The pre-orders for the new iPhone 15 and 15 Pro will go live tomorrow September 22nd, but some authorized resellers like Xcite are going to go live from midnight tonight.

So if you were hoping to be one of the first to get the new iPhones at retail prices, you most likely need to pre-order to get your hands on one early. Here are the list of authorized Apple resellers in Kuwait according to Apple:

Alpha
Carrefour
Digits
Eureka
Gait
Lulu Hypermarket
Virgin
Xcite

The second season of Winter Wonderland is going to start soon and there will be a bunch of changes this year. Last year, the Touristic Enterprises Company (TEC) was taken by surprise at the park’s unexpected popularity, but they are well-prepared for it this season.

Everything is bigger and better about the park for this season. Firstly, the physical footprint of the park increased by 40% which in return allowed the number of games to increase from 22 to 35 while also increasing the number of cafes and restaurants available.

The park will also be open for 7 months this year while longer operating hours that start earlier in the day.

The biggest challenge last year was the limited ticket availability. However, this year they’re making 15,000 tickets available for sale every day which should resolve the issue. The ticket price will also remain unchanged at 5KD but this year they will be sold through their soon to be released app.

They’re aiming to open the park by the end of September but depending on the weather it could be delayed to early October. The official Winter Wonderland account is @wwlkuwait, but for unofficial progress updates check out @mohamedalwazzan. Mohammad lives across from the park and is constantly posting video updates on the construction with short entertaining videos.

Back in July, the Armenian national carrier, Fly Arna started direct flights to Kuwait twice a week. I got excited because the flight from Kuwait to Armenia was only 2 hours long and ticket prices started at 82KD which made it very accessible.

Last week I decided I’d book a flight for the end of the month and when I went to their website I couldn’t find Kuwait. They had even removed the image posted above from their Instagram account. Turns out they canceled the route due to lack of interest.

I found that really weird, obviously it’s going to take time for people to find out there are now direct flights to Armenia and then plan their trips. Now the next best flight is a connecting flight that’s over 5 hours long which sucks.

Starting a side business in Kuwait isn’t very easy but Bzaaarz is a new app that is trying to make it easier.

Bzaaarz is an e-commerce app that allows anyone to open an online store and sell items with just a few clicks. The items you can sell are from their vast library of products that encompasses everything from electronics, perfumes, cosmetics, pet food and accessories, video games and a lot more.

The way it works is you create an account with Bzaaarz and then select from the thousands of items they have available in their library for you to sell. Anything you sell from your store you get a small percentage of the profits and the whole thing is fully automated and officially backed by the ministry of commerce and local banks.

If you’re an online influencer this could also be perfect for you. Imagine doing a makeup tutorial and then having all the items you used in the video available for your followers to purchase instantly from your store.

To download the app and find out more, check out @bzaaarz.partner

The Restaurant & Bar Design Awards announced their list of winners for the Middle East & Africa category, and one of my favorite designed places in Kuwait just won.

Abuelo which was designed by Studio Nesef and is located in The Avenues won the award for the best designed cafe. I’m glad it did because I really do believe it is one of the nicest designed places in Kuwait. When it first opened I actually messaged Studio Nesef to let them know how much I liked the interior, it’s so visually interesting.

If you’ve never come across the place, it’s located in the alleyway adjacent to % Arabica in Avenues Phase 4.

To check out who else won, visit @restaurantandbardesignawards

So last week I asked for recommendations of shows to watch on my 6 hour flight to Paris. I ended up watching two things, Cocaine Bear and binge watching Poker Face. Cocaine Bear was one of the best movies I’ve watched in a long time, it was hilarious, really silly, had lots of famous actors and was a lot of fun to watch. It’s extremely underrated! Highly recommended.

Poker Face is a Peacock original show and I started watching the first episode just to see if I liked it or not and surprisingly it was great. Not sure how many episodes I ended up watching back to back, maybe 4 before I finally arrived to Paris. I’m heading back to Kuwait today and I’m hoping to continue binge watching it on the way back.

Now Barbie. I watched it a few days ago here in Paris, obviously the uncensored version although now that I watched it I have no clue what was censored and why it was banned to begin with. I focused so hard throughout the film trying to figure out what was so controversial and I have no idea honestly, like zero clue. There wasn’t even a kiss in the whole movie, no gay characters or lesbians, there was nothing! Maybe one scene with a rainbow in the sky in the background but no flags, trans or even bad language. WHY WAS THIS BANNED? I am so confused!

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Weekend:
Blue Beetle (6.8)
Haunting of the Queen Mary (4.9)
I’ll Be Watching (3.9)
Retribution (5.7)

Other Movies Showing:
Cats Museum (4.4)
Elemental (6.8)
Gran Turismo (7.0)
Haunted Mansion (6.3)
Meg 2: The Trench (6.0)
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (8.2)
Oppenheimer (8.7)
Sound of Freedom (7.8)
The Adventures of Jurassic Pet (3.7)
The Last Voyage of the Demeter (6.5)
The Secret Kingdom (5.0)
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (7.4)

The classic films below are currently showing at the 1954 Film House:
Inside Man (6.6)
Flubber (5.3)
Training Day (7.7)

The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.

Amorino, the popular French gelato chain is set to open in Kuwait this coming weekend at The Avenues. Thursday and Friday will be by invitation only, but on Saturday it will be open to everyone.

I’m actually excited about this since I like their ice cream a lot. They’re located in Phase III of The Avenues, in the back next to the escalators and where the English Tea Lounge used to be.

Their instagram account is also now live and they’ve started a countdown for their opening @amorinokuwait

Yesterday I got a tour of The Warehouse mall and it was a pretty cool experience since it was very busy with the mall and businesses all getting ready for the opening tomorrow (August 16). The mall looks really great and very different to other malls which is what caught my attention the first time I visited back in May.

The Warehouse has an industrial look with lots of bricks and metal cladding everywhere. The roof is covered with a glass and steel structure that casts interesting shadows onto the floor during the day. It’s really well designed mall with a lot of creative touches, even the bathrooms are worth checking out.

Theres a large variety of stores in the mall with the main anchors being IKEA, ABYAT, LC Waikiki and LuLu Hypermarket. You also have some new restaurants opening there that aren’t available anywhere else in Kuwait yet like Jamie’s Italian and Nando’s. Regulars like Milk Bun, Shake Shack and Raising Cane’s are also opening there as well as one of my favorite coffee shops, Earth Roastery. There is also a Cinescape, Xcite, Starbucks, Zain, and a bunch of other “mall-must-haves”. There’s even an area called Auto Zone which houses a bunch of car dealerships.

If you want to pass by and check the mall out, starting tomorrow The Warehouse is going to open daily from 10AM till 10PM except on weekends where it stays open till 11PM. The mall is located in Ahmadi, right off highway 30 or 40. @thewarehousekuwait

The other day when I posted about Villa Moda being demolished, a reader and a couple of teachers made me aware that Villa Moda is taught in 10th-grade since its part of a school book called “Over to you”. The book was first printed in 2009 so its obviously outdated but I thought that was such a random thing to teach kids about. Here is the PDF of the book in case you’re interested Link

Thanks @GreattHeron

Since Barbie is now officially banned in Kuwait, here are three cinemas that you can drive to that are currently showing Barbie.

Muvi Cinemas
Location: Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia Google Maps
Distance: 2 Hours and 20 Minutes from borders

Vox Cinemas
Location: Dammam, Saudi Arabia Google Maps
Distance: 2 Hours and 50 Minutes from borders

AMC Cinemas
Location: Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia Google Maps
Distance: 3 Hours and 15 Minutes from borders

If you’ve never driven to Saudi before, check this link for information.
Any Kuwait resident can get a visa to Saudi, check this link for info.

Update: So beside the fact that this post blew up on Instagram, it also made it into The Hollywood Reporter

All that anyone seems to be talking about right now on my tech podcasts are the new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5 phones. They were recently announced by Samsung and come with a number of improvements over the previous generation models. Both devices along with other new Samsung products are launching in Kuwait today. Here are the details:

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5
Comes in 4 colors: Cream/Lavender/Mint/Graphite
Sizes: 256GB/512GB
Starts from KD322
switch.com.kw/en/c/Flip

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5
Comes in 3 colors: Cream/Phantom Black/Icy Blue
Sizes: 256GB/512GB
Starts from KD573
switch.com.kw/en/c/Samsung-Galaxy-Foldable-Series

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9
Comes in 2 colors: Beige/Graphite
Sizes: 128GB/256GB
Wireless: 5G/Wifi or Wifi Only
Starts from KD302
switch.com.kw/en/c/Samsung-Tablets

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6
Comes in 16 different variations
Starts from KD109.900
switch.com.kw/en/c/Samsung-Watches

All the Samsung devices are available on the Switch website or in store.

Switch also have a trade-in option, any brand device can be traded-in for a mobile phone or tablet. The value of the trade-in will depend on the model and condition of the device.

If you want an installment plan Switch also has that system with Tabby. Payments can be split in 4 installments, along with a trade-in of up to 3 devices. Other installment options are also available including Easy Buy, Easy Pay (Gulf Bank), and Flexi Pay (NBK).

For more details, visit switch.com.kw

I spent this past week binge watching Schitt’s Creek from season 1 but also catching up on the new season of Physical and Futurama. Physical is great, Futurama on the other hand, even though it used to be my favorite animated show, I’m just not into it anymore.

Other shows I’m watching are Foundation and Swagger. Both great shows and the new season has been good although the last episode of Foundation was a snoozer.

In other news, Barbie is now officially banned, so if you want to watch it you need to drive down to Saudi and watch it there where it’s being released today.

What have you watched this week?

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Weekend:
Gran Turismo (7.0)
Run Rabbit Run (5.0)
Til Death Do Us Part (5.8)

Other Movies Showing:
Black Lotus (4.2)
Cats Museum (4.4)
Cobweb (6.1)
Elemental (6.8)
Haunted Mansion (6.3)
Hidden Strike (5.8)
Insidious: The Red Door (5.9)
Meg 2: The Trench (6.0)
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (8.2)
Oppenheimer (8.7)
The Secret Kingdom (5.0)
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (7.4)

The classic films below are currently showing at the 1954 Film House:
Flubber (5.3)
Training Day (7.7)

The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.

This is not a Land Rover Defender. It might look like one in the photos but thats because the INEOS billionaire owner decided to build a replacement for his old Defender after Land Rover stopped making them. The Defender wasn’t a very practical car and it was known to have a lot of shortcomings. The Grenadier is the spiritual successor of the original Defender but with all the problems fixed.

I’ve been interested in this car ever since it launched so I was super excited to drive it. I had the car for 24 hours so I got to spend a lot of time with it and here is what I liked and disliked.

The Good
The exterior has a timeless look so it won’t get old. The interior is filled with buttons which I love and there are even buttons on the roof. The AC worked great and I drove it during the hottest parts of the day. There were both USB-A and USB-C ports, wireless CarPlay, reverse sensors and camera, and every other essential but basic tech. The car was very comfortable on rough roads and the engine easily picked up speed on the highways.

The Bad
The car I drove had the glass sunroof option which meant I had the sun in my face all day. The AC although strong had 4 only blower steps, 4 was too powerful, 3 wasn’t powerful enough and I couldn’t set it in between. The AC knob also didn’t have a nice feel or click to it which is weird considering all the other 600 buttons felt great. There is no dash cluster in front of you which is fine because your speed and other info is displayed on the left of the center screen. But that pushes CarPlay too far right and the reverse camera also all the way right. It was annoying in use. Finally, the biggest issue I have with the car is the cost. The car starts at 21,900 while the model I drove is 26.5. That’s a lot of money but I guess everything is expensive nowadays.

Would I buy the car? Yes totally, if it was cheaper. I’m the perfect customer for this car so I feel this car was made for me. I love the look; I like that it has only the essential tech and I love the story on why this car exists. It’s a perfect go anywhere do anything 4X4.

There is no INEOS showroom yet since the car officially launches in Kuwait at the end of the year. The dealer is Al Babtain and you can check out the car or get more info by calling 67677715.

The Arena will be releasing tickets tomorrow (Sunday) for a huge Miami Band show being produced and directed by Free Jabriya.

The show will feature Miami Band but like you’ve never experienced them before with a multi sensory, multi visual experience that integrates a live orchestra, dancers, animation, costumes and the whole works.

The show is being worked on with massive international designers and content creators including:

Studio Flint – The content creators behind the Coldplay ‘Music Of The Spheres’ world tour

Woodroffe Bassett Design – The lighting designers behind the recent Elton John farewell tour

Susan Kulkarni – Costume designer for movies like The Peripheral and Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’

Rebecca Brower – Stage designer who worked on the opening and closing ceremonies for the London 2012 Olympics

The show will be a visual journey through the eyes of Miami Band, celebrating them for everything they’ve accomplished. The event will take place from September 28th to October 2nd and tickets will start from 25KD. Tickets go on sale tomorrow on The Arena website.