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This week I finished watching Under the Bridge which turned out to be pretty good. I also started watching The Veil which isn’t that great but I’m curious to see where it goes. I’m traveling in 10 days time so kinda watching b-rated shows for now and saving the rest for the plane. Currently have the following I’m saving for my trip:

Hacks (Latest season)
Clarksons Farm (Latest season)
Loot (Latest season)
Mr & Mrs Smith (Halfway through)
The Iron Claw (Movie)
Dream Scenario (Movie)
A Man in Full
Ripley
Unfrosted (Movie)
Obliterated
The New Look
The Sympathizer

Let me know in the comments what you’ve been watching or planning to watch this weekend.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Week:
Abigail (6.8)
Dead Racer (5.7)
IF (6.8)
Knox Goes Away (6.9)
Memory (6.6)
You Can’t Run Forever (N/A)

Other Movies Showing:
Bloodline Killer (7.5)
Civil War (7.6)
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (6.5)
Inception (Classic/2010) (8.8)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (7.4)
Kung Fu Panda 4 (6.4)
The Fall Guy (7.3)
The Little Mermaid (4.6)

The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.

Since a lot of record stores pop up and close down often, I tend to update this list every few years.

All the small online stores that sold new records have closed down, including @vinyldestinationkw, and so if you want a new release, your best bet is ordering from Amazon.

But, if you’re looking for old used records, you actually have multiple options in Kuwait.

The Antique Basement
This basement in Salmiya has various stores selling vintage and antique items, three of them also have a small collection of old records. They’re not organized but instead are either just pilled up on top of one another, or randomly stacked in boxes. Finding stuff is a bit of an adventure, but on the bright side, they’re mostly English records. Here are the instagram accounts of those stores:

@tathkron
@fahad___bokhaled
@alnasser_antiques_kuwait

Nawader
This guy has the most insane collection of old music since he acquired all the remaining stock of the old record label “Bou Zaid Phone“, one of the most important Kuwaiti record labels. Nawader has a huge collection of new-old-stock records, cassettes and even 8-track tapes. Nearly all of the records he has are in Arabic, and he also has many very hard to come by ones. I got my 4-volume vinyl set of the “Kuwaiti Television Artistic Group” from him, and although he wouldn’t sell me his copy of the Iftah Ya Simsim record, he did hook me up with someone else who sold me theirs. He has a location thats by appointment only, but you can also purchase or request items through any one of his three instagram accounts:

@nawaderq8
@q8nawader
@istuwanat

Moqtanayaty
If you’re looking for a vintage record player, boombox, 8-track or even reel-to-reel players to buy, the best store in Kuwait is Moqtanayaty, or “My Belongings” when translated to English. I bought my vintage record player from there and they can even repair vintage music players, VCRs, or really old TVs. You can check them out on instagram @vintage_radio_

If you know of another place that sells records, let me know in the comments.

Similar to the ‘A-Frame‘ Farm which I posted about a couple of years ago, the ‘Countryside Farmhouse’ is another picturesque farm in Wafra that is also available to rent.

The 3,000m2 farmhouse features 4 master bedrooms, a cozy living room, both an indoor and outdoor kitchen, and various outdoor seating areas including a rooftop with a beautiful view. The farm which can host up to 10 guests also has a swimming pool, gardens all around, and a dedicated kid’s play area, so plenty of room for you and your friends.

What initially caught my attention was the beautiful Mediterranean look of the farmhouse which is what I think makes this place feel like a secret getaway. The price to rent the farm is 165 KD per night during the weekdays, and 485 KD if you want to book it for the whole weekend. Not too bad if you split the cost with friends. If you want to check out more photos or to book, head over to their instagram account @countrysidekw

I don’t recall coming across a photo of Kuwait’s shoreline that was older than this. I was doing some research for an upcoming post when I went down a rabbit hole and ended up coming across a report from 1903 that contained photos, maps and some interesting information on Kuwait. One of the photos was the image above of Kuwait’s shore which I hadn’t seen before, but there were also some other ones inside I also hadn’t seen which I’ve shared below.

The report is made up of 2 volumes and the original copy is part of the British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers . The report was compiled by Captain H. H. Dowding after his visit to Kuwait during the winter of 1901-02 while the photographs were supplied by Baron Curzon of Kedleston.

You can actually download the whole report as a PDF from the Qatar Digital Library. If you want to check it out, click here.

YISWA is an interesting local auction app where it works the other way around, prices go down instead of going up. It’s a new way to shop where the longer you wait, the better the price gets. But, wait too long and someone else might snatch the item up.

The way YISWA works is items go on sale one at a time in the app. They first get listed with the retail price, and then quickly start dropping down in price. The price keeps dropping until people buy the item and it gets sold out. Because there is no way to tell how many pieces are left in stock or how many people are interested in it, you want to set a price that is both reasonable for you and ensures you don’t miss out on the item.

So for example, starting tomorrow (Tuesday), YISWA will be selling pairs of VIP tickets for the Bassem Yousef and Maz Jobrani comedy show that’s taking place later this month. The retail price for the tickets is 140KD which is how much they will go on sale for. But, once the auction starts, the price will start dropping until the tickets get purchased by someone. The longer you wait, the cheaper the price will get but the higher the chance of someone else buying it.

YISWA have also included some features in the app to make the shopping experience easier. For example, you can preview upcoming auctions and ask the app to notify you when they start. You can also set a buy it now price for the items, so for example, you could set your buy it now price for the 2 VIP tickets at 100KD. If the price drops to your set price, the app will automatically purchase the tickets for you.

If you want to check the app out and just browse, you can do that without needing to sign up. Just download the app and check it out. For the download link, head over to their website yiswaapp.com

This might be one of my favorite projects so far in Kuwait. Inspired by Kuwait’s traditional courtyard houses, the Zen Villa features a deliberate minimalist design intended to envelop residents in a panoramic view of surrounding palm trees and horse barns. It was designed by the local award winning firm Fikrr Architects, and is located in Wafra.

Each room in the Zen Villa was designed with expansive windows spanning the full width of the walls, connecting the family with the surrounding nature.The interior palette and materials were influenced by the surrounding landscape, echoing the desert through hues of yellow, beige, and green. This approach harmonizes the villa with its environment, infusing it with the warmth and tranquility of the natural world outside.

Even the roof was given attention to. By maintaining a clean and uncluttered roof, the architects overcame the challenge of heat impacts that would be generated by heavy equipment such as AC units which could then travel into the center courtyard.

For more  photos of the villa, check out their instagram @fikrr and their website fikrr.com

Photos by @ngphoto.com.pt

Although I haven’t been to Palm Palace restaurant in Salmiya since the 90s, it is pretty sad seeing it getting demolished. They’ve been around since 1979 and they were located next to my home so I grew up right next to them. I actually wanted to go back to it for nostalgic reasons but never did and now it’s too late. Actually, I just realized the last time I was there I think was in the early 2000s? I remember a friend had just gotten the first Nokia with the camera and he was showing it to me there.

I started watching Franklin this week, but couldn’t make it through the first episode. I did start watching X-Men ’97 and am loving it, for one it reminded me of Saturday mornings back when I lived in Canada, but also the plot is pretty good so I’m really enjoying it.

I watched the movie The Holdovers, it was good, don’t think I’d recommend it but it was fine. I’m a fan of Paul Giamatti but I remember I also found his movie Sideways by the same director also just fine even though it had gotten rave reviews back then.

Other than that I’m still watching Mr. & Mrs. Smith and just finished The Brothers Sun. Now deciding if I should start watching Obliterated or Baby Reindeer.

Let us know in the comments what you’ve been watching or planning to watch this weekend.

Movies at the Cinemas
The movies below are now showing at the local cinemas:

New This Week:
Bloodline Killer (7.5)
Inception (Classic/2010) (8.8)
The Fall Guy (7.3)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Classic/1988) (7.7)
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 (5.4)

Other Movies Showing:
Civil War (7.6)
Dune: Part Two (8.8)
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (6.5)
Kung Fu Panda 4 (6.4)
The First Omen (6.8)
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (7.1)

The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.

This past weekend I picked up the Apple Vision Pro and since then I’ve been using it daily, mostly exploring it and trying to figure out what to do with it.

First things first, if you’re planning to pick up an Apple Vision Pro in Kuwait, you need to know that you won’t be able to pick the proper sized light seal. Before purchasing the AVP from the Apple Store, they ask you to scan your face so they could recommend the proper light seal. You can do that through the Apple Store app and according to the scan, I needed a size 21W. If you’re buying an AVP from the grey market, there is no way to know what size light seal you’re getting since Apple doesn’t mention the size on the outside of the box. So it depends on your luck, I ended up with the light seal size 33W which was what Apple recommended for my wife. It doesn’t fit well on my face but I’m dealing with it till my light seal arrives. I got a brand new one off eBay for $150 but Apple sells them for $199. So just something to keep in mind.

Secondly, the AVP prices in Kuwait are quite a bit cheaper than Apple prices in the US. The cheapest price I found locally was 999KD at Best Electronics. In comparison, it costs around 1,160KD in the States with tax, but without shipping to Kuwait. Expect to pay around 20-30KD on top of that to ship to Kuwait since the box is pretty heavy. But then again, if you don’t end up with the correct light seal size you’ll have to pay for that, but it would still be cheaper to buy it locally and you’ll end up having an extra light seal.

Other than that, if you already have a US Apple Store account which I assume everyone already has, then you’re pretty much set. If you have a Kuwait Apple Store account it won’t work in the AVP since the AVP is only available in the US at the moment. If you want to use streaming services like Disney and Max, you also need a smart DNS proxy. Disney Kuwait won’t work (uses app from Kuwait store) and I don’t think there is a VPN option on the AVP, but smart DNS is easier to set up anyway.

My first impression of the AVP? It’s difficult to explain. I love it, it’s definitely the future, but if you’re asking me if you should get one, then the answer is no. If you already got one or are planning to get one, then you made the right decision. It’s confusing I know but if you already decided on the AVP it’s most likely for the same reason as me, to be there at the start of what I think is the future, and not because it’s worth getting one now.

It’s such an incredible device, using it and doing things with it is like nothing else I’ve experienced, so much so that I keep wanting to share my experience with someone else. That’s what’s also so weird about the AVP, it’s such a solo device but yet the experiences are ones you want to share with others. I’ve been constantly annoying my wife asking her to put on the AVP so I could let her experience various things I got to experience.

I will have to do a proper review of the device, but right now I’ve mostly been using it for two things, watching TV and playing ToXun. ToXun is a game that randomly puts you somewhere on Earth in Google Street View, and you need to guess where you are in the world. It’s pretty difficult but I’ve been quite good at guessing at least which country I’m in.

Watching TV on the other hand is just a really really incredible experience. For one thing, you can now have a TV anywhere. I have just one TV by choice in my apartment, but with the AVP I can now set up a large Cinescape movie theater anywhere I want in my place. I’ve watched a variety of content so far from simple TV shows to what Apple calls Immersive Videos. I’m not sure how to describe immersive video because until I experienced it I hadn’t experienced anything like it anywhere. Imagine a super large Imax screen that towers above and below you but is also in 3D. Actually, I don’t think that describes it properly. Imagine, you’re standing inside the film watching, that’s what these videos feel like. There aren’t many of them but my favorite is called Adventure and takes place up high in the mountains where a female climber sets up a high line to cross over a cliff. It’s really well shot, the 3D scenes make me feel like I’m right there, and anywhere I look I see beautiful views. They’re not 360 videos, but they do wrap around your peripheral vision.

But your regular 3D movies look great as well. I was never a fan of 3D movies because of the glasses you had to wear and how they darkened the screen. With the AVP they’re much much better. I watched the movie Gravity last night in 3D inside my theater and it was incredible, I felt like I was up there with them in space.

So far the AVP has been a great experience. I just ordered a compact carrying case for it from Waterfield in case I want to travel with it and use it on the plane. Not sure I’d be comfortable doing that just yet, but will see how it goes.

If there is anything specific you want to know or want me to try out, let me know in the comments.

The popular car vlogger Shmee was in Kuwait last week to film the car collection of Dr. Adel Quttainah, the plastic surgeon. I had assumed it was his first visit to Kuwait but in the video he mentions it was his second time although I couldn’t find any details of his first visit. If you’re into cars, check out his video on YouTube

Over the weekend there was a bit of drama in Kuwait. Word got out that a PlayBoy model called Lina Bourghol was in Kuwait last week, and although it didn’t look like she did anything wrong while here, she still managed to ruffle some feathers.

Lina posted a photo of her in front of the Kuwait Towers which exacerbated the controversy. That photo now has over 3,000 likes but no comments since she closed it due to the abuse she was getting. In a video that popped up on my Tiktok feed she mentions that she doesn’t understand why authorities had a problem with her being in Kuwait, but were fine with Kim Kardashian being here. She denied that she was here because a guy paid her to come, and she brought up a good point that why would he bring her to Kuwait when they could fly out to a more interesting play like Miami. She said she came in here on a visit visa and that she wore the abaya everywhere she went out of respect for the local culture.

In any case she ended up leaving Kuwait, some people were saying she got deported but she mentions in her video she had left on her free will. The whole coming in on a visit visa thing I can believe since every now and then Tiktok pops up videos on my feed of what I assume are escorts temporarily in Kuwait. Don’t think there is a way to stop them from coming in unless you stop issuing visit visas completely.

Last week Kuwait came second in the IIHF World Championship Division IV, but a couple of days ago the Kuwait under 18 team lost 57-0 to Thailand in the opening game of the U-18 Asian and Oceania Championship. source

57 to 0!

It’s now considered to be the 5th worst beatdown in international hockey history. Kuwait only managed 1 shot at Thailands goal while Thailand had 122 shots on Kuwait.

Keep in mind hockey is composed of 3 periods of 20mins each, so Thailand basically scored 1 goal a minute. Pretty crazy but the good news is, it’s not the worst beatdown ever. The worst beatdown ever goes to the South Korea vs Thailand match from 1998 where South Korea beat Thailand 92-0. 57-0 would put the Kuwait game 5th on the list.

Kuwait’s goalie actually managed to make 65 saves, so the blame can’t all go to him. This was also Kuwait’s debut at the tournament.

The tournament is taking place in Uzbekistan, with nine teams – Thailand, Kuwait, India, Indonesia, Iran, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia and the United Arab Emirates. You can watch the full game above.

Update: In their second game, Kuwait were losing 17-0 against Uzbekistan in the first period when they decided to forfeit the game.

Benny’s Books is a new business that’s opening its door tomorrow (April 23rd) on World Book Day. Their mission is to provide children aged 0-12 with access to curated books that ignite their imaginations and inspire a lifelong love for reading.

I posted about another book box subscription service a few years ago but that business isn’t around anymore. Benny’s Books is a similar concept where for a monthly fee they’ll mail you curated books of their choosing every month. Their prices will start as low as KD9.6 per month and that includes the shipping cost.

The baby book club includes 3 engaging books featuring cuddly characters and vibrant illustrations designed to stimulate your baby’s senses and encourage an early love for books right from the start.

If you’re interested in signing up for finding out more, check out their instagram account @bennysbookskw

Some of you might not know this but the Bayan Palace has a botanical garden inside. It was designed by Dutch architect Peter van der Toorn Vrijthoff from the firm ALLDESIGN, and it was officially opened in 2015.

The botanical garden is composed of 3 large glasshouses containing 6 different gardens with 4 different climate zones and exhibiting tropical, dry, Mediterranean and European plants. It’s one of the main attractions for official state visitors and until a couple of years ago, was actually open to the public.

I passed by for the first time back in 2016, and looking at my notes from my visit it seems I had mixed feelings about the place. The garden was smaller than it looked but it was still pretty interesting with most of the exotic plants inside labeled with their names. One thing I didn’t like about the place was the limited accessibility; the gardens were only open to the public on Thursdays, from 9AM to 1PM. So if you had a day job you wouldn’t be able to visit the gardens unless you took time off work.

For reasons unknown to me, the botanical garden closed to the public a couple of years ago and hasn’t opened again since. I even passed by last week to double check and it was indeed still closed.

If you’ve never been to the gardens before, check out my post on Instagram where I have more photos up plus a couple while it was still under construction @248am.

You can also follow the botanical gardens instagram account to be notified once/if they reopen again @botanicalgardenkw

This past Friday was the opening of the Ascend Rock Climbing Center in Hawally. Ascend initially started off as a small local community for climbing enthusiasts in Kuwait by a climbing enthuisiast, @ali.ascends.

I’ve been posting about Ali (and Ascend) for nearly 10 years now. I first found out about him in 2014 after he moved back to Kuwait from university and started recording videos of himself climbing random rock walls in Mutlaa. His aim from the very beginning was to build a climbing community in Kuwait and so he started the group “Kuwait Climbing” (later became Ascend).

The group used to meetup in Mutlaa as well as whatever climbing walls were available in Kuwait at that time. Ali eventually built a small climbing wall outside his family home which became popular, and later expanded it to meet the demand. Now I imagine the community is going to grow even larger with this new climbing center which he was able to open with the help of his partner Hanan, and the help of the climbing community.

The Ascend Rock Climbing Center located inside Emall in Hawally, across the street from Andalus Complex. The climbing center boasts the tallest climbing wall in Kuwait at 14.5m tall. I passed by yesterday for the opening and it was pretty busy with a lot of climbers from the region who had come to Kuwait to check out the center. There were even climbers who flew in from Europe, that should give you an idea of how much Ali is loved by the climbing community.

If you’re interested in getting into the sport of climbing, the center is open daily from 11AM to 11PM. The first hour of climbing costs 5KD and its then 2.5KD for every additional hour. There are also day passes as well as monthly memberships. For more information, check out @ascend.kw