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My friend sent me a photo for Al Shaheed Park (formely known as الحزام الاخضر) completely closed with signs saying that there’s an on going development project for the park. Too bad, I love this park a lot since I spent most of my childhood playing there. I overheard they are building a museum for Kuwait Constitution but I’m not entirely sure. Let’s hope the project doesn’t take long to complete.

Thanks [Adnan]

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After a long exhausting working day I decided to use Gulf street to head back home and next to The Palms Hotel I saw Arabella Project was just opened, this European styled touristic project took so long but it’s finally open. So I decided to park my car and take a quick stroll around it to see what’s opening. As I said in my previous post back in December 2012 the 8,000+ Sq. meter touristic project takes the style of a European architecture with many retail stores, restaurants, cafe’s, Spa & Beauty and sports bar.

The restaurants that were opened so far include:

Le Relais de l’Entrecote

Olive Garden

There were many other opening soon restaurants including:

The Cheesecake Factory

Altissimo

Long Horn Steak House

Red Lobster

Pizzeria Margherita

MBCO

Semsom

Starbucks

Texas Roadhouse

Hello Kitty

Coffeeshop Company

Long Horn Steak House

I also came to know that Deer&Dear, Toni&Guy among many other shops and restaurants are also going to open gradually. I suspect Arabella would look great during spring times when the weather is cool and during the evening. Though my only disappointment regards the small parking area, I heard there will be a basement parking but I’m not sure.

Thanks [Tazmania]

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As Honda launched its collaboration with Al Ghanim,  it proved to be number one in customer satisfaction (is it?) As much as I enjoyed the show and all that the Alghanim Honda team had to offer, I was kind of disappointed by the treatment I received by some of the staff. I was asked to change my seat, in a very rude manner, because “the second row is reserved for Al Ghanim Corporates.” Being the nosy person that I am, I turned to the lady next to me, introduced myself and asked her, “so do you work for Al Ghanim?”

“No, I don’t.”

“And the girls sitting in the front row?”

“No, these are my daughters and their cousins.”

Is this the customer satisfaction you have to offer? Lying to your guests JUST because you want to give their seats to someone you know? And even if the seats were reserved, you spent a whole lot of money on the show; you couldn’t have spent a couple extra KD to print out cards that read RESERVED? Sorry Honda, you messed up there. You also messed up when you made us wait two hours just to start the show and when it took almost 40 minutes to set up the stage for Al Jasmy’s band. BUT I must admit other that all that, the show itself was amazing!

They started the night with a traditional Kuwait Band named, “المعيوف و المجلي”

Then there was a switch from traditional Kuwaiti Music to a traditional Japanese band which was really cool.

After that the two different cultures merged to create an amazing mix of music.

And then, the most interesting and best part of the whole show was ASIMO – Asimo, is a robot who can walk, talk, move, shake hands, kick a ball, and dance just like we do!

Let’s not forget the amazing light show..

و ختمها مسك مع حسين الجسمي

Thank you Honda for an amazing show but no thanks for the hospitality! Sorry, if I am being harsh but the truth had to be said.

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As much as I love writing, I can never fully capture the beauty of Kuwait through my words; but as they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” A frequent follower and reader put together a beautiful montage of this year’s celebrations capturing every detail so perfectly. This is Kuwait, these are the people of Kuwait, the youth of Kuwait, the “magic” of Kuwait. Thank you [Amer Abul Burghul] for sharing with me, I am sure the readers will appreciate this.

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I was at Kuwait City this early morning and observed that hoarding was placed all around old Amiri hospital to preserve it. I think they will revamped it to turn into into a historical museum or attraction. This is great because the hospital was abandoned long time ago and when I visited it last summer it was in a really bad shape. I’m glad they are finally realizing the importance of historical buildings and places in Kuwait and are trying to preserve them instead of demolishing them and build new shopping malls. Next is the abandoned Mishref Palace, this place can be turned into an amazing touristic spot.

Check our previous post about old Amiri hospital [link]

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According to sources, KidZania Kuwait will officially open on June 17th, finally. It was initially planned to open on March 2013 but there was a delay. KidZania Kuwait covers about 7,000 square meter (almost similar to the one in Dubai Mall) kid-sized city that was designed to educate and inspire kids aged 4 to 14-years. According to their earlier press conference there will be over 75 different activities that reflect real life professions and businesses such as being a police officer, doctor, journalist or a shopkeeper.

I’m not yet sure about opening timing and the prices of the entry tickets but I overheard it will be something around KD11 for children (4 to 16 years old), KD8 for adults (17+ years) and free for infants. As I said these are rough estimates but I’ll surely keep you updated.

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In the presence of prominent marine dealers in Kuwait, PH7 Events represented by the Managing Director, Zeina Mokaddam, and Nouf Al Hajri, PH7 Events General Manager, has announced the start of the preparations for the second edition of Kuwait Yacht Show 2014 which will be held under the patronage of H.H Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al- Hamad Al- Sabah, Prime Minister of the state of Kuwait. The second edition comes to confirm the overwhelming success of the first edition and establish KYS as a yearly, awaited event. Intensive preparations have started to insure that next year’s show will be on a higher level, offering a wide range of yachts, boats and marine equipment from local, regional and international dealers. It will also shed light on the local boat builders and local water sports teams.

“Following the great success of the first edition of the Kuwait Yacht Show, PH7 Events is preparing for a bigger and more encompassing show for 2014,” Zeina Mokaddam stated. “The support we received during during the first show was tremendous. From Government bodies, to sponsors, exhibitors and visitors, it truly felt like the whole of Kuwait participated in the success of the show.”

Kuwait Yacht Show 2014 is set to attract larger boats and yachts, and PH7 Events have booked two pontoons to cater for these noting that for 2014 in-water and on-land exhibits will be gathered in one area.

“Kuwaitis’ love for their country emulates their love to the sea and our clients are dedicated to bringing their heritage to the forefront.” - Khalid Al Muhanna, Marina Yacht Club Manager.

*The Kuwait Yacht Show 2014 will be held at Marina Crescent from the February 2nd – 7th.

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We posted about Al Manshar Mall in Fahaheel to be completely demolished to be replaced with a new bigger and fancier mall. I just saw that Al Kout Mall has published 3D presentation for what it is supposed to be the new Al Mashar Mall but it was renamed to New Al Kout. It does look big with nice finishings but I’m not exactly sure when the project will be completed but I overheard 2017 and that it will be the biggest waterfront in Kuwait with total area over 300,000 sq.m, of course that’s in case no legal issues arise later and no delay in construction due to variation orders or extension of time. I passed by Al Kout Mall a while back for shopping and saw Al Manshar was not yet demolished. I heard the project value is 70 Million Dinar but I’d like to know who’s the owner and who will be the contractor, anyone? Also do you think it will compete with the Avenues Phase III and manage to attract people attention?

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