Search: “kuwait”

This is a cool site where you type in an airport and you get a birds-eye view of it along with pictures taken at there. The funny thing is when you search for Kuwait you get 4 pictures, 3 of which are of McDonalds. That’s not a good sign. [Link]

I haven’t been to Failaka since the late 80s but looking at these pictures taken by Kenneth I’m thinking I should really pay a visit and maybe even spend the night since the hotel above looks great. [Link]

Multi-talented Kuwaiti artist and musician Fatima Al Qadiri is the producer and vocalist behind Ayshay. I just heard her latest track called WARN-U and although I didn’t like it I do like the remix of it which you can hear at the bottom of the post. From what I heard her music has been gaining a lot of recognition lately in the underground scene in New York but haven’t really heard anything about her locally.

Fuelled by her fascination with the sacred songs of Islam ‘WARN-U’ is a homage and reinterpretation of the sounds that have haunted Al Qadiri since she was a child. Constructed entirely out of her own vocals, which she filtered and layered upon one another ‘WARN-U’ is Al Qadiri’s attempt to reconfigure the concept of ‘sacred’ music as inspiring divine love and divine fear.

She’s always been pretty weird (in a good way) so it’s no surprise really she would come up with something like this. For more information on her upcoming album click [Here]

Ayshay – WARN-U (Nguzunguzu Remix) by TriAngleRecords

Update: You can check out the music video below, looks like it was shot in Kuwait. (Note: turns out it was shot in Qatar)

[YouTube]

The Kuwait National Planetarium is one of those things that not a lot of people know too much about. I personally like the planetarium for two reasons, the first is because it’s located in the Kuwait National Museum which is a must see. Most of the museum is closed because it was never repaired after the Iraqi invasion but even so I love going there and remembering how beautiful it was back in the 80’s. It also looks a bit creepy at night all burnt and abandoned which can also be nice in it’s little weird way. The second reason I like the planetarium is because it’s actually interesting and well taken care of. Since not a lot of people go there the place is in great shape and the tech is pretty up to date since it only got rebuilt around 10 years ago and just recently they installed a new projection system.

They’re open Monday to Saturday with morning and afternoon shows at the following timings:

Morning Shows
9:30 / 10:30 / 11:30 / 12:00

Afternoon Shows
5:00 / 5:45 / 6:30

No morning shows on Friday. Saturday mornings shows are at 9:30 and 10:30 only. Sundays they’re closed. For more information you can call them on 22451195 and 22456534 The entrance is free!

Here is the location on [Google Maps]

Information and photos collected from Mathai and My Travels, My Experiences.

I found out about this app from His&Hers and I think it’s pretty practical. We don’t have a lot of gas stations in Kuwait so they’re a lot harder to find when you really need one. Now the next time you’re hitting empty you just launch the app and look for the closest station to you. The app is called KNPC and it’s available in the App Store for free. [Link]

Thanks His&Hers

Kuwaiti architecture student Jassim Al Nashmi is currently studying in Iowa State University sent me information on a project he completed last semester. The project was his interpretation of what a private space for prayer in the domestic environment can be like. He used traditional Islamic patterns and created a divider of space that would cast light and shadow over the prayer area.

I really like the way the light penetrates the partition and I think the project looks like something that would be featured on Hypebeast or Uncrate.

If you’re spending your first Ramadan in Kuwait then this seminar by the AWARE Center should be helpful:

Description: During the Holy month of Ramadan, many changes occur in Kuwait. Restaurants will change their working hours as will most workplaces and shopping malls. Traffic patterns also change and one may find their paperwork halted. There are laws and many tips that will help the western expatriate better understand the etiquette and rules associated with this month. Join us for a guideline of how to best experience the month of Ramadan with your Muslim neighbor and colleagues. Dr. Teresa holds her PhD in Information Science from the UK and is now assistant professor at Kuwait’s teachers college. She held the position as manager of the AWARE Center for three years and returns often to host presentations related to Arab and Islamic culture.

Date: July 26th, 2011
Time: 7:00pm
Location: Villa 84, Surra Street, Block 3, Surra Area

For more information you can call them on 25335280

Did you know our Kuwait water tower design was inspired by the Sweedish water tower of Örebro named Svampen? I didn’t know.

Photo by Johan Appelgren

Remember the old photographer who I posted about last year? In case you don’t, he was an old man who came to Kuwait over 50 years ago and became a photographer. He was pretty lonely and depressed when I met him but with the help of my readers we were able to make his dream come true and send him to Hajj. Well I just found out Al Qabas newspaper have a full page spread about him in today’s issue (Thursday 21, 2011) which is pretty amazing!

So pick up the newspaper if you can and read about the old man’s life journey or you download the PDF from here [Page 1] and [Page 2]

If you want to read the previous posts about him then here they are:

In Kuwait since 1959
Update on old photograher
What would help the old photographer
Quick update on old photographer
The old photographer left to Hajj!

The Avenues currently has a small book fair taking place opposite Soccer Scene and That AL Salasil in Phase II. The National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) is showcasing a number of their publications and books by Kuwaiti authors with the aim of supporting the local authors as well as encouraging the reading and purchasing of books.

The book fair is going to be up until this Friday the 22nd of July.

Update: I passed by the book “fair” today and it’s more like a book shelf then a book fair.

The other day while channel surfing I saw a commercial for a peel-able ice cream I think on MBC. You peel the ice cream like a banana and you can eat the peel and the ice cream inside. Does anyone know if it’s available in Kuwait yet?

I know this might sound a bit odd but the weather at night isn’t bad at all for riding your bike. I used to ride my bike only during winter but the past 2 weeks I’ve been riding it in our current summer heat and I’ve really been enjoying it. It’s really not as hot at night as it is during the day.

The first time I went riding was last week when the weather was very humid. I dropped my car in Kuwait City to get detailed and since I needed to leave it there overnight I ended up riding back home on my bike. I thought the humidity would bother me but it actually helped keep me cool. Then this week I started riding my bike to the gym and back home. It’s a 30-40 minute ride (depending on the headwind) from my house in Salmiya all the way to my gym which is just before the Kuwait Towers. Because I take the Gulf Road sea path the weather is a bit cooler and I don’t end up feeling too hot or bothered.

So if you’re looking for an activity to do in the summer then biking can be a good one. There are a bunch of places in Kuwait that sell bikes but my favorite brands are Cannondale, Trek and Specialized. The Cannondale dealer is Sultan Motor Sports (tel 24826723) but they don’t bring a large variety of models sadly. The Trek dealer is Extreme Sports (tel 22254567) and they have a very large and nice showroom in Tilal Complex in Shuwaikh (pictured above) as well as a decent website [Here]. The Specialized brand of bikes I haven’t been able to find in Kuwait yet. You can also find some bikes at Go Sport in Avenues including a few Trek models and there are a few shops in Salmiya that carry new and used bicycles, you can find them with Google maps [Here]

There is also a bike club which organize rides nearly every week. You can check out their website [Here]

I think I’m going to continue to ride to the gym all summer long. If you have a bike you really should take it out. Keep in mind I’m talking about night time riding here (7PM and onwards) and not daytime riding. I would highly recommend not riding during the day!

This Friday Discovery Channel will be airing an episode of Building the Impossible that will feature Sabah Al-Ahmad Sea City. I don’t recall ever hearing about Sea City and looking at the aerial shot above, it seems like a pretty humongous project. No idea what time they’ll be airing the episode but you can watch the trailers on the Masahati blog [Here]

Update: Here is the project on Google Maps [Link]

Update2: Here are the timings for Discovery Channel. The show was shot in HD but the below schedule is for SD.

Earlier today I tweeted that one of my sources told me that they were canceling the download caps and it looks like it’s true. Taken from the KUNA website:

In a move that would please all internet users in Kuwait, Minister Information and Minister of Communications Salem Al-Uthayna announced Thursday that his ministry issued new regulations obliging internet providers to cut the cost of internet subscription and remove the download limits on users.

The Minister said that the ministry officials have held intensive meetings with internet providers to review the cost and quality of the services provided to internet users in Kuwait. “The internet has become a cornerstone in development, economy and everyday life in Kuwait,” Al-Uthayna said.

Following this meeting, the ministry obliged internet providers to upgrade the quality of their services and to cut prices as of next month. The minister vowed to start new stage of close monitoring and accountability for internet providers to make sure to protect the rights of subscribers. [source]

Finally some great news although I do hope that means everyone in Kuwait will get fiber optics or else I’m still stuck with my phone lines max speed which is just 2Mbps…

Around a year ago I found out about KILLSPENCER and fell in love with their bags. Problem is they were expensive for an impulse buy and since I really didn’t need another bag I decided to save the link and forget about it. Then a couple of months back my carry on travel bag started feeling a bit tight since I started stuffing more stuff into it. That’s when I decided to go back to the KILLSPENCER website and order one of their bags.

No Subject from Spencer Nikosey on Vimeo.

KILLSPENCER is the creation of a guy called Spencer Nikosey, a 27 year old designer based in LA. It started off as a personal project and then grew into his full time business. I emailed him with a bunch of questions about the bag and he was extremely helpful. I originally wasn’t sure which bag to get or even which material but after a few emails back and forth I decided on the black leather Weekender 2.0. He also offered to custom stamp my name and home address on the inside (usually a $95 extra feature) which I thought was very cool.

The bag took around 2 weeks to craft and another week to get to my US mailbox and another week to get to Kuwait. I was worried the bag would be too big but it turned out to be the perfect size. The quality and the design is just incredible, I really love the bag. The inside is spacious with a laptop sleeve on one side, a large zipped water resistant pocket on the opposite side that can easily fit an iPad, and then there are two more smaller pockets on the short sides. On the outside there are 2 more pockets as well, one on each side. The bag also comes with a very comfortable shoulder strap which makes the bag a lot more practical to carry when the bag gets heavy.

Right now I think this is like the coolest bag ever. It comes in 4 different materials options and a total of 3 colors. Price wise the bag costs $600 which is on the high or low side depending on how you look at it. If you compare it to luxury brands, then this bag is really affordable and you’re also getting a hand crafted beautifully designed bag that’s even more exclusive then the majority of the luxury brands. If you don’t go with leather than the price drops down to $375 which is a lot more accessible. If you’re interested check out their website and full collection by visiting their website [Here]