Author: Mark

The new iPhone 12 was released by Apple recently but there hasn’t been any announcement of a local launch date yet. I figured it might be related to logistics and production issues due to the pandemic so I checked with a contact of mine who told me that the telecoms, Apple Premium (Gait) and Apple Authorized Resellers (Digits, Xcite, etc.) hadn’t received their unit allocations yet.

But, looks like they finally did because yesterday some resellers started announcing a pre-order date. Starting this Friday, November 13th pre-orders for the new iPhone 12 will begin. Previously you’d have super long lines outside Apple resellers on launch day but with the pandemic right now that wouldn’t be the best idea which is why most likely the only way to get your hands on the new iPhone 12 on launch day would be by pre-ordering online. If it’s going to be anything like the iPhone X launch then there will also be a very limited number of units at launch.

Oddly, there still isn’t an official launch date for the devices, maybe that will be revealed on Friday as well. I’m personally going to be trying to get my hands on the iPhone 12 Pro to replace my 11 Pro. I always loved the way the iPhone 4 looked like and the new phones look basically the same.

The all-new Xbox Series X officially launches today but I was lucky enough to get mine yesterday so I could play around with it and have a post ready for today. I purchased mine from Geekay on September 22nd when they launched the Xbox pre-orders. I was hoping to get a hold of a unit before the launch date by a few days but the Geekay shipment of Xbox’s only cleared customs yesterday afternoon and so only got to pick up mine after that.

Not sure about other local sellers but Geekay will be either delivering all the pre-orders today. They also contacted their customers and arranged a pickup timeslot for today if they didn’t want to wait for delivery. My brother for example is gonna have to wake up early today to pick up his Xbox at 9AM, so it was a lot of fun sending him photos yesterday of my Xbox.

There are a lot of unboxing videos and reviews on YouTube by much better gamers than me, but in this post I’ll go over some of the things regarding our Middle East edition.

• Firstly, the Middle East version of the box is bilingual. The front side is the same as the US version but the rear of the box and all the fine print are in both Arabic and English

• Once you open the box there isn’t a manual, but the getting started guide is bilingual

• The power plug is the UK Type G plug

• The console works with 220v so no need for a transformer

• There is no power brick, just a regular cable from the Xbox to the wall plug (this is the best thing ever)

• I have a US Xbox account and it works perfectly fine with the Middle East edition Xbox (well kinda)

• I ran into a minor issue buying games from the Xbox store and I think it’s because I have a US Xbox account but a Kuwait-based Microsoft account? I pay the monthly Microsoft Office subscription fee using a Kuwait address but I have my location on my Xbox account set to US so maybe there is some sort of conflict

• Because of the issue I had of purchasing games directly from inside the Xbox store I ended up using Amazon to buy the digital copy of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. I used a Florida address so I didn’t pay any tax and got the game for the listed price of $59.99 and then installed it on my Xbox using the code Amazon sent me

• On starting the console there was a 775MB update I had to install. This was downloaded and installed by the time I was done setting up the Xbox

• On my Zain 5G, Valhalla took around 2 hours to download. It’s a 47GB file and was downloading on average at speeds of 45Mbps with the occasional jump to around 65Mbps and drop to 35Mbps. The game was ready to start halfway through the download but because I installed it before the launch date I couldn’t play it

• I only installed two games on my Xbox for now, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Killer Instinct. Quick resume worked perfectly when flip-flopping between the two games

• The packaging and overall design of the Series X is minimal and smart, I personally love it. I think the new PS5 is ugly (sorry Sony fanboys) while this is a lot less flashy and it fit into my TV cabinet perfectly

• The controller feels great, there is a new texture on the backside which gives it a much better grip when held

• The official price of the Xbox Series X in Kuwait is KD167 while the smaller Series S costs KD104

If anyone has any questions, let me know and I’ll try to answer it in the comments.

Recently while riding my bike on the Gulf Road, I noticed an Extreme Sports truck loaded up with bicycles parked in one of the lots. I didn’t know what it was for at first but then spotted an employee a few days ago and decided to stop and find out what they were doing. Turns out it’s an Extreme Sports bicycle rental truck. For KD3 an hour you could rent a bicycle from them to ride up and down the Gulf Road.

I’ve previously posted about their bike rental location at Marina Waves, this one on the other hand is located at the Green Island parking lot. If you don’t have a bicycle but feel like riding one, this is a pretty good option. Here is the location of the rental truck on Google Maps.

My shawerma life needs a bit of an upgrading. Anytime I feel like having shawerma I tend to hit up the old school place Jeita which is down the street from me or Shawerma Shakir and that’s about it. I passed by another old time favorite recently, Bader Al Badoor but the shawerma was pretty dry and unexciting unlike I remember it so I don’t think I’d go back there. But, yesterday I tried a place on Restaurant Street called One Cut (pictured above) based on a recommendation by @thetravelingapron and it was pretty great. Made me realize I’m probably missing out on so many new shawerma places that have popped up over the years.

So I’m curious, what are your favorite shawerma places right now? Might revive my old Shawerma Review series again (circa 2007) if there are enough places I should check out.

If you’re looking for a safe place to ride your bicycle, Kuwait Motor Town is bringing back bicycle days. Bicycle days are when they open the race track to the public so that people can ride their bicycles on the road in a safe car-free environment. Bicycle days are on the following two days:

Tuesdays: 4PM to 8PM
Saturdays: 6AM to 10AM

Access to the track is free and if you’ve never been to KMT before this is a great way to check it out. Here is the location on Google Maps.

I know it feels weird talking about Kuwait Airways and plane interiors when most of us aren’t planning to travel any time soon (or at least until the 2-week quarantine on arrival rule is removed) but, around a week ago, Kuwait Airways took delivery of the world’s first Airbus A330-800.

This is a brand new plane built from scratch for Kuwait Airways and can accommodate 235 passengers, 203 in Economy Class, and 32 in Business Class. The interior is as current as you can get and the Kuwait Airways Business Class finally looks competitive. Check out the interior yourself in the video above.

It’s been 5 years since I last posted about Big D, probably the most controversial musician I’ve posted about on the blog. For some reason, he used to get a lot of negative comments to the point he had to release a music video in which he responded to some of the hate. Love him or hate him though I like the fact he’s still going and “Open Your Eyes” is his latest track so check it out.

Last year the first McDonalds in Kuwait that was located on the Gulf Road closed down and Burger King and Pizza Hut took over the location. A few days ago they finally opened it up and it looks great. I didn’t try it since I haven’t had Burger King in probably a decade (sorry BK I’m a McD guy), but the place does look really cool especially with the LED panels that display color animations all around the structure. The new location is open 24/7 which is great for those late-night munchies. Google Maps

The new extension of Al Shaheed Park is currently under construction and will include a variety of new activities including:

Mountains playground
Maze garden
Outdoor skate and BMX park
Outdoor parkour and sky trail
Karting
Extreme sports building
Ice skating rink and snow park
Indoor Skydiving

The renderings in this post show the new ice skating rink, the indoor karting track and snow park. Our landmark ice skating rink was demolished earlier this year to make way for the new generic ice skating rink, and Discovery Mall is also meant to be demolished next, although nobody is gonna miss that. Check out my previous post on the new extension here.

Thanks Lovelykuwait

Back in September I posted about the Kärcher OC 3 portable pressure washer and how great it was. I had purchased it for KD43 from Ace but later found out it was actually mispriced and should have been sold for KD68 (which is too expensive).

But now Xcite is selling the same pressure washer for just KD33. That’s even cheaper than how much I paid!

So if you were interested in the washer but couldn’t find one or thought it was too expensive before, here is the link on Xcite.

Hamleys, the UK toy store has finally opened up in Kuwait at The Gate Mall. I say finally because they were originally meant to open back in 2012 but for some reason never did. It’s also kinda odd that they opened their first store in The Gate Mall, might have to head there this weekend and see if anything else interesting is open there. Check out Hamleys on Instagram @hamleyskuwait

A couple of days ago the MOI announced a ban on riding electric scooters on roads. That makes total sense if it wasn’t for the fact that the reason people are riding their electric scooters on roads, is for the same reason you see people walking or riding bicycles on roads, we don’t have sidewalks.

I live in Salmiya where I’ve noticed a lot of people have started using scooters to commute around. I’m 100% sure they don’t want to be riding their scooters on the roads but are forced to due to the lack of sidewalks. Driving around any area of residential Salmiya and you’ll also notice people walking on the sides of the roads as well because there are no sidewalks. And this doesn’t just apply to Salmiya, if you head to other densely populated areas like Jabriya, Salwa, Hawalli, etc. you’ll also see the exact same situation there.

A lot of these people don’t earn a lot of money and with the pandemic right now most would prefer not to use cabs or busses. Add to the fact these same people who are being banned from using scooters to commute can’t even get driving licenses because of the laws in place that prevent them. Scooters are a great alternative for public transportation and it’s really unfair that due to poor urban planning, these low-income workers are now not allowed to use them to commute. It’s as if we keep looking for ways to make life even harder for them here.

Mark Lowey, or AbuJack as he is known on Twitter has been fairly active recently scanning old photos of his from life back in Kuwait and Saudi during the 70s and 80s when he used to live here. Recently he published one of his journal entries from a spur of the moment trip he made to Kuwait with his friend Stephen back in 1979. Along with his journal entry, he has old pictures of Kuwait attached so it’s a really interesting piece to read (basically a blog post from 1979).

Check out his journal entry on his weekend excursion to Kuwait here and then make sure you follow him on twitter @molowey

Tareq Almulaifi is a Kuwaiti singer/songwriter who officially launched his new band Cobra Club this past summer with the 80s inspired track “Razor“. They had also previously released the single called Ghost and this past weekend they finally launched the music video for it. You can check out the video above or listen to the track on Spotify. Some really good stuff.

I don’t remember how I first found out about the Ahmadi Desert Motoring Club (ADMC), or how I came about a picture of their car badge, but when I first saw it I knew I needed to have one. It’s such a great looking badge with the cute desert mouse and beautiful colors, I ended up spending over a year looking for one to purchase and wasn’t able to find a single one for sale, anywhere and for any price! I got in touch with random people whose parents might have been part of the club, I checked small private sllers, large auction sites, I checked with car badge collectors, and nobody either had one or wanted to sell one. Finally, back in September, one went on sale on eBay, and not just any, but one that was in pristine, 10/10 condition. It looked like it had never been installed on a car before and all the enamel was still intact and vibrant. I put a ridiculous maximum bid number since I knew I’d most likely not come across another one ever that was so clean, eventually, I ended up winning the bid for a lot less than I expected, around KD75.

Now that I had the badge I found it very frustrating that I couldn’t dig up any info on the club, there wasn’t anything online except for a single photo from an ADMC Alitalia Darts event dating back to 1964 and that was it. So I got in touch with a friend at KOC and asked him if he could check their archives for any photos or articles on the club and he struck gold.

Turns out KOC had some photos related to the motoring club but they were still negatives which hadn’t been scanned. So they dug them out of their archive and scanned them so I could share them on the blog. These images haven’t been seen by anyone for over 65 years! They also shared some articles relating to the club from the old KOC newsletter called “The Kuwaiti”. The Kuwaiti was a weekly newsletter and he flipped through the 1954 and 1955 archive of the newsletter and sent me some photos of ones relating to the club and motoring in general. Some really interesting stuff.

I’ve decided to share everything in two ways. Firstly I uploaded all the photos and articles to a Flickr album. If you prefer viewing things that way click here.

I’ve also created a PDF file of all the articles and if you prefer viewing the articles that way then click here to download the PDF

For the scanned images I have all of them embedded in high resolution below. The blog will resize them automatically to fit the width of my page, but if you save the images, you can view them in higher resolution on your phone or computer. Check those out by clicking more below.

Finally, I’d like to thank Kuwait Oil Company for digging these photos out and scanning them for me. Now people looking for info on the club will be able to find some kind of information online.