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Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I figured I would put together a list of places that are offering turkey dinners tomorrow night. If there is a place you know I haven’t listed, let me know so I can add it below.

Dine In
Hilton Resort
Little Ruby’s
Radisson Blu

Takeaway
Baking Tray
Dean & Deluca
Jeans Grill
Munch
Radisson Blu
Sultan Center

Every time I visit Amsterdam I tend to stay in a different hotel but this time I think I’ve found my favorite place. This weekend while in Amsterdam I stayed at The Hoxton which is a pretty cool boutique hotel that opened up back in July.

I ended up staying in one of their “Roomy” rooms overlooking the canal and it was pretty spacious. The room looked great, slightly retro but not overdone to a hipsterish level. It wouldn’t look out of place in an All Saints look book. The hotel has a pretty popular restaurant that was busy all day long but my favorite thing about the hotel was the location. The hotel is located across the canal from The Nine Streets and just few minutes walk from a bunch of my favorite places. Literally all the shops I wanted to visit were less than a 10 minute walk from the hotel including Baskèts, Concrete, Carhartt WIP and ETQ. That made going back and forth to the hotel to drop shopping bags a breeze.

Price wise I thought it was really reasonable especially considering how weak the Euro is right now. I booked last minute and two nights set me back €648. That around KD105 for a night for a pretty big room with a great view, in an amazing location and in a great hotel. I’d definitely stay there again. [Link]

I’m not a coffee drinker but I know of the brand Caveman Coffee because of the Joe Rogan podcast and also because the company was founded by one of my favorite UFC fighters (well back when he used to be in the UFC) Keith Jardin and also ex UFC fighter / actor Tait Fletcher (who’s always fun to listen to on Joe Rogans podcast). Basically if I ever was going to start drinking coffee it would be Caveman Coffee and I recently found out through a friend it’s now available in Kuwait.

A small snack bar called FORCE opened up at the Circuit Plus gym in Shuwaikh and you can buy the Blacklisted and White Gold packets of Caveman Coffee there. Right now the only way to buy it is to go there yourself but they will start offering a delivery service soon. For more details check out their instagram page [Here]

A number of interesting events are taking place this weekend from a Peruvian Textile arts and crafts Exposition to a Korean Street Food Festival. Check out this weekends list of events below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Four Hands Can’t Clap
Exhibition: Behind the Crisis
Peruvian Textile arts and crafts Exposition
Rooftop Movie: The Thin Blue Line

Friday
DAI’s Fall Festival
The Divan’s Salon – The Lord of the Rings

Saturday
Yoga at the Park
Qout Market
KTAA Bazaar at the Sadu House
Writing at the Park
The Secret Garden Project
Guided Tour: Dickson House
Korean Street Food Festival
Protein Sheikhas: Bootcamp
Rooftop Movie: Annie Hall

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Figured I’d post about this gym (Al Hamra Thermae) since I just passed by to check it out awhile ago. It’s not the nicest looking mens gym, but they’re located on the 74th floor of Al Hamra Tower and they’ve got a pretty good offer at the moment. They’ve brought down their price to KD700 year plus will give you a month free which brings the price down to around KD50 a month.

The nicest thing about the gym though is twice a week they swap with the womens gym on the 3rd floor and you get access to use the outdoor running track. If you’re interested you could call them up on 97997797.

Not sure if the womens gym have a similar offer, I tried calling them up but no one picked up (60660060).

You can now shop for Adidas products on the Adidas Kuwait website. Not sure how new this is but I just spotted an ad for it yesterday on Twitter. Shipping is a flat charge of KD2 and you can pay either by credit card, paypal or cash on delivery. Here is the [Link]

The trailer for “Airlift”, the upcoming Indian film based on the 1990 Iraq invasion of Kuwait just got released. The movie is based on a true story and is set to be released in January. Here is the synopsis:

Ranjit Katyal (played by Akshay Kumar), a wealthy and powerful Indian businessman, who has always seen himself as a Kuwaiti, rather than an Indian, realises that he no longer wields any influence on the Iraqis, and that he and his family are in as much danger as anyone else. Ranjit unknowingly becomes the man who all 170,000 Indians look up to for getting them out safely from Kuwait. Airlift is the story of Indians stranded in Kuwait during this traumatic time. A story of how they, with the help of Ranjit Katyal, managed to survive the Iraqi invasion, and against all odds travelled a thousand kilometres across the border into Amman, Jordan. From Amman, 170,000 Indians were brought home by the largest and the most successful evacuation ever attempted by any country, in the history of the world. Over 59 days, the Indian government systematically flew over 488 Air India commercial flights into a war zone to evacuate all 170,000 Indians and safely bring them back home. Airlift is an uplifting and entertaining edge-of-the-seat thriller and is the story of the biggest ever human evacuation in the history of mankind.

Airlift, directed by Raja Krishna Menon, starts filming April 2015 and is presented by T-Series and Cape of Good Films; produced by Crouching Tiger and Emmay Entertainment. Bhushan Kumar, talking about the film, said, “It’s my conviction that the story will be equally appreciated once on celluloid as much as I loved it during narration. The character that Akshay plays is filled with heroism and I am sure he will add to the perfection with this central character role that he essays.”

The trailer is in Hindi and doesn’t have any English subtitles but there’s lots of explosions so it’s still entertaining to watch. [YouTube]

Thanks Rayboy and Nand

Back in September when I posted about Abdulai (the school teacher from Ghana), I had a feeling we would be hearing a lot more similar stories. With more people having access to smartphones and internet, I was confident more people would come forward to share their story. Then last week I got the following email from a domestic worker in Kuwait:

Journalism have been one of my passion since childhood but I had these infantile reasoning that being into journalism might also mean you re signing your death warrant.I have witnessed some renowned journalists being killed and other being put into prison custodies with out persecution but that doesn’t move me to give up on ma dreams of becoming one the worlds finest journalists.To be frank this blog has motivated and inspired me a lot.You have given me the reason why I shouldn’t give up on ma dreams I always say “HARDWOR AND DETERMINATION LEADS TO SUCCESS” .Am an African working in Kuwait as a househelp an I will really fight hard to accomplish my dreams when my contract is over

So after a bit of back and forth by email, I convinced her she didn’t have to wait and that she could start writing from now. I told her she should start a blog and I explained to her how she could set one up and be able to post articles from her phone. So she did that and got back to me today to let me know that not only was she able to set up her blog but she had also posted her first post. I’m not sure how often she will be updating the blog, she told me she will try to whenever she is free but in any case its still a big step forward. So check out her post and story on how she ended up in Kuwait by clicking [Here]

Last month I posted a list of Online Shopping Websites in Kuwait but I found out there is a website called Tisawaq with the sole purpose of listing all the online shopping websites in Kuwait. The websites are split up into categories and there is even a Tisawaq app. Check out the site [Here]

If you’ve never been to a camel race before it’s worth checking out and now would be the time to go since the weather is great. I went to one a couple of years back and had a blast so figured I’d write about it again now since the AWARE Center is organizing a trip to a race next month. If you’re interested in joining them, click [Here] for more information.

You can of course go without them, just check out my old post for details [Here]

Ever since I was a kid, I loved having a pet. I’ve had a turtle, rabbits, birds and a dog (not all at once thankfully). Ever since getting married my wife and I have been debating whether or not we should bring a pet into our family. Problem was, my wife loves cats and I was never a cat person, I love dogs. My opinions of cats were pretty generalized. They’re independent, have an attitude and just aren’t really affectionate (at least not as much as dogs). But, owning a dog would have been challenging because of our work schedule among other annoyances (like walking a dog in the heat). So I decided to research different cat breeds and discovered that even though cats can’t be as affectionate as dogs, they can still be loving and they can still be great companions, but only if you pick the right breed for you.

Last week, as chance would have it, K’s PATH posted a picture on Instagram of a lovely Balinese kitten. Balinese cats are related to the Siamese and they’re similar in temperament and in looks. They’re also Hypoallergenic which means they’re good cats to own if you have allergies to them (like both my wife and I do). The Balinese are also very vocal and love to communicate with their owners, they’re friendly and don’t mind having anyone petting them or playing with them. And even though they are independent to a certain degree, Balinese enjoy chilling on the couch with their owners.

So the next day after seeing the Instagram post I called K’s Path. The process for adopting a cat from them is pretty extensive, but simple. You book an appointment for an interview at their facilities in the morning from 10AM to 1PM either on Wednesday, Friday or Saturdays. The entire family (or whoever is going to interact with the cat extensively) has to go. So I made an appointment and my wife and I drove up there Friday morning. The drive was pretty long, about an hour or so from where we live in Salwa. Once we got there we were met by friendly staff and their offices are pretty laid back with cats relaxing or playing out in the open. We were interviewed for about 30 minutes and asked various questions from our history with pets, what kind of environment our house is like, if we have any knowledge on raising cats and so on. Once we were done with the interview, we were taken to a room with the Balinese kitten. They do this to make sure that the kitten would interact well with us and to make sure that it’s the kitten we actually wanted. The Balinese was sharing a room with a couple of other kittens and we got the chance to play around with all of them and even though I nearly picked a different kitten, we were certain we wanted the Balinese.

Once we were done with that room we went back to the interview room to finish up the process. Normally the charge to adopt a cat is KD35, which includes vaccinations, neutering, and a microchip. But if you adopt a cat in November, the fee is just KD10 and if you don’t bring an animal carrier, K’s PATH would supply you with a used one for an extra charge of KD5.

So if you were ever on the fence about owning a cat, pay them a visit this month. I’m absolutely in love with the kitten we got (named him Link, duh) and couldn’t be happier.

Visit the K’s PATH website or instagram account for more information.

Posted by Patrick

I know there are a lot of people interested in Muay Thai training in Kuwait so figured I’d post about a new place that opened up that offers it. A new gym opened up in Shuwaikh called Empower 31 and one of the services they offer is Muay Thai training. They’ve brought in a world class trainer (Joesoef Henri) who has worked with top fighters all over the world including:

Remy bonjasky – Former K-1 Champion, One of the best kick boxers in the world.
Raphael Assuncao – UFC #3 Ranked Bantamweight
Andy Souwer – Dutch welterweight. Currently a Glory top contender. He is two time K-1 World MAX champion as well as a four time shoot boxing world tournament champion.
Dhiego Lima – #6 ranked welterweight in the world – currently in the UFC

The trainer is from Holland so he’s bringing the Dutch style of Kickboxing to Kuwait which is something new according to the owner (All of the K-1 finalists are usually Dutch or have a Dutch style background).

So if you’re interested in Muay Thai, Empower 31 is offering beginner and intermediate/ Advanced Muay Thai classes. The cost is KD85/month, KD220/3 months, KD385/6 months or KD620/year. This cost gives you access to their whole facility, not just Muay Thai, so you’ll have access to “strength and conditioning coaches who are all highly educated and have past experience within professional sports teams as their strength and conditioning coaches”. For more information including contact details, check out their instagram account @empower31

What can be said about the Call of Duty franchise that hasn’t been said before? For better or for worse, the games don’t really evolve much. I enjoyed last year’s Advanced Warfare, I thought the campaign mode was fun and I enjoyed maneuvering with the EXO suits. It gave the game a sense of verticality that it was missing. Going into a Call of Duty game you already know what you’re going to get. So I expected a short, but fun, adrenaline filled campaign mode, great multiplayer and a decent zombie mode. Sadly, what I got out of the game was something much less. It’s disappointing how far the campaign mode strayed from what they created in Black Ops II which had had branching paths and multiple endings, and had a narrative that was captivating and intense. There’s a lot of content in Black Ops III, but it’s a case of quantity over quality.

I primarily enjoy playing single player games. So the first thing I did going into this new Call of Duty was just that. You start off by creating a character, choosing the gender and then a face. The problem is the majority of the faces all look the same. Not sure why they didn’t include a simple feature that allows you to pick a face and then a hairstyle or something along those lines. Being able to choose to play as a badass woman was cool though. But then I got referred to as “him” within the first few minutes of the game and that should give you an idea of how much attention went into campaign mode. It’s pretty lazy all around. The Call of Duty games aren’t known for their writing, but they have a reputation for being enjoyable. The campaign in Black Ops III was paced weirdly, the tutorial levels were too long and when major things happened, the game didn’t really do a good job at building any suspense or any sort of climax. Things just sort of happen. On top of that the narrative seems to be pieced together by borrowing basic themes and ideas from other games, like Deus Ex Human Revolution. Your character has a set of special abilities, some of them are cool like being able to control enemy robots or making enemies explode, but some of them are lame, like sending a swarm of cybernetic flies to distract human enemies. If you’ve played Bioshock, these should feel familiar, because they work kind of like Plasmids. When you finish a mission you’re sent back to your base where you’ll be able to walk around and interact with computers to upgrade your abilities, customize your character, look at the collectibles you’ve found or read more about the narrative, which is cool but I didn’t really care enough for the story to really spend my time there.

So what are some things that I liked in campaign mode? There were some fun firefights, some of the abilities you get are cool to use and the game ran incredibly smoothly. One other thing I really appreciated was the fact that you can play campaign mode in split-screen with a friend. It’s nice to see developers still include this especially when you have 343 Industries removing split screen from Halo 5, which I personally thought was a really dumb move since split-screen was such an important part of the Halo games. But I digress, that’s a different post for a different time. Finally, it was cool seeing Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica) in the game, I hope she does more work related to this industry.

So it’s pretty known fact that most players will spend most of their time in multiplayer. Unlike the campaign mode, I enjoyed my time playing against other people. Multiplayer mode in Black Ops III is slightly different than its predecessors. The biggest change in multiplayer is that you now have to choose from a set of characters called “Specialists”. You start off with four to choose from and you unlock more as you level up (there’s 9 in total). Each Specialist has their own personality, look, their own set of abilities and a unique special weapon. It’s a shame that you can’t customize them much. You unlock different kinds of cosmetic equipment as you play with them, but it just takes too long to unlock anything. There also isn’t a large variety of armor either. Another slight change in multiplayer is that the game doesn’t automatically unlock weapons for you as you level up. Instead “unlock tokens” make a comeback. You gain experience and level up, and you’re awarded with unlock tokens that you can use to unlock new weapons. You still get rewarded for using a weapon consistently with attachments, like scopes or paint jobs. There’s also a good variety of maps (12 to be exact) and most importantly most of them are fun. Like I mentioned earlier, I enjoyed Advanced Warfare and I enjoyed the way you were able to move through the maps. I think they’ve improved on that in Black Ops III, but instead of Exo suits you’ll be using thrusters, which is a momentum based system, allowing you to jump more than once, wall run and slide across the ground. All in all, multiplayer is pretty solid.

Zombie mode is now fully fleshed out and has its own campaign mode called Shadows of Evil. You take control of one of four characters who are voiced by Hollywood celebrities like Jeff Goldblum and Ron Perlman. You’ll be navigating through the fictional Morg City slaughtering zombies while you try to stay alive. This mode is only cool if you’re playing it with other people, it’s not worth investing your time in if you don’t have friends to experience it with. You can go online and play with random players but it’s not as fun, especially if you can’t properly communicate with them.

At the end of the day it’s unlikely Black Ops III will win over any new fans. On the other hand, if you’re a fan of the franchise then chances are you’re going to enjoy this and you’re going to welcome the new (albeit slight) changes to multiplayer. The question remains if the game has the longevity that the previous games had, especially since customization is extremely limited. Specialists are a cool addition, but I don’t believe they really change multiplayer enough. There’s a ton of content here, but there’s no real reason to go back to the campaign mode once it’s over and the zombie mode can be frustrating if you have no one to play with. I’m personally sticking with Destiny for my first-person needs because that game just has more things I enjoy. It’ll be curious to see what direction Call of Duty goes from here now that they’re futuristic. How far will they go? Or will they go back in time and bring back their World War II games? Or maybe they’ll play around with a time travel mechanic and develop a game that features World War II and futuristic stuff? Time will tell.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III was supplied by X-Cite. The game is available on PS3 (online only), Xbox 360 (online only), PS4, Xbox One and PC.

Score: ★★★★★

Post by Patrick

This is probably going to be the busiest weekend of the season with so many things to do. Firstly if you haven’t registered for the Nuqat Creative Conference, then do so now since it’s free to register and there are lots of interesting lectures taking place. Once you get that done take a look at all the activities taking place this weekend below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Four Hands Can’t Clap
Exhibition: Behind the Crisis
Exhibition: King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture
UK Culture Week: Paper Cinema
Wonderland Charity Carnival
Nuqat Creative Conference
Preview of Constant Caricature – political cartoonist Ali Ferzat
Islamopolitan Exhibition – Kuwait Edition
JAMM Art Gallery
Rooftop Movie: My Dinner with Andre
Movie in the Park: Hidden Pictures

Friday
Wonderland Charity Carnival
Nuqat Creative Conference
Brunch at Lucy’s
UK Culture Week: Gandini Workshop
Kuwait Bibliophiles Book Club Meeting
A Designer’s Dream
Book Signing | Hilmi Al-Tuni
Monitor, Reflect, then Act

Saturday
Wonderland Charity Carnival
Nuqat Creative Conference
Yoga at the Park
Winter Bazaar
A Walkathon for Diabetes
#WECANDOIT INSIDEOUT Pasting & Video Launch
Protein Sheikhas: Bootcamp
Rooftop Movie: Wild Tales
UK Culture Week: Gandini

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

This is just insane, a guy called Wilfred scrawled the message “Claudia I ♡ You” across Kuwait using GPS. It took him 11 days to get it done and by the end of it he had ridden, driven and kayaked over 2,000km. The message itself is 615km long. He also took a ton of photos and videos of the whole journey and even has an animation showing the whole trip. I can’t even figure out the logistics behind this, it’s crazy. Here is some more info:

Software Used: Osmand, Google Earth, QGIS, ArcMap, Google Earth, CartoDB, Basecamp
Hardware Used: Samsung Note 2, Garmin GPSMAP 64s
Highlights: the struggle to fit the ♡ between the oil fields, an epic dust storm south of the I, getting beaten into submission by the elements when kayaking the U and seeing V-22 Osprey night practice flights west of the O. Two portions involved offroading at night – the NE shoulder of the O and the first part of the bottom of the Y. Click video points in these locations for more detail.

So check out the animation first [Here]
Then once you’re done check out all the videos [Here] (randomly flip through them)

Oh and yeah, Claudia obviously liked this.