Search: “kuwait”

Over the weekend I dropped by the Ferrari dealership to check out their cars and prices. If you’re curious to know how much their different models cost, check them out below:

Ferrari California T
KD74,000

Ferrari 488 GTB
KD93,000

Ferrari 488 Spider
KD97,000

Ferrari GTC4Lusso
KD100,000

Ferrari 812 Superfast
KD103,000

Qout Market is taking place this coming Saturday at Al Shaheed Park again, except they’ve moved back to Phase I this month. Check out the full list of events for this weekend below:

Thursday
Movie Night: Jalsaghar, The Music Room
Exhibition: Portraits
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: Drive

Friday
Good Game: Magic – The Gathering

Saturday
Qout Market
Yoga with the 3
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: Columbus

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double check with the organizers.

The movies below are now showing at either Cinescape, Grand Cinemas or Sky Cinemas:

New This Week:
Insidious: The Last Key (7.2)
Molly’s Game (7.6)
Tad the Lost Explorer and the Secret of King Midas (6.3)
The Disaster Artist (8.0) ♦ ★
The Humanity Bureau (3.7)

Other Movies Showing:
Bleeding Steel (6.3)
Coco (9.1)
Crooked House (6.4) ♦
Ferdinand (6.8)
Hostiles (7.2)
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (6.9) ★
Pitch Perfect 3 (6.2) ♦
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (8.3) ★
The Greatest Showman (7.9)
The Mountain Between Us (6.3)
Wonder (7.2)

The movies below are also now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

A Beautiful Planet 3D (7.9)
America Wild: National Parks Adventure (N/A)
Dream Big 3D (7.9)
Extreme Weather 3D (6.6)
Tiny Giants 3D (8.0)
Watermelon Magic 3D (7.4)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.
★ is for movies I’m interested in. ♦ implies movie might contain censorship.

Below are some of the events taking place this weekend. Have a happy new year everyone:

Thursday
FireFlies – Shadow Theater
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: The Assassin

Friday
FireFlies – Shadow Theater

Saturday
Fattet Baba Brunch
Yoga with the 3
FireFlies – Shadow Theater

Sunday
Rhapsody; Ring in 2018!
Celebrate the New Year at Mayar!

Monday
Picnic in the Garden

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double check with the organizers.

The movies below are now showing at either Cinescape, Grand Cinemas or Sky Cinemas:

New This Week:
Bleeding Steel (6.3)
Hostiles (7.2)
Jackals (4.7)
Pitch Perfect 3 (6.2) ♦
The Greatest Showman (7.9)

Other Movies Showing:
Coco (9.1)
Crooked House (6.4) ♦
Ferdinand (6.8)
Ghost House (4.7)
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (6.9) ★
Justice League (8.1)
Paddington 2 (8.3)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (8.3) ★
The Mountain Between Us (6.3)
Wonder (7.2)

The movies below are also now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

A Beautiful Planet 3D (7.9)
America Wild: National Parks Adventure (N/A)
Dream Big 3D (7.9)
Extreme Weather 3D (6.6)
Tiny Giants 3D (8.0)
Watermelon Magic 3D (7.4)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.
★ is for movies I’m interested in. ♦ implies movie might contain censorship.

The first phase of the metro will be completed in the year 2025 and is for one line that starts from Salmiya and heads towards the airport. It will be 50km long and have a total of 27 stations, 9 of which will be in the city center. The full metro project which comprises of five phases is expected to be completed by 2040.

2025 is not THAT far away, just 7 more years to go… [Article]

Below is the latest map I have of the metro, no idea if it’s still valid or not, but it should give you an idea of what it might look like.

Thanks lovelykuwait

Not a lot of things going on but The Secret Garden is back this Saturday. Check out all the events for this weekend below:

Thursday
Alice & Co
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: IDA
Royal Chick: The Concert

Friday
Holiday Decopatch Weekend
Styloplay Court Kingz 3×3 Basketball Tournament

Saturday
Yoga with the 3
Holiday Decopatch Weekend
Clean Eats Christmas at The Secret Garden
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: Joyeux Noel

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double check with the organizers.

The movies below are now showing at either Cinescape, Grand Cinemas or Sky Cinemas:

New This Week:
Crooked House (6.4) ♦
Ferdinand (6.8)
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (6.9)★
Sweet Virginia (6.3) ♦

Other Movies Showing:
Coco (9.1)
Ghost House (4.7)
Jungle (6.7)
Just Getting Started (5.8)
Justice League (8.1)
Paddington 2 (8.3)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (8.3)★
The Breadwinner (7.5)
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (7.7) ♦ ★
The Mountain Between Us (6.3)
Wonder (7.2)

The movies below are also now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

A Beautiful Planet 3D (7.9)
America Wild: National Parks Adventure (N/A)
Dream Big 3D (7.9)
Extreme Weather 3D (6.6)
Tiny Giants 3D (8.0)
Watermelon Magic 3D (7.4)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.
★ is for movies I’m interested in. ♦ implies movie might contain censorship.

Although we don’t have Uber in Kuwait yet, we do have various other apps that pretty much do the same thing. Over the years I’ve posted about a few but never in one concise post, and since some have stopped working over the years, this list is of current active ones.

Q8 Grand Limo
This is my favorite app/service right now, and the one I’ve been using constantly. It’s really made my cabbing experience in Kuwait great, the cars are super clean and fancy, the drivers are very polite and tidy, and I haven’t had any issues with them since I started using them back in May. Costwise, they’re more expensive than regular street cabs but the experience really makes up for the price. Plus, they gave me a 20% promo code when I posted about them back in May so for me, trips don’t cost that much more than regular street cabs. They’ve got around 30 cabs in operation including a Mercedes S400 in case you want to splurge. I actually got picked up by the S400 a few weeks back when they were super busy and didn’t have their regular cars available. Let’s just say I forgave them for being late and they can always pick me up late if they’re gonna do so in the S400. You can also book a cab ahead of time which I’ve done when I needed a middle of the night ride to the airport. [Link]

Careem
Probably the closest thing to Uber in Kuwait right now since they’re Uber’s main competitor in the region. I’ve never used them but I’ve got friends who swear by them. Like Grand Limo, they also have a ride later option which many people use to schedule airport rides and they also have their own fleet of cars. [Link]

Q8 Taxi
This is an app I posted about a few years ago and were one of the early ones to launch in Kuwait. I tried using them back then a few times and had a fairly average experience and then one day, it just stopped working. Now it seems they’re back since they’ve been advertising their app pretty heavily. Haven’t tried them and don’t think I will, but they’re the cheapest option in this list since they use regular street cabs to pick you up. [Link]

If there are any other apps I’ve missed let me know in the comments.

The website F1 Fanatic has posted the track map of Kuwait Motor Town with a bit of information I wasn’t aware of previously. Turns out our track will be an anti-clockwise circuit, will feature 20 corners and is going to be 5.6KM long. You can check out a higher res version of the map above as well as some more info on the F1 Fanatic website [Here]

Update: Below are some different variations of the same track

Busy weekend ahead, so if you’re looking for things to do, here are some of the events that are taking place:

Thursday
Musical: West Side Story
Concert: Sting
Gulf Run Karting Endurance Race – 2017
TEDxSharq
The Divan’s Movie Night: Journey to the Edge of the Universe
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: Sicario

Friday
Musical: West Side Story
Concert: Sting
Gulf Run Karting Endurance Race – 2017
Photography Exhibition: Abdullah Al Kandari (Darya)
Good Game – Magic: The Gathering
Van Boom Presents – AGAINST ALL

Saturday
Yoga with the 3
Musical: West Side Story
Cooking Class Viva España, Viva Paella!
Rooftop Picnic
Yoga class with Cats
Workshop: Cross-Stich for Kids
JamJam Pulse
Q8 Readers Book Club
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: Days of Heaven

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double check with the organizers.

The movies below are now showing at either Cinescape, Grand Cinemas or Sky Cinemas:

New This Week:
Ghost House (4.7)
Jeepers Creepers III (4.4)
Nails (4.6)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (8.3)★
The Breadwinner (7.5)
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (7.7) ♦ ★

Other Movies Showing:
Acts Of Vengeance (5.6)
Brad’s Status (6.7)
Coco (9.1)
Daddy’s Home 2 (6.2)
Jungle (6.7)
Just Getting Started (5.8)
Justice League (8.1)
Marrowbone (6.7)
Paddington 2 (8.3)
The Mountain Between Us (6.3)
Wonder (7.2)

The movies below are also now showing at the Scientific Center IMAX theater:

A Beautiful Planet 3D (7.9)
America Wild: National Parks Adventure (N/A)
Dream Big 3D (7.9)
Extreme Weather 3D (6.6)
Tiny Giants 3D (8.0)
Watermelon Magic 3D (7.4)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.
★ is for movies I’m interested in. ♦ implies movie might contain censorship.

I could swear I’ve written about the Heritage Museum before but I can’t seem to find the old post for some reason. The Heritage Museum is located inside the Kuwait National Museum and I passed by yesterday since I wanted to check and see if the Planetarium at the museum was still open. The Kuwait National Museum is currently being refurbished (I’m so glad they decided not to demolish it) so I wasn’t sure if visitors could still access it or not. Turns out, for the most part, its inaccessible including the Planetarium, but the Archaeology Exhibit and the Heritage Museum can still be accessed.

Archaeology Exhibit
I didn’t find this exhibit to be that interesting and it’s pretty small. It’s located right as you walk into the museum and it will take you just a few minutes to skim through the stuff on your way to the main Heritage Museum.

Heritage Museum
This part of the museum is a lot more interesting to check out and is fairly big which makes the trip worthwhile. The Heritage Museum is divided into three areas, the first is a wax museum where different aspects of Kuwait’s traditional past are on display. The wax models aren’t very realistic but there are a lot of different displays and the whole thing is meant to resemble an old Kuwaiti street so it’s at least visually interesting.

The second part of the Heritage Museum is where different items from Kuwait’s past are on display. These aren’t wax objects but actual real objects that were collected and put on display. An example of a display would be for example a collection of old radios that were used in Kuwait back in the old days.

The final part of the Heritage Museum is a small photography exhibit where old photos of Kuwait are on display. This is a fairly small cooridor which you’ll be walking through on your way out of the exhibition and is fairly dark so it’s hard to see the photos properly.

If you’ve never been to the Heritage Museum you should check it out mostly because of how odd it is. I mean the eerie dark mood of the museum is alone worth the trip and with the construction taking place, it just adds to the whole creepy mood. If you want to pass by, the museum is open from 8AM to 2PM and then again from 4PM to 8PM. There is no entrance fee. Here is the location on [Google Maps]

Not only do we have an addiction treatment center in Kuwait, but its actually so good that addicts from other GCC countries come to Kuwait to get treated here. Recently through a friend, I managed to find out a lot about our treatment facility, and I was so impressed I decided I’d share what I learned.

If you have a drug problem, the first thing you need to do is admit yourself into the KFH Addiction Treatment Center in Shuwaikh [Map]. You go to the reception and you ask to see the doctor (they don’t admit on Fridays). The doctor will ask you a few questions including what substances you use and you will also be administered a drug test. After this first step is completed, you’ll be admitted.

As part of the admittance process you will be given a full body search to make sure you don’t have any drugs on you. You can check-in your belongings before admittance and you can also put money on your account in case during your stay you need to purchase something from the baqala like cigarettes since money isn’t allowed inside the center. Once you admit yourself into the center, you can’t leave for 21-28 days.

The treatment facility is for everyone including expats. Until recently, it was also free for everyone but with the new health fees, expats now have to pay a fee per day.

During your stay at the treatment center, doctors will check up on you often. There are also different workshops and lectures that take place there for example, there are lectures on recovery, lectures on how to deal with negative thoughts and lectures on judgment errors and what they are. In addition to the lectures, there are also group therapy sessions that take place. All the lectures are given by therapists with a few exceptions where doctors give the lectures themselves. Every Tuesday there are also sessions for family members called “Tawasal”. These sessions allow the parents to understand and cope with family members who are in there for treatment.

It is important to state here that your medical file with the treatment center is not shared with any other party and remains with the center. So your admittance won’t pop up when applying for a job or anything of the sort.

After around 21 to 28 days you’ll be able to check out of the center. They then highly recommend you stay in a halfway house which is a temporary living arrangement for people suffering addiction. The halfway houses are run by recovering addicts who are helping other addicts stay clean. Unlike the addiction center, there are no nurses or doctors here and you’re allowed to leave at any time you want. But, if you decide to become a resident at a halfway house, there are rules to abide by. There are rules like having to wake up early, having to clean your room, do some house chores and also signing in and out throughout the day. The rules meant to provide structure for the addicts who at this point don’t have any.

The halfway houses also provide group therapy sessions and are where the addicts are introduced to the 12 Steps of NA, the Narcotics Anonymous program. The program is essential to recovery once they leave, it becomes part of their lives and they keep at it after they leave the halfway house to stay clean. Even though you’re allowed to leave the halfway house anytime you want, the recommendation is that you work through the NA program. Part of the program is choosing a sponsor and attending external NA meetings. I attended a meeting with my friend as support and was completely taken away by it. I attended an English NA meeting and there were around 30 guys and girls from different age groups and backgrounds. It’s difficult to put into words what I felt, but it was very emotional. Once a week they meet up with other people who are going through the same things they are going through, even though most of them don’t know each other, they all still connect on a very personal level and I found that to be so beautiful.

Once you work your way through the NA steps and reach step 5, and you’ve got your external affairs in order, that is when it is recommended that you graduate from the halfway house. There is no specific timeframe to reach this step, some people have been able to do it in 3-4 months, others have taken 1 to 2 years. The average is around 1 year.

So that is basically it. I was so surprised at the quality of support addicts have here in Kuwait I really wanted to write about it. I think what surprised me the most is the understanding and sophistication involved from the government on this subject. I assumed because this is Kuwait, addicts would be treated like criminals and arrested, but instead, the government understands that addiction is a complex disease that can be treated. It’s instances like this that make me really appreciate Kuwait sometimes.

Last week I passed by the vintage radios shop Moqtanayaty and ended up picking up a 1960’s Dynatron Mazurka record player for myself. I didn’t have any music records, nor did the store so I needed to buy some and didn’t want to resort to ordering them online since they would have taken at least two weeks to arrive. Instead, I decided I’d over to the antique shops basement in Salmiya to check and see if they had any for sale there.

The first shop I went into had a large pile of records piled up in the corner of the shop. So I sat down on the floor and started going through them one by one. Anything that was remotely interesting I put on the side. By the time I was done I had found around 14 potential records which I ended up reducing down to 10. The 10 records I decided to go with were actually pretty great and included the likes of Simon & Garfunkel, Frank Sinatra, Cat Stevens, Marvin Gaye, Andy Williams, Nat King Cole, Fats Domino and more. The buying process though wasn’t so easy. The shop was originally closed (it’s always closed whenever I visit) but the basement janitor has the key. So I had him open up the shop for me and after I chose the records I wanted, he had to take pictures of each one and send them to the owner. Originally I was quoted KD30 for the 10 records but managed to haggle the price down to KD25 which is pretty reasonable considering the stuff I got.

There are a couple of other shops that had records for sale as well but I wasn’t in the mood to go through their piles so there could be more treasures waiting to be found. So if you’re looking for records, I’d head over to the basement as soon as possible before anybody else does (including me). For directions and more information on the basement, check out my previous post [Here]

Update: Kuwait now has a local online record store! vinyldestination.com