Virgin originally opened in Kuwait back in 2002 and was the second-largest Virgin store in the world at the time. They had books, music, movies and electronics but it eventually had a lot of music and movies banned and then slowly started shrinking in size until the store no longer existed. But now it’s back.
The new Virgin recently opened in Avenues and it doesn’t have any books or music this time around. Instead, it’s more of an electronics shop selling items like phone accessories, headphones, portable speakers, drones and random trinkets. They have a small gaming section and a large selection of Crosley record players but they don’t sell any records.
The Virgin in Dubai Mall is actually a cool place with so many different things on sale which makes you at the very least want to walk through the store. The one in Kuwait on the other hand, at this stage, doesn’t seem to have the same allure. In any case, it’s worth checking out if you’re in Avenues, they’re open in phase 2 near Carrefour.
Update: Turns out they actually have a tiny book section.
While on vacation I read an article that said expats who were in countries with high rates of the coronavirus like Thailand and Italy wouldn’t be allowed back into Kuwait while Kuwaitis would be quarantined either at home or at a government chosen location depending on which country they would be arriving from.
It got me really worried since it meant if while in Tbilisi a large outbreak occurs, I might not be able to get back into Kuwait.
Yesterday a friend was telling me it happened to her expat friend who was in Italy on vacation. He wasn’t allowed to get on the plane back home to Kuwait. I know everyone is freaked out about the coronavirus but I really think this is unfair since a lot of people like me count Kuwait as our home. If it was me in Italy and I wasn’t able to hop on a plane back here I wouldn’t know what I would do or where I would go.
Over the holidays 360 Mall opened up their new extension which is located in the same building as the new Tennis Complex. The extension has it’s own parking lot but you could also continue to park in the old 360 and then cross over via a long bridge that connects the two buildings.
There are a few new brands in the extension including the sneaker stores Dropkick and FILA. Lakeland is also back in Kuwait after previously closing down its locations in Marina Mall and Avenues. My two favorite breakfast spots Lunchroom and Cocoa Room are also both opening up in the new extension soon. It’s not that big of an extension but it’s still worth passing by to check out.
I just got back from my Tbilisi trip yesterday. I wasn’t expecting to disappear like this, I figured I’d lazy post while I was on vacation but I really needed to disconnect from work and my blog for at least a week and it felt great to do so. I continued to post on my instagram story since it gave me a reason to try and take some nice photos on my trip but other than that I really wanted to disappear.
I’m so glad to be back in Kuwait though. The whole Corona thing blew up while I was out and after the whole Iran outbreak thing I got freaked out. Not because I was afraid of getting the virus but afraid of being locked out of Kuwait. I read an article that said that they were stopping all flights from Iran and that Kuwaitis would be evacuated and quarantined on arrival while expats would be refused entry. So the whole trip I was worried Georgia would suddenly develop a mass Corona outbreak and I wouldn’t be allowed back into Kuwait and then where would I go?
For those of you out of Kuwait or for those of you wondering what the entry process at the airport is like right now, it’s pretty much similar to how it was a few weeks ago. As in there is a doctor with a thermal camera that scans every arriving visitor. Children and babies would have their temperature measured individually, I’m guessing because the thermal camera doesn’t work well on them? Whats really changed though is the mood of everyone. You can clearly tell everyone is now afraid of getting the virus from passengers to the passport control employees. A lot of people were wearing masks and my passport control lady even wore disposable gloves (which is probably more useful than masks).
When I got up to the passport control desk I was asked to place my finger on the fingerprint scanner and that’s probably the only time on my whole trip I got freaked out about getting the virus. I looked at the officer and was like do I really need to put my finger there? She said yeah so I put my finger on it and got it scanned. Thankfully once I was done she got her bottle of hand sanitizer and squirted it in my hands so I could disinfect it.
Anyway, I’m back now and catching up on stuff so I could start posting normally again starting Sunday. I noticed a lot of events have gotten postponed which is a smart thing to do for now. Some of the events that have gotten postponed include COMFEST, Redbull Car Park Drift and all the Kuwait Motor Town activities. I’m assuming things are gonna be pretty slow for the next two weeks or so…
I knew we had at least one automated parking facility in Kuwait (at The Palms) but I didn’t know we also had the largest one in the world. The parking lot of Al-Jahra Court Complex is fully automated and provides 2,314 parking spaces.
The automated parking facility provides 3 times as many car parking spaces as it would in a regular car park of the same volume – and only takes around 177 seconds for car retrieval (source). If you want to see how it works watch the short video on top. Pretty random tidbit for you guys today.
Last May, I was lucky enough to be invited on a private tour of the new Al Salam Palace Museum which was recently restored. The museum was expected to open end of last year but I guess due to some delays it just opened now.
Al Salam Palace was built in the late 1950s and was used to accommodate visiting heads of state. During the 1990 invasion, the palace was completely destroyed and stayed abandoned for years until the restoration project started back in 2013 to turn it into a museum. The palace is located right next to JACC and consists of three main museums:
Museum of Kuwait’s History through its Rulers
Museum of Al Salam Palace History
Museum of the Civilizations that inhabited Kuwait
You can only get a tour of the museum and there are two kinds right now:
Standard Tour (English or Arabic)
Duration: 120 minutes
Cost: KD8
VIP Tour (Arabic)
Duration: 60-120 minutes
Cost: KD20
The Al Salam Palace website is up right now with more information and booking options, you can check it out at aspm.com.kw. You can also follow them on isntagram @aspm.kw
I haven’t been this excited about a new place opening up in quite a bit but last night I passed by Smash Hub and I had a blast. So much fun that I’m actually headed back there tonight again.
Smash Hub houses two games:
Smash Therapy
This is why I basically dropped by. Their Smash Therapy section is composed of two rooms where you go into and destroy stuff. You have different packages you can choose from, I ended up choosing the Troublemaker in which they provided me with 12 glass cups and 1 electronic item to smash. I could choose between a receiver or printer and ended up going with the printer. You can also destroy other items like a TV but at an additional cost. Once you select your items they set it up in the room and provide you with disposable overalls and protective gear to wear. You also get to choose two weapons of choice, I ended up going with a sledgehammer and a baseball bat. I was tempted to go with an axe but figured with my clumsiness I might not leave the room in one piece. Finally, I also got to choose my on smash playlist which was a nice surprise. I didn’t have much time to think but I think I made the right choices:
Once inside the room they take you through some basic rules and then leave you to it. I have to say, this was so insanely fun. It didn’t take long to smash 12 glass cups and a printer, in fact, I didn’t even get past my first song on the playlist, but damn it was fun. After I was done I told the guys they should create a monthly membership package since I’d love to drop by once a week just to vent out on a flatscreen TV. Below is a video I shot of the guy before me smashing some glass cups. Even smashing something so small and fragile like a glass cup was fun. I also have a short video of the guy smashing a TV with an axe, it’s a vertical video though and you can watch that here.
Axe Throwing
The other activity Smash Hub offers is axe throwing. I was just very recently having a conversation about this with a friend since it’s an activity thats gaining popularity in the States right now and I was telling them someone should bring it to Kuwait. Well it’s here now. It’s similar to throwing darts except you throw an axe.
I tried it out and it wasn’t as much fun as smashing a printer, but maybe if you’re with a group of friends it’s more enjoyable. Also maybe with lots of beer and loud music.
So lets talk prices. They currently have launch prices which are as follows:
Smash’n’nGo: 6KD for a dozen glassware or a dozen axe throws
Specials:
Smash Special (for 2 people): 35kd = Therapy Box + Smaxe (50% off yard sale)
Smash Hero: Hit Bullseye 3x in a row = Free TV (valid when purchasing a Therapy pack)
Yard Sale:
Glass pack = 5KD
Small electronic = 10KD (receiver/printer)
Glass panel = 10kd
TV = 20KD
I went with the Troublemaker and Axe Pack so my total came out to KD20. In hindsight, I would have taken the Troublemaker pack and added a TV to it for an additional 20KD. And maybe a glass pack on top of that as well. In case you want to bring your own items to smash you can, but they would have to approve it first.
If you want to try out Smash Hub they’re located inside Sirbb Circuit in Shuwaikh (go all the way to the left once you walk in). They’re open daily from 6PM to 10PM and you can check them out on instagram @smashhubkw
A bunch of these new enclosed pedestrian bridges have popped up around Kuwait and although they had been completed for some time, they remained closed and non-operational until recently.
There isn’t really much to see inside, instead of regular stairs you have escalators to take you up and down and the bridge is air conditioning for the summer.
I’m not really sure why we need air-conditioned bridges since if I’m using it in the summmer, it’s because I got there walking in the heat in the first place. I guess a cool down area or maybe to entice people to use it instead of crossing the street under the bridge? Not sure…
The picture above is my original computer setup when I started blogging back in 2003. I’m trying to remember why I had both a Mac and a PC setup but I can’t seem to figure it out.
I’ve got a pretty organized digital photo archive that dates back to the 90s when I first started scanning pictures, and so it’s fairly easy for me to pull up an old photo from a specific time period. I love digging up old photos since it’s always fascinating to see what kind of tech I had back then since I was fairly geeky. The photo above was my portable set up back then, my 12inch Apple iBook, a Sony Ericsson T68i phone and a Palm Tungsten T personal digital assistant (PDA).
I also found the photo above from the same time period but featured my Sony CLIÉ PDA, my original Apple iPod with a Firewire port, my iOGEAR Bluetooth to USB adapter and my T68i phone again. The Bluetooth adapter allowed me to connect my laptop to my phone to get online, something unheard of back then but ordinary today. The photo below is when I first sucessfuly got online from my laptop using my phone’s internet. I remember I took this shot parked near the Kuwait Towers, the date of the photo is February 18th, 2003 which is 12 days after my first blog post ever.
I have zero loyalty when it comes to mail forwarding services and I’ll flip flop between Shop & Ship, MyBox and MyUS without hesitation. They’ve all got issues and end of the day all I care about is getting my items to Kuwait at the most reasonable rate possible. I know Shop & Ship gets a lot of hate here but I have a nostalgic connection to the brand since I was one of their first customers 20 years ago. But, for the past few years, I had been using MyBox for all my US and UK shopping since they were cheaper than Shop & Ship. But recently I moved back over to Shop & Ship because of their FLEX membership program and because MyBox was starting to get on my nerves.
One of the most annoying things about MyBox was the fact they would send me an SMS, email and app notification all at the same time whenever a package arrived to my mailbox, a package shipped from my mailbox or when a package was out for delivery. Three notifications at the same time and there wasn’t a way to stop it (from within my account at least). Another thing I found annoying was that every single time I logged into my account I would get a pop-up asking me to rate my experience. Every single time and I really really hate pop-ups. The final straw I think was when they most recently started charging 90$ a year for the option of consolidating packages. I thought that was too much to pay but it made me go back and take a look at the Shop & Ship FLEX program since that was only $45 a year. I ended up realizing that I could actually be saving money going with FLEX so I shifted all my shipping back to Shop & Ship.
FLEX has been around for a while now but I never signed up for it because I was happy using MyBox. The service costs $45 a year and has a number of benefits but the two most important ones for me were:
– You’d be charged in 100g increments instead of 500g increments
– You’d get a 20% discount on shipments weighing over 3KG
The 100g increments thing is obviously useful but the 20% discount on heavy items helped me out a lot recently since I was ordering a bunch of car parts for my Datsun 240z and they were mostly all over 3KG (pictured above). So far these two benefits combined have helped me save a bit of money compared to if I had shipped it with MyBox. For example:
13.4lbs
S&S Flex: 23.93 KWD
MyBox: 26.500 KWD
8.56lbs
S&S Flex: 15.69 KWD
MyBox: 16.500 KWD
1.88lbs
S&S Flex: 3.44 KWD
MyBox: 4.500 KWD
So not major savings but enough to justify signing up to FLEX and, I’ve actually already made back the $45 membership fee in savings this past month alone. So if you use Shop&Ship but haven’t signed up to FLEX then you should since you could be saving a lot of money. For more details on FLEX you can check out this page.
Arraya Complex in Kuwait City recently set up an EV parking spot. This is the third EV parking spot I’m aware of in Kuwait with the other two being in Al Shaheed Park and Al Hamra Tower. I like how electric vehicles are slowly gaining traction in Kuwait but for things to really speed up we need more electric cars to be sold in Kuwait. Right now the Chevrolet Bolt EV is the only electric car I’m aware of that’s being sold in Kuwait.
The Porsche Taycan EV (pictured above) just recently got released but I’m not sure if we’re getting it in Kuwait since you can’t even price or configure the car on the Porsche car configurator page. If the Taycan does get released in Kuwait then we’re definitely going to see a lot more electric cars on the street. And of course, if Tesla opens up a local dealership…
Last week I posted about the WhatsApp number which you could report traffic violations on. It didn’t really work with me but a few days later the Ministry of Interior published the video above. I guess I’ll have to give it another shot.
A few weeks ago a new restaurant opened up called ROTO which is based around the concept of a wood-fired rotisserie. The restaurant is owned by the guys behind Little Ruby’s and Chef Khaled Al Baker (@chefkb) whom I’ve previously posted about on the blog. I’m not generally a fan of rotisserie chicken but because Khaled is a friend of mine I decided to (translation: I had to) check the place out. Good thing I did because I’m now actually a huge fan of Roto.
I think the main reason for me not liking rotisserie chicken in the first place was because I only ever had it from those street side rotisserie places and I always found it too greasy plus I don’t like chicken on the bone. So when I told Chef KB that he assured me it would be a different experience, plus they serve the chicken off the bone so I didn’t have an excuse not to try it. Before even getting to the chicken though I have to say what I probably like most about Roto are the starters. Two things you need to have, his Burrata dish and the Corn Brûlée. I’ve literally gone to Roto just to have the corn brûlée, it’s that good!
The rotisserie chicken, on the other hand, tasted wayyy better than I was expecting it to. It definitely didn’t taste like a regular street side chicken and the ability to choose from a variety of different dipping sauces gives it an even greater appeal. Part of what makes the rotisserie taste so good is that it’s grilled in a Josper Rotisserie using wooden coal, so you end up with a nice crispy exterior, a juicy interior, and a slightly smokey flavor. But, what I liked even more was the pulled chicken sandwiches they have on the menu which have become my new favorite lunch thing. The Musahab panini with extra garlic sauce is my favorite one with the shawarma panini coming a close second.
Pricewise it’s fairly reasonable with the rotisserie chicken costing KD4.5, the musahab panini with fries KD3.5 and the corn brûlée for KD3. So a meal for two can cost around KD10 with drinks which is pretty good nowadays. Roto is located in Kuwait City in the new glass tower across the street from Crystal Tower [Google Maps]. They’re open from 1PM to 11PM and you can follow them on Instagram @ontheroto
Back in June McDonalds closed down their Gulf Road location but looks like they’re coming back again but in a new location. McDonalds will be taking over the old Ruby Tuesday location right next to the Kuwait Towers which I think is a better spot than their previous one. There’s a lot more parking and it’s right under the Kuwait Towers so it definitely has a better view.
No idea on when they’re opening but it would be safe to assume it would be sometime over the next few months.
