Remal Village houses the world's biggest sand sculpture park, a 'P2BK', Proud to be Kuwaiti initiative that opened to the public on January 30 alongside the P2BK yearly exhibition. Award winning sculptor and stone mason Delayne Corbett from Canada and 73 sculptors from around the world built the massive sculptures based on the beautiful Arabian night tales, '1001 Nights', Alf Layla wa Layla. The cost of the project is around 1 million dinars, U.S. dollars $ 3 million.
On Saturday evening, we had a fabulous time at the Remal International Festival, the beautiful sand and light show at the Remal Village sand sculpture park. We spent over 3 hours and enjoyed every moment of it. We took our time and walked around through the scenes of various stories from 1001 Nights. It is a marvel to see the magnitude of art and design and sculpting work that has made this such an amazing feat. If you have read the stories from 1001 Nights while growing up, like Alladin and the magic lamp, Ali Baba and the forty thieves, Sindbad the Sailor and his 7 voyages, and so on, they will all come alive in your mind as you tread the sand sculpture park. The flyer given you while you purchase the tickets has all the names of the stories enlisted against location of each of those sculptures at the park. At 6.30 pm there was a 'Fire Show' that lasted for 10 minutes and there was a repeat show which we watched. Two men dressed as elves surprised and entertained the crowd with their light humor. 'Struzzis', stilt walkers dressed as ostriches and they really looked like ostriches, especially the way they moved amid the crowd was quite an attraction. They even made sounds like ostriches! There is a beautiful magical tree garden that lights up in different colors in the evening. Starbucks coffee shop is located near the magical tree garden and there is gift shop next to that. Restrooms are to extreme right when you first enter the sand sculpture park. Outside the Remal Village, there are restaurants.
Be sure to visit the Remal International Festival at the Sand Sculpture park. I would suggest you visit before sunset, so you can appreciate the sculptures and the intricate work in the natural light and wait until after sunset to see the beautiful colored lights projected on the sculptures. Now that's another beauty altogether, offering you a totally different experience. And of course, you get to see the shows in the evening, which are held in the centre of the park adjacent to the gigantic whale sculpture, near the wooden seating. You will meet many characters from the stories that walk amid the crowd every now and then. Carry your camera and spare batteries. Have fun!
Opening hours : Daily from 10 am to midnight until 26 April, 2014
Shows : Daily shows from 5.30 pm to 10.30 pm except Sundays
Entrance fee : 3 K.D. per person. Free for children under 3 years.
Location : Right next to the outer premises of Kuwait International Fair grounds in Mishrif, opposite hall 4 or 8.
How to reach : Drive to Kuwait International Fairgrounds, you will be passing by several halls marked by numbers. As you drive, look for hall 4 or hall 8. There are parking areas beside hall 4 and hall 8 and in the outer premises of the fair grounds beside those halls. You could park anywhere within the fairgrounds, but hall 4 and hall 8 are the closest in proximity to walk towards the sand sculpture park. Once you park your car, walk towards the outer premises away from hall 4 or 8 and look towards the left and you will see the sand sculptures from a distance and it would take about 5 to 7 minutes to walk up to the Remal Village Sand Sculpture Park, depending on where you park.
Location map Kuwait International Fair Grounds
Look very cool. Enjoyed the article too.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Glad you enjoyed
ReplyDelete