Search: “sti”

You’ve probably seen the MDL Beast ads on the roads around Kuwait, it’s taking place this weekend and is the biggest music festival in Saudi featuring over 200+ artists performing across 7 stages over a period of 3 days. It’s a crazy lineup with headliners like Bruno Mars, Post Malone and DJ Khaled but also favorites like Wizkid, Marshmello, David Guetta, Carl Cox, Solomun and DJ Snake.

One of those performing artists is Tamara, a local DJ who is also a full-time zoo veterinarian during the day. She’ll be playing a set on the second day (December 2nd) on stage Underground 3 at 4PM. If you’re heading to MDL Beast this weekend, keep an eye out for her.

Check her out at @qabazard

“How I Got There” is a dramatic action thriller set in a colorful high energy version of modern Kuwait. I just watched the trailer and it looks pretty great and even stars Ron Perlman from the Hellboy movies.

The film is premiering next month at the Red Sea Int. Film Festival in Saudi Arabia and you can follow them on Instagram @howigotthere

Thanks Zaydoun

This looks like it could be a fun experience. Chevrolet Alghanim are hosting a World Cup viewing experience tonight in the desert. They’re going to broadcast the Germany vs Spain game and there will also be different activities and a food zone.

If you’re interested, it’s going to take place from 6:30 PM to 12 AM at @palama.kw. To register, head to @chevroletalghanim and click on the profile link.

It’s been around a month since I last posted about Winter Wonderland and there has been major progress since then. They’ve basically finished all the groundwork since my last post and have now started installing the rides.

There will be over 30 rides and games for both children and adults once they open in December and they’re planning to announce the rides soon on their Instagram account @winterland_kw.

They haven’t officially announced the ticket prices but in a news interview, they stated they’re aiming for a 5KD entrance fee and then 1KD for small rides and 2KD for larger ones.

The popular content creator @mohamedalwazzan lives across from the park and has been posting nearly daily updates of their progress, so check out his account if you want to get a sneak peek. This project is moving impressively fast.

There are a lot of outdoor markets taking place this weekend so hopefully, it doesn’t rain. Below are all the events I found taking place, if I missed anything let me know in the comments:

Thursday, Nov 24
Kuwait International Book Fair
Comic Festival Convention
Keshta & Sea Expo
Bazzar Expo
The Avenues Winter Experience
Bugsha Market
Meet Me at the Terrace Market
Kuwait Outdoor Sports Expo
The Certified Youth Club Festival

Friday, Nov 25
Kuwait International Book Fair
Comic Festival Convention
Murouj Market
Keshta & Sea Expo
Bazzar Expo
Sailing: Friday Sunset Cruising
The Avenues Winter Experience
Festive Friday at the Assima Mall
BUNKA’s Black Friday
Bugsha Market
Awaken in the Desert
The Opera D’amore
Meet Me at the Terrace Market
German Speaking Ladies of Kuwait Bazaar
Kuwait Outdoor Sports Expo
Feed Market
The Certified Youth Club Festival

Saturday, Nov 26
Kuwait International Book Fair
Comic Festival Convention
Murouj Market
Keshta & Sea Expo
Bazzar Expo
Gulf Bank 642 Marathon
Grand Mosque Tour
The Avenues Winter Experience
Bugsha Market
Black & White Healing Doodles
Meet Me at the Terrace Market
Cooking Class: Noddle Class 2.0
Kuwait Outdoor Sports Expo
Feed Market
The Certified Youth Club Festival
Treasure & Scavenger Hunts

Exhibitions
The Divine Agent by Lilia Nour
The Passage by Rouzan Seropian
Ghada Al Kandari x Mercedes Benz

Activities
Albohayra Farm
Ascend Rock Climbing
Indoor Karting
Little Jungle
Murouj Farm
Movement Classes at Omni Studio
Roller Blade at Roller Hub
Yoga at Darātma

Museums to Visit
Abdullah Salem Cultural Center (ASCC)
Amricani Cultural Center Museum
Bait Al Othman Museum
Tareq Rajab Museum

This definitely isn’t a coincidence, after posting about the lack of news on Apple Pay this morning, it was just announced that Apple Pay will be launching in Kuwait on December 7th. Source

If you’re looking for a cool and free spot to watch the World Cup matches then you should probably head over to the Sheikh Jaber Causeway. Castra who were in the news last week because their desert lounge setup got shutdown for not having a license are back now (with a license) and have set up a World Cup viewing area on the Southern Island of the causeway (called Al Saji Island).

The Castra setup is right on the edge of the island with a beautiful view of Kuwait City and is surrounded by food trucks and plenty of seating. Although they were still working on setting up a kiosk area for pop-ups when I visited, they’ve been open and broadcasting the games daily.

There is no entrance fee which is great and because it’s located on the Southern Island of the causeway I think makes this location really fun and interesting to visit. Weirdly, there isn’t anything posted about this anywhere, not even on the Castra Instagram account which is @castra.kw

If you want to head to the location, here it is on Google Maps

Last month the Ministry of Finance and the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority reached an agreement with Apple to operate Apple Pay in Kuwait after removing all the obstacles that prevented the service from operating here.

That announcement was followed by a lot of hype with banks testing Apple Pay and even launching the service on their websites. But, that was a month ago and since then the Apple Pay pages were pulled down from the bank websites and there hasn’t been any news, not even leaked videos or photos.

I wonder what happened since it looked like they were set to launch at the start of the month.

Is it me or is Kuwait getting a lot of Overlanding tourists this year? Back in September, I posted about Petra, the German lady traveling around the world in her huge MAN KAT 8×8 but I keep spotting other visiting overlanders parked on the Gulf Road or mall parking lots. Yesterday one tourist overlander posted a photo showing three other overlanders parked near him. It seems they all use the app iOverlander which has a list of safe to camp spots in Kuwait and around the world which is how they all end up parked in the same spots.

Speaking of places to park, all the Gulf Road parking lots are starting to look like RV campgrounds with lots of motorhomes (not overlanders) parked each taking up multiple parking spots. We clearly don’t seem to have any regulation against this and you know what that means, eventually they’ll just ban motorhomes so they don’t have to deal with it.

Anyway back to the subject, currently, there are at least 4 overlanders passing through Kuwait, @aufaufunddavon_, @the_travely, @busleven and @defendter_. It’s really interesting checking their accounts and watching what they do while they’re in Kuwait. They all seem to really love it here, @busleven for example have spent the most time in Kuwait than any other place they’ve been to so far because of how much they’re liking it. So check out their accounts, they usually all have great photos as well.

Last week I posted a couple of ways you could watch the World Cup tournament including subscribing with TOD for $80. But, a reader left a pretty negative review of his experience with the service after trying to watch the first game yesterday:

Tod is the Worst app on the planet , missed most of the game , it keeps crashing . Its a waste of money, its a scam not worth 80 dollars subscription, you cant even contact them. I watched 10 min of the game then it stops , after resting the app it tells you you need to register the device. I registered my tv maybe 10 times. Dont recommend it at all. And even on your phone it takes a long time to work if it works.

Did you stream with TOD? How was your experience?

In other surprising news, the container park KWT FAN BOX did in fact open in time yesterday to broadcast the opening of the World Cup.

The poster below is of the first-ever Kuwait International Book Fair that was held 47 years ago in Kuwait back in November of 1975 (source). The current book fair taking place at the Fair Grounds is #45 and I passed by it last week to check it out.

This year the event looks a lot better than before since the standard booths seem nicer, or maybe they’ve changed the carpet but either way, it just looks visually better overall. There are English books but not many and isolated to a small corner in one of the halls. It’s still worth passing by and checking out especially since it’s going on for another 6 days. For timings and more info check out my previous post here.

Below is this weekend’s list of events taking place. If I missed anything let me know in the comments.

Thursday, Nov 17
Kuwait International Book Fair
JACC: The Tiger Who Came to Tea
WAGMI Talk Sessions
Plant a Tree at Boulevard
Healing Circle

Friday, Nov 18
Kuwait International Book Fair
JACC: The Tiger Who Came to Tea
Gulf Run
Sailing: Friday Sunset Cruising
Doll Making Workshop
Grounding Beach Art
Football: Belgium vs Egypt
Disney Store Meet & Greet

Saturday, Nov 19
Kuwait International Book Fair
JACC: The Tiger Who Came to Tea
Gulf Run
Operation Turtles Beach Cleanup
Treasure Hunt at Al Shaheed Park
Family Medicine 5K Race
Storytelling Through Songwriting
Art Sandsation
Al Andalus Retro Poster Workshop
Ceramics Workshop: Qahwa Cups
Cooking Class: Fried Chicken 101
KTAA Fall Bazaar
Disney Store Meet & Greet
Grand Mosque Tour

Exhibitions
The Divine Agent by Lilia Nour
Ghada Al Kandari x Mercedes Benz

Activities
Albohayra Farm
Ascend Rock Climbing
Indoor Karting
Little Jungle
Murouj Farm
Movement Classes at Omni Studio
Roller Blade at Roller Hub
Yoga at Darātma

Museums to Visit
Abdullah Salem Cultural Center (ASCC)
Amricani Cultural Center Museum
Bait Al Othman Museum
Tareq Rajab Museum

The World Cup 2022 starts in just a few days and the only way to watch it legally at home (from what I’m aware) is through beIN Sports. Fifa+ doesn’t support Kuwait and KTV hasn’t announced if they’ll be broadcasting the games for free as of this post.

There are two ways to watch the games on beIN, if you already have a beIN receiver and a subscription, you can add the World Cup package to your existing subscription as an add-on. If you don’t have a Bein box then you have two options:

beIN Sports
Subscribe to the World Cup 2022 stand-alone package with beIN but this setup isn’t going to be cheap since the stand-alone package will cost you $225 without the receiver.

TOD Tournament Ticket
TOD is a subscription-based streaming platform that launched early this year. They exclusively host beIN SPORTS content and offer a World Cup 2022 package for $80. With this subscription you get unlimited access to beIN SPORTS channels MAX 1-6 from the 1st of November to the 31st of December. Their app is available for both iOS and Android devices and supports the ability to cast onto your television using Airplay or Chromecast.

If there is an alternative way to watch the World Cup 2022 legally, let me know in the comments.

The Touristic Enterprises Company is nearly done constructing a container park on Salmiya’s Blajat beach which they’re calling “KWT FAN BOX”. The container park is being built to broadcast the World Cup 2022 matches which are going to start on November 20th and continue into December.

The container park will have various entertainment and sports activities, cafes, and restaurants as well as five screens broadcasting the games. Four of the screens will be distributed around the container park with a fifth main and gigantic 11x6m screen located in the center. There will be 1,500 parking spots available which hopefully should be enough or else there will be even more major congestion on that already heavily congested street.

Some of the restaurants and shops that will be opening at the park include:

300f
A Store
Al Rifai
Ebn 3amy
Face/Off
Froyo
Haagen-Dazs
Illy Cafe
Joy Cafe
Kalemat
Lulu’s Tea House
Meme’s Curry
Ole
Ratio Cafe
Rib Eye Steak House
Sakura
Saray
Shake Shack
Starbucks
Tuta Sushi
Yoosee’s Chicken

KWT FAN BOX is expected to open on November 20th but I passed by yesterday and it looked like there was still a lot of work to be done so I’m very curious to see if they’ll manage to finish on time. Once it does finish the park will be open daily from 10AM until midnight.

Ticket prices are as follows:

Entrance ticket per person: 2.5 KD
Entry is free for children under the age of five
Entry is free for the domestic workers accompanying a family
For groups of 4 people or more, the entrance ticket is 2 KD per person

Here is the location of the park on Google Maps. To stay posted on the project, check out their Instagram account @kwt.fan.box

Update: KWT FAN BOX is now open.

Kuwait Motor Town will be hosting the final round of the 2022 24H Series endurance race early next month and tickets just went on sale for it.

The ‘Hankook 12H Kuwait’ is a 12-hour uninterrupted race that starts at 12 PM and goes on until midnight to ensure competitors experience racing during the day and night. The race takes place on Friday, December 2nd, but there are qualifications and practice sessions the day before. Tickets start at KD3 for a one-day pass, and KD5 for both days. They also have VIP tickets.

If you’re interested to find out more or buy tickets, visit the KMT website kmt.kw