Search: “salmiya”

A large chunk of the old Salmiya souk is going to get demolished soon, its now official since signs are now located all over the building saying this. For the people who said that the building is going to be refurbished and expanded, thats not true, the whole building is going down. I wonder how much traffic will decrease after the building which houses a large chunk of the shops in the souk gets brought down.

This was actually done here in Kuwait. Pretty cool. [YouTube]

The Portuguese national soccer team (with all their stars) will be playing the local Salmiya Club on the 5th of June here in Kuwait. Ticket prices cost KD30, KD20, KD10, and KD5. There are also places reserved just for families and those ticket prices range between KD10 and KD30.

For more information you can check out the event website:
https://www.alsalmiyaclub.com/portugal/

Thanks Armani_Exchange

I had a meeting tonight at the Salmiya Club and when I got there the club soccer team were practicing so I spent some time watching them. It made me really miss playing soccer, the last time I played was during high school. Although I have been living in Salmiya all my life and passed the club from the outside like a million times, I never imagined the club was this huge from the inside. They have the largest soccer field in Kuwait, they also have 2 small ones, 4 outdoor and 1 indoor tennis court, squash courts, a large pool and bunch of other stuff. I was completely flabbergasted (this is officially the biggest word I have used this year), since I had no clue the place was this cool.

Monday I am going back to play some indoor soccer. I also might start going there to play some tennis and squash with Nat. I can’t believe I never bothered to go into the club before..

Here is the club on Google Maps [Link]

On my way back to my car after leaving The ONE I spotted the new Burger Company location. Its not bad but looks small. Its located next to the large parking lot outside The ONE.

Sounds like gunfire, should be fireworks but I couldn’t find any trace in the sky. Anybody here or see anything?

I live in Salmiya, Salam Mubarek Street. The “old” Salmiya. I live right on the main shopping street and have been living on this street for most of my life.

Pre 1990 I was living in the building that had A&W, after 1990 I moved to the building across the street from it and thats where I have been living ever since. As you can imagine, I know the street very well. How well?

I remember The New Super Market before it closed down, I remember when Dairy Queen was open here and then shut down and Jashanmal opened instead. I remember buying my Thermos metal lunch box with the Dukes of Hazzard picture on it from there. I remember the night A&W opened with Mister Donuts right next to it. I remember when Majda el Roumi the famous singer came to open a perfume store right across the street from my building. I remember Hungry Bunny, I remember how after they renovated a cookie store opened inside it which had the best chocolate chunk cookies ever. I also remember the sad day when that cookie area inside got closed down.

I remember the high end stores like Channel, Versace and Cartier. It was a high end street and Rolex and Mercedes are still open here today serving as a reminder to what was once a beautiful street. I remember when Kids R Us opened and I remember what was there before it opened and after it closed. I remember the most popular music stores of their time, Soul II Soul, Bells and Swan Lake. I remember buying my original copy of Windows 95 from Computer World, I remember the small video game store on the ground floor of the same building, he had a NeoGeo in the display and I used to watch the Samurai Showdown demo play while I gazed through the glass hoping to own the system one day. I got my first Swatch from Fay stationary, I remember getting my Peter and Jane books from Family Bookshop. Fay shutdown, Family Bookshop is surprisingly still open.

Well my Salmiya isn’t what it used to be. All the upper scale stores shut down and everyones attention moved up to the Sultan Center area. All thats left here are low end stores all selling the same shit. The whole street has turned into a garbage dump. The sidewalk tiles are damaged, the trees look unhealthy, and the worst thing of all, Salmiya is slowly slowly losing its soul.

I was taking a late night walk just a while ago and I noticed the building that housed Swan Lake was going to get demolished. Thats when I realized I need to do something.

Why do old buildings get demolished and not refurbished? Salmiya (and Kuwait even) would look so much nicer if the old buildings were just redone up. Look at what was done with Beirut. They could have demolished everything and sprung up modern glass buildings but instead they decided to keep Beirut’s soul intact. Why can’t that be done here? My Salmiya really has a lot of history, how many other shopping streets in Kuwait can even begin to compare. No other has sidewalks wider then here nor is any other street located in such a good location. No other street has as much history! The Swan Lake building has a style, it can be cleaned up, updated and reopened but instead its going to get demolished and replaced by a cheap ass low end tiny crappy wannabe mall.

I want to be elected as the mayor of Salmiya. I would clean it up, repaint it, re-tile it and revive it. I don’t know who the mayor is now (if there is even such a position here in Kuwait) but I do know that he can’t be a true Salmiya dweller or else he wouldn’t let it die and rot like this. Vote for me, I won’t let everyone down.

I just came back from riding my bike around Salmiya. What a big difference from last week. Last week it felt the bike was in control while this week I was in control.

My ride tonight was really fun and I didn’t want to come back home. I took the bike for a cruise around old Salmiya and then got onto Amman Street where there was a hand full of cars for me to maneuver around, I wanted to get a feel of riding around cars and I managed to do a bit of that. I then drove back and fort around my neighborhood a few times but then decided to come back home. I didn’t want to but I don’t have my license yet and didn’t want to get stopped by a cop which I doubt would have happened since it was around 6:15PM and the streets were nearly empty.

Surprisingly the biggest challenge for me tonight was getting used to the different seating position. The bike I have been riding all week in my lessons is a lot taller and the seating position is more upright, my Ducati on the other hand is much more lower and the seating position is tilted to the front, sports-bike like. That was my only issue tonight which means I think I am ready to get my riding license and start legally riding in public. I can’t wait!

A friend of mine is looking for a roommate flatmate. He lives in Salmiya behind AUK in a 2 bedroom flat and wants to rent out one of the rooms. Wireless internet is available since his neighbors don’t have their network secured. There is satellite TV in the apartment but he also gets the latest TV shows including Prison Break, Lost, Nip/Tuck and So you think you can dance so there is always something to watch. There is a bakala and laundromat under the building. The building is also located in walking distance to a gym and Sultan Center. Room is available for KD100 a month. If you are interested send an email to [email protected]

They are opening a branch in Salmiya near the gas station on the Gulf Road near where ShowBiz used to be. This means they will finally start delivering in my area.

Maps.Google.com recently got updated with new high resolution images and Kuwait gained from it. For example Salmiya no longer is a blur on the map, the images are pretty good quality. Also I found a military base which was previously also blurred out. Check it out.

Marina Mall
Fanar Complex
American University of Kuwait (still being built in this picture)
Shaab Park
American International School
American School of Kuwait
Military base with planes

I had some time to kill last night so me and Nat decided to pass by The Video Club in Salmiya. I used to go there a lot when I was in highschool and buy atleast 1 music tape a week. It used to be the best music shop, they used to get all the cool alternative bands and all the tapes were original. So I passed by yesterday to show Nataly my old favorite music shop but the place at the moment is just a sad story, I don’t know how they fucked up (don’t blame Virgin). On the bright side for us consumers, they have a huge selection of KD1 CDs. I found Pearl Jam’s No Code album (one of my favs) for only KD1 and I found a large collection of Sound Garden’s Down in the upside album also for KD1. Ofcourse there is a lot of crap like Captain Hollywood or Mr President but thats to be expected. I wasn’t able to browse through all the CDs since I didn’t have that much time to kill but I probably will pass by tonight to continue the search.

You know the new apartment building behind Starbucks in Salmiya called Amwaj? Well here are the apartment prices:

Floors 1 to 4:
3 Bedroom Flat = KD1100 per month
4 Bedroom Flat = KD1300 per month

For every floor over 4 add KD100 per month. For example the 3 bedroom flat on the 7th floor would cost you KD1400 per month.

Facing a problem parking your car when you shop at TSC Salmiya? Now you can leave the parking to us! Just drive up to the valet parking kiosk in front of the store, collect your ticket, and begin your shopping. When you’re finished, visit the valet service desk inside the store to arrange for your car pickup. Then pay for your purchases along with just 1 KD for the valet service. Your car will be waiting for you when you exit the store.

Hours of operation: 10 a.m – 11 p.m daily.

How to use TSC’s Valet Parking Service
– Drive your car to the TSC Valet Parking Kiosk
– Collect your ticket from the valet
– Perform your shopping
– Before paying, visit the Valet Service Desk inside the store to arrange for car pickup by showing your ticket number
– Pay for your purchases along with 1 KD for the valet service
– Cashier will stamp your valet ticket
– Keep your TSC invoice and stamped valet ticket
– Your car will be brought to you just in front of the exit door, where your purchases will be placed in the car
– Show your invoice and your stamped valet ticket to the valet
– Take your car and have a nice and easy day

Policies and Procedures
– Please keep the valet ticket, as it is the only proof of your ownership of the car.
– In case this ticket has been lost, please inform the company as soon as possible in order to take action at once, or else the company will not be responsible for any car lost.
– In case of ticket loss, kindly provide the company with all your legal papers to prove ownership.
– The company is not responsible for any mechanical problems that occur to the customer’s car during the receiving, parking, and delivery of the vehicle.
– The company is not responsible for any item lost from the car during the valet service.
– All cars are insured against accidents when they are under our custody and by company’s drivers.
– All cars should be picked up by 12:00 midnight

[Link]

Passed by Salmiya’s Jewels (Jawharet Salmiya) yesterday night for dinner. Its a Shawerma place I frequent often because of the lack of other decent Shawerma places in the area. The Shawerma place is located on a corner of the building next to the Lime Light boutique in Salem Al Mubarek street. Its not a big place but the Shawerma guy is very friendly and nice. They don’t have meat Shawerma only chicken. They give you two options for the bread, you can either have a hot dog bun which is my favorite or the regular bread. Price of the Shawerma is 250fils and they sell cans of softdrinks for 100fils. They have Shani available. The garlic is pretty good and strong and be-worn, it will leave your breath stinky for the next couple of hours unless taken care of. The place although doesnt look it, is pretty safe and clean to eat at. I have eaten there numerous of times and never gotten sick. There is a small seating place outside but its not very comfortable. The place doesnt have much competition around if any. The closest Shawerma places to him are Kurdo which is down the road towards McDonalds, and this other unknown place in an alley accross the street from Marina Mall. Over all the place gets a 3 out of 5. Its a decent score for a shawerma place in this range.

Here are two pictures of the place:
Picture 1
Picture 2