I saw tons of tweets and messages from friends expressing how today’s weather is wonderful and I was at work all day so instead of going straight back home after work I decided to go for a hike at Al Shaheed Park in Sharq area, I love this park and in this London-like weather it’s an amazing place to be. I spotted a big nice golden monument but wasn’t sure what it is for, so after asking the guards they said this monument was recently built to celebrate golden Jubilee for Kuwait Constitution and that H.H the Emir of Kuwait was there yesterday.
There was a display board on the side, I think it’s a screen. I wish if they included a gallery though.
I saw them working on the largest interactive map of Kuwait at the Avenues Phase II, the map is really big (about 730 sq.meter) in size and covers whole Kuwait. The idea of this interactive map is fairly unique, I observed that there are markings on the map on many locations around Kuwait, people can walk over the map and use their smart phones to explore 300 year narrative of Kuwait’s history through picture recognition technology.
People with iPhone or Android smartphones need to install a small application called “treek” (get it here), this app allows them to explore the map by pointing their phones to the desired point and the narration will automatically start, so it works similarly to NFC technology, brilliant. Sadly the map was not completed at the time I was there but they said it should be ready this afternoon. This is the first time ever to have such a mao in the Middle East.
I’ll probably go in the evening time to explore the map and learn more about Kuwait history, the map will be there for 17 days so no rush.
I received an email from a reader this early morning about an upcoming event at The Avenues Mall, they will basically make the first interactive map of Kuwait where people can use their smartphones to explore 300 year narrative of Kuwait’s history through picture recognition technology, sounds pretty cool.
This is the first time ever to have such an event organized in the Middle East and it will last for 17 days, I’m not yet sure how smartphones will be used for browsing the map but maybe via Wi-Fi? I’ll get more details shortly.
Myself and some friends were talking about Hajj (pilgrimage) today, particularly on how old Kuwaitis used to travel across the scourging desert to reach Macca to perform the Rites. Unlike today, journey to Hajj used to be long and reall hard as there were no planes or even vehicles, only camels were there and those who leave for Hajj may not ever return. I read that the first Kuwaiti Hajj campaign is dated back to year 1800 and was organized by Fahad Bin Rashed Al Duwaila, I suspect the journey itself took longer than a month.
I read that Kuwaitis begun to use vehicles in their journey to Hajj in late 40′s and early 50′s when campaign cost was between KD20-25 and consisted of 500 pilgrims roughly. I was looking for rare pictures for the old Hajj campaigns but was only able to find a handful of them. I heard there’s a history book about Hajj campaigns in old Kuwait called “Kuwaiti Hajj Campaigns Through History” but I’m not sure where to find it.
I can only imagine the tremendous efforts, not only during the long Hajj journey but all the food and water scarcity, also there were only tents so no luxury hotels or cooling A/C’s.
Our friends from the Historical, Vintage & Classic Cars Museum have informed us that they will organize classic cars parade this Wednesday, where a long line of vintage cars will be wandering around Kuwait streets starting at Kuwait tower parking. Sounds cool I love vintage cars, I’ll try to shoot a video. So who’s coming?
I saw tons of tweets and messages from friends expressing how today’s weather is wonderful and I was at work all day so instead of going straight back home after work I decided to go for a hike at Al Shaheed Park in Sharq area, I love this park and in this London-like weather it’s an amazing place to be. I spotted a big nice golden monument but wasn’t sure what it is for, so after asking the guards they said this monument was recently built to celebrate golden Jubilee for Kuwait Constitution and that H.H the Emir of Kuwait was there yesterday.
I read that Kuwaitis begun to use vehicles in their journey to Hajj in late 40′s and early 50′s when campaign cost was between KD20-25 and consisted of 500 pilgrims roughly. I was looking for rare pictures for the old Hajj campaigns but was only able to find a handful of them. I heard there’s a history book about Hajj campaigns in old Kuwait called “Kuwaiti Hajj Campaigns Through History” but I’m not sure where to find it.
I can only imagine the tremendous efforts, not only during the long Hajj journey but all the food and water scarcity, also there were only tents so no luxury hotels or cooling A/C’s.
