The Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah Causeway Bridge is going to be closed for cars and open for cyclists every Friday from 7AM to 10AM. I heard the Kuwait Olympic Committee pushed for this decision after a cyclist got hit by a car on the bridge and passed away. From some of the comments I read on instagram, car guys obviously aren’t too happy with this decision since Friday morning is when a lot of car groups and bike groups gather for drives and the bridge was a popular destination (no idea why since it’s a really boring drive). I have noticed cyclists have been getting a lot of support lately, Kuwait Motor Town, for example, is also open to cyclists every Saturday from 7AM to 9AM and every Tuesday from 4PM to 8PM.
Personally I think the fact that they need to close off a whole bridge so that cyclists have a safe place to ride their bicycles shows how dangerous roads are in Kuwait. I think they should have taken cyclists and pedestrians into consideration when designing the bridge in the first place and created a separate closed off lane for them. But then again, that’s probably asking too much when sidewalks and pedestrian safety aren’t even an important thing here.
The 2020 Asian Men’s Handball Championship is taking place in Kuwait right now at the newly opened Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Sport Hall Complex. If it wasn’t for an email from one of my readers I wouldn’t have known this stadium existed or that the handball championship was taking place in Kuwait.
You’d think with an event this big there would at least be outdoor ads, sponsored Instagram posts or anything really. In the video above the stadium is basically empty.
I haven’t had the chance to pass by and check it out but I’ve been told tickets are free and it’s first come first serve.
Last week I went to Saudi for the first time ever and I spent a couple of days in Riyadh. I’ve got mixed feelings about the city, well not really mixed feelings but more like I don’t understand it. On one hand, you had MDL Beast, the largest electronic music festival in the region take place there, but on the other hand, from what I saw it still looks and feels like such a conservative city. It’s like both extremes are living side by side together and it’s very hard to process.
Getting a visa for Saudi is super simple right now. I actually totally forgot to apply for a visa and only remembered the evening before my flight but they now have an evisa website and even though I applied at 8PM, I got an approval less than an hour later for a 1-year multi-entry visa. I was relieved but also shocked since last year when I wanted to get a visa I had to get an invitation from someone in Saudi, and then was told I had to visit the embassy in Kuwait to apply for it and even then there was no guarantee I’d get a visa due to some political drama that was happening between Saudi and Canada.
The process of entering Saudi was also super easy. Once I landed in Riyadh and got out of the plane I followed a floor sticker towards a visa on arrival desk right outside the gate. There I handed my passport over to a lady behind the desk who finished up my visa process and stamped my passport. I then headed to passport control and I guess this whole process is super new because they were trying to re-enter me into the system again not knowing I was already in the system. They kept getting an error and then they noticed my passport was already stamped and were surprised since they didn’t know that they were stamping passports at the visa desks next to the gates. After multiple apologies for the delay (they were super friendly and apologizing the whole time throughout the process) I was let through.
Visually Riyadh isn’t a very beautiful city, well, most of it at least. The city is very beige and looks pretty old from what I saw. I can’t remember seeing any greenery in the city unless it was in the park and the only area the looked modern with beautiful skyscrapers was the King Abdullah Financial District that’s still under construction (pictured above). But, you still had some really beautiful buildings or projects in between all this which created a stark contrast. The way I was describing Riyadh to my friends was it either looked like Mahboula, or it looked like Dubai. Their roads are also in a worse state than ours but that’s mostly because the whole city is one large construction site right now because of the metro expansion and all the various large projects.
Because it’s Riyadh Season right now, they have some incredible things going on in the city. I went for dinner in Al Murabba (square) which is a huge historical area with old buildings and a large park that is temporarily occupied by some of the world’s finest restaurants like New York’s Dirty French and Carbone, and London’s Dinings SW3. All pop-ups but built to look like permanent structures. Once you pull up to the main gate of Al Murabba you are greeted by an army of Saudi hosts and hostesses standing on both sides of a long walkway into the park. Super fancy, incredible service and everyone is just extremely friendly. It felt like I was attending a fancy one-night affair but this is how it is every night. Actually everywhere I went the service was really great, customer service is something they take very seriously over there.
So yeah, right now Saudi is a very odd place with a mixture of two extreme lifestyles. While there I didn’t hear anybody complain about what’s going on even though I heard mumblings about alcohol being legalized soon. I think the conservatives might be fine with it all of it for now as long as it doesn’t affect them. Or maybe because things are happening so fast they haven’t had time to react. Whatever the case, it’s all gotten me very curious and interested in Saudi and now that I have a multi-entry visa, I’m going to be heading there more often, maybe even do a road trip. A friend who lives in Dubai messaged me last night telling me to meet him in Saudi this coming weekend for the Jamiroquai concert. Saudi in less than a year has become a regional destination.
Originally the first phase of the metro was meant to be completed 2020 but that’s obviously not happening since work hasn’t even begun. But now according to Kuwait Times, there is a new updated plan for the metro network:
The Metropolitan Rapid Transit System Project (KMRT) will be built over five phases stretching over 160 kilometers, and will have 68 stations along three lines, according to the plan. The first phase of the project includes a railway stretching 50 kilometers from Kuwait City to Kuwait International Airport, with 27 new stations, 30 percent of which will be underground with two underground stations, heavy duty maintenance warehouse. The first phase will cover areas in several governorates and include nine stations within Kuwait’s business center. Source
If you’ve never been to the Red Palace (or Red Fort) in Jahra then you should really check it out. Back in 2013 I went to Jahra for the first time and made a fun day out of it and I decided to do it again last week with a friend who themselves hadn’t been to Jahra before.
We started off by having lunch at the Kuwaiti restaurant The Seventies. It’s located next to a bunch of interesting things which makes it a great spot to visit first. Right next door to it is an artificial lake with swan paddle boats, the largest City Center I’ve seen (reminded me of Walmart), and there’s an amusement park that used to be called The 99 Village after the comic books.
After we were done killing time in this area we headed to the Red Palace which opens at 4:30PM. There is plenty of parking inside the Red Palace grounds and we were the only ones there except for this one security guard. Once we parked we told him we wanted to go inside to check out the palace and he unlocked the main gate for us and then all the little rooms inside.
The Red Palace was the site of the Battle of Jahra in 1920 between Kuwaiti and Saudi forces and so is a historical site. If you go with very little expectations the place is actually a really great place to check out. There isn’t a lot inside, there are four rooms which each sharing a subject relating to the Kuwaiti past but the real fun is walking around the palace, exploring the grounds, and taking pictures. The sky was beautiful and the sun was setting as we got there so I ended up getting some great shots.
Going all the way to Jahra just to check out the Red Palace might not be worth it alone, but when you combine it with a bunch of other activities it’s actually really fun. Entrance is free and they’re open from Monday to Saturday from 8:30AM to 12:30PM and then again from 4:30PM to 8:30PM. On Fridays they only open in the afternoons from 4:30PM to 8:30PM. Here is their location on Google Maps.
Last month I posted about Bolt electric scooters being sold in Kuwait but over the weekend I found out that there’s a better quality scooter available for sale, the Ninebot Kickscooter by Segway. The Future store in Avenues Phase II has the entry-level Segway ES1 for sale but are asking KD280 for it which is too much. The same scooter is being sold for around 135KD on Amazon and even with shipping and customs, it would probably won’t be more than KD180. But, I guess if you want to buy a scooter like right now this second and can’t wait, this Segway is probably the best scooter brand you can get in Kuwait.
Kuwaiti budget carrier Jazeera Airways has revealed plans to move to an all-economy fleet configuration with the launch of three new fare categories from January 8.
The move to economy will apply to all routes, except flights to Cairo, while the three categories include Economy Class: Light, Value and Extra. Source
Business class on Jazeera Airways never made sense anyway since they were the exact same seats as economy, just sold at double the price.
Faisal Al-Kharafi goes by the instagram handle @porsche_collector and has one of the rarest Porsche collections in the world. His instagram account has over 200,000 followers and his home garage is inspired by Iron Man. Dennis Collins (from the TV series Fast N’ Loud) was in Kuwait back in 2015 for the Kuwait Concours d’Elegance and while here he got a tour of Faisal’s garage which you can watch above. Since 2015 Faisal has added more porsches to his collection which you can check out on his instagram account.
While in Kuwait Dennis also shot some other episodes including the one below which is a tour of another garage, not sure who’s garage but it has two mint condition Rambo-Lambo’s and a red hot Countach! If anyone know’s who’s garage that is let me know and hook me up with a tour!
Nick Ingman is an English arranger, composer and conductor who’s worked with a lot of musicians including Blur, Oasis, Madonna, Elton John and even worked with Radiohead on ‘OK Computer‘ which is one of my favorite albums ever. I hadn’t heard of Nick until a few days ago when a reader made me aware that his 1976 album ‘Terminator’ used the Kuwait Water Towers on the cover. Since it was released around the same time the water towers were completed, this might have been the first time the water towers were ever used in an artwork.
I found three copies of this record on eBay, I just bought one and so there are two more left if you’re interested in picking one up.
Someone on Reddit noticed that Murouj have an “I ❤️ Kuwait” message written on top of one of the roofs. Not sure if you can see it from a plane as you’re landing or leaving Kuwait, but it shows clearly when you view Murouj on Google Maps.
I wonder if there are any other secret messages around Kuwait?
Lebanese composer and songwriter Rene Bendali has died at the age of 70 in the city of Tripoli, in northern Lebanon.
Bendali shot to fame in the late 1970s and 1980s for performing with his family as a band called The Bendali Family, who were behind songs such as the hit Do You Love Me. Source
I had posted the video “Do You Love Me?” on my blog back in 2007 because it had been shot in Kuwait in 1978. The song and video quickly went viral but I never really researched it more or anything until now. I just found more information about the song and video in the comments here and I copy-pasted it below:
First of all, this was shot using 16mm in front of the kourniche of the Kuwait-Sheraton in exactly August, 1978, but was only made to be featured as a ‘publicity’ shot on film for a Kuwaiti T.V. programme interview with the band (eleven sisters and brothers showcased in a double concert there at the Public Kuwaiti Theatre and a local cinema).
There are snippets and clippettes of this rare, one-hour long interview on YouTube with actress-turned-singer-turned-actress-again S’oaud Al-Abdallah doing the staccato interview with the cheery family who wore velvet uniforms. Kuwaitis were wealthy enough at that time to invite anyone they could ever think of (including at one time, the American disco band Boney-M who allegedly turned into Islam there), and so the Bendalis were in hot demand in that wealthy-beyond-words oil-tick nation.
So, basically the song ‘Do You Love Me?’ wasn’t made in that same year only because that video was shot in the same year: it was a very popular — and energetic — concert-opener ‘medley’, non-song of Roger Bendali’s composition using a 70’s pop hit (Can’t help think of the original artist for the Englizi intro, but it should be The Tremeloes? Someone with time and interest enough better check into that). Contrary to what many believe, René Bendali did not compose nor write the words for the song — He just sang it.
The first recorded version of this song was featured as a medley in their Sgt. Pepper-like T.V. musical show (I was lucky to have watched it when I was still a kid), called ‘Kamera 77’: the show had all the band’s members (rumoured to include even cousins at one point in the show, plus their mother and father). Kamera 77 was really a hit with almost all Arabic nascent ‘colour’ televisions at that time and it sold very well, to the extent that the Bandalis (or Bendalis/Bendaly Family, or in Lebanese-Arabic A’ailit Bandalee), became trully a house-hold name, and oddly enough… still are.
As for the song itself, this medley was put to record in 1976 and it featured only Roger, but then again it’s found its way into many albums and records released by the band (and, later by the Kuwaiti label Al-Naza’aer), and some three different concert versions like the one used here by DJ Dub Snakker still exist. René Bendali is cited here as the originator of the song in 1963, which is very offtrack and wrong. Well, back in 1963 most of the band’s members weren’t even born, for crying out loud.
I couldn’t find the full interview on YouTube but I did find this short clip. If anyone has the link to the full interview please share it below!
Below is also a video I found of their performance in Kuwait. The video says 1979 but I think it’s actually 1978.
A lot of people have been asking me if there are any fireworks happening this year on New Year’s eve. I haven’t heard of anything happening at the Kuwait Towers but Al Kout will have a fireworks show this year. They had one last year and I heard mixed feedback about it but I guess something is better than nothing.
Early this year Kuwait Motor Town (KMT) opened up and started offering track day experiences where drivers can sign up to race their cars around the circuit for fun. It’s a great way to drive your car to its limit while in a safe environment. But if you’ve never taken part in a track day before, it can be a bit intimidating which is why I thought I’d put together a guide. I was lucky enough to have friends who’ve been taking part in track days for years (mostly in Bahrain) so my first time was easier than most. I’ve divided this post up into different sections which I felt were important to highlight:
Registration
KMT usually hosts around 3 to 4 open track car experiences every month during the winter season. They also hold motocross, drag, drift and ATV track experiences as well but I’ll only be talking about the car track days in this post. There are usually around 70-80 car slots available every track day and they fill up really fast as in the same day registration opens up. For example, this past Sunday night KMT opened up registration for January track days and they’re sold out already, two of the days sold out on the same night. The track day fee is KD75 and when new days are available, KMT publishes them on their Instagram account. They sell out so fast its become a habit for me and my friends to book all the days first and then think about it. So the best way to find out when new track days are open is by following @kmtkw on instagram.
Your Car
There are no limitations to what kind of car you can bring to a track day experience as long as its not a single-seater, open-wheel car, or SUV. But, if your car isn’t a sports car I can’t imagine it being any fun anyway. The reality is that everyone on the track is trying to go as fast as possible and if you show up in a 4-door Corolla you’re going to feel very uncomfortable and pressured on the track.
The majority of the cars at the track are usually Porsches. They’re generally great because they can be driven as daily cars while also performing really well on the track. I’ve got a Lotus which I think is great on the track but more importantly, because of its weight doesn’t go through tires and brake pads like there is no tomorrow. It makes tracking a lot more affordable. Because my car was meant to be tracked, I can also stay out a full session on the track without my brakes fading or my car overheating. American cars, on the other hand, don’t tend to do so well on the track, they’re generally fast on straights but don’t handle turns so well and they don’t last very long on the track without having to pit.
KMT is located off of highway 40. I tend to drive my car to the track and back without any issues but I know some guys who prefer to send their car to the track on trailer beds because they aren’t comfortable with the road conditions.
Once you get your car to the track it will have to go through scrutineering. They’ll make sure your car is safe to go on the track and once it passes their checks, they’ll give your a car a track pass. Make sure you don’t have any junk in your car. You’re going to have to empty all the loose items from your car and trunk or else it’s going to be flying around everywhere. You also need to have a tow hook installed to the front and they’ve recently started checking the condition of the tires including the age to make sure they’re in good shape.
Things to Bring with You to the Track
A helmet really is the only thing you need to bring and if you don’t have one, you can rent one at the track. I think the cost for rental is 20 or 25KD but you also need to leave a deposit of around KD75. For food and drinks there is a Starbucks and a Costa at the track as well as a burger place and a dessert place. You can bring your own food and water if you want as well. Some extra things I bring include lip balm, gum, my GoPro and some basic tools (ie. ducktape).
Once You Arrive
When you get to the track you’ll take your car to the scrutineering area first and park your car there. You then enter the building to right of that area and get your registration sticker and wristband. You would have to have already registered and purchased an entry to the track day online beforehand. Registration on the day of the event just involves you signing a waiver and collecting your passes. Once you get your pass you then go back to your car and wait for the scrutineering crew to check your car. After that is done you will be allowed to enter the pit lane.
Drivers are split into two groups, A and B. There isn’t a specific formula from my understanding, it’s not like one group is faster or has more experienced drivers, drivers are just split up randomly. Once you enter the pit lane you can park in any of the empty garages corresponding to your group letter. Once you park your car you can then set up your base for the day. You can empty your car contents and leave your stuff in that garage while you’re out on the track.
Briefing Session and Lead and Follow Laps
Before the track opens up a briefing session is held which is mandatory for every driver to attend. During the briefing session, they will discuss the track rules, explain what all the different colored flags on the side of the track mean and share tips and pointers. This is a good time to ask any questions as well.
After the briefing session, there will be lead and follow laps on the track. This is for drivers to familiarize themselves with the circuit by following a lead car around the track. Nobody is really speeding or racing here, it’s just a fast-paced drive around the track while following the cars in front of you.
On the Track
After the lead and follow sessions are done, the different groups are let out onto the track in 30 minute intervals. So for example, 4PM to 4:30PM is for Group A cars, then 4:30PM to 5PM is Group B, then it’s Group A again, then Group B etc. Although it doesn’t sound like much, 30 minutes is more than enough track time and a lot of the cars can’t really even stay out that long without coming into the pits to cool down.
Out on the track, it can be intimidating with everyone driving as if they’re racing for the championship but as long as you give way to faster moving cars you’ll be fine. Generally, you’re not meant to overtake on turns only on straights so if you see a car behind you that’s faster than you, move out of the way and let them pass.
The more you track the better you will get. One way of improving your driving is by having a more experienced driver sit next to you. In my case, I have friends who are really good drivers and every now and then I’ll have them hop in the car with me and give me tips like in the video above where I was able to shave off around 2 seconds from my fastest lap just by having my friend give me pointers. After that session I understood my weaknesses better and the following track day I improved on my driving even more and managed to break the 2 minute barrier (video below). If you don’t have a friend who can give you tips thats also not an issue. Lotus are sponsoring all the track days this season and they usually have two cars available to drive on the track with a professional driver.
Fuel
Depending on your car you might need to refuel often. There is a small fuel station at the end of the pitlane with Ultra 98 fuel. They only take cash, no Knet. Some guys bring their own fuel to the track that is also ok.
Off the Track
You don’t need to go out on the track every session, you don’t need to start at the beginning of the session either, once it’s your group’s turn you can go out onto the track at any time. It’s a very chill atmosphere, even in the pit garages, everyone is just hanging out. Me and my friends bring our own chairs to sit on while waiting for our next session and I’ve seen guys set up a cozy diwaniya as well. Not everyone there is in groups, you have a lot of guys who come alone so its easy to socialize. There aren’t that many female drivers, there is one whos there at every track day but the other girls I’ve seen at the track are there with their husbands or boyfriends and either chill in the pits or go out onto the track as a passenger.
Any Questions?
So that’s basically it really. I can’t think of anything else to add to the above but in case you have any questions just let me know in the comments below.
For the first time in Kuwait, Teatro alla Scala Ballet Company will perform Giselle. Teatro alla Scala is the oldest and one of the most renowned and prestigious ballet companies in the world. The romantic and tragic ballet Giselle will be performed by the world’s top 100 dancers. The story of Giselle is about a young and beautiful peasant who falls in love with a peasant, Loys, only to find out that he is a duke and is engaged to someone else.
