Monday, June 15, 2009

My Dinner Date in Jahra


There is a Copthorne Hotel and Resort in Jahra. Did anyone else know this? Fascinating! I went there over the weekend because we were looking for a new adventure. I don’t think I would have gone with a girl because we would probably been harassed by roaming teenaged boys (there was more than one police car in the parking lot and we witnessed several women in niqab shouting at hooligans). I was the only woman there who wasn’t wearing niqab and all the black (except the waitresses in Awtar Libnan – which, by the by, is one of my favorite restaurants). I didn’t get stared at very much at all and no one bothered us.

This is taken from the hotel’s website:

Al-Jahra Copthorne Hotel & Resort: The Al-Jahra Copthorne Hotel & Resort is Located in Al-Jahra City, 20 minutes away from Kuwait International Airport and 20 minutes from Kuwait City Center (not unless you are driving at 2 am). The hotel is ideally located for business in the north of Kuwait and Business related to Iraq. The Hotel is part of the “ Slayil Al-Jahra Tourist Resort” and has a shopping mall, theme park and numerous restaurants nearby. The hotel has 3 floors and consists of 201 well appointed and tastefully decorated guest rooms and 60 Chalets with two and three bedroom, suites with 5 stars amenities and service.

Theme Park:

A new theme park based on superhero characters of The 99 Comics (I didn’t know this! COOL.) has been opened within the Slayel Al-Jahra Resort in Jahra, reports the Kuwait Times. Developed by the United Entertainment and Tourism Company (UETC) and the Tashkeel Media Group, the theme park has been dubbed The 99 Village and the companies plan to produce six additional parks in as many years.

- end –

I have heard that a Sanousi owns it. They are cool folks and one of my very fondest memories is when one of the Sanousi boys cooked mrubian when we were all together in Rockville. Anyways, good for you, Sanousis … sanaeeeeeeeeeeeeees!

Ok, I ramble.

Planting a hotel (with meeting facilities) at the end of 6th Ring Road close to the northern military camps is just plain good business and quite insightful on the part of the owners. They’re providing the only hotel in the area as well as good, clean entertainment for the kids in Jahra. Outstanding! As I said, there was security around and the facility is very clean and for a Friday night, not overwhelmingly crowded with people like the waterfront in Salmiya (for example).

The shopping center has a pool with swan boats in the middle and grassy areas where a lot of people were sitting to watch live music. It was really very nice. I was SMSing Slapperella with my commentary and she asked me if I was planning to ride one of the duck/swan boats. Ok, a blonde in a T-shirt was spectacle enough, but a blonde in a t-shirt riding in a duck would be inciting to riot. LOL.

On the way home, we stopped to look for a DVD store in downtown Jahra. That was an adventure in itself, but really not as adventurous as I had expected. I guess I expected wilder and it was more like Farwaniya; only all the people were really short. Hmmm. I don’t know why, but they looked like Mini Cooper-drivin midgets. Very odd.

We took the long road to get up to Jahra. I hadn’t been down the road along the bay in Sulaibikhat for years and I’m glad we went that route (after shopping at the fabric souq and Baskin Robins at Sharq) because it has really changed. I guess the land reclamation has begun.

Kuwait is a changin’, isn’t it?

6 comments:

nyx said...

Its been there for a long time. Saw it last in 2006. Neat place to spend a perfect December afternoon.

Desert Girl said...

nyx - I don't get to Jahra as often as I would like....

Purgatory said...

adventures huh?

nyx said...

DG; me too. But I have no choice when I have to visit the Jawaza'at on numerous occassions!!
It's a pity this place is the butt of all jokes and streotypes in this land.

All said and done about Jahra, I think thats a place which has retained its identity with deeprooted arab culture in Kuwait. All other suburbs, am sorry, have lost their way somewhere down the lane.

Long live Al Shimmiri's. :)

abolesanzalef said...

I think views there are so amazing but to live there is so.........

RG said...

Oh my gosh....I grew up in Al-Jahra! My whole family and I were there during the Iraqi invasion; Jahra was the first Kuwaiti city to be invaded by the Iraqis...this place has changed so much! Thanks for this post...