Author: Mark

Arby’s, one of my favorite fast-food restaurants has closed all their locations in Kuwait. I first heard about this from a reader a couple of days ago but didn’t believe it until I called them up myself to confirm. The employee on the phone said this was permanent but I’m still hoping this is just a temporary thing until the pandemic is over.

If you call them up right now you’ll get Johnny Rockets instead so maybe because of the lack of staff or resources, they’re putting all their focus on their big money maker. I hope that is the case.

Although gyms aren’t meant to reopen until the final stage of the government plan, I’ve been told that some gyms have presented a case to the government for permission to reopen sooner. A couple of days ago Alqabas newspaper visited Circuit+ to get an idea of how this could work safely and I think it could work.

Basically, Circuit+ will split up their gym into different large areas and give every member one of those areas to work out in. The area will contain all the equipment their member would need for that class so they don’t have to leave their section or share equipment with other members. Once the class is over the members are expected to wipe down the gym equipment they used and once they leave, the gyms cleaning staff come in and resterilize everything again for the next class.

Obviously this idea won’t work with every gym. Circuit+ isn’t a regular gym where you can just walk in and work out and leave, they function with classes that hold a limited number of people which works for them in this case. Also, their Shuwaikh location is HUGE as you can see in the video so they can manage to split it up and give each member a large section to workout in.

I think this could also apply to smaller and more private personal training gyms like mine (X.Athletic). Before the pandemic my gym would only allow a maximum of 4 gym-goers at any given time so it was never crowded. There was also a cleaner who was constantly wiping down the equipment and benches after they were being used, and this was on a normal day before COVID. By taking a few more extra precautions, I can easily see my gym also providing a safe space for me to work out in. Damn it, now all this gym talk is making me miss my gym and trainers.

But again, this setup wouldn’t work for every gym, just the very large class-based ones and the more premium exclusive gyms.

Yesterday, Kuwait’s Communication and Information Technology Regulatory Authority (CITRA) launched an official internet speed testing portal as part of the Kuwait Internet Exchange. The reason for CITRA launching their own speed test website from what I’ve been told is for two reasons transparency and data collection.

By using the CITRA speed test website, users will have an accurate way of comparing the internet performance of the different networks in Kuwait when it comes to speed and international latency (which is good to know for gaming). CITRA also wants to use this website as a way to collect data to better help them understand the performance of the different providers in the market.

How is this useful for you? Once enough people have used the website it will provide a fairly accurate representation of internet speeds between the different providers in Kuwait. You will visually be able to see who is providing the fastest speeds and who is the slowest. In the next site update I’ve been told they’ll also be adding area comparisons so you’ll be able to compare internet speeds in your area.

I’m using Zain 5G as my internet provider so according to the website, I’m killing it compared to the average internet speeds in Kuwait. I still haven’t gotten over the fact how fast my internet is, 5G is really just the best thing ever.

If you want to run a speed test on your internet connection, click here.

Thanks Ali!

Over the weekend I was in Avenues for work (the mall is closed FYI) so I decided to walk around and see if it was true that Alshaya was closing down some of its restaurants. Inspired Edibles had posted a list on Instagram of the brands that were closing which included:

400 Gradi
Alforno
Blaze Pizza
Bridge Water Chocolate
Cafe COCO
Castania
Cleo
Le Pain Quotidien
P.F. Chang’s (Phase 1)
Spontini Pizza
Veranda

Turns out it’s partially true. Other than Blaze Pizza and P.F. Chang’s, all the restaurants listed above had been closed down with their logos removed and the storefronts boarded up. I guess the two I’m gonna miss the most are Alforno and Spontini. When Alforno first opened I used to go there a lot with my family, and Spontini, well I kinda liked their pizzas even though I know a lot didn’t.

But, if a giant like Alshaya has difficulty sustaining a restaurant during this difficult period in a mall they basically own, you can only imagine how other smaller businesses must be doing.

I posted a few days ago that I recently got a new Espresso Machine, but unlike my previous one, my new machine doesn’t have the option to turn on automatically every morning. It doesn’t sound like a big thing but espresso machines need around 30 minutes to heat up properly which is an eternity when all I want is my morning coffee. So I decided to my first smart plug to automate the morning process for me.

I haven’t really had a need for any home automation product but since I got my first smart plug, I’ve now bought a second one and just about to order my third. These things are pretty practical and super easy to set up. I ended up getting the Eufy Smart Plug since I found it readily available locally and it was the same brand as my RoboVac which meant I didn’t have to install a new app on my phone.

The way the smart plug works is you plug it into a power socket and then plug a device into it like my coffee machine. You then connect the smart plug to your wifi network and access its settings using an app. With the app, I set up a schedule for my coffee machine to turn on every morning at 6:30AM so that the machine is ready for me to use when I wake up at 7. I also use the app to manually turn on the machine in the afternoon before I leave the office. That way by the time I get home my machine is ready to use.

The smart plug has a number of other features including the ability to monitor the uptime of your devices, how much electricity they consumed, and the smart plug can also integrate with both Google Home and Amazon Alexa. I have my second smart plug connected to a floor lamp in my bedroom so I can now turn it off before I go to sleep with a voice command.

The only issue I have with the smart plug really is the price. It costs KD11.5 which isn’t cheap especially if you want to have a few of them around the house. It’s also fairly bulky so if you have a plug say behind the couch or a dresser, you’re gonna have a very tight squeeze if it manages to fit at all. If you’re interested in picking one up, I got mine from Blink.

I came across this photo of the iconic Al-Salam Complex in Salmiya which I hadn’t seen before (I think). What grabbed my attention was the restaurant “Beefy” on the street corner. As a kid, I remember that corner store as a patisserie but I had heard there used to be a great pizza place before it and doubt it was called Beefy. So, my best guess is that this photo was taken in the early 70s.

I also completely seemed to have forgotten what the corner store became towards the end of its life, but the round building along with all the stores were demolished back in 2009 and turned into Al Salam Mall which is where Lulu is today.

For some interior photos of the building just before it was demolished click here.

Update: Found an ad for Beefy from @time_machine72

BBC published an article today bringing into spotlight Kuwait’s Shlonik Covid-19 contact-tracing app calling it once of the most invasive in the world along with Bahrain’s BeAware app. BBC goes even further by describing them both as “mass surveillance tools”.

Most contact-tracing apps rely solely on Bluetooth signals, but Bahrain and Kuwait’s capture location data through GPS and upload this to a central database, tracking the movements of users in real time.

The researchers say Bahraini and Kuwaiti authorities would be able to easily link this sensitive personal information to an individual, as users are required to register with a national ID number. Other countries’ contact tracing apps anonymise users. Source

I’m guessing citizens under forced home quarantine can’t do much about this but everyone else will probably delete the app once the article makes its rounds today. It will also be interesting to see how Zain will distance itself from all this since this can’t be a good look for them.

Back in March, on the very first day I was going to start working from home, my Breville Oracle espresso machine decided to break down. I thought about repairing it myself which I’ve previously done since there is no local dealer, but I hated working on it the last time since the machine was not easy to self-service. I didn’t know what I was going to do at first, do I buy a new machine? Do I wait until things reopen and find a guy to fix it? Do I take it with me to the Dubai dealer when airports eventually reopen? I was actually close to reordering the same machine from Amazon UK but then I asked myself, why do I want to get the exact same machine I had which will eventually breakdown again?

I decided to go down the classic car route direction, I wanted a new coffee machine that was mostly mechanical, very little to no technology, and easy to fix in case something went wrong. After doing a lot of research and watching hundreds and hundreds of coffee-related videos on YouTube, I decided to go for the Rocket Appartamento.

Rocket is an Italian company that are known for making great quality prosumer machines that are also beautiful looking. They have 7 different machines they make and the Appartamento was their entry-level machine that would fulfill my requirements. All I really needed was a machine that looked good, had very little that could go wrong with it, if something did go wrong I could easily fix, and finally, a machine that would allow me to steam my latte milk while pulling an espresso shot at the same time.

The Rocket Appartamento fit all my requirements and was fairly reasonably priced compared to its larger siblings. I looked for the machine locally first and even though I found a couple of small businesses that sold Rocket machines, they were all out of stock. In the end, I decided to order my machine online from Espresso Coffee Shop who are based in Italy and ship to Kuwait. Their prices were great since they remove the VAT when exporting and with the price of shipping to Kuwait the machine was turning out to be around 50KD cheaper than the price of the machine when it was available locally. It seemed too good to be true but I checked online reviews and they seemed legit. But, Espresso Coffee Shop were also out of stock on machines since the Rocket factory in Italy had shut down due to the pandemic. But I called them up and they told me that the factory had reopened and I’d be in line to get one in their next shipment which was in around 2 weeks time. That was fine with me so I ended up ordering a few things from them:

Rocket Appartamento (White)
Rocket Faustino Grinder (Black)
Acaia Lunar Scale
Rocket Tamping Mat
Rocket Bottomless Portafilter
Rocket Knock Box
Rocket Milk Jug
Motta Leveling Tool

The guys at Espresso Coffee Shop were pretty helpful and patient even though I’m sure they were swamped with orders. I actually amended my order four different times while waiting on my machine to be back in stock by adding and changing different items. The Acaia scale alone I had changed three times mostly because of my willingness to pay so much money for a scale. Through all my indecisiveness, Espresso Coffee Shop were very accomodating and patient with me. I did all my communication over the phone and never had to wait longer than a minute or two to talk to someone on their team. Once my machine was finally in stock they shipped everything to Kuwait for KD110 via UPS. It took only a few days to get to Kuwait from Italy but it arrived mid May during our lockdown and UPS wasn’t delivering so I had to wait until last week to finally get it delivered to me. I was worried they’d send me the wrong items because of how many times I amended my order but thankfully the most expensive and important items which were the coffee machine, grinder, and scale arrived correctly. The only item that didn’t arrive was my milk jug which they forgot to pack. So I called Espresso Coffee Shop and they were very apologetic and refunded me the amount on the spot.

I’ve now been using the machine a few times daily since I got it and it’s been great, I love it. So if you’re looking to buy an espresso machine I’d really recommend checking out Espresso Coffee Shop. Here is the link to their website.

Completed all the way back in 2003, the Villa Moda department store in the Free Trade Zone was way ahead of its time. The building still stands there today but isn’t currently being used although a few years ago I heard a TV station or newspaper was going to take it over.

The owner of Villa Moda was the fashion entrepreneur, Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah who had a vision for a state-of-the-art retail experience. The exterior was designed by Italian architect Pierfrancesco Cravel who came up with the idea of creating the giant glass shell that mimicked the shipping containers in the port nearby. The 12-meter high steel poles in front of the building represented ship masts while sails were used in the parking lot to protect vehicles from the sun.

When Tyler Brûlé, the founder of Wallpaper* magazine heard Sheikh Majed was developing a new department store for luxury brands in Kuwait, he recommended he work with the London based interior designers Eldridge Smerin.

Eldridge Smerin were responsible for the design of Villa Moda’s main entrance area and lounge, public spaces and staircases, two levels of multi-brand fashion space, restaurant and café managed by @capriceholdingsrestaurants, as well as the landscaping around the building.

Villa Moda opened its doors in 2003 housing brands like Gucci, Prada, Bottega Veneta, Salvatore Ferragamo, Fendi, Etro and more. The total duration of the project from conceptual design to construction completion was impressively, less than a year.

For more photos of Villa Moda click here.

The original Villa Moda is still standing and was also ahead of its time (pictured below). The original Villa Moda was located on the Gulf Road opposite where Chilis used to be. Not sure when it opened but I remember going there back in the 90s.

Update: This post has been updated with more precise information. Also the Villa Moda building has now been demolished.

Kuwait had one of the first Karting tracks in the region and was a pretty popular sport before the 1990 invasion. Back in the 80s the Gulf Championship, the Middle East Championship and the World Championship were all held in Kuwait at the karting track in Ahmadi. One of the former racers Graham Hobson sent me the video above featuring his team back then called GH Karting. Graham used to work for KOC between 1983 and 1986 but now lives in Australia.

The video is an hour-long so you can skim through it if you want. He’s got one more video he’ll be sending me and I’ll upload that as well once I get it.

Update: Just uploaded a better version of the video with better sound
Update2: Below is the second video of the Middle East Karting Cup that was held in Kuwait back in 1986.

Recently there have been photos circulating of what looks like new cop cars. Usually, this happens when the Ministry of Interior are looking for new cars for their fleet and different dealers provide them with test units. So far the two models I’ve seen are the Volvos (above) and the new Nissan Patrols (below). Not that crazy about the Patrols but the Volvos look hot.

Update: Here are better shots of the Patrol

Back in April, I decided to buy a security camera so I could monitor my front door. Whenever I was ordering food I was having the drivers leave it at the front door, and I was also doing the same with my courier deliveries. Instead of having my packages delivered to my office which was closed, I was having them drop it off home instead. Since I didn’t want to sit around the house all day waiting for the drivers, I’d sometimes be out of the house when they deliver so I just have them leave the package at the front door. That was really the main reason I decided I’d get a security camera, just in case a package went missing I could see what happened.

At first, I wanted to get the Ring Doorbell cam but while checking out Xcite’s inventory, I found out about the Ring Stick Up Cam Battery and I realized it would work better for me. The quality of the video was higher than the Ring Doorbell, the battery also lasted longer and it was also cheaper.

Because I was mounting the camera outside my apartment door I didn’t want to run any electrical wires. I needed something I could mount easily and run on battery for a very long time. The Stick Up cam came in two versions, a wired and a battery version with the battery version promising up to 5 months battery life on a single charge. Xcite was selling the camera for 35KD which is pretty close to the Amazon price which was 31KD not including tax or delivery, so I ordered it from them.

Setting up the camera is a fairly easy process as long as you have a wifi signal where you’re mounting the camera. I didn’t have a strong wifi signal so I just bought a cheap 6KD Wifi extender from Blink and solved that issue. The camera has many features and customizable options but the most important ones for me were auto recording on movement and the ability to connect to the camera at any time for a live feed. Actually, the most important feature is the long battery life and it’s been two months since I’ve charged the battery and it’s slightly below half right now which is pretty great especially since I was playing a lot with the camera when I first got it. The camera also has a mic and a speaker so I could if I wanted to, communicate with the person outside my door.

One important thing to note is that if you want to save the videos you need to have a subscription plan with Ring. The camera doesn’t have a built-in memory and needs Wifi to work. Any video it records would be automatically uploaded to the cloud if you have a subscription plan. If you don’t have a subscription, then the only thing you’ll be able to do with the camera is connect to it for a live video feed and thats about it. The subscription cost isn’t that bad really, I’m paying $30 a year which includes a 60-day video history and the ability to download and share the videos. If you have multiple cameras around the house they have another plan for $10 a month for all your home cameras.

Overall I really like the product and the ease of use. The ability to save 60 days of videos onto the cloud and be able to access them from an app or their website is super convenient. At 35KD it’s also fairly accessible and the non-battery version is even cheaper but obviously not as convenient. If you’re interested in getting the camera, as of this post Xcite still has them in stock.

Global research company OMDIA released a 5G Market Progress Assessment report which shows Kuwait ranked 2nd worldwide. The report was based on five different assessment criteria that included spectrum availability, service launches, network coverage, 5G adoption and the development of a supporting ecosystem. You can check out the full report here.

One of the best things I did was get 5G, it’s been incredibly fast and even during the lockdown when every internet connection slowed down, I was still getting over 400Mbps. On average though, my connection both at home (Salmiya) and in the office (Kuwait City) hovers at around 550-650Mbps.

If you have Amazon Prime Video here is a good show for you to binge-watch, Hunters. The show is based in the 70s and stars Al Pacino as a leader of a secret team of Nazi hunters. The first season is only 10 episodes long so you’ll be done over a few days.

Back in April, I posted about the difficult to find book “Aftermath: Kuwait, 1991“. Well here is a pretty bizarre thing that happened to me. As I mentioned in that post, when the book was published back in 1992 there were two editions, the French edition called “FAIT” and the English edition called “AFTERMATH”. I posted about the French version since that was the copy I was able to get a hold of, but before getting the French version, I tried to get the English one.

Because the books were printed in limited quantity, they’re incredibly difficult to find and the prices can range from 100-200KD depending on the condition of the book. But, back in October, I found a used bookstore in Turkey selling the English edition of the book for just 2.5KD. It didn’t make any sense and it sounded too good to be true but because it was only 2.5KD, I decided to buy it to see what I’d get. Even the “Books on Books” edition of the book cost at least 10KD, so worst case I would get that.

I bought the book from Turkey and had the seller mail it to my PostaPlus MyBox UK account. He gave me a tracking number and it showed that it was delivered a week later, but it never showed up in my account. I waited and waited and nothing. So I figured the seller must not have put my mailbox number on the package, it’s happened before so I got in touch with PostaPlus after waiting two months and was like hey, I have a package missing, I’m guessing the seller didn’t put the mailbox number, here is the tracking number can you see if you ever received it? They replied saying they hadn’t received a package with that tracking number. I was upset obviously because I had found this incredibly absurd deal on a rare book and now that book is lost.

I eventually forgot about the whole thing and a few months later found a reasonably priced French edition of the book and got that instead.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, out of nowhere, a package shows up in my mailbox marked as a DVD. Right away I realize it could be the book since it’s around the same size as a DVD case. Sure enough, nearly 8 months after buying the book it finally got delivered to me last week!

I somehow managed to get AFTERMATH for just 2.5KD which is incredible, and now I have both language editions of this hard to find book. So here is life pro tip, ALWAYS make sure you and the seller put your forwarding mailbox number in the address.