Category: Interesting

The Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) recently opened the first phase of its Eco Park project, a government initiative aimed at supporting urban greening and promoting sustainability in Kuwait. The Eco Park focuses on improving green spaces in urban areas while also supporting research related to desert development and urban planning.

The park officially opened earlier in the month but I kept postponing my visit because of the weather. But, on Friday when I saw the sun was out I decided to pass by and check the park out and take some photos.

It’s fairly big, depending on what you’re comparing it to. It’s much smaller than Shaheed Park and Shuwaikh Park, but bigger and more interesting than most neighborhood parks.

When you first walk in, you’re greeted with a list of rules, including a no pets allowed notice. I’m actually fine with that. I walk my dog in that area and although I always pick up after him, I know a lot of people don’t. I’d rather have a dog free park than constantly worrying about stepping in poop. Inside the park there are plants and flowers everywhere (but no grass), and two artificial lakes, one large open air lake and a smaller shaded one. On the other end of the park is a large open space that looks like it could be used to host events or activities like yoga sessions or outdoor workouts. There’s also a pathway marked with no entry signs that leads toward the second phase of the park.

I couldn’t find the park’s opening hours listed anywhere, and I didn’t see any security or staff on site to ask about the timings. I reached out to KISR on Thursday to check, but I haven’t heard back yet. That said, I drive by the park daily and haven’t seen the gate closed so far.

If you want to pass by, the park is in Salmiya, facing the Gulf Road, in front of the Cliffs Tower and just before Dar Hamad. Here is the location on Google Maps.

AlooChat.ai is a new Kuwaiti startup that’s trying to rethink how customer support works in the AI era.

Customer service has changed a lot over the years and today we’ve gotten to a point where we now start a chat with a business and expect an instant reply. That change is exactly what AlooChat noticed, and they’ve built their platform around helping businesses move into this new AI-powered support world.

Unlike old-school bots (which I really really dislike) that only followed rigid scripts, AlooChat runs on advanced language models. It can understand tone, intent, and even the emotion behind a message, and then respond in a way that feels natural instead of robotic.

It works for both large companies and small startups, allowing them to handle more queries while keeping costs under control.

AlooChat isn’t trying to replace human agents, instead, it works with them. The AI handles the repetitive questions and simple requests, freeing up the human agents to focus on problems that actually need a person. And when an issue does require a human, the platform passes it over smoothly.

AlooChat works in multiple channels including WhatsApp, Instagram, email, and even website chat widgets. This allows businesses to keep everything running from one place.

So if you start seeing improved customer support in Kuwait then it’s most likely they’ve started using AI to help communicate with customers. If you’re curious, you can try it out yourself. Click here or visit AlooChat.ai

Kuwait Space Rocket is a project established in 2018 to build and launch the Arab world’s first suborbital liquid rocket. The team is made up of highly talented individuals from different STEM fields:

Naser Ashknani – Mechanical Engineer

Sulieman Alfuhaid – Aerospace Engineer and Propulsion Engineer at SpaceX (Currently pursuing his PhD in Mechanical Engineering)

Hassan Almutawa – Mechanical Engineer

They first reached out to me back in 2019, and going through our old emails now, I realized I regretfully didn’t take them too seriously. Their mission then, and still today, is to launch the first Arabian rocket into space and capture footage of the Kuwaiti flag with planet Earth in the background.

Since I last spoke to them, they’ve had five launches. Two were ground-tested only, while the other three were full rocket launches, with the highest altitude reaching 1,366m.

The team follows a goal driven engineering process that lets them move quickly and efficiently from concept to construction. They start with the design phase, using software like SolidWorks, Matlab and ANSYS to map everything out. Once the designs are ready, they move into the build stage, relying on tools such as 3D printing, welding, drilling, milling and CNC machines to bring the parts to life. Finally, everything goes through rigorous testing, including static testing to make sure every component performs the way it should.

Tomorrow (Saturday, December 6) at 8AM, the Kuwait Space Rocket team will attempt to launch their fourth rocket, AMBITION 3, to an altitude of 15 km. It’s a world record attempt for the highest altitude reached by a single stage sugar fueled rocket.

Since the launches take place inside a Kuwait military defense base, spectators aren’t allowed, but they’ll be streaming the attempt live on their Instagram. If you want to watch the launch tomorrow at 8AM, follow them @kuwaitspacerocket

Update: The record attempt failed after the rocket sadly exploded during launch

This tiny spot is a new Japanese concept opening in Jabriya next week. It’s an omakase conveyor belt experience with a French influence and a design that looks way too nice for what’s essentially a hole in the wall.

I found out about Bar Frés and its chef through a friend of mine. When she sent me the chef’s Instagram account, I thought she’d sent me the wrong one because he looked like he’d just graduated high school. I wasn’t far off, Fahad Al-Zaid is only 22 and moved back to Kuwait just six months ago after finishing university in the US. His Instagram is @fahadthefoodie_, which makes sense since that’s how he describes himself. He’s always loved food and cooking, so when the opportunity came along to run his own concept, he took it.

The first thing that caught my attention when I got there was how the place didn’t fit the environment at all. Bar Frés looked way too fancy for the neighborhood, and it was right next door to a baqala. The contrast between the two is actually pretty amazing, and I think it adds to the experience, which itself isn’t typical. Bar Frés won’t have a traditional menu. Instead, the chef will decide what goes out on the conveyor belt depending on various factors like who the guests are, what produce was available that day, or even just the chef’s mood. Fahad meets the guests when they arrive and asks a few questions. If, for example, the guests are into raw dishes, then he’ll serve more raw items than usual. That’s why he calls it an omakase conveyor belt because he wants to decide what to serve.

The interior looks amazing. The small kitchen filled with chefs is located in the back, while the main dining area is just one long bar with 14 chairs. It all looks very upscale, but Fahad assured me the prices will be very reasonable. While I was taking photos, Fahad started sending out dishes for me to try on the conveyor belt, mostly raw items since that’s what I like, but also a few others he thought I’d enjoy, and he was right.

Bar Frés is set to open this coming Sunday and will only be open in the evenings. To stay posted on the opening and bookings, follow @bardefres

Barari is a local landscaping company I’ve been following for a couple of years. I’m a fan of their work, and they’ve done some really interesting projects. One that stood out to me is called Tree Den.

For the Tree Den project, they took a tiled-up garden with artificial turf and turned it into a vibrant desert sanctuary. Looking at the before and after photos, it’s hard to believe they’re of the same place.

Instead of covering the ground with artificial or real grass, they decided to embrace the sand as a natural, breathable surface. According to Barari, they wanted to celebrate the desert rather than fight it. They planted dense greenery along with mature trees to create a cozy and immersive space. Even the kids play area encourages hands-on exploration and digging. It’s a simple idea that I think is executed beautifully, and they managed to convince me that sand doesn’t need to be covered but can actually be a beautiful part of the landscape.

If you want to check out all the before and after photos of the transformation, head over to their website here.

You’ve probably noticed this strange futuristic-looking building on your way to the airport (Google Maps). It’s always been kind of a mystery to me since, although there’s quite a bit of information about it online, there aren’t that many photos of it. This is the Amiri Terminal, also sometimes called the VVIP Terminal.
 
The Amiri Terminal was built to host reception ceremonies on a presidential level. Construction started back in 2007 and was completed three years later.

 
The terminal was designed by the firm TAEP who had to take into account Kuwait’s extreme temperatures and sandstorms. Since it’s difficult to plan a typical outdoor reception ceremony throughout the year, they came up with an alternative solution by designing the building around a huge reception hall.
 
The terminal was shaped by a large dome that allowed them to create a hall with a 24-meter-tall interior, helping eliminate the feeling of being in a closed indoor space. To further enhance the sense of openness, the ceiling was painted black and 250,000 fiber-optic light points were embedded into it to recreate the feeling of a desert night sky.
 
The terminal is made up of six buildings: the Amiri Hall, the glass reception area, the parking lot, baggage check, services, and the plane hangar.
 
The Amiri Reception Building consists of three floors. The first floor includes the protocol and reception halls, the dining area, the Amiri meeting room, a press conference hall, a hall for ambassadors, a protocol hall, a women’s waiting hall, and a multipurpose hall.
 

The ground floor houses the main kitchen, offices for the Amiri Guard, a screening room, a waiting room for journalists, a Civil Aviation staff room, a resting room for the plane crew, a rest room for the guests’ guards, a first-aid room, a security room, and offices for the Interior Ministry.
 
The second floor contains the guest wing and the operations room.
 
The glass dome on the outside which you can spot in some of the photos is part of the reception area. The first floor is connected to an air bridge, while the ground floor is for guests arriving on smaller planes.
 
To check out more photos, click here.

I’ve posted about UFO sightings in Kuwait in the late 70s twice on the blog, first time back in 2013 and then again in 2021. Recently, I found out (via @thevenerablebetty) that Kuwait was also featured in the 1979 summer edition of UFO Update! magazine, and I managed to get a copy of it.

The article was written by an executive from an American oil company who was in Kuwait on business. While driving out to one of the oil fields, he spotted a strange aircraft, and the piece details what he experienced and saw. He wasn’t the only eyewitness that night.

I’ve also uploaded additional clippings as a bonus read. These were declassified by the US State Department and include US embassy wires along with statements from KOC officials, KISR, and even the Ministry of Interior, who investigated a report by a Kuwait Airways pilot who had spotted an “unusual light phenomenon.”

I used to be a huge UFO buff, so I always find these stories interesting. Even if you don’t believe in UFOs, they’re still fun to read. I’ve uploaded everything to my Flickr and you can check them out there.

Yesterday, TEC announced that Winter Wonderland is getting the largest indoor roller coaster in the world called the Höllenblitz. Technically it’s not the largest indoor roller coaster in the world, it’s the largest indoor roller coaster in the world that is portable, in the dark, and doesn’t contain any loops. But all of that doesn’t sound as catchy and wouldn’t have fit in my headline anyway.

The Höllenblitz was designed and built by the Renoldi family, who first released the world’s largest transportable indoor roller coaster at a fair in Frankfurt back in 1992. The ride was called Magic Mountain but was redesigned and renamed Star World in 1998, inspired by Star Wars. Years later, Klaus Renoldi Jr. watched Indiana Jones and was so impressed that he decided to transform Star World into an Indiana Jones–themed roller coaster, launching it as the Höllenblitz in 2007.

The roller coaster is an impressive 860 meters long and was inspired by the mine cart scene in Indiana Jones. Its structure resembles a rocky mountain, complete with a 30-meter waterfall, suspension bridges, fog, fire, and rotating gondolas.

Here’s an interesting bit of roller coaster trivia. Did you know that Shaab Park once had an ultra-rare, one-of-a-kind ride called the Spiral Coaster? I’ve posted about it previously here, it was a pipeline coaster, meaning the train rode between the tracks instead of above them like traditional coasters. The concept was meant to be the next big thing in roller coasters and was even featured in a National Geographic special while the concept was being tested.

The Spiral Coaster was marked as standing but not operational from 2005 until 2017 in the online roller coaster database. It had closed for maintenance in 2005 but never reopened. When Shaab Park was demolished in 2017, the coaster disappeared and the online roller coaster community lost track of it. Over the years, there have been numerous posts and even videos investigating its fate, but nobody seems to know what actually happened to it.

Just a quick update on my post yesterday about trying to stop Eureka from spamming me with SMS’s. According to Future Mobility the company that Eureka hired to send out the SMS’s, the service doesn’t rely on phone numbers.

Eureka used an Ad Zone geo-targeted SMS service that Future Mobility provides. This service doesn’t rely on numbers, instead, it automatically sends SMS messages to customers physically present in a selected area, using the operator’s mobile towers.

Future Mobility doesn’t have control over which numbers receive these messages, it depends entirely on the telecom operator. What they recommended to me is to activate a Zain service called Do Not Disturb (DND). I don’t know what that service is and can’t find any info on the Zain website so looks like I’m going to have to call Zain to find out.

It’s really interesting though, I assumed bulk SMS services required phone numbers, the fact they don’t is both fascinating and upsetting since even if you work hard to keep your number out of databases, you’ll still get SPAM.

Yesterday, I came across a tweet by Sharifa Alshalfan, a member of the Kuwait Municipal Council, sharing a proposal that I think is a great idea for solving the current congestion in suburban areas. Sharifa tweeted that she had submitted an amendment to the residential building regulations, aimed at addressing the increasing number of cars in residential neighborhoods and their negative impact on the quality of life.

Currently, the regulations only allow the ground floor of a residential building to extend to the property line, while upper floors must be set back. Sharifa’s proposal seeks to modify the regulations to change this rule. The amendment would allow parking spaces to be added on the ground floor and make up for the lost space by letting the first and second floors extend out to the property line.

Key features of the proposal include:

Optional parking spaces within the plot: Giving property owners the choice to add parking without compromising living space above.

Automatic shading: The new design would provide shading for parking spaces through the upper floors’ extension, eliminating the need for separate canopies.

Improved pedestrian safety and greenery: The changes aim to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment and enhance the greenery in residential areas.

I had an architect help me create the image above to help visualize how this proposal would work. I’m actually surprised this wasn’t suggested before since it makes so much sense. According to Sharifa, the average 400m plot house can easily fit 6 cars.

Sharifa’s proposal is part of a bigger effort to update building rules to better fit our changing cities and make life better for people living there. According to her, it could take 2 months or longer to find out if this proposal is approved or rejected.

Sharifa is the co-author of “THE MULTIPLEX TYPOLOGY: Living in Kuwait’s hybrid homes”, a book on housing in Kuwait co-authored with Joaquín Pérez-Goicoechea and Sarah AlFraih. If you’re interested, the book is available to purchase at That Al Salasil in The Avenues.

Thanks Zaydoun!

This isn’t a rumor, but rather an interesting observation from one of my readers. Tesla recently updated their careers page to include Kuwait as a location. According to the reader who regularly checks the Tesla careers page to see which new countries get added, Saudi Arabia appeared on the list around this time last year, and Tesla opened its first dealership there just this past month.

Now they’ve added Kuwait, so it could mean we’ll see a Tesla dealership opening here around this time next year.

To double-check his info, I used web.archive.org to pull up a snapshot of the careers page from two weeks ago. He was right, Kuwait wasn’t listed then which confirms it was just recently added.

Although Tesla is currently going through a rough patch in the US and Europe, the brand remains popular in our region, most likely because it’s always been desirable, yet unavailable here.

If you want to check the above yourself, head to tesla.com/careers/search

update: I’m being told this is actually happening, Tesla will be opening their first store in Kuwait by first quarter of 2026. They will be sharing details after August. This is going to be a direct investment by Tesla and the Kuwait government, so I’m assuming through KDIPA.

Last week I posted about Gaza Cola on the blog and my Instagram account. It’s a new soft drink that was released in Kuwait, made by Palestinians to support Palestinians with 100% of the profits going to charity.

I posted it on my Instagram account not expecting it to do well engagement wise. I always read about how pro-Palestine posts keep getting low engagement, or are hidden from peoples feeds so I wasn’t expecting much but I was fine with that. Sometimes I like to post things because I want to, even though it might not get a lot of likes. Initially when I posted it, it got around 500 likes within the first half hour. That generally is a good sign because it means the post will most likely get 1,500 likes or more, which is usually the target I’m trying to hit.

To my surprise, the likes didn’t stop coming. 5 days later and the post now has over 67,000 likes (when I started writing this post it was 66,9766 and as I’m editing this post its now up to 67,523).

Not sure what caused it but around two days after I published the post it started going viral, first in Kuwait, then the world, and yesterday Kuwait again. It’s super cool, but it’s also been a lot of headache. I quickly started getting a lot of anti-Palestine comments, so first thing I did was delete all the negative comments and limit comments on that post. The local Gaza Cola account @gazacola_kw also started getting attacks as well, and they weren’t expecting it either.

I’m still trying to understand why this post went viral and none of the other Gaza Cola posts did. The product has been available in the UK since last year and the main @gazacolauk has photos of the can and everything so it’s really strange. Maybe my photo it just extra eye catching or maybe its my headline or maybe the Kuwait Towers in the background caught peoples attention. It could be anything really but all I know is that it’s currently the most engaged content on my account by far.

If you want to check the post on Instagram, here is the link.

If you look at a KD20 note, you’ll notice a dhow on it. That’s Al-Ghazeer, and I recently found out the story behind it. The illustration on the KD20 was also based on the image used in this post.

This story starts with Mohammad Al-Maskati. Mohammad started sailing at the age of 6 as a Tabab (helper) on pearl-diving vessels, working unpaid while learning the trade. By ten, he was promoted to Rathif (diver’s assistant), earning a small share of profits. Three years later, he became a Ghais (diver) but later moved to trading vessels.

Mohammad joined a trading dhow as a seaman transporting dates and cargo from Basra to India. Within two years, he was entrusted with steering the vessel. Mohammad worked as the Assistant to the Nokhada (Captain) until 1949.

In 1953, Mohammad was appointed as the honorary Nokhada of the fleet belonging to Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the future Amir. He also began to utilize his experience and contacts in India within the shipbuilding industry. Over a period of years, Mohammad built 20 ships which he sailed back to Kuwait and the region to sell.

In the 1960s, Mohammad Al-Maskati began working with businessman Husain Marafie. Their relationship proved pivotal, as in the 70s, Marafie enlisted Al-Maskati to build a dhow that would serve as a restaurant for a 5-star hotel he and his family were developing, which later became the SAS/Radisson. The dhow was named Mohammadi II, after Hussain Marafie’s grandfather’s 1916 vessel, Mohammedi I. It was completed in 1979 and became the Al Boom Restaurant in 1982. While building Mohammadi II, there was enough spare wood to build another dhow so Al-Ghazeer was built and completed in 1983.

Husain Marafie and Al-Maskati sailed the Al-Ghazeer dhow from India to Oman, Bahrain, and finally Kuwait, where it received an enthusiastic reception in all three countries.

Al-Ghazeer was later featured on the back of the KD20 banknote as an element that alludes to Kuwait’s rich economic and commercial history that is linked to the deep blue seas.

For the source and more details on this subject, click here.

Note: The post has been updated with additional information since initially publishing.

When I first found out that AlSadu Society was partnering up with Kuwait Foundation for Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) and Al-Mawashi to open up SOOF, a wool mill, I was very intrigued. Where wool came from wasn’t something I ever thought of, and the more I learned about the project, the more fascinated I became with it.

Up until now, Kuwait imported its wool. You’d think with Kuwait’s history with wool, all the Sadu weaving, the bedouin tents, and all the sheep in the market that a wool mill was something that already existed, but it didn’t. Not only that, but from what I was told, SOOF is the first wool mill in the GCC which is crazy when you think about it.

Previously, all the wool from the locally slaughtered sheep was discarded.Although wool had value, locally the sheep’s fleece was mostly considered to be a waste product and so handing and disposing of it was seen as an inconvenience.

SOOF was created to provide a sustainable source of processed wool locally, and also to help preserve the cultural heritage. I passed by their first mill location in Kuwait yesterday, and was pretty surprised at how compact and simple the setup was. The mill was located inside Al-Mawashi slaughterhouse in Al-Rai, and the plan is to eventually have more of these wool mills in slaughterhouses around the country.

If all this wasn’t impressive enough, SOOF is also prioritizing eco-friendly practices in every step of the processing chain. The wool is sourced from local sheep and the organic dyes from natural sources such as plants. They use sustainable energy from solar panels, and the wastewater from washing and dyeing wool is treated and then reused for plant irrigation. It’s really impressive.

The wool produced will be used at AlSadu House for weaving, and will also be available for the public to purchase. It will initially be available online and then eventually in the physical store at AlSadu. The first batch already sold out yesterday, but more wool will be available again soon. If you want to find out more about this project, visit their website soof.alsadu.org.kw or follow them @soofbyalsadu

I just got an email letting me know that Alive Yoga is reopening again. Alive Yoga used to be my favorite yoga spot before they closed down a few years ago so pretty excited that they’re reopening again.

According to the email initially it will be invite only and then later opened to the public. I think the invitation for now is for previous members hence why I got invited.

The opening date is December 15th. Their instagram isn’t updated but if you want to check it out it’s @aliveyoga