Last year, the government announced that expats over the age of 60 who have a secondary degree or below will have to leave the country. Supposedly this will help solve the demographic imbalance that has resulted in expats currently making up 70 percent of the population. A lot of people didn’t think this decision was that big of a deal and maybe I’m a bit guilty of that as well. But recently I started realizing who those people being forced to leave would be and now I’m pretty pissed about it.
What I didn’t realize or at least took time to realize is that just because you don’t have a college degree it doesn’t mean you don’t have any skill or experience.
A few weeks ago when I was shopping for a sound system I had such a great experience interacting with a salesman who knew his stuff. I hate dealing with salespeople usually because most don’t know what they’re talking about and are just trying to make a sale but this person I dealt with was an older guy with a lot of experience because he had been working in this field for a long time. I then found out he was going to have to leave this year because he was over 60 and they couldn’t renew his visa.
The video on top is a short piece by AlQabas TV on Souq Safafeer, the metal market in the city. If you ignore the fact that the reporter wasn’t wearing a mask and skip to minute 6 in the video, the reporter interviews a metalworker who’s been in Kuwait since the 50s and is now being forced to leave because of the new rule. He doesn’t have a college degree but he has a skill that we’re now losing.
And we’re going to be losing a lot more of these experienced and skilled people that don’t have any degrees. Could be your favorite barber or the best welder in your company, expats who have been working for a very long time and have become the best at what they do and now have to leave because they don’t have degrees.
Forget the fact that some people like the old metalworker in the video above has been living in Kuwait for nearly 60 years and now is being told he needs to start a new life somewhere else. That’s a messed up thing by itself but put that aside for now, how does it benefit Kuwait if we are kicking out the most skilled and experienced people? I don’t get it.
This post reminded me of the old photographer in the city who I posted about years ago. His story was slightly different, he moved to Kuwait in the 50s as a teenager after running away from an abusive father in Lebanon and had been living in Kuwait as a photographer ever since. He never left Kuwait, not even for a vacation. When I first met him he was having anxiety because his residency had expired and he had trouble reaching his sponsor and was worried he would have to leave the country. He was around 80 years old with no family, home, or anything outside of Kuwait. With this new rule, he would have been forced to leave. Totally messed up.
I actually liked this museum because it was old and had random things inside. Sadly doesn’t look like it’s going to reopen anytime soon and I wouldn’t be surprised if they demolished it so they can build something new and shiny. I’m trying to remember the last time I visited and it might have been 2004, back when I had Moblogging from Kuwait (before my Miskan blog, and I think before Qhate).
For more photos of the current condition of the museum, click here.
The first time I visited the camel races was back in 2013 and I posted a guide for anyone who wanted to experience it as well. Because it’s been awhile since I last went, I decided to pass by again and publish an updated guide.
This past Saturday I drove out to the Kuwait Camel Racing Club to see how much things have changed. I took my old Alfa because I recently replaced some parts on it and wanted a long trip just to make sure I installed everything correctly. The trip to the tracks took a bit less than an hour and didn’t feel like a long drive at all. Once I got to the tracks I noticed all the main gates were locked. For a second I thought they were closed but then I noticed SUV’s speeding across the desert in the distance and heading in the direction of the track, I figured there might be another entrance and drove in the direction they were all heading. Sure enough, there was a side gate open off the main road and I drove into the racing club.
Once I drove into the track I didn’t see any spectators, racers, employees or even any signs telling me where to go next. So I just started following other cars and ended up driving through another gate and onto a tarmac road adjacent to the race track. I then kept driving till I eventually ended up at the start line. You can watch the video above which shows you how to enter the tracks and get to the tarmac that takes you to the start line. If you don’t have an SUV you’ll be fine since I was able to get to the track in my Alfa.
If you want to watch the races there are two ways:
The first way is you drive up to the start or finish line and park your car on the side and just watch the start or end of the races.
The second way to watch the races is you drive around the track with the race as it’s taking place. There are four tracks technically, the main track for the camels to race on is a large wide dirt track surrounded by railings. To the right of the race track is a dirt track for the camel owners who drive next to their camels during the race to control the robot jockeys on the camels. To the left of the camel track are two paved roads also separated by railings, one for use by track employees and the camera vehicle, the second is for the spectators to drive alongside the camels during the race. I didn’t do that this past Saturday but I did do that the first time I went to the tracks and you can watch the video above to see how it looks (chaotic basically). The only difference now is the spectators road is paved instead of it being a dirt road like in the video. Back then you could also tune into FM 93.1mhz on the radio and listen to a live broadcast of the actual race as you drive around. I couldn’t test it this time since my Alfa doesn’t have a radio.
The races start at 1PM and last till 3 or 4PM depending on the week. They alternate between 8 races and 16 races a week, the more races the later they finish. This Saturday when I visited it was 8 races, 4 races with the large camels and 4 with smaller ones. The only difference between the two is the starting line shifts closer to the finish line for the smaller camels. Each race lasts around 15 minutes before the next one starts. They’re not that strict with timing, they basically wait till the races end and all the spectators drive back to the starting line before starting the next race. The races take place weekly starting in October and this year will end in the first week of March.
I definitely recommend you check the races out just don’t go with high expectations, it’s nothing fancy. If you have kids they’d probably enjoy seeing camels up close and you can get pretty close to the camels both at the start and finish line. If you want to visit the Kuwait Camel Racing Club, here is the link to Google Maps.
Teacher’s Cellar whom I posted about back in 2010 is closing down their location in Al Muthana Complex. The whole mall has turned into a ghost town and it’s pretty sad since I have a lot of great memories there as a kid. I really hope they don’t demolish it. Anyway, due to the fact they’re closing down the store, Teacher’s Cellar currently have a 75% discount on everything until January 21st.
So if you’ve got kids and are looking to get random things from books, to fun activities, science experiments, or even simple things like scratch & sniff stickers or magnetic alphabets, pass by them before they close down. @teacherscellarq8
The Kuwait coastguard removed a dead whale this past weekend which was found near the Jaber Causeway bridge. This isn’t the first time that this has happened but it has to be right up there with some of the biggest ones so far.
If you follow me on Instagram then you know I went to the camel races yesterday. I’ll be updating my old post with new info tomorrow but for today I wanted to share a post by Mark Lowey, an ex Kuwait National Petroleum Company employee who recently wrote about his experience at the tracks back in 1988 when he and his wife were living in Kuwait.
Here is this weekend’s list of things to do. The KMT events don’t allow spectators so if you aren’t participating, you can’t check them out. I’ll keep looking for more things going on and will add them as I find them.
If you don’t have a bicycle or are interested in trying out an electric one, @ebikes.kw rent and sell electric bicycles. They currently only have one model available for sale which is the Saluki Liwa 3.5 by EBIKES UAE pictured above which they sell for KD499. If you want to rent it then it’s 25KD for the day. They also offer test drives for those looking to buy one. For more info, get in touch with them.
I’ve never really been interested in astrophotography myself since it’s a pretty time-consuming process that requires a lot of patience, but I do find the process interesting. I also assumed we wouldn’t be able to get good photos in Kuwait due to the light pollution but a local photographer is proving that assumption to be false.
Abdulmohsen Alreesh is a local photographer who has been capturing some great photos of our solar system and posting them on his Instagram account @mi7sen89. Not only that but he’s also listing the equipment he’s using as well as the capture details. For example, below is the info he shared related to the photo above:
Rosette Nebula NGC 2244
Description: The beautiful rosette nebula! Named because of the nebulosity that resembles rose petals. I actually see a skull but still a very cool target. The cluster and nebula lie at a distance of 5,000 light-years from Earth and measure roughly 130 light-years in diameter. The radiation from the young stars excites the atoms in the nebula, causing them to emit radiation themselves producing the emission nebula we see.
Equipment:
° Mount: Ioptron Cem40 with iPolar
° Main Imaging: ZWO ASI533MC Pro
° Filter: Optolong L-extreme 1.25″
° OTA: Skywatcher Esprit 100ED
° SW field flattener
° Guide Scope: ZWO mini guide scope 120mm
° Guide Camera: ZWO ASI-120MM-mini
° Stellarmate – Wireless Astrophotography Controller
Integration:
Lights: 30 x 300 seconds – gain 120
Darks: none
Flats: none
Bias: none
Total acquisition: 2 hours 30 minutes
Software:
Deep Sky Stacker
Siril
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Lightroom
It’s super interesting and he’s got other examples similar to this on his account as well. If you want to get into astrophotography or want to see more photos captured by Abdulmohsen, then make sure you check out his Instagram account @mi7sen89
Found a video of the Kuwait Towers under construction in the 70s. Not sure what the original source is or if the video originally had any audio, so if anyone recognizes this footage from somewhere, let me know in the comments.
Update: OK this is kinda funny. My friend made me realize that I’ve actually posted the video above on the blog 6 years ago. Not only that but I’m the original source of the video. I got the video from my friends parents who shot it on Super 8 film back in 1975 when they first moved to Kuwait. The clip above was taken from the original longer video which you can watch under my previous post here.
With over 12,000 posts, 15 years of blogging and my terrible memory, I’m not gonna remember everything I post.
This is one of those posts meant for someone to find one day while googling. I had an issue with my Alfa Romeo’s starter last year and ended up buying a new one off the internet and shipping it to Kuwait. My starter broke down once again a couple of weeks ago but this time I found out about a place called Malek Al Dynamowat (King of Dynamos) in Shuwaikh that can repair them. It cost me only KD10 to fix mine compared to around 100KD I paid last year for a new one so a pretty good deal.
If you’re ever looking to fix your car’s starter or alternator, here is the location on Google Maps.
Charged is a local company that sells electric car charging stations for commercial and home use. They popped up on my Instagram feed last week and then spotted one of their charging stations at the Mishref Coop this weekend while picking up pastries from Caesars. Then randomly, yesterday someone on Reddit linked to their website where they’ve compiled a list of charging stations around Kuwait. I noticed they had a bunch of places missing so it gave me the idea to put together a more comprehensive list which I’ve shared here:
Abudllah Al Salem Cultural Center
Al-Hamra Tower
Arraya Tower
Environment Public Authority
KFH Auto Showroom
Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Centre
Mishrif Coop
Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research KISR
Porsche Dealership
Public Authority for Applied Education and Training
Sabah Al Salem Univerisity City
Shaheed Park
Society of Engineers RFID
The Avenues
West Misrif Coop
X-Cite – Al-Rai
If you’re aware of a charging station that isn’t listed above, let me know.
If you have a pet and don’t have a car or are too busy to take your pets to their appointments (vet, grooming, etc), Pet Taxi is a service that can help you out. They’ve been around for two years now and they offer a few other services as well including dog walking and pet sitting. They operate from 7AM to 8PM daily and you can get in touch with them on Instagram @pet_taxiq8
Over the weekend I passed by the brand new KTM showroom in Al-Rai. If you haven’t heard of KTM, they are an Austrian company that produces some of the best dirt bikes as well as the popular track car the X-Bow. Their new showroom is pretty big and composed of two floors as well as a service garage and spare parts area in the rear. They had a brand new white KTM X-Bow RR on display in the showroom (pictured above) selling for around KD41,000.
Other than KTM the new showroom also has Husqvarna and Gasgas motorbikes on display and they also had a large selection of Bell helmets for sale. For a full list of brands they carry click here.
If you’re interested in checking the place out they’re located in Al-Rai on the same strip as Jarir and right next to the newly opened Eureka. Here is the location on Google Maps.
