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This a fun little game, how many people can you spot in the photo above not wearing a mask? If you want a clearer picture click here.

If you want to know how many I found, I’ve circled them on this picture.

Dear Avenues,

I pass by once or twice a week and although the majority of people are adhering to the rules and wearing a mask, I’ve noticed a lot of people who aren’t or wearing them under their chin. People who are “exercising” and people who are eating/drinking tend to be the ones mostly abusing the rules, but I’ve also seen a lot of people who I guess simply just don’t want to wear a mask. If you make sure everyone wears a mask I’d spend more time shopping instead of running in to grab something and then running back out. I’m sure its the same with other people. More time spent = more money spent. So forget about the health benefits, its a financial benefit for you to make sure people wear masks.

Thank you
– mark

For those of you too young to know what “Iftah Ya Simsim” is, it’s basically the Arabic version of Sesame Street that was filmed in Kuwait and came out in 1979 before going off the air in 1989. I found these behind the scenes photos yesterday and had to share them because I hadn’t seen them before and they’re just so great.

Sucks about the resolution of some of them but I couldn’t find better quality versions. Better than nothing though so check out the rest below.

I think I might turn this into a series of posts on interesting Kuwait related items that I lost bidding on. The previous ones I’ve posted about were the “Andy Warhol Signed Catalog from Kuwait Exhibit” and “Ahmadi Desert Motoring Club Car Badge“. Adding to those two, I just lost a bidding war on another car badge, this time one belonging to the Kuwait International Touring and Automobile Club. Not a lot of info on the badge but I’m guessing its dating back to the 60s which would make it a nice addition on my Alfa Romeo. I hope whoever bought it isn’t going to hide it in a drawer somewhere, I was actually planning to mount this on my car’s front grill for everyone to see and enjoy.

On the bright side, I did find a copy of “The Kuwait International Touring and Automobile Club – Tourist Guidebook to Middle East Countries” dating back to 1966. You can download the PDF by clicking here.

Architectural photographer Abdulraouf Murad visited the abandoned Entertainment City and captured some pretty cool photos including the one above showing nature taking over the park. The park has been closed since 2016 but I was there a couple of weeks back and there was construction working taking place in the parking area so maybe the renovation project is back on track.

Check out more photos of the park on his account here, here and here.

The original McDonalds location on the Gulf Road is turning into a Burger King and Pizza Hut. The building is looking pretty nice so far and I saw it a few months back at night while they were testing the lighting and all the vertical lines around the structure were lit up by LEDs. I just hope it doesn’t end up looking tacky and ruining the Gulf Road landscape.

As I’ve posted previously, McDonalds has now moved to a new location further up the road next to the Kuwait Towers, where Ruby Tuesday used to be.

One of my favorite local apps is the PASS App. Pre-Corona the cashless parking app was extremely practical and I used it all the time but now during the pandemic, the app makes even more sense. The way the app works is you top it off with credit, and then add your cars to it. Once you get to a parking lot that supports PASS like the 360 Mall parking lot, the parking gate will recognize your car and automatically open to let you in. On the way out you don’t have to interact with the cashier either, once you approach the exit gate it just opens up and the PASS app charges you. All the payments are handled digitally through the app which during this pandemic makes the app a must-have.

But, if that wasn’t enough they’ve recently added another new and cool feature, pre-booking your parking spot. This Friday when I passed by the Avenues I wasn’t sure if it would be busy or not so I pre-booked a parking spot with the app. When I got to Avenues I headed to the Phase 4 PASS Prebook lot and the gate automatically opened to let me in where I found plenty of parking (it was actually empty except for one other car).

The Prebooking parking fees at Avenues is 500fils per hour from the moment you book your spot (not from the moment you enter the parking) and you’re charged per hour till you leave or cancel your booking. This makes sense since they don’t want people to book spots but then not show up. Although Avenues parking is free, booking a parking spot makes the Avenues experience a lot less stressful when you know you’re guaranteed to have a parking spot waiting for you.

I don’t recommend a lot of local apps on this blog nor do I like installing a lot of apps, but, I highly recommend this one. You can download it by clicking here.

I’m currently in the process of restoring my wooden steering wheel on my Datsun 240z and needed to get Spar Urethane and fine sandpaper. So Friday morning I dropped by Ace Hardware and True Value where I managed to find everything I needed. Once I was done I decided to pass by Avenues since I was in the neighborhood and surprisingly, it was a pretty good experience.

Avenues wasn’t busy at all Friday morning, there were no queues to get into the mall and everyone inside was walking around with masks on. The only queue I saw while there was at Starbucks but that’s about it. I ended up passing by L’Occitane and picking up some hand cream before leaving and not once while I was inside the mall did I feel unsafe or uncomfortable.

Even when I was at Ace Hardware and True Values I didn’t feel uncomfortable shopping. Ace was the busiest I’d ever seen it but since the place is so big it didn’t feel crowded at all. They even had all the cashiers open so even when paying you didn’t have to wait in a queue.

So if you’ve been holding off going shopping until things calmed down, well looks like things have calmed down.

Is LV or Rolex that important to have to visit the stores early morning on the very first day the malls reopen? I saw a video of the Rolex line at Salhiya and it’s even worse. So bizarre.

Over the weekend I was in Avenues for work (the mall is closed FYI) so I decided to walk around and see if it was true that Alshaya was closing down some of its restaurants. Inspired Edibles had posted a list on Instagram of the brands that were closing which included:

400 Gradi
Alforno
Blaze Pizza
Bridge Water Chocolate
Cafe COCO
Castania
Cleo
Le Pain Quotidien
P.F. Chang’s (Phase 1)
Spontini Pizza
Veranda

Turns out it’s partially true. Other than Blaze Pizza and P.F. Chang’s, all the restaurants listed above had been closed down with their logos removed and the storefronts boarded up. I guess the two I’m gonna miss the most are Alforno and Spontini. When Alforno first opened I used to go there a lot with my family, and Spontini, well I kinda liked their pizzas even though I know a lot didn’t.

But, if a giant like Alshaya has difficulty sustaining a restaurant during this difficult period in a mall they basically own, you can only imagine how other smaller businesses must be doing.

Completed all the way back in 2003, the Villa Moda department store in the Free Trade Zone was way ahead of its time. The building still stands there today but isn’t currently being used although a few years ago I heard a TV station or newspaper was going to take it over.

The owner of Villa Moda was the fashion entrepreneur, Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah who had a vision for a state-of-the-art retail experience. The exterior was designed by Italian architect Pierfrancesco Cravel who came up with the idea of creating the giant glass shell that mimicked the shipping containers in the port nearby. The 12-meter high steel poles in front of the building represented ship masts while sails were used in the parking lot to protect vehicles from the sun.

When Tyler Brûlé, the founder of Wallpaper* magazine heard Sheikh Majed was developing a new department store for luxury brands in Kuwait, he recommended he work with the London based interior designers Eldridge Smerin.

Eldridge Smerin were responsible for the design of Villa Moda’s main entrance area and lounge, public spaces and staircases, two levels of multi-brand fashion space, restaurant and café managed by @capriceholdingsrestaurants, as well as the landscaping around the building.

Villa Moda opened its doors in 2003 housing brands like Gucci, Prada, Bottega Veneta, Salvatore Ferragamo, Fendi, Etro and more. The total duration of the project from conceptual design to construction completion was impressively, less than a year.

For more photos of Villa Moda click here.

The original Villa Moda is still standing and was also ahead of its time (pictured below). The original Villa Moda was located on the Gulf Road opposite where Chilis used to be. Not sure when it opened but I remember going there back in the 90s.

Update: This post has been updated with more precise information. Also the Villa Moda building has now been demolished.

Starting from June 6th, anybody whose driving license expired and renewed it online will be able to pick up their new one from the kiosks at Al-Naser Sport Club in Ardiya. They are open from 8AM to 5PM and here is the location on Google Maps.

source

Yesterday during the press conference a 5 stage plan for the gradual return to normal life was shared. Because the information wasn’t made available in English, a reader took the time to translate the presentation himself so non-Arabic speakers could also read it. Please keep in mind this is an unofficial translation and so there might be inaccuracies.

Download the official Arabic version
Download the unofficial English version

Thank you Fawaz Al Hathal!

Update: Temporarily removed the English copy because I’m trying to edit and fix stuff in it including flipping around all the graphics. Check back in an hour.

Update2: File is back up

Around 30 minutes ago there was a conference where they announced the next steps to opening up after the lockdown. For those of you who can’t read Arabic, I’ve tried my best to summarize things until the official English text is published. There might be mistakes below, nbut it should be helpful until the official English comes out.

Basically what the government has done is gamified things, which I like. Imagine the lockdown we just completed as Level 0, we did it for 3 weeks and we passed. Now we move to Level 1 where we get more privileges and a partial curfew. In three weeks we will be evaluated, if we do well we move to Level 2, if we do bad we go back to Level 0 and start all over again. The better we do the more stuff we get. Here is how they’ve divided things to the best of my ability to translate:

Level 0 – Full Lockdown
What we just completed.

Level 1 – Free from 6AM to 6PM
We get mosques, restaurants (delivery and drive-thru), courier and delivery services, laundromats, fuel stations, private clinics, garages, car washes and car dealerships.

Level 2 – Free from 6AM to 9PM
We get banks, malls (10AM to 6PM), 30% of government and private sector, retail stores, restaurants takeaway, parks.

Level 3 – No curfew
We get 50% of the government and private sector back to work, hotels and resorts, Taxis with 1 passenger, Friday prayer at mosques.

Level 4 – No curfew
We get more than 50% of the government and private sector back to work, dine in at restaurants with social distancing, public transportation with social distancing.

Level 5 – No curfew
We get diwaniyas, social gatherings, weddings, events, gyms, conferences, hairdressers, spas, sports and cinemas.

In addition, I read that Farwaniya, Hawalli, and Khaitan will remain in lockdown. But, there is a bit of lack in clarity because I’ve heard it’s just some blocks that will be locked down, and I’ve heard that whole areas will be locked down.

Once an official English version of the above comes out I’ll update the post. If you read Arabic here is the PDF they presented during the conference.

Update: According to Kuna, Level 1 starts on Saturday

Update2: Arabic Kuna seems to contradict English Kuna. Arabic Kuna says Level 1 starts Sunday (31), English says Saturday (30). Great…

Update3: Ignore the KUNA links, according to @CGCKuwait, it’s starting on May 31st. Here is their official graphic in English with more details on what’s included under Level 1. Link

Update4: I updated the post to make it clear the hours I’ve listed are when we’re are free to go out and not the hours we have to be stuck at home.

Last year I heard a rumor that Arabella was going to get demolished and turned into a hotel and now there are renderings out showing what it’s going to look like. Based on the renderings it seems like they’re going to be demolishing the left side of Arabella (the side with Texas Roadhouse and Cheesecake Factory and build the hotel there.

The area isn’t that big so I’m very curious to see how they’re going to make it work especially the parking situation which is a total mess right now.

There is no mention yet on what hotel will be opening there or when but for more renderings including some interior ones, click here.

Thanks ChaoticTranquility

Once the lockdown is over and restaurants can reopen again for dine-in, where are you going first? I think for me it’s gotta be Peacock.