Search: “kuwait”

The international falafel chain Just Falafel that originated in Abu Dhabi is opening their first branch in Kuwait soon. I spotted the Just Falafel hoarding next to DoDo on Baghdad Street where Kibbeh w Bass used to be located.

Today (Oct 26) is the final day for the Battle of the East crossfit competition that’s taking place in Kuwait. Athletes from around the world are participating in this event and the setup is world class. Just check out the video above to get an idea of what’s going on. If you’re interested to check it out pass by Marina Crescent, the event is taking place from 8AM to 6PM.

[YouTube]

With the Kuwait League match between Al Nasr and Al Arabi deep into extra time, and the home side Al Nasr 1-0 up and nearing victory, the referee Saad Al Fadhi had the temerity to award a stonewall penalty to the visitors. What happened next would lead to the man in black doling out a less legitimate form of justice.

After being surrounded by irate Al Nasr attackers, upset at seeing a win potentially slip from their grasp, the referee let fly with his fists – flooring the Al Nasr No11 Abdulaziz Farraj with a left-hander, kicking him shortly after he had picked himself back up, then dismissing him from the pitch with a prompt red card.

More was to come. After his assistants stepped in to control the melee, Al Fadhi went on a red card rampage, doling out another on the pitch. With matters concluded, he completed the job by wandering over to the bench to wave a red card in the general direction of the assorted sheikhs and substitutes gathered there.

With order apparently restored, Al Arabi buried the penalty and levelled the match – only for Al Nasr’s understandably piqued No9 Zabn Al Enazi to hoof the ball directly at the referee from the re-start. Cue another red, another touchline melee and both teams trooping disconsolately from the pitch.

I found this hilarious. [Source]

This isn’t a law post but I asked Mark if I could post it and he was ok with it. I was grocery shopping at Sultan Center last year when I found a farmers market stand and what caught my attention were the Alban Dairy products. I fell in love with the brand and I wanted to see the farm for myself but due to my tight schedule I only got to do so last week. It took us around an hour to get to Yasmin Farms where Alban Dairy operates from. As soon as we walked into the farm we spotted a cute little shop that sells a wide range of dairy products, spices, dried fruits and baked goods. Their prices are good too and their banana muffin was delicious.

Their business development executive (Bader) was hospital enough to takes us on a lovely tour around the farm. Our first stop was the cow barn as it was milking time. The cows are milked daily at 6AM and 4PM and the milking has to be done in those times as cows are used to schedules, otherwise they get annoyed and wont produce as much the next day.

The cows walked in a line to be taken into a room where they stood to be milked. Bader explained to us the importance of hygiene at Yasmin Farms and therefore we weren’t allowed to walk anywhere where the cows would pass so that our shoes didn’t carry anything foreign into their territory. After the cows we visited the goats who unlike the cows needed to be lured by food to be milked as they aren’t as obedient. After the goats we went and saw the free range chickens. Free range is when the chickens can roam around freely and the chickens on Yasmin Farms are allowed to roam inside or outside the barn as they wish. Our final stop were the vegetables. I found the cabbage and lettuce fascinating since they were all being grown on little sponges.

Even though I found the farm impressive I was actually more impressed with Bader. His determination to have a clean farm producing all natural products is just amazing, he really makes me proud as a Kuwaiti. He knew the names of every employee we passed by and he is also humble enough to serve random visitors himself. Personally, after touring the farm I will now always prefer to buy their products over others.

The farm was amazing and you can go and visit it yourself every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 8AM to 5PM [Map]. All their products are found at Sultan Center and you can also order online. Also make sure you check out their instagram account @albandairy

Post by Fajer Ahmed

Gravity was finally released in Kuwait on the 17th of October, but for some odd reason it wasn’t released in IMAX (instead they chose to show some Metallica documentary in IMAX, how are they even still relevant?). Gravity can be seen in the majority of theaters in Kuwait and I highly recommend to watch it in 3D since I haven’t seen any movie make use of 3D as well as Gravity has.

Gravity has a beautifully simple premise. Two astronauts have to fight for survival after a catastrophe strikes their space shuttle mission. Alfonso Cuarón directs this brilliant movie and does a spectacular job at creating one of the most realistic space movies and possibly the best space movie ever made.

Now the problem with watching Gravity in Kuwait (besides it not being in IMAX) is the fact that two scenes were censored. One scene was briefly cut due to dialogue (which wasn’t important to the narrative) and the other scene that was cut was at the very end, the last scene to be exact. The movie was already done and the story resolved by the time that scene came about but it was still an annoyance. Would I still have watched the movie knowing about these two details? Yes. Definitely.

If you enjoy a good movie experience then you should definitely not miss this even though there are two scenes cut. Watching this movie at home wouldn’t do it any justice.

Posted by Patrick

Note: The comments below might contain spoilers so don’t read them if you haven’t watched the movie

I posted about Gia back in August when the place was still closed but according to their instagram account they’ve now opened up. I’m outside Kuwait right now so I’m not able to pass by but based on the photos, it looks like a cozy cafe serving pastries, salads and sandwiches.

They’ve opened in my neighborhood and in Al Khalid Complex which is why I’m so interested in the place. As I previously mentioned, I think Al Khalid Complex can turn into an amazing place. Check out Gia on Instagram [Here]

Photo on top from @sumayabb

[YouTube]

I saw the video above of the “Sheyaab” performing at Arabs Got Talent on 7ajidude and I recognized them as the people who were dressing up like old men and going around Kuwait dancing Gangnam Style.

[YouTube]

Their videos were going viral and I guess they decided to take what they were doing and perform it on Arabs Got Talent. Smart although if I hear Gangnam Style playing one more time I’m going to go on a rampage.

This Halloween the Kuwait Little Theatre is holding a quiz night. The entrance fee is KD4 and it will include light refreshments, a costume contest, and a hauntingly fun evening in the KLT garden. There will also be prizes for best costume and best dressed team.

Date: Thursday, October 31st 2013
Time: 7:30PM
Location: Kuwait Little Theatre

Visit thekuwaitlittletheatre.com or call 99373678 to book your spot.

A few days ago The Global Slavery Index was released ranking 162 countries. The ranking was based on a combination of three factors:

– estimated prevalence of modern slavery by population
– a measure of child marriage
– a measure of human trafficking in and out of a country

A number one ranking is the worst, 160 is the best and Kuwait came in at 100 which is bad but compared to neighboring countries Kuwait did better. That’s not saying much but still, UAE ranked 88 for example while Saudi Arabia came in at 82 and Bahrain and Qater both at 86 96.

You can download the PDF with the full rankings along with more explanations and further details by clicking this [Link]

If you’re still in London then you should stop by Scalini before you get back to Kuwait. Scalini is supposedly Signor Sassi’s direct competitor here in London and it’s also supposed to be better. I tried both out and even though I preferred Scalini they’re both really very similar. Scalini have a great seating area with a skylight which I loved since it brought in a lot of natural daylight into the place.I also enjoyed the food at Scalini a bit more than at Signor Sassi. I had the fresh clams linguini at Scalini and the spaghetti lobster at Signor Sassi and between the two I preferred the fresh clams linguini just because I hadn’t had clams in years and thought the dish was delicious.

Price wise Scalini and Signor Sassi are very similar. The bill at Scalini for three people came out to just over 200 pounds but nearly half that was for the wine. So, it’s around KD15-20 per person without the wine but including two shared starters, three main dishes and three different desserts. Scalini is located walking distance from Harrods at 1-3 Walton St. You need to call and book in advance.

A pretty long, slow and boring video but if you fast forward through different bits of it you can see 3D footage of various aspects of the Subiyah Causeway including the long bridge that’s going to connect Shuwaikh to the north of Kuwait.

[YouTube]

Yousef Al-Haddad is a Kuwaiti musician who lives in the States. He plays a bunch of instruments but guitar is his main thing. He graduated from University of Southern California back in 2009 and now lives and works in Santa Monica. He basically works at Trader Joe’s and plays his guitar all day. I’ve watched a bunch of his videos and I think he’s extremely entertaining to watch and listen to. For example in the video above he talks with a Jamaican accent and sings Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”.

Below are two more videos I liked but you can check out all his other videos on [YouTube] as well as a few tracks on [Soundcloud]

[YouTube]

[YouTube]

In 2011, there was a meeting held between the Kuwait Society for the Protection of Animals and Their Habitat (K’S PATH) and en.v, a Kuwaiti social responsibility organization. The purpose of that meeting was to discuss how, with limited sponsorship and very limited government support, the two organizations could work together to provide real, tangible, and lasting protection for some of the last remaining coastal habitat areas in Kuwait Bay. The result, after much discussion, was the joint venture Al Yaal, whose mission would be to conduct hands-on conservation in three coastal habitats, document those efforts, and educate the population of Kuwait about the needs of our fragile environment. From the beginning, we didn’t know if the program would work. There was no way to predict whether or not our work would be enough to improve the environment we set out to protect, nor whether or not we would be able to engage the community to conserve coastal areas they had never seen before and had no vested interest in. The program was destined from the beginning to be a small, grass-roots effort to protect something we all knew would vanish if no one fought for it. The results would be surprising in more ways than one.

K’S PATH has been around now for about ten years, providing animal sheltering, education, lobbying, habitat protection, consultancy, and more. People who interact with us for the first time are often surprised that an organization like ours exists, not just because we help animals, but even more so because we are so professional in the way we work. Their surprise is understandable, because in general, we don’t make a lot of noise. We are able to do all of the things we do, and do them well, because we invest most of our time and effort into our programs and have very little left over for publicity. We brought this same focus and dedication to the Al Yaal program. There are many organizations that clean beaches in Kuwait, and they all deserve commendation for doing so. What most of them have in common is that they clean beaches humans use for recreation. With our animal and environment-centric focus, we wanted to protect areas that are important coastal habitat, so we started doing some research to see what areas were the most at risk of pollution and encroachment. Through a process of interviews and observation, we selected three beach areas notable for their plant life, their bird life, their animal life, their lack of development, lack of human visitation, and heavy pollution. Two sites were chosen in Sulaibikhat area, and one in the Doha area.

K’S PATH has always operated with a simple philosophy: planning and hard work equals results. Planning for this program included hiring program manager Angelique Bhattacharjie-Jeremiah, purchasing equipment, organizing volunteers, getting ministry permits, and coordinating between the different organizations involved. By April of 2011, planning was complete and the hard work began. Cleaning a beach with the idea of habitat preservation in mind is a meticulous job. Heavy equipment and teams of laborers play no part in removing waste from a sensitive habitat. Each item of waste has to be carefully removed by hand without destroying or even damaging plants or animal dens. The pace is slow, the temperature grueling, and success comes at a snails pace. Despite dozens of bags of garbage collected, it’s difficult to notice any improvement after the first few cleanups. Still, the volunteers kept coming.

The Al Yaal concept doesn’t rely upon a single body or group of volunteers. Instead, a different social group, school, or society is involved in each clean up, thereby maximizing the number of people who participate in this important project. After all, participation is an incredibly effective form of education, and engaging so many different people from so many different walks of life helped tremendously in breaking up the tedium of our efforts. K’S PATH staff and dedicated program volunteers in particular deserve a very hearty thank you for their consistent hard work (they were present at nearly every clean up for two years), but even after the first dozen clean ups, nothing much seemed to change. Sans instant gratification, we just kept working. And working. And working. All told, we came back 45 times and cleaned up over 5 tons of waste at Doha beach alone. The task was arduous, but rewarding.

Hey everyone, just like Mark promised I am going to talk to you a little bit more about q8books, and just like a lot of you already know most of the books (and shelves) came from the old q8books. My fabulous team made a short video on how the new q8books came together:

[YouTube]

If you want the longer version that Mark thinks is boring click [Here]

The bookstore is non-profit, all the interior was done by an awesome team who worked on it for nearly 3 months, we have around 15,000 books made of but not limited to the following genres: science, music, art, hobbies, history & politics, biographies, families, self help & motivation, cooking, travel, foreign languages, business, reference, romance, women’s fiction, thrillers, mystery, suspense, children, young adult, classics, sci-fi.

Location: We are outside Bayt Lothan right next to Marina Mall on the Gulf road [Google Maps]

Timings: 5PM to 9:30PM on weekdays and 10AM to 9PM on weekends

How the bookstore works
The average price of a book is 1-2KD but it goes down to free and up to 5KD. 50% of the price of the book is a deposit the other 50% is a reading charge. When you bring the book back you get the deposit 50% back as STORE CREDIT (not cash).

You can also donate English books to us, or swap them for store credit.

We have been blessed that Bayt Lothan has supported our cause of promoting reading in Kuwait and have given us a very charming place free of charge, and because of that we are able to have policies like;

1) If your in a writing club or reading club, you can meet free of charge at our bookstore,
2) If you’re a local writer feel free to have your books at the store free of charge
3) We have art pieces donated by a lot of supportive local artists, and we are just happy that we are able to really be a community project.

For more info please follow is on instagram and twitter @q8bookstore or call us on 97182730 or email us at [email protected]

Post by Fajer Ahmed

[YouTube]

There’s a guy selling a beautiful classic Porsche 911 on Q8car which isn’t anything new except for the fact he has a YouTube video linked in the cars description. I hadn’t seen that before on Q8car and thought it was a pretty smart thing to do. Here is the information attached to the video:

This is My Porsche 911 Turbo 3.3 , model 1991 I have had it since 1991 and I am looking for a new home for my Porsche . It is in a good condition and it has a mileage of 105944 Km , this is the original color of the car and The original interior leather , I did some paint jobs in the past 23 years and always kept the same color . I have changed only the cd player of my car , every thing else in the car is Original .

[email protected]
+965 60051891

You can also check out his Q8car page [Here]