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A couple of weeks back a video of tires burning at the tire graveyard went viral. The problem is the video of the fire that went viral was actually from the huge 2012 fire at the tire graveyard. Back then all the tires were piled up together in one large pile (check out the photos here) but after that big fire, they started separating them which you can see in the satellite photo here.

Even after separating them fires continued to break out just not as big. Even the satellite image linked above has a fire in it, thats how often fires were occurring.

But recently, after a fire broke out back in April, the EPA decided to start moving the tires to a new location and piling them into smaller piles with a much larger distance in between to try and prevent any chance of a large fire breaking out.

A follower shared a link to the @trtworld account which recently shared photos of this new graveyard and I thought the pictures looked great which is why I’m sharing them here. This is currently a temporary solution until more recycling centers are built or the tires exported. For a few more photos, check out the trtworld post here.

Thanks Nidal and Syed

Originally opened in 1983, the Kuwait National Museum was badly damaged during the 1990 invasion and had remained mostly closed since. There were plans to demolish the museum and build a new one but thankfully in 2014, they decided to refurbish and fix up the existing buildings which I think was a great idea. If only the same was done to the ice skating rink or Sawaber.

The picture above was taken by @111.street. Here are some interesting links related to the museum:

History of the Kuwait National Museum
Inside the Kuwait National Museum
The Kuwait Heritage Museum
Preopening Video – 1983

A few weeks ago I decided to finally upgrade my toolbox with a proper set of tools. Over the years I’ve been buying tools as I needed them and that has resulted in a bag full of random brands, missing pieces, and duplicate items. Since I use my tools a lot because of my cars, I decided to reboot my toolbox and put together a nice set of some great brands and great tools.

There are two very popular hardware stores in Kuwait, Ace Hardware and Bin Nisf, but there are a ton of other smaller or more specialized stores in Kuwait which is mainly why I wanted to put this list together. There isn’t one store that carries everything so if you want to build a kit with the best of different brands you’re going to have to visit different locations. Below is a list of my favorite places that carry some great brands, most of them are only available in the stores they’re listed under. I’ll only be listing the brands I think are worth mentioning, for example, Bin Nisf carries a lot of brands but not many quality ones. Also, some brands like Bosch, Dewalt, Stanley, Makita, etc are sold in all hardware stores so I haven’t mentioned those as well. Check out the places below:

A friend of mine put this list together on Twitter of the various trends we’ve gone through over the years and I thought it was so on point!

2010: Year of the Cupcake
2011: Year of the Froyo
2012: Year of the Gelato
2013: Year of the Karak
2014: Year of the Pistachio
2015: Year of the Pudding
2016: Year of the Chicken Burger
2017: Year of the Lotus
2018: Year of the Coffee
2019: Year of the Healthy Diet Boxes
2020: Year of the Shawarma
2021: Year of the Matcha

The only thing missing is the San Sebastian cheesecake phase we went through back in 2018.

via @_M87

Negochi is already known for being the largest hunting store in Kuwait but over the years they have slowly been growing their collection of knives with the aim of becoming the largest knife retailer in the region. Their store in Dajeej has two floors with knives on display and it’s going to get even bigger once their new shipment arrives in the coming weeks.

They carry a ton of knife brands including:
Boker
BYRD
Cold Steel
CRKT
Fox
Hazen
KA-Bar
M Tech
Schrade
Smith & Wesson
SOG
Spyderco
TAC-Force
Timberline
USMC
Volcan
Z Hunter

They have hundreds and hundreds of knives on display and you really need to see it to believe it. Their top floor which is dedicated to just knives feels like a museum. If you’re interested in knives you probably already know about Negochi but if you’re looking for an interesting cool place to pass by and check out, here is their location on Google Maps. They’re also on instagram @negotchi.knives

Yesterday the popular restaurant STREET posted that they’ll sadly be closing down their Kuwait City location:

Guess it’s time to say goodbye. As much as it’s hard to look back at the beautiful 7 years in our first home, every chapter comes to an end. Every single one of you lived these beautiful years in our Kuwait City location and has great memories as much as we do. But It’s time to move on… Every young kid eventually grows up. We love & appreciate every one of you all, and for the endless support!! ❤️ ❤️ ⁣⁣⁣
On to the next!!!

I hadn’t been there since before the pandemic but used to really like the place. They’re closing at the end of the month so you’ve still got a bit of time to pass by and have one last meal there. @st_almakan

China Great Wall is my go-to hole in the wall for hot pot. Hot pot if you don’t know is a way of cooking at your table using a boiling pot of soup stock that you throw your raw ingredients into. You can order the pot in different flavors like spicy or none spicy or order a two-way pot which is a pot split in half and containing two different flavors of stock. You then have two pages worth of items you can order to cook ranging from different proteins like beef or lamb, to veggies like mushrooms and greens. It’s a lot of fun and the hot pot at China Great Wall is pretty good.

The price is also great costing just 2.5KD for a single flavored pot or 3.5KD if you want a two-way. In addition to the pot you then pay per ingredient, so a dish of raw beef for example is 2.250KD, pakchoi is 1KD, morning glory 750fils etc.. The place is fairly small with just 5 tables so it tends to get busy really quickly.

If you’re interested in trying China Great Wall, their instagram is @chinagreatwallrestaurant and here is their location on Google Maps.

Over the weekend I tried out the cotton candy experience at Spunsprinkles and it was wayyyy more fun than I thought it would be. I had pre-booked the experience for me and a couple of friends a week earlier since the few available slots they have get booked quickly. The space is pretty small but super cute and we had stools set up for us in front of the cotton candy spinner.

The first thing they made us do was pick the flavor of the cotton candy we wanted from 16 different ones available (not including their secret menu). After picking our favorite we got to choose all the various sprinkles and glitter we wanted with our cotton candy including edible stickers. Once we all chose how we wanted our cotton candy to look, we started building it. Although the experience is mostly catered towards children, it was honestly a lot of fun as adults which is why they get people of different ages booking the experience.

In the end, we all left with huge smiles on our faces and our tubs of customized cotton candy (my watermelon flavored cotton candy was delicious). The experience costs KD1 per person not including the cost of the cotton candy which varies from 1.5KD to 2.5KD depending on what you’re building.

Being stuck in Kuwait for the past 18 months has resulted in most of us looking for anything new and fun to try while here. This is something you definitely should add to your list to try with friends (or your kids). Their experience slots for the week fill up quickly but new slots open every Sunday at 4PM. Check them out on Instagram @spunsprinkles and if you want to book an experience yourself, here is the link.

One of our company employees has been stuck in the US for months due to the restriction on expats coming into Kuwait and while there she got her vaccination. When the airports reopened she uploaded her vaccination paperwork to the MOH website to be validated but it still hasn’t gotten approved even though it’s been nearly a month.

She ended up missing her flight back to Kuwait so instead, she applied for a Saudi visa online since we have an office there, and in contrast, it took just 3 minutes to get her vaccination validated and visa issued!

Based on the responses under my previous post, I know a lot of you are still waiting for your vaccinations to get approved, but for those of you who already got it approved, how long did you have to wait??

More and more companies are introducing electric cars and a few months ago Mercedes launched one themselves called the EQS. Unlike other manufacturers, Mercedes is trying to capture the premium electric car market and not the budget end which is an approach I like.

The first thing that caught my attention when Mercedes launched the car was the very futuristic interior. It’s actually why I was excited to check out the car when Mercedes invited me for a sneak peek earlier this week. The EQS is currently in Kuwait as part of its worldwide roadshow and I got to spend a bit of time with it but I didn’t get to drive it.

In-person I didn’t like the front end of the car much but the rear with the long one-piece tail light definitely looked futuristic. But really it’s inside the car that things start getting very cool. The whole front dash looks like one giant screen that starts from the driver’s side and ends on the passenger’s side and the software it’s running is fairly smart and intuitive.

The EQS doesn’t officially ship until later this year and although the official price gets announced next week, the rumor is that it will cost around KD40,000. Since this is an edition one car it’s not going to be available for public viewing while in Kuwait. The car is here for a short while just for private viewing and then will fly back out. For more info on the car though click here.

One of the oldest Korean restaurants in Kuwait, Koryokwan is now called Korea Gwan. Don’t know why they changed it, maybe because nobody could remember the name Koryokwan? I know I couldn’t. They also gave the interior a bit of a facelift although I think the new lights are too bright. I didn’t see anything new in the menu though but it’s been given a facelift as well.

On a side note, I just spotted their very old original logo on their instagram account (pictured below) and it looks very familiar. There used to be a Korean restaurant on mezzanine 2 of Salhiya in the 80s and I remember they had a very similar logo outside the restaurant but don’t think they’re the same restaurant.

From what I know, Koryokwan was opened by Mr Kim in 1989, just before the Gulf War. Mr Kim was the General Secretary of the Boxing Federation in Korea and was then brought to Kuwait by Sheikh Fahad Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to coach the Kuwait boxing team back in 1982.

Mr Kim (in yellow) helped Kuwait win two bronze medals at the Asian games and later helped train the Kuwaiti police and army. After leaving boxing in 1988 he teamed up with Carlton Hotel to open up Koryokwan. In 1991 after the Gulf War he got into a disagreement with Carlton and they split ways. He ended up opening a super trippy hair accessories store while someone else teamed up with Carlton to run Koryokwan. A completely random story which you can read in more detail here.

Korea Gwan is open daily from 10AM to 9:30PM. They’re also on Instagram @koreagwan_kuwait

Today marks the 31st anniversary of the 1990 Kuwait Invasion, and every year on the anniversary, I like to share some links related to the war. Here they are:

Free Kuwait
This is a website that focuses on the campaign that was led by Kuwaitis in exile and is loaded with photos and information.

Kuwait Invasion – The Evidence
This is a website that contains over 1,200 pictures taken right after the 1990 invasion as photographic evidence to all the destruction caused by Iraq.

Short movie: Hearts of Palm
Hearts of Palm is a short movie set on August 2nd 1990 and deals with Kuwaiti students living in Miami Florida during the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait.

The Class of 1990
This is a short documentary about reuniting classmates years after the 1990 Iraqi invasion.

Homemade video from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait
Video clips taken by a Kuwaiti family during the Iraqi invasion

Desert Storm Photos
Photos taken by soldiers during Desert Storm.

Short Animation: Sandarah
A captivating story based on true events that took place during the 1990 Iraqi invasion.

First Account of Iraq’s Invasion of Kuwait
Interviews with various Kuwaitis that were in Kuwait during the 1990 invasion.

Iraqi Invasion Pictures
Photos of the Gulf War aftermath.

Politics of War
A tumblr account with some not so commonly seen photos from the Gulf War. (Warning some are graphic)

BBC Documentary: The Last Flight to Kuwait
A series of documentaries on Iraq begins with a look at the fate of British Airways flight BA149 to the Far East in 1990. As the plane landed in Kuwait, Saddam Hussein invaded, capturing its crew and passengers.

Top photo by Steve McCurry, the rest by Bruno Barbey

A couple of years ago I got my Wizr t-shirt printed in Dubai. I had it done on a direct-to-garment (DTG) printer which is basically an inkjet printer that prints directly onto fabric. Compared to the usual heat transfer prints, DTG prints look a lot better, as if the t-shirt was store-bought.

Back then I had asked if there were similar services in Kuwait and I got a few recommendations. Sadly most of them seem to have shut down last year due to the pandemic. But, I did eventually find one place that was still active called Inkservice. They’re a print shop with various locations around Kuwait but their DTG service is located at their Shuhada Co-op branch. I had an old Rambo advert printed on one of my white t-shirts and it came out perfect so I’m going back to print some more things.

The cost is 4.5KD if you provide a t-shirt and 6.5KD if they provide one. If you’re looking for a place to print on t-shirts check these guys out. It takes a few minutes to print so you can wait there till it’s done. They’re on instagram @inkservice and here is their location on Google Maps.

Is it me or does anyone else find it weird that the first activity listed on the Kuwait Tourism website are the smart toilets? It’s even more apparent on mobile phones since the first activity that comes up when scrolling down are the toilets.

@thedodo, the super popular animal stories and animal rights instagram account just posted a video of puppies in Kuwait that were rescued by @raf.kw. It’s a feel good video and in just 4 hours already gotten 800,000 views. Watch the video above and make sure you visit and support @raf.kw

Thanks Basmah