Search: “kuwait”

There are a lot of collectors in Kuwait but a lot fewer people willing to sell what they have. GTM Comics is the Instagram account for a local comic book and toy collector called Mishari AlReshaid who actually sells some of his stuff. He has vintage comics, action figures from the 80s, old lunch boxes from the 80s, some new release collectibles and a bunch of other things. You can check out his store on Instagram @gtmcomics_shop

There are still a few places that develop 35mm film in Kuwait (example) but film options available are really limited. CRATE (@bycrate) is a local online store that sells 35mm and 120mm film as well as some cameras (disposable and reusable).

Prices are expensive or reasonable depending on how you look at them. They sell the Lomography “Simple Use Film Camera 400” for KD10 which is more expensive than the Lomo website but cheaper than if you ordered it yourself. But then you have the 800T Cinetstill film for example which they’re selling for KD8 but costs KD4 online so slightly cheaper if you ordered it yourself. Want it now and don’t want to bother ordering the stuff online? Then you’re going to have to pay a bit of a “premium”.

If you’re interested in film, check out their website bycrate.com

Have you ever dined aboard a traditional wooden dhow? Now is your chance! Al Boom Steak & Seafood Restaurant opened brand new outdoor seating. It’s a whole new experience you should not miss. Al Boom Restaurant is located aboard a traditional wooden ship modeled after those that used to sail the Arabian Gulf and is “docked” at Radisson Blu Hotel, Kuwait.

The Head Chef of Al Boom Restaurant, Mukthar Alli, completely revised the menu that will take you on a tour around the world with dishes inspired by Indian, Arabic, European and American cuisines. The meat selection will surely please every meat lover as it includes prime cuts of Certified Angus Beef and Australian Wagyu. The seafood section includes shrimp, lobster, and various types of fish popular in Kuwait. All specials are charcoal-grilled to perfection – mmm… so tender and juicy.

Every Friday, Al Boom also opens for Al Boom Friday Brunch. Who doesn’t love to be outdoors around this time of the year? The deck of Al Boom is a perfect place to sit back, listen to the sound of the sea, and enjoy the lavish meal prepared by the skilled chefs of Radisson Blu Hotel. The brunch, served at your table, features impressive 21 dishes that include mezzes, salads, tapas, and of course freshly grilled specials. The Al Boom Brunch will make you go WOW! And all the dishes are snap-worthy, so get your camera ready.

The Al Boom Restaurant, built in Calicut, India in 1979, is an exact replica of dhows that used to sail the Arabian Sea until the start of the twentieth century. The ship arrived in Kuwait in 1980, right in time for the opening of the Radisson Blu Hotel, and Al Boom Restaurant first opened in 1982. The lavish wooden décor with touches of copper creates a truly unique nautical ambiance. Ever since its opening Al Boom has been visited by many famous guests throughout the years such as sheiks, presidents, and senators, and it has earned an esteemed reputation for its high-class hospitality. A meal here is an event you must experience.

Al Boom Steak & Seafood Restaurant
Radisson Blu Hotel

T: +965 2567 3430 | [email protected] | radissonhotels.com/blu

Opening Hours:
6–11 pm | Monday – Saturday
12–4 pm | Friday Brunch
Closed | Sunday

Last year, the government announced that expats over the age of 60 who have a secondary degree or below will have to leave the country. Supposedly this will help solve the demographic imbalance that has resulted in expats currently making up 70 percent of the population. A lot of people didn’t think this decision was that big of a deal and maybe I’m a bit guilty of that as well. But recently I started realizing who those people being forced to leave would be and now I’m pretty pissed about it.

What I didn’t realize or at least took time to realize is that just because you don’t have a college degree it doesn’t mean you don’t have any skill or experience.

A few weeks ago when I was shopping for a sound system I had such a great experience interacting with a salesman who knew his stuff. I hate dealing with salespeople usually because most don’t know what they’re talking about and are just trying to make a sale but this person I dealt with was an older guy with a lot of experience because he had been working in this field for a long time. I then found out he was going to have to leave this year because he was over 60 and they couldn’t renew his visa.

The video on top is a short piece by AlQabas TV on Souq Safafeer, the metal market in the city. If you ignore the fact that the reporter wasn’t wearing a mask and skip to minute 6 in the video, the reporter interviews a metalworker who’s been in Kuwait since the 50s and is now being forced to leave because of the new rule. He doesn’t have a college degree but he has a skill that we’re now losing.

And we’re going to be losing a lot more of these experienced and skilled people that don’t have any degrees. Could be your favorite barber or the best welder in your company, expats who have been working for a very long time and have become the best at what they do and now have to leave because they don’t have degrees.

Forget the fact that some people like the old metalworker in the video above has been living in Kuwait for nearly 60 years and now is being told he needs to start a new life somewhere else. That’s a messed up thing by itself but put that aside for now, how does it benefit Kuwait if we are kicking out the most skilled and experienced people? I don’t get it.

This post reminded me of the old photographer in the city who I posted about years ago. His story was slightly different, he moved to Kuwait in the 50s as a teenager after running away from an abusive father in Lebanon and had been living in Kuwait as a photographer ever since. He never left Kuwait, not even for a vacation. When I first met him he was having anxiety because his residency had expired and he had trouble reaching his sponsor and was worried he would have to leave the country. He was around 80 years old with no family, home, or anything outside of Kuwait. With this new rule, he would have been forced to leave. Totally messed up.

I actually liked this museum because it was old and had random things inside. Sadly doesn’t look like it’s going to reopen anytime soon and I wouldn’t be surprised if they demolished it so they can build something new and shiny. I’m trying to remember the last time I visited and it might have been 2004, back when I had Moblogging from Kuwait (before my Miskan blog, and I think before Qhate).

For more photos of the current condition of the museum, click here.

The first time I visited the camel races was back in 2013 and I posted a guide for anyone who wanted to experience it as well. Because it’s been awhile since I last went, I decided to pass by again and publish an updated guide.

This past Saturday I drove out to the Kuwait Camel Racing Club to see how much things have changed. I took my old Alfa because I recently replaced some parts on it and wanted a long trip just to make sure I installed everything correctly. The trip to the tracks took a bit less than an hour and didn’t feel like a long drive at all. Once I got to the tracks I noticed all the main gates were locked. For a second I thought they were closed but then I noticed SUV’s speeding across the desert in the distance and heading in the direction of the track, I figured there might be another entrance and drove in the direction they were all heading. Sure enough, there was a side gate open off the main road and I drove into the racing club.

Once I drove into the track I didn’t see any spectators, racers, employees or even any signs telling me where to go next. So I just started following other cars and ended up driving through another gate and onto a tarmac road adjacent to the race track. I then kept driving till I eventually ended up at the start line. You can watch the video above which shows you how to enter the tracks and get to the tarmac that takes you to the start line. If you don’t have an SUV you’ll be fine since I was able to get to the track in my Alfa.

If you want to watch the races there are two ways:

• The first way is you drive up to the start or finish line and park your car on the side and just watch the start or end of the races.

• The second way to watch the races is you drive around the track with the race as it’s taking place. There are four tracks technically, the main track for the camels to race on is a large wide dirt track surrounded by railings. To the right of the race track is a dirt track for the camel owners who drive next to their camels during the race to control the robot jockeys on the camels. To the left of the camel track are two paved roads also separated by railings, one for use by track employees and the camera vehicle, the second is for the spectators to drive alongside the camels during the race. I didn’t do that this past Saturday but I did do that the first time I went to the tracks and you can watch the video above to see how it looks (chaotic basically). The only difference now is the spectators road is paved instead of it being a dirt road like in the video. Back then you could also tune into FM 93.1mhz on the radio and listen to a live broadcast of the actual race as you drive around. I couldn’t test it this time since my Alfa doesn’t have a radio.

The races start at 1PM and last till 3 or 4PM depending on the week. They alternate between 8 races and 16 races a week, the more races the later they finish. This Saturday when I visited it was 8 races, 4 races with the large camels and 4 with smaller ones. The only difference between the two is the starting line shifts closer to the finish line for the smaller camels. Each race lasts around 15 minutes before the next one starts. They’re not that strict with timing, they basically wait till the races end and all the spectators drive back to the starting line before starting the next race. The races take place weekly starting in October and this year will end in the first week of March.

I definitely recommend you check the races out just don’t go with high expectations, it’s nothing fancy. If you have kids they’d probably enjoy seeing camels up close and you can get pretty close to the camels both at the start and finish line. If you want to visit the Kuwait Camel Racing Club, here is the link to Google Maps.

Teacher’s Cellar whom I posted about back in 2010 is closing down their location in Al Muthana Complex. The whole mall has turned into a ghost town and it’s pretty sad since I have a lot of great memories there as a kid. I really hope they don’t demolish it. Anyway, due to the fact they’re closing down the store, Teacher’s Cellar currently have a 75% discount on everything until January 21st.

So if you’ve got kids and are looking to get random things from books, to fun activities, science experiments, or even simple things like scratch & sniff stickers or magnetic alphabets, pass by them before they close down. @teacherscellarq8

Al Diwan Al Amiri released a preview video of the new Entertainment City and although I hate the fact they demolished the old one, I think I kinda like this one. I like it because they’ve combined a lot of different things into the place which might actually make it successful. Previously it was just an amusement park but the new version merges a mall, hotel, and sports stadium with the park as well as an aquarium and museum. The new Entertainment City is going to be now called “The City” and contain the following:

Outdoor Theme Park (6 theme zones)
Indoor Theme Park (Envisioned by Ubisoft)
Indoor Snow Park
Waterpark
Aquarium
Dolphinarium
Museum & Planetarium
High Street Retail
A Retail Mall
Luxury District (900+ rooms and apartments)
Icon Hotel (480+ luxury rooms)
Sports and Festival Arena (25,000+ spectators)

The only thing I really don’t like and should be changed is the dolphinarium. It’s 2021, we’re all much more aware and informed on how inhumane dolphinariums are. Even The Scientific Center canceled plans for their dolphinarium so not sure why we’re still trying to build one in Kuwait.

Other than that one issue I’m excited about this project. No completion date was shared in the presentation but going by their previous schedules, I wouldn’t be surprised if the first stage isn’t completed in around 2 years’ time.

Thanks @_M87

This has to be the largest sweets store in Kuwait, it’s the largest I’ve come across at least. World Sweets Center (مركز عالم الحلويات) is a sweets shop located in the Industrial part of Shuwaikh and it’s basically a supermarket just for sweets.

Its a popular place but I found it by chance when me and a couple of friends were in the area looking for something else and we decided to go in and check it out. They pretty much have everything from old school chocolates we grew up with to imported stuff you can only find in a few places.

If you want to stock up on chocolate it’s a pretty cool place to go to but also seems like a fun place to take kids to. They’re open from 10AM to 10PM and their Instagram account is @worldsweetscentre. And here is their location on Google Maps.

This is one of those posts meant for someone to find one day while googling. I had an issue with my Alfa Romeo’s starter last year and ended up buying a new one off the internet and shipping it to Kuwait. My starter broke down once again a couple of weeks ago but this time I found out about a place called Malek Al Dynamowat (King of Dynamos) in Shuwaikh that can repair them. It cost me only KD10 to fix mine compared to around 100KD I paid last year for a new one so a pretty good deal.

If you’re ever looking to fix your car’s starter or alternator, here is the location on Google Maps.

Over the weekend I passed by the brand new KTM showroom in Al-Rai. If you haven’t heard of KTM, they are an Austrian company that produces some of the best dirt bikes as well as the popular track car the X-Bow. Their new showroom is pretty big and composed of two floors as well as a service garage and spare parts area in the rear. They had a brand new white KTM X-Bow RR on display in the showroom (pictured above) selling for around KD41,000.

Other than KTM the new showroom also has Husqvarna and Gasgas motorbikes on display and they also had a large selection of Bell helmets for sale. For a full list of brands they carry click here.

If you’re interested in checking the place out they’re located in Al-Rai on the same strip as Jarir and right next to the newly opened Eureka. Here is the location on Google Maps.

McDonald’s is once again back on the Gulf Road after closing down their previous location back in 2019. Their new location is right next to the Kuwait Towers where Ruby Tuesday used to be and it’s huge. According to McDonald’s, the new Gulf Road location is the largest McDonald’s in the Middle East.

The new location is open 24/7 and you can check out more pictures on the McDonalds Kuwait Instagram account @mcdonaldskuwait

The Kuwait Municipality recently launched the Baladia 139 mobile application to report issues. Currently, the issues you can report are waste removal related but hopefully, they’ll add more categories soon or at least an “Other” section. This is what they have to say about the app:

Baladia 139 application is developed by Kuwait Municipality offering mobile users one more way to report selected issues to Kuwait Municipality.

With Baladia 139, reporting an issue is as easy as snapping a photo with your smartphone, adding detailed information and hitting submit. The location of your request will be automatically detected and sent to Kuwait Municipality, so a team can go and handle your request at the earliest.

The app offers the following service request categories:

• Garbage Removal
• Abandon Cars Removal
• Building Waste Removal
• Furniture Waste Removal

Feel free to submit and track the progress of your requests via Baladia 139 application.

If you’re on iOS you can download it here.
If you’re an Android user you can download it here.

Thanks Fahad

Over the weekend I picked up the brand new Porsche Taycan to review. I’ve been curious to try the Taycan ever since it launched because I think it’s the best looking fully electric car on the market right now by far (sorry Tesla owners). I was hoping the color combo of the test drive car was white exterior with a black interior similar to the launch photos, but the car I picked up was a metallic blue with a beige interior. Not the most exciting color combination and I was actually worried it would be difficult to shoot but the shots eventually came out great.

The Taycan is Porsche’s fully electric car. It’s not a hybrid, meaning, it doesn’t run on a combination of electricity and fuel, this is a 100% electric car similar to how Teslas are. My worry with electric cars always obviously is running out of power and being stuck on the side of the road. The Taycan fully charged has a range of over 400km, but when I picked up the car from the dealer, it only had a 77% charge. Kinda sucked cuz it didn’t help with the anxiety of running out of range. When reviewing cars I tend to put on a lot of mileage on the cars very quickly so I can get a proper experience with it. I had a whole day of errands to run and I wasn’t going to let a partially charged vehicle change that. So I decided I’d not focus too much on the range and just enjoy the car.

The interior felt very familiar right away because it still resembled a normal Porsche although all the buttons had been replaced by a large touch screen and the gauges were fully digital. There was a feeling of familiarity because it felt like a regular car and wasn’t stripped out like a Tesla where all the car controls moved to a tablet-like screen. The interior looked hi-tech with three displays, one in front of me where the analog gauges would usually be, a large screen in the center of the dash, and finally a large screen built into the center console which has all the controls. There is an extra option to add a passenger screen which I think would make the interior even more futuristic but the car I drove didn’t have it. I’m generally not a fan of touch screens for controls, but I wasn’t too bothered by the controls on the Taycan. The screen was large enough to make all the buttons big and easy to touch, plus there was haptic feedback so I could tell if I had pressed a button properly or not.

I started off by heading to Shuwaikh to quickly take some photos of the car in case I didn’t have time later that day but also so I could post some photos on my Instagram story. I then headed to Avenues for some Christmas shopping before heading to Bayan and different parts of Salmiya for some more errands. Anytime someone would message me on Instagram to ask me how the car was I had one response and that it was fast. The model I drove was the Taycan Turbo which does 0 to 100 in 3.2 seconds, that’s faster than my Lotus which is a difficult idea to grasp. It’s also not only fast 0 to 100, the car keeps acceleration effortlessly as long as you have your foot down on the power. One cool Porsche feature is the fake electric sound that you can get on the car. Electric cars don’t make sounds but for an extra KD150, Porsche will fit the car with the Electric Sport Sound option which adds a futuristic humming-like sound that makes the car sound like you’d expect an electric car to sound like in an 80s movie. It sounded super cool and I obviously had the option turned on all the time. I tried capturing the sound but didn’t have any luck but you could check out this video on YouTube if you want to hear it.

I ended up driving quite a bit of distance on the car, even headed over the Kuwait bay bridge to the other side to take some more photos of the car and by the time I had finished with the car and brought it back to the dealer, it still had around 28% battery left (120km range). I loved the car and if I was in the market for an electric car the Taycan would be an easy choice for me over the Tesla because of the looks alone. But, I wouldn’t go for the Turbo model which starts from KD47,300. Nobody needs a 4 door sedan to be that fast. Instead, I’d recommend the 4S model which starts from KD33,900. When I built my own car on the Porsche website with all the options I wanted the car came out to KD42,000 which is still way cheaper than the base Turbo model. So that would be my recommendation, get the Taycan 4S pimped out with all the options you want.

Big Ramy who started training at Oxygen Gym back in 2010 has become the new Mr. Olympia 2020 Champion. It’s such an incredible feat, basically, the equivalent of winning Miss Universe or the UEFA Championship, but in the bodybuilding world. When Arnold Schwarzenegger was bodybuilding his goal was to become the greatest bodybuilder in the world, that meant becoming Mr. Olympia. He eventually won it 7 times.

A few years ago I posted about how Kuwait was the new bodybuilding mecca of the World and Big Ramy just proved this to be true.

I was just thinking a couple of days ago on different people who started in Kuwait and gained worldwide success, the two people that came into my mind were @pinot and @nouriflayhan since I know them, but Big Ramy is now another local success story.