Search: “kuwait”

Arby’s in Kuwait closed down a couple of years ago but it looks like it might be coming back. The previous Head of Food & Beverage for the Emirati company Majid Al Futtaim has just joined the company Inspire Brands and taken over the role of Director for International Business for the Middle East.

Inspire Brands is an American company and the owner and franchisor of Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Sonic Drive-In, Jimmy John’s, Rusty Taco, Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins.

I’m a huge Arby’s fan so hopefully this does mean it’s coming back. Also, it would be completely random if they opened Sonic here.

Thanks Moey

Looks like a fire broke out early this morning at the new Kuwait Airport terminal that’s currently under construction. Going by the videos and photos on Snapchat the fire looked pretty big.

The photo below was taken from the adjacent highway which helps show the scale of the fire. Hopefully nobody was injured.

The National Geographic Ultimate Explorer experience is now open in Assima Mall. It’s kind of a mix between a museum and entertainment park targeting children:

Designed to inspire children to become the next generation of scientists, engineers, astronauts, biologists, thinkers and explorers, National Geographic Ultimate Explorer blends augmented reality, virtual reality and 3D technology to create a fully immersive play-based learning experience for children between 5-12.

The Kuwait Ultimate Explorer is composed of 14 different experiences but as of this post, only 10 are open. The prices are the following:

Baby 0-2: Free
Toddler 3-4: KD6
Child: KD12
Adult: KD10

I didn’t go in so if you want a peek of whats inside, check out some of the tagged videos on Instagram. There is also a gift shop which you can visit without having to buy a ticket.

If you went to the Staged in Kuwait improv show this past weekend and you had a good time and want more of the same, this coming weekend they’ve got a comedy production called “Arms and the Man” taking place. Tickets are currently on sale and the good seats are quickly going. It’s playing for just two nights, Thursday and Friday, March 24 and 25th at the Kaifan Theater.

Support your community theater, for more information and to book tickets, click here.

The Palestinian Culture Center has been operating in Kuwait since the early 1970s. Every year they hold an exhibition with the aim to keep this vibrant culture alive and support underprivileged women and children in the camps. Starting today till Friday the center will be holding its heritage exhibition at the Sadu House.

The exhibit will have hand-stitched dresses, shawls, and cushions for sale, as well as handmade ceramics, books, and food aimed to preserve the Palestinian national identity and showcase how it adapts to modern times.

If you’re interested in passing by, here is the info:

Location: Sadu House
Date: Tuesday March 15th – Friday March 18 2022
Time: 10 am to 8 pm

They’re also on instagram @palestiniancc

If you’re planning to visit the Comic Festival Convention this year tickets are currently for sale on The Arena website. The event is taking place from March 29 to April 1st and they are currently selling a 4-day pass for KD20. On the actual COMFEST days, you can also purchase a 1-day pass for KD10 or you could cosplay and go in for free since there is free entry to cosplayers.

If you want to purchase a ticket, here is the link.

Note: The website has a bug where when you try to purchase a ticket the website turns Arabic with no option to switch back to English. So maybe have someone translate for you or use Google Translate.

Photo by @lensfoxq8

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. To mark the occasion tonight there is a musical event taking place at the French Institute’s garden that will feature some of the best female musicians and artists in Kuwait.

If you’re interested in an outdoor music event tonight, tickets are still on sale at Eventat.

The Staged in Kuwait improv comedy night is back for the first time in 2 years. They’re going to be performing at the AUS auditorium on March 18th with a brand new team and a brand new show. They’re my favorite local comedy troupe and if you haven’t been to one of their shows before you should definitely take this opportunity to do so.

Tickets went on sale yesterday and start at 7.5KD, for more information and to book a ticket, click here.

Fuddruckers was one of the first restaurants to pop up on the Gulf Road and was the go-to place for us teenagers back in the early 90s. Eventually, more restaurants started opening up in Kuwait which made Fuddruckers irrelevant until they eventually closed down. But last week I found out that they’re still alive on delivery platforms.

Fudds used to be known for their burgers and cookies and both are available to order. I’m not sure if they have a physical store or a ghost kitchen but according to Google Maps there is only one Fuddruckers location and it hasn’t been updated since 2019 so I’m assuming its closed. If you’re feeling nostalgic and order from them, let me know if their burgers are still any good.

If you’re looking to buy film or film cameras, Laqta is a local online store that has the largest collection I’ve seen so far in Kuwait. They have cameras starting from 15KD going all the way up to 246KD for a medium format Mamiya. They also have three kinds of 35mm film for sale as well as 120mm medium format film for sale.

Their instagram account is @allaqtaa but if you want to check out their full catalog then visit their website laqtafilmstore.com

Finally! Yesterday the government announced that if you’re fully vaccinated you no longer need to get a PCR test when coming back into Kuwait from travel. I’m flying out to Istanbul next where they also don’t require a PCR test on arrival so this is very cool news. It’s going to feel like normal travel pre-covid except for the masks!

Give is a local non-profit organization that aims to improve the process of donating. Their online platform connects donors with registered Kuwaiti charities in order to make it easier to discover what charitable projects are available and to donate to them all in one place.

The Give website lists different projects in various countries you could donate to not just Kuwait, so if you want to donate to a certain cause that’s not local, you can also do that. Locally as of this post, they have 33 different projects you could donate to ranging from snacks for low-income workers to sponsoring an orphan child. Navigating the various projects and finding one that is of interest to you is a very easy process, the whole experience actually is very simple and I really like that.

The process of donating once you find a cause is incredibly fast and more importantly, anonymous. You don’t need to create an account to donate, you don’t even need to give them your name or email address. It took me less than a minute from the moment I found a project I wanted to donate to till I checked out and finished paying. One thing to note is that Give charges a 500fils service fee when donating. They don’t explain what it’s for on their website, but I’m guessing it’s to fund the service. Update below

Give also have apps for both Apple and Android devices if that’s something you prefer. That way whenever you feel like donating you can just launch the app and find a project to donate to. I’m really impressed with the whole concept and I definitely recommend checking them out so visit their website give.org.kw

Update: Give made me aware that they do actually mention what the service fee but during the checkout process. I just didn’t notice it.

On Friday I visited the Liberation Tower for my first time ever after booking an appointment earlier in the week. I had booked a 4PM spot back when you could book a time slot, but decided to pass by at 2PM instead. The process to enter the tower was very simple. I parked in the underground parking across the street and then headed to the main tower entrance on the main road. There was a guy standing at the gate who was scanning the ticket QR code, he wasn’t checking the time slot just that you had an active QR code or not. Once I got through him I just needed to show my vaccination status to another counter and then was pointed in the direction of the elevator.

I’d never been to the Liberation Tower before so I was really excited to get to the top. I saw the tower being built as a kid, and as an adult I drive by it all the time so I was really looking forward to finally be able to go inside. Once I stepped out of the elevator onto the observation deck I was actually surprised, it looked nice. Because it’s an old government building I think I was just expecting it to look rundown but instead it was actually very clean and looked brand new. As part of this one month opening of the deck they had some vintage telecom and postal service related items on display but without any explanation or information. They also had an old phone booth which was cool and viewing binoculars spread out around the deck. It was very chill, I liked it.

When I posted photos of my experience on Instagram a lot of people messaged me to ask if it was worth visiting or not. That’s difficult to answer. My office in Hamra Tower was higher than the observation deck at Liberation Tower so you are’t going there because it’s the tallest structure in Kuwait. I think it’s one of those places worth visiting just because of what they are, an important Kuwaiti landmark.

To book tickets you can do so by visiting LiberationTower.com but like I mentioned in my previous post you’ll get a “Sold out” error if you do so. Instead, you need to get tickets through the loophole I found which is by booking through this page. People who booked through that page have confirmed they were able to visit the Liberation Tower at the day and time of their choosing and were let in without any issues. Just make sure you have a QR code for every person in your group.

Kuwait will ban a new film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s whodunnit “Death on the Nile” with a cast of Hollywood stars including Israeli actress Gal Gadot, authorities said Sunday. Source

Can someone with free time on their hands get the domain bannedinkuwait.com and just start listing all the things banned here so we can keep track? Thx.

This past weekend there was a lot of drama surrounding a women’s only yoga trip to the desert that was banned for being a danger to society. The irony is that last week Saudi Arabia held their first yoga festival (pictured above) which attracted over 1,000 people.

Do you remember the days when things got really bad here we’d think “at least we’re not in Saudi”? Do you think Saudis now think “at least we’re not in Kuwait” when they go through a rough patch?

One thing I’m really appreciating though is how vocal everyone is on social media whenever they see something wrong. When I first started blogging, there was no Instagram, there was no Snapchat and there was no Twitter. There weren’t that many blogs either and so I always felt that it was my job to bring to light issues which brought on a lot of hate from readers who felt because I wasn’t Kuwaiti, I had no say in anything. But now, because of the popularity of social media, I no longer have to carry that burden on my shoulders.