Back in February, the Ministry of Interior decided to cancel the use of residency stickers inside passports. Instead, you need to have a valid Civil ID card when traveling as a means of verifying your residency.
The name on the Civil ID card has to match your name in your passport or you’ll risk being denied travel in or out of Kuwait. But, having your name misspelled on the Civil ID is a pretty common issue and my previous post on how to fix your name constantly gets comments from people with similar issues.
But now the Ministry has issued a statement that they will no longer correct spellings at PACI but instead, all requests must now be made online. They even have a dedicated section now for misspellings.
So if you need to fix the spelling of your name on your Civil ID, click here.
McDonald’s on the Gulf Road has closed down after opening 25 years ago. This was the first McDonald’s to open in Kuwait back in June 1994 and I remember it made worldwide news because the drive-through line was over 11KM long that day.
Oddly enough just a few weeks ago I randomly found out that the wife of one of my friends was the first customer at the opening. Because she was the first in line, they told her she could host her birthday there for free which she did later on.
This huge mirrored concert hall was built in the middle of the Saudi desert for the “Winter at Tantoura” festival which ran from December 2018 to February of this year. It hosted a range of activities, including a celebration of the winter planting season, weekly cultural events, and musical performances from some of the world’s greatest musicians.
I’m kinda worried that Kuwait isn’t moving forward at a very fast pace.
Whenever I travel to smaller neighboring countries like Bahrain and Qatar I’m always impressed with what I see from everything like their infrastructure and skyscrapers to the cleanliness and organization. I was in Qatar last weekend and walking outside in a street wondering how the weather is so much cooler than Kuwait, turns out they had AC blasting from the floor. Crazy but it worked. And then, of course, you have UAE which is miles ahead of all of us.
But, no matter what, we always had comfort in knowing that at least we were better than Saudi. Now I feel we’re losing that as well. Not because of just one concert hall, but because of similar small and large scale projects. The country is also starting to loosen up. The WHITE “halal” nightclub in Jeddah turned out to be too much for them, but at least they tried. We’re all here looking forward to the new airport but I don’t think that’s going to be enough.
Just to be clear, this isn’t a rant so don’t start with the GTFO comments, I’m just thinking out loud here.
Back in 2016 I bought a 1973 Datsun 240z. I used to really love that car and fixed it up so I could daily drive it and I was doing so until I decided to buy my first Lotus. I ended up selling the 240Z to a friend of mine so I wouldn’t feel too guilty about spending so much money on the Lotus, and I always regretted it. What’s worse is that he offered to sell it back to me at the end of last year, but I said no because I was in between jobs and that wouldn’t have been the responsible thing to do. By the time I realized my mistake, the car was sold off to another friend of ours who sent it to Bahrain where it’s getting a full restoration job.
I really needed a classic car in my life and I tried to find something interesting locally but couldn’t, so I started looking outside of Kuwait. I eventually ended up finding a beautiful red 1970 Alfa Romeo GTV in Holland and bought it back in April. But that car is still in the process of getting registered for export in and then needs around a month to get to Kuwait. So while waiting for it I kept my eye open for a 240z and a couple of weeks ago I finally found a good one that was located in Sulaibiya. It was blue like my dad’s Datsun in the 70s, and the guy was asking a reasonable price for so I went and checked it out.
At first glance, the car didn’t look like much, and I think that’s what might have scared other buyers off. The seats were ripped, the interior had been fully carpeted by the owner covering up all the original diamond stitched vinyl that covers the interior, and the original engine was swapped out with a 280z engine. But, the dashboard with all the dials and knobs was super clean! It was in much better condition than the one in my older Datsun and it’s actually the most expensive thing to restore in the car. Everything else like the seat covers, interior vinyl trimming, carpets, plastic panels etc.. are readily available and not for much. But a new dashboard without any of the dials and different buttons on it? That would easily cost you a third of the price of the car. The whole dashboard and center console area looked like it was refurbished or swapped out with a new one by one of the previous owners, so I quickly realized this was the car to get. Even the fact that the engine was off a 280z was a good thing for me because it meant I could install air conditioning and more engine parts were available for it.
So now I’m a proud owner of a 1972 blue Datsun 240z. I spent the weekend ordering a whole bunch of parts for it and I already scheduled an appointment with my mechanic to start work on it. By the time I’m done it should hopefully look similar to the 240z pictured above which was featured on Petrolicious. I’m super excited!
This took long to implement but PayPal users in Kuwait can now finally withdraw money from their PayPal account. I haven’t tried this yet since my PayPal account is US based, but from what I gather, there is a KD1 charge for withdrawing the money which isn’t too bad. But, I also think they charge a 3.5% currency conversion fee but not really sure if I understood that part correctly.
In any case, if you have funds in your Kuwait based PayPal account and want to withdraw it then log in to your account, click on balance and then withdraw funds. You can then select the card you want PayPal to deposit the money into. Simple as that.
If you’re wondering why this is an important change its because there are a lot of people in Kuwait who sell things online and receive money with PayPal. They can now withdraw the money instead of having it accumulate in their PayPal account indefinitely.
This is going to be a fairly long post but trust me, if you love nostalgic Kuwait related posts you’re going to want to read this because it’s just so random and really interesting.
A couple of weeks ago I was over at the Australian ambassador’s house (Jonathan) who is a music buff and while there he showed me a record which he knew I’d be interested in. The album was called “Jazz, Jazz, Jazz” by a Sudanese band called The Scorpions & Saif Abu Bakr and inside there was an interview with the band members. Turns out the band used to perform in Kuwait back in the 70s at different venues including the Hilton Hotel, the Sheraton Hotel, and the Marriott Hotel. Check out the clipping below:
And can you tell me about your journey to Kuwait?
We went by ourselves and without visa but with the help of our friend Saif (who was also our singer during that stay). And we went there without instruments or anything. At the airport we arrived and waited for Saif to pick us up. Of course, they asked us at the airport for our visas and who we were, but we replied not to have any. Saif wanted to help us to get in, so he called the son of the Prince who liked our music. Saif and him were friends. Following, the son of the Prince came in person and said “These are my guests, give them visas”. This way, we entered the country and made a contract with the television. We went to the shops to buy instruments and from there straight to the TV. After getting paid by TV we went back to the shops to also pay the instruments. That was our first time in Kuwait. But we went once more. The second time we also had a contract with the Marriot Hotel; to us it looked like a ship. This time we had a visa and stayed for a long time. We had an organ player from Jordan and a guitar player from France.
That KTV performance is actually online and you can check it out below:
So this is where things get even cooler. I get all excited about this and start taking photos of the record album and posting them on my Instagram account. A couple of hours later I get a message from a follower saying:
This is so weird. Saif is a colleague of mine and seeing this and reading it, it just seems like it’s another dimension. We knew that he was a part of some band, we just didn’t know to what extent. Where can I get this record/Cd?
Saif was still in Kuwait?? I quickly shared the message with Jonathan who suggested we invite him to dinner. So I had Saif’s colleague talk to Saif and see if he would be interested to meet. I ended up getting his contact information and Jonathan set up the dinner for us.
Me with Saif
A few days later we got to meet Saif and he was just full of interesting stories. Saif was never meant to come to Kuwait, when he turned 18 he decided to leave Sudan and head to Germany. So he headed to Lebanon first so that he could take the train to Germany. Once he got to Lebanon he met a girl and so decided to stay there for a month, he needed the money anyway and he figured he could earn money performing music while there. He then left Lebanon and headed to Syria and from there he got convinced to head to Kuwait and try and earn money there.
Once in Kuwait he met up with an old friend of his called Adam who used to play football for Qadsia club. Adam hooked Saif up with a job as an English teacher for air traffic controllers and as a side gig, he would perform music on Kuwait TV talk show. One day one of the guys at KTV comes up to him and asks him if he could put a band together because he wanted to record a performance for the station. Saif tells him he could and called up his friends in Sudan whom he used to perform with called The Scorpions. That’s basically how the whole story with that KTV broadcast came to be.
The Scorpions & Saif Abu Bakr Performing at KTV
But that’s not the end of it. Saif used to perform for a Kuwaiti event organizer back then called Hussein Abul. Hussein was the guy who brought the likes of Boney M, Demis Roussos, James Brown and Santa Esmeralda to perform in Kuwait. When James Brown came to Kuwait, Hussein gave Saif the job of driving James Brown around since Saif spoke both English and Arabic. Since Saif spent a lot of time with James Brown, a friend of his told him to ask James Brown if he could perform the track Super Bad at his events. The first two nights James Brown performed he didn’t play Super Bad but it was a really popular song with the locals and so a lot of people were requesting it. So Saif explained that to James Brown who said he didn’t mind. During rehearsal that day, James Brown tells his band that he wanted to play Super Bad but, one of the two bassists in the band didn’t know how to play it. James Brown tried to help him out by humming the rhythm he wanted but the bassist couldn’t get it right. Out of frustration James Brown asked his band if anyone else knew how to play the bass on Super Bad, and Saif who was sitting there watching the whole thing said he knew how to play it. James Brown was like are you sure you know how to play it? Saif and his band used to perform covers all the time and he used to practically play Super Bad every night at hotels. So even though he was under pressure now to perform in front of James Brown, he knew the song inside out. He ended up playing for James Brown who was so impressed that he asked Saif to perform the song with the band over the remaining events in Kuwait.
One interesting fact I found out, Hussein had also supposedly signed a contract with Michael Jackson to come to Kuwait. But before Michael Jackson’s event, he had scheduled the popular band Osibisa to come to Kuwait as well. But Islamists caused an uproar over one of Osibisa’s tracks because it contained an Islamic verse or something like that, and Hussein was banned from organizing events ever again. Hussein supposedly ended up leaving to Brazil where he now lives permanently.
Saif with Pele in Kuwait
Anyway, Saif eventually ended up leaving Kuwait to study but then came back once he was done. He’s been in Kuwait ever since and currently still teaches English at a local aviation school but still performs in Sudan every now and then with his old band. He lost most of his old photos during the 1990 Iraq invasion but I shared two remaining ones in this post, the Pele photo above and the band performing at KTV above that. Jonathan the Australian Ambassador is also gonna try and bring the band together again to perform in Kuwait and once that happens I’ll let you guys know.
Over the weekend the new Yeezy sneakers launched around the world including in Kuwait. People lined up from early morning for the chance to buy a pair since they’re a limited release and would sell out quickly. I saw some pictures and videos of the lines around Kuwait and they were extremely long and mostly unorganized.
That same morning a reader emailed me about an incident that took place at the Adidas store in Al Hamra and since then I’ve heard the story from one other person who was in line and seen a video that kinda corroborates it. Here is the email I received:
Hey Mark,
I wanted to let you know about this incident that took place at the Adidas outlet this morning.
So today was the launch of this limited edition Yeezy and I was at Hamra mall branch. They said it’ll be first come first serve. There were about 6 Philippine Nationals lined up at like 6am, they were the first ones there. A paper was passed down the line with the name and preferred sizes of people and it seemed completely civilized.
Then at 830am when the doors were supposed to open, a Kuwaiti Adidas representative announced in Arabic that Kuwaitis get priority. And a bunch of Kuwaiti guys rushed in front of the Filipinos and it was utter chaos. Then when one of the Filipino men spoke up and asked “what about us?” The Adidas rep was like “Filipino want to buy shoes?” And everyone started laughing.
And then a bunch of Kuwaiti guys proceeded to walk inside the store.
A woman (Arab) then started shouting at the Adidas representative and was saying that this is straight up racism and unfair. She was ignored. The Filipino group left and some guys just kept mocking them. An overwhelming majority of the Kuwaiti crowd joined in on the mocking. They waited for 2.5 hours to be disgraced like that.
There is a video that was taken that morning which you can watch [Here]
The incident is currently being investigated by the mall as well as the local Adidas dealer so if you were in line that morning and saw what happened, get in touch.
If you’re wondering how people could be so racist in 2019, so was I until I started getting hate on twitter when I posted about this. I actually had to block a bunch of people who were accusing me of hating on Kuwait or who were rationalizing why they were right to sell to the Kuwaitis first. It’s shocking.
Update: I’ve closed the post for commenting, also I’ve been made aware the photo of the Yeezys I posted aren’t the ones people were lining up for.
If you want to get plants but don’t feel like going to the nurseries, the Mashatel app is a good alternative.
The Mashatel app allows you to buy plants and gardening gear from the nurseries in the same way Carriage allows you to buy food from restaurants. The app divides the plants into indoor and outdoor categories, you choose which you want and then browse through the available plants. When you click on one it will give you more details on the kind of plant it is, and how to maintain it. Pretty helpful if say you’re looking for something that doesn’t require a lot of watering for example.
Delivery prices vary depending on where you live but they start at KD2 and go up to KD10 if you want to deliver to Khiran. The app is available for both iOS and Android devices and you can download it from here.
Two weeks ago, Russell Peters posted the above show dates for his world tour which listed Kuwait on June 7th. That’s 7 days away and I have yet to hear anything more about it nor is the event listed on his website. Pretty odd. I’ve reached out to Russell Peters to see if he’s still coming to Kuwait on the 7th, it might be a special show for the military or possibly even a private event. Once I hear back from him I’ll post an update.
Update: Russell Peters posted on his instagram story earlier today that he will no longer be performing in Kuwait.
Today both Viva and Zain launched their 5G networks in Kuwait. Neither of them have yet to announce their plan details but instead have set up registration pages for those interested in 5G. Viva have slightly more information up on their website including a 5G coverage map and a frequently asked questions page. If you’re interested in 5G, check out the links below:
Hamleys, the UK toy retailer is opening up their first store in Kuwait at Gate Mall. They were originally meant to open back in 2012 but for some reason that never happened. Not sure why they’d open in Gate Mall first, I always assumed it would be in Avenues.
Kuwaiti musician Fatima Al Qadiri was behind the musical score of the Senegalese film “Atlantique” which just won the Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival a couple of days ago. It was Fatima’s first original score and if you have Netflix you’ll soon be able to watch the film and hear it since Netflix announced yesterday they were acquiring the international rights for the movie:
Netflix isn’t done pushing back against Cannes for rejecting its movies — if anything, it’s escalating the fight. The company has acquired international rights for two winners at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, with its crown jewel being Mati Diop’s Atlantics. The tale of a perilous love in Dakar won Cannes’ Grand Prix, the second most prestigious award at the festival. It also stands out as Diop’s first feature-length movie as well as the first movie helmed by a black woman to be in the running for the Palme d’Or.
The other title, I Lost My Body, won the best film award at the Independent International Critics’ Week section of the festival and also took the Nespresso Grand Prize. The animated flick from Jérémy Clapin is an unusual one — it follows a cut-off hand as it flees a lab to get back to the young man that it belongs to, and the woman that changed their lives. [Source]
I guess what I love the most about this is how all the people who gave her so much hate over the years probably feel really stupid right now. Score It magazine published an interview with Fatima where they discuss the film’s soundtrack and you can check it out here.
Generally, when you travel you can rent and drive cars with just your regular Kuwaiti license. But, back when the driving license was just in Arabic, you needed to get an international driving license. Not really sure which country nowadays won’t accept your Kuwaiti license, but in case you need to get an international one you can now do so online.
Price is KD10 for the license and you then have the option to pick it up yourself or have it delivered to you for an additional KD3.
As a kid growing up in Kuwait in the 80s there weren’t that many things to do, so my mum enrolled me in skating classes at the ice skating rink (that’s me with the instructor in the picture above). I took classes until one day I fell and cut my hand on skates and didn’t really go back to the rink until the early 90s. The ice skating rink in the early 90s was the place to be, with the latest hits blasting on the ice skating rink speakers while we either ice skated or hung out in the ice skating rink’s arcade. Now the ice skating rink is the next national landmark in line to be demolished.
Laila Al-Hamad is the founder of Zeri Crafts, a brand that casts light on Kuwait’s crafts heritage. Recently she published the article below in the Arab Times and with her permission, I’m publishing it here along with some great photos she took.
Tearing Down our Memories
A skating rink in the desert is about to celebrate its 40th year of life. Forty years of an architectural masterpiece that has withstood the Iraqi invasion, the harsh summers, the wear and tear of time is truly an event to be celebrated. But just as Sawaber and countless other landmarks that have marked our architectural landscape have been mindlessly demolished without a purpose or a plan, the Kuwait Ice Skating Rink too is on death row.
A tent-like structure with wooden pillars reminiscent of Bait al-Shaar, the Kuwait Ice Skating Rink is a magnificent piece of architecture that was built in close collaboration with France in the late 1970s. And just as its unique architecture stands out in the midst of the many soulless glass towers that adorn the Kuwait City skyline, its place in Kuwait’s memory landscape is even more extraordinary. Beyond any commercial value, the Ice Skating Rink is – par excellence – a pillar of our national heritage; it has shaped the childhood memories of hundreds of thousands of the country’s inhabitants. Ask anyone who grew up in Kuwait in the 1980s what the Ice Skating Rink means to them, and expect a barrage of ecstatic responses.
Against all odds, a skating rink in the desert became the perfect oasis for those seeking a cool sanctuary away from the scorching sun. Upon entering this haven of tranquility, we were welcomed by the smell of cold, a smell so rare in Kuwait that we stored it in our olfactory memory. Take a left and find yourself in the ice-skates rental room, lined with dozens of benches awaiting eager skaters. A few meters beyond that lay the space we were all here for: the big rink. Grand and majestic, the big rink is a marvel, its walls bedecked with striking geometric patterns in warm reddish and ochre hues reminiscent of Sadu weaving patterns. Here would begin our journey on the ice, energizing us with a feeling of freedom and joy that few sports can equal.
Despite a hiatus associated with the Iraqi invasion, the rink has been operational for almost 4 decades, welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors a year. In my case, what was part of my childhood became part of my adulthood: I would take my children there to learn to skate as would many of my friends. This generational link gives the ice skating rink a special status; whereas many of the landmarks of our youth – including cinemas and theaters – have been abandoned or demolished, the rink has stood firm in its resilience. One of the few non-consumeristic enterprises in the country, it continues to be a refuge for those seeking family fun in a non-commercial setting. The unique modernist design fills us with a sense of pride linked to Kuwait’s golden age of architecture, where function met aesthetics. The place leaves few of us unmoved.
Inaugurated in 1980, the rink was not only the first such structure in Kuwait, but also the first ice skating complex in the whole of the Middle East. March 2020 marks its 40th anniversary. But instead of celebrating this milestone, we are getting ready for its imminent demolition. It is being sacrificed for the Shaheed Park phase 3 extension, making way for a concert hall and – ironically enough – a new skating rink. The rink is facing demolition not because of a lack of demand from the public (it welcomes 150,000 visitors a year), nor because of any maintenance or structural issues, but because someone has decided to build something new. Why demolish a perfectly functioning architectural masterpiece? Why not renovate and revitalize the existing structure and integrate it into the park? We can only gain from bridging rather than eliminating the various layers of Kuwait’s built landscape.
Two weeks ago, the JACC opened its doors to a Kuwaiti musical called “Memoirs of a Sailor.” By word of mouth, news of the musical spread like wildfire. Almost every person I know, Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis alike, attended, some even twice. What drove thousands of people to the show was a thirst for memories, roots, a past that is now completely out of reach to us. Isn’t it paradoxical that we are looking for identity inside theaters while we destroy it outside? Many Kuwaitis are upset about the neglect and erasure of their culture in its many forms; the architecture, the crafts and even the natural environment through the pollution of the sea.
The senseless destruction of our architectural heritage for the extraction of commercial value for the few is a violation of our national heritage. The Kuwait Ice Skating Rink should not be the next victim on the list of public executions that awaits our many landmarks. In a spirit of sustainability, and historical and architectural preservation, the structure should become a listed architectural landmark integrated into the new extension. May our development be respectful of our memories and our environment. And may wisdom and the public good prevail.
Over the weekend the renowned architect I. M. Pei passed away at the age of 102. He’s behind some of the worlds iconic buildings like the Louvre’s glass pyramid and the Bank of China tower in Hong Kong, but what few people know is that he also designed an apartment building here in Kuwait. Back in the lates 70s I. M. Pei designed what are now the Massaleh towers in Bneid Al Gar. You’ve probably driven past them and never realized the architectural importance of them but I think that applies to a lot of old buildings in Kuwait. In this specific case though, it’s also difficult to find information about these buildings online, most likely because of the age of the project and the different names it goes by. For example, on the I.M. Pei website they’re listed as “Hilton Area Housing” and in the book “Modern Architecture Kuwait” they’re listed as “Hilton Hotel Apartments”.
I heard one rumor that the reason there isn’t much information is because I. M. Pei was upset with the project. Supposedly he had originally designed just one tower but then his design was taken and replicated to create the remaining towers. But, don’t think this rumor is very accurate since the model pictured above which contains all four tower blocks is listed on his website as one of his projects.
Here is the link to I. M. Pei’s page of Kuwait projects. There is another project listed there but no idea what that is or if it had ever been constructed.
