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Back in July I posted that I was looking for a copy of the Iftah Ya Simsim vinyl soundtrack (اغاني من افتح يا سمسم), and this past weekend I finally managed to get one. I actually got a lead to a copy for sale back in July and since then been in an on and off discussion with the owner about buying it as well as the price. In the end, the transaction went down like some sort of drug deal and I ended up picking up two other difficult to find LP’s from the guy (شادي الخليج ‎– السندباد and ٢٥ عامًا على الإستقلال).

There doesn’t seem to be much info about the Iftah Ya Simsim record, I know it was produced in 1979 but that’s about it. Supposedly only 100 prints were made and were given out to the staff of the show as a thank you but I haven’t been able to find any proof of that. I do know the record is really hard to come by and those who do have it don’t want to sell it. Because of the limited number of copies and the fact that the show was broadcasted around the GCC and so is very nostalgic, the demand for the record is really high. A couple of months back a friend of a friend sold his copy to a guy in Qatar for KD500. I paid half that for mine which is the average price for it for the condition my copy is in (6 or 7/10).

Even though the record is pretty expensive, it does hold its value due to the fact they’re very hard to come by. That’s why I was ok with spending so much money to aquire one because I figured if I ever got bored with it, I can just sell it to someone else. If anyone wants to get a closer look at the cover, I took some really high-resolution photos which you can check out below:

Front Cover
Back Cover
Inside Cover

Update: I’ve decided to sell this so if anyone wants it let me know.

Since my Arabic Cartoons from the 80s list did so well I wanted to put together a thorough 80s English Cartoons list. The whole weekend whenever I remembered any cartoon I wrote it down but it still feels like I’ve missed some. But the search did remind me of two very important TV channels growing up. Before satellite TV we only had access to Kuwait TV channels (KTV1 – Arabic, and KTV2 – English) but sometimes when the weather was humid we would pick up Saudi Channel 2 (English) and Dubai Channel 33 (also English).

Anyway here are some of the most memorable cartoons I used to watch in the 80s, if I’ve missed out anything let me know.

Alvin and the Chipmunks
Bionic Six
BraveStarr
Captain Planet
Care Bears
Centurions
Chip N Dale
Dangermouse
Dennis the Menace
Denver the Last Dinosaur
Dinosaucers
Duck Tales
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
G.I Joe
Gummi Bears
He-Man
Inspector Gadget
M.A.S.K
Mister T
Pole Position
Popeye And Son
Rainbow Brite
Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo
She-Ra: Princess of Power
Silver Hawks
Speed Racer
Snorks
Tale Spin
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
The Real Ghostbusters
Thunder Cats
Transformers
Voltron
Yogi Bear

I’ve been stalking the account of Super Robots, a local vintage toys collector on Instagram for about a year now, so when he decided to open a “museum”, I had to pass by and check it out. I put the word museum in quotation marks because it is and it isn’t really a museum. It’s the guy’s private toy collection displayed on shelves in a store, but none of it is for sale. So it’s a museum in the sense that there are things on display that you can’t buy, but that’s the only similarities.

I think my generation is a bit extra nostalgic compared to other generations because of the 1990 Iraqi invasion. This is just my theory but, because of the invasion, I had to leave a lot of my childhood behind when escaping Kuwait. A lot of other kids had to leave stuff behind or were maybe outside of Kuwait during the invasion and had their homes looted. Because so many of us lost the toys we had or grew up with, as we got older we started reacquiring some of our favorite ones we lost. That’s my explanation at least when friends ask me why I’m buying the most random stuff on eBay.

So I completely get toy collectors or any sort of collectors really. Super Robots is a toy collector who decided to take his toys out of storage and display them in a shop. It’s a neat idea and allows people like me interested in old toys to pass by and check them out but, the only issue is, the store is pretty tiny and STACKED. You can barely see anything because there are boxes and boxes of toys stacked up on the shelves. They’re all closed boxes as well so you’re basically checking out the packaging and not the actual toys themselves. And then you have boxes in front of boxes so you’re not even getting to see the full packaging because it’s being covered by another box. The other issue is that it’s located in the basement of Rehab Complex in one of the tight alleyways so it’s not a very inviting location. But this is a start and maybe eventually with enough interest, he could decide to move to a larger space somewhere else.

If you’re interested in passing by the store he’s open from 3PM to 9PM. Shop #183 in the basement of Rehab Complex. Also, make sure you check out his toys on his Instagram account @superrobots.

Is Netflix about to add a ton of old 80s Arabic cartoons? I hope so because they recently added one of my favorite childhood cartoons, Flona (فلونة). Currently, the only way to watch old cartoons from the 80s is on YouTube and a lot of the episodes are missing and it’s not really practical to binge-watch a series there. If Netflix is gonna start adding these cartoons then I’m suddenly going to have so much content to watch. Here are some of the Arabic cartoons I’d like to see on Netflix (please feel free to mention any Arabic cartoon I missed):

Abtal Al Mala3eb
Al Hadaf
Al Laith Al Abyad
Al Nimir Al Moukana3
Al Rajol Al Hadidi
Amira Yakout
Bell wa Sebastian
Bombo
Captain Majed
Flona
Ghawasa Al Sarka2
Grendizer
Heidi
Jazora 
Jongar
Khomasi
Kimba 
Mazinger
Moghamarat Neils
Nahoul Bashar
Raad Al Emlaq
Sanshiro
Shanakel 
Sindibad
Sinan
Sport Billy
Smurfs
Zeina

If you want to check out Flona, it’s listed in its English name on Netflix Kuwait, The Swiss Family Robinson.

When I started making my own coffee I watched hundreds of hours on coffee making and coffee machines so I could learn as much as I could about coffee. But, not everyone wants to watch hours of videos and a lot people are actually looking for an activity to do which is why a place like Brewever is interesting.

Brewever is a local coffee academy that gives courses related to coffee. They’re members of the Speciality Coffee Association which means they can hold SCA exams and hand out SCA certificates to those that complete a course. It’s also why I’m guessing their courses are pretty pricey and fairly long. They have different kinds of coffee-related courses depending on what you want to learn about like ‏Sensory Skills, Brewing courses, even Barista skills.

Some local coffee shops hold coffee-making classes every now and then and are usually a lot more affordable so that’s probably a better option for most people. But if you’re really into coffee or want to get a lot more serious about coffee, then you should check out Bewever on Instagram @Bewever

This is pretty random but according to the latest InterNations Expat City Ranking 2020, Salmiya was voted the worst out of 66 cities analyzed and described as “a city of unhappy, overworked, and homesick expats”. I mean we do have major issues in Salmiya but no way is it the worst city in the world for expats. I’ve been to Khaitan before, and I’m in Hawalli regularly, and as bad as both those places are I wouldn’t even consider them the worst in the world either.

Welcome to Salmiya, the Kuwait city so unloved by its expat population

Expats in Salmiya say they are unhappy with the local transportation (61st), with their health and the environment (66th), as well as with climate and leisure (66th).

Nearly three in five said they dislike the local leisure options (vs 15 percent worldwide). In the Getting Settled Index (66th), expats do not feel at home and they describe the local population as unfriendly (48 percent vs 17 percent globally), and they are also unhappy with their social life (56 percent vs 24 percent globally). Source

But Salmiya does have issues, a lot of them, which is why over the past 15 years I’ve been half-jokingly asking to be made the mayor of the city. I’d be to Salmiya what Leslie Knope is to Pawnee! It’s hard to imagine anyone is more passionate about the place than I am.

Make me the mayor and I’ll initiate a mass project making Salmiya more pedestrian and bicycle/scooters-friendly by taking back the sidewalk from all the illegal construction, I’d create bike paths that run across the city and turn sandlots into proper parking lots to reduce the cars on the streets. I’d replace all the bins with ones that have lids and I’ll personally lead on a massive beautification project. I’ll also protect old and landmark buildings from demolition and crackdown on all the buildings that have illegally converted their basement to warehouses depriving the building residents of parking. So go out and vote for me in the next election if you want a better Salmiya!

Since there are no live bazaars or markets this year, the annual Winter Craft Market has gone virtual. This weekend, the virtual Winter Craft Market will take place with all the vendors offering a 10% discount.

How does a virtual market work? Simple, all the vendors taking part in the Winter Craft Market are listed on the market’s Instagram account @the_craft_market_kuwait. Scroll through the account and when you find an offering you like, say maybe mugs or Christmas decorations, click through to that vendor’s account. Then you just find something you like and leave a comment or DM the vendor telling them you want it.

As a lot of the items are hand-crafted and one-off unique pieces, once they’re gone they’re gone. Please support your local artists, crafters, and small businesses and check out the market this weekend, it’s taking place on Friday and Saturday. @the_craft_market_kuwait

There is a guy on YouTube called hero_ kw who has been compiling videos of Kuwait Police chases and releasing them as compilations. As of this post, he’s got 8 compilations uploaded that are a mixture of new and old footage stitched together. What I find interesting about the videos is that most of them are taken from inside the car of the getaway drivers. Most of the time when you watch police chases they’re from the perspective of the cops, so it’s interesting watching videos from the perspective of the getaway drivers. But, his compilations also include videos from the cops perspective as well as some traffic cam footage.

If like me you’re into amateur footage of cop chases, here are the links to the 8 parts:
Kuwait Police Chase Video 1
Kuwait Police Chase Video 2
Kuwait Police Chase Video 3
Kuwait Police Chase Video 4
Kuwait Police Chase Video 5
Kuwait Police Chase Video 6
Kuwait Police Chase Video 7
Kuwait Police Chase Video 8

To stay posted on newer videos you can Subscribe to him on YouTube or follow his Kuwait Police Chase Video playlist.

CD stores used to be plentiful a few years ago but for obvious reasons, they’ve all disappeared. I’m lucky enough to still have all my CDs although I don’t have a CD player set up at home but that’s on my to-do list. I am curious though to find CD stores in Kuwait that sell English CDs so if you know of any, let me know in the comments.

I found one place in Salmiya that sells CDs although at a ridiculous price. Most of the CDs looked used with their boxes all scratched up and the store wanted KD5 per CD! The store is called CoolQ8y in case you’re still interested and it’s located in Salmiya.

Good Game the tabletop gaming store opened back in 2013 and quickly became a popular place to hang out and play board games. Because of the popularity, they’ve been looking for a new place to move to for a few years now and they just found one (not sure if I’m allowed to say where they’re moving to).

Because of the move, they’re holding their largest sale ever with discounts ranging from 25% to 75% that will last until they move next month. The discounts are only in-store not online so if you want to pick up some board games for a good deal and say goodbye to their store one last time, you should do so now. @goodgamekw

The story below was sent to me by John Beresford who has been contributing to the blog with old interesting stories about life in Kuwait during the 1940s to the 1960s when he and his family used to live in Kuwait. To check out some of his previous stories click here.

In 1968 Ramzi Kayello, an artist, put on an exhibition of his paintings in the Hubara Club in Ahmadi. My parents went and later asked him to paint them a picture of ‘Old Kuwait’.

The image is pretty standard; mud houses, wooden doors with nails in, dusty streets, and the frame is very 1960s.

The interesting thing is the man in the white dishdasha. He is carrying water buckets. With no piped system water had to be bought and transported back to the home and the traditional Arab buckets, made from an entire sheep or goatskin, were too small and with the way Kuwait was developing, fewer people in the town could keep flocks. This was where new technology came in. The increase in the number of vehicles was increasing the number of worn-out tires lying around – what to do with them? Some could be hung around boats and on quay-sides to minimize the bump when coming alongside. Others could be used as buckets. It was possible to get about 3 buckets from 1 truck tire, they were strong, pretty well indestructible, waterproof and the wire in the tires stopped them flopping about and spilling. And of course, if you found an old tire lying about you could make up your buckets for free! With rope handles they were fine. So the water carrier is using water buckets made from truck tires; this was pretty standard and my parents specifically asked for this to be included in the painting.

I also include a bit that my father wrote about water in Kuwait when he arrived there, in April 1949. Later on, there were ships built to go up the Shatt al Arab, vent their ballast tanks and pick up river water for the return journey, thus making the smaller dhows redundant.

The other explanation I should give concerns about the Kuwaiti water supply. I mentioned the brackish water wells. There is no fresh water at all anywhere in the state of Kuwait. Brackish was obtained from shallow wells, close to the coastline and provided water for livestock and limited garden growth. The poorer element of the town also had to drink it; it’s not very palatable, most times when I was offered it in poorer Arab houses they added sherbet to it to make it more palatable but, really, I used to think it made it worse! In addition to about a 14% salinity it also had a quantity of magnesium salts in it: Magnesium sulfate or Epsom Salts, being the most common.

For many years fresh water was brought to Kuwait from the Shatt al Arab River, a major world river formed by the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. As this river is tidal to well above Basrah, the collecting dhows were required to go well upstream and then, while waiting for the tide to run out, collect the water from the top, less dense, layers.

Some imported water was less good than others, it depended upon the tide, time available, weather and the temperament of the dhow skipper.

The water so imported was sold by the old gallon kerosene or gasoline tin full at 2 rupees a time. This didn’t suit the company and just before I arrived gave up on relying on the dhows.

I haven’t played pool since university and not interested in playing it either but, someone on Reddit was looking for good quality cue sticks and a person recommended Dr Cue. So this post is for google in case someone else in the future is looking for billiard equipment in Kuwait. Dr Cue have cue sticks, cue cases, tables, balls, and various accessories. They can also perform maintenance on your equipment as well as customize your sticks with engravings or leather wrapping. I don’t think everything is listed on their website so I’d get in touch with them directly in case you’re looking for anything specific not listed there.

If you’re interested, their Instagram account is @drcue.billiard, their phone number is 99000303 and their website is dr-cue.com

Thanks Tengokuq

I’ve been visiting the old Sultan Center in Salmiya since I was a kid in the 80s, I even spent my after-prom with friends at the Jeans Grill Restaurant that used to be open 24 hours a day upstairs. They used to have a Sega Genesis demo unit connected to a TV upstairs in the 90s, so when I ditched school I’d head to Sultan Center to play videogames (dumbest idea since that’s where my mum did her grocery shopping). Back before there were malls in Kuwait, Sultan Center used to be a go-to place on weekends which sounds bizarre now, but if you think there isn’t anything to do in Kuwait today, you should have been here back when there really wasn’t anything to do.

Over the years I’ve heard multiple of times that they were planning on closing down the location. I think the rumors started when they opened the Shaab branch (which later closed down) and then the rumors got stronger after they opened in Boulevard. But that doesn’t look like it’s happening anymore since they just completed a major facelift and renovation to the store.

Because of all the nostalgic memories I have with the place you’d think I’d be upset about such a major facelift but honestly, the place now looks so much better. It’s probably the nicest looking supermarket in Kuwait reminding me of places like Waitrose in Dubai. They also now have Xcite and Intersports branches upstairs now which is another positive. The only issue I really have with the refurbishment is the check-out area seems smaller than it was before, but other than that I really like the new look. They even uplifted the exterior dropping the light beige color for dark grey. Not a bad job at all really, I’m impressed.

There are a bunch of local sites that focus on video games but Retro Games is the only one I’m aware of that focuses on old consoles and everything related to them. The store has categories for old gaming systems like the MSX, Sega Saturn, PS1, all the way up to the last-gen consoles. They sell things like an HDMI cable adapter for your PS1 to get it working with new TVs and the consoles themselves although they don’t sell any games.

So if you’re feeling nostalgic and looking to get an original SNES, they’d be the place I’d check out before heading to Rihab Complex or ordering online. They also sell various emulation consoles like the LDK which I’ve previously reviewed. If you’re into old games check them out at retrogameskw.com

Claudia Al Rashoud has been a photojournalist in Kuwait since 1979. She was the first professional female photojournalist at the Arab Times newspaper and has written a number of books on Kuwait’s history and heritage with beautiful pictures. She recently launched an Instagram account @claudia_alrashoud where she has been sharing stories from her long journalistic career and also launched a small website where people can purchase her books on Kuwait.

All sales from the website will pay for veterinary care for stray, abandoned, and abused animals from Touch of Hope Kuwait, so not only will you be getting some great books on Kuwait, but you’ll also be helping animals. So checkout her website.