Author: Mark

I’ve recently introduced a new advertising option to my media kit called “Sponsored Posts”. These are posts that will be written by an advertiser and is meant to promote their brand, services, products, whatever. They’re advertorials. Why have I decided to introduce this?

1) I need to make more money, lattes don’t grow on trees and they aren’t cheap

2) Lots of brands have a lot to say and sometimes they can’t say it all with a simple banner

3) It will make my life easier since anytime a brand contacts me now to write about them, I can just say sure and then send them my media kit

Now like you, I check my blog daily and whatever kind of advertising I introduce, it needs to be something that I personally don’t find annoying. This is why you’ll never find pop up ads on the blog or any of these super annoying banners that expand and take over the whole page. I don’t think these sponsored posts will be annoying, right now I am limiting them to just one a week although thinking about it, if I can publish a sponsored post every day that’s like KD15,000 a month which would be pretty sweet actually. But until that happens, it’s just once a week.

The sponsored posts will also always be clearly marked as sponsored in the title and they will also have different colored backdrops instead of the usual white. So those posts will in no way be misleading and in no way be mistaken for a post written by me. A few minutes ago I published the first sponsored post which you can check below to get an idea of how sponsored posts will look like.

One of the oldest sports clubs in Kuwait is looking to recruit men and women for their rugby team. If you’re interested keep reading below for a small brief on who they are along with information on how to contact them:

Fancy playing rugby? Kuwait Scorpions is always looking to recruit new players. We have both male and female teams. Any level of experience is welcome. Please join us at the American International School (AIS) this coming Sunday from 6PM to 8PM and meet current members, play some touch rugby and get to know a bit about the sport. For more information contact Hussain Al-Helal at [email protected] or visit our Facebook https://www.facebook.com/q8scorpions/

With the upcoming 2016/2017 season fast approaching, Kuwait Scorpions Rugby Club is always looking for new recruits regardless of age, gender, or past rugby experience. Please join us at AIS this coming Sunday from 6-8pm to meet current members and play some touch rugby and get to know a bit about the sport.

A brief overview of Kuwait Scorpions Rugby Football Club (KSRFC)

• The Kuwait Scorpions are the oldest rugby club in the Middle East. Established in 1946 when Kuwait Oil Company and the British Army played the first ever recorded fixture in the region.

• The Kuwait Scorpions are a registered member of Gulf Rugby (formerly Arabian Gulf RFC) which is in turn affiliated with the IRB (International Rugby Board).

• The club consists of players from all around the world; we currently have players from the United Kingdom, Republic of Fiji, USA, Canada, Lebanon, Egypt, South Africa, as well as an increasing number of Kuwaiti players.

• The Kuwait Scorpions is not gender biased and has two main branches, the Men’s Senior Team and the Ladies Senior Team. In addition to the two main branches we have a Men’s Veteran Team that forms for special events.

• The Kuwait Scorpions Men are the defending Dubai 7’s Gulf Men’s Open Champions (2014).

Interested in becoming a Scorpion?
The Kuwait Scorpions would love to hear from you, regardless of your age, gender, or past rugby experience, Kuwait Scorpions Rugby Club provides a great way to keep fit, improve your rugby skills, socialise, and visit other countries around the Gulf region.
If interested, please don’t hesitate to contact Hussain Al-Helal at [email protected].

Instagram: @q8scorpions
Website: q8scorpions.teamapp.com/

To check out photos of the Kuwait Scorpions from the early 50s, click [Here]

Weather is getting better and so naturally the weekend events are starting to make a come back. I’m personally going to the IMPROV Comedy Night tonight and will probably pass by the carnival on Saturday. Check out the full list below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Indulgences – Reborn
Exhibition: Attraction
The Divan’s Movie Night: Where Do We Go Now?
The IMPROVengers Comedy Night
Mariachi Romatitlan

Friday
Hatha Yoga with Rosie
Good Game: Magic – The Gathering

Saturday
Guided Tour: Arab Organization Headquarters
Yoga with the 3
Roald Dahl’s 100th Birthday
BAIA/BAS Carnival Day
Good Game: Magic – The Gathering

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double check with the organizers.

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape and Grand Cinemas:

New This Week:
Havenhurst (5.8)
Hellions (4.3)
The Magnificent Seven (7.0) ★

Other Movies Showing:
Ben-Hur (5.6)
Blair Witch (6.0)
Don’t Breathe (8.3) ♦
Kickboxer: Vengeance (5.2) ★ ♦
Lights Out (6.7)
Mechanic: Resurrection (6.5)
Pete’s Dragon (7.3)
Snowden (6.2) ♦
Sully (7.9)
The Secret Life of Pets (6.8)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.
★ is for movies I’m interested in. ♦ implies movie might contain censorship.

The new Four Seasons Hotel is expected to open up in Kuwait early next year and one of the most anticipated things about the hotel is their fine dining options. Below is a list of all the restaurants that I’ve been told will be part of the new Four Seasons in Kuwait:

Sintoho – A Pan-Asian restaurant
Dai Forni – An Italian restaurant
Elements – A buffet restaurant
Al Bandar – Poolside lounge/restaurant
Al Sour – Lobby Lounge

I tried to find renderings of the two main restaurants Sintoho and Dai Forni but wasn’t able to. If by any chance someone has copies or finds any, then please share them.

Back in August I posted about the Jumo Coffee Shop that was a temporary pop up in the open courtyard inside the Sadu House. The setup was meant to be temporary until end of August before they moved to their permanent location, a small room also inside the Sadu House but not nearly as pretty or spacious. The temporary setup ended up extending beyond the original deadline and now they’ve gotten approval to remain there permanently.

So if you’re looking for an independent coffee shop with a beautiful setup to chill at in the evenings (or during the day) then check them out. They’re open daily from 7AM to 10PM and 3PM to 10PM on weekends. Here is their location on [Google Maps] and their instagram is @jumocoffee.

A friend of mine read my post from yesterday and sent me the link below this morning that is basically a list of all the Kuwait traffic laws in English. I went through the list to see if there was anything mentioning car lifts but didn’t find anything about it. But, there are a lot of laws that are too generic and could mean anything and I’m willing to bet because of that, everyone here is breaking at least one law from this list. If you want to view or download the PDF, click [Here]

Thanks Musaed

So this morning I’m driving casually on the Gulf Road (not speeding) and suddenly I see a cop car with the flashers on racing towards me in the rear view mirror. At the speed he was going I thought he was responding to an emergency and was expecting him to pass by my side but instead he slowed down and started tailgating me while yelling over the speakers to pull over. I was thinking Jesus wtf did I do now? I double checked my speedometer and I wasn’t speeding but the way he pulled up quickly behind me I figured it was a lot more serious, like maybe he mistook my car for one of a serial killer on the loose or something.

So I pull over into the McDonalds parking lot on the Gulf Road and roll down my window. The cop comes up to me and asks for my car registration and my license in Arabic which I hand over and then he mentions something to me in Arabic about my car being lifted. So I reply in English saying “Sorry what did you say?”. He looked at me, looked at my license which has my nationality listed as Canadian, then in a state of panic quickly hands back my papers and says sorry sorry go go. So I was like “Is everything ok?” and he responded in broken English that he didn’t speak any English and apologized again while stepping backwards. The whole thing looked so bizarre, like he had just seen a ghost or he had accidentally pulled over the chief of police.

I was thinking to myself wtf just happened here? I mean I always talk to cops in English because 90% of the time they find it too much of a hassle to communicate back with me and just let me go, but I’ve never had a cop apologize so profusely while backing away as if he was in fear of his life.

Now the annoying part is how some cops keep making a fuss over my lifted car. I’ve got an FJ Cruiser with a 2” lift (which is really not much as you can see in the photo up on top) and I’ve had the car for 6 years and it’s passed 3 car inspections. I’ve also stopped at countless check points without any issues yet every now and then a cop has to bring up the fact that my car is lifted. I don’t mind rules/laws as long as they’re consistent and I haven’t been able to find any law/rule regarding lift kits. But, if they were illegal I would assume I wouldn’t be able to pass my yearly car inspection which I have been for years even with my previously lifted car which was a Wrangler. So it’s frustrating some cops are making an issue out of it when they let more serious issues pass like people running red lights.

Anyway, if anyone can shed light on what the law is regarding lifted cars I’d appreciate it. What I’d love to have is a printout of all the car related laws and just keep it in my car so when I do get stopped again for having a lift kit I can say “So what?” and then pull out the sheet and have them try and find the corresponding law.

Like every manly man, I have a thing for heavy machinery and I’ve always been kinda been curious to know where one can get lessons. Not only that but I’ve already collected 2 out of 4 possible licenses (check below) and I kinda feel obliged to get the other 2 because I’m OCD like that. Turns out Kuwait Motoring Company (KMC) offer truck driving and heavy equipment operation lessons.

KMC is who ProDrive is partnered up with for their drifting lessons which I posted about a couple of weeks ago. I called them up to get details on their truck/heavy equipment license lessons cost and it’s KD145 and includes 4 lessons (2 hours each), the driving test and the vehicle for the test. Since there is a separate license for truck driving and operating heavy equipment you would have to select which one you’re interested in before hand.

So if you’re interested in getting lessons you can contact KMC on 1878888 or visit their instagram account @KMCKuwait. They also provide regular car driving lessons and motorbike lessons and based on their instagram account seem pretty professional.

PS: That’s not my real birth date on my license. My passport has the correct date of birth, my civil ID has the correct day but the month of birth as September instead of August while my residency has neither the correct day or month. This actually caused me an issue for the first time two weeks ago when I got back from Sofia, the immigration officer was like you have three dates of birth and only allowed me to enter the country after checking with his superior.

The Staged in Kuwait IMPROV Comedy Night is back for a new season and their first show is this weekend. This is by far my favorite comedy show in Kuwait and one I highly recommend checking out if you’ve never done so before. They’ll be introducing a whole bunch of new comedians this year and I’m interested to see how they turn out.

The shows previously used to take place at the Live Theater in Discovery Mall which I liked but the last one and this weekends show is being held at the new Crowne Plaza Auditorium in Farwaniya (pictured above). Nice auditorium just horrible parking outside. Last time I was lucky and since I pulled up in an intimidating yellow Lotus Exige S so managed to convince the valet guy to let me park right at the entrance, don’t think I’m going to be as lucky this time around.

Anyway for more information on the comedy night as well as a link to buy tickets click [Here]

I’m a tea guy, anybody who knows me or anybody who’s been reading my blog for awhile would know that, but recently that changed and I think I am now a coffee guy. I’m still trying to get a grasp on how this is possible since I used to really hate coffee. This all started when Arabica got in touch with me for a quick meeting around a month ago.

Arabica are opening two new locations and wanted to fill me in on them in case I’d be interested to post about them. So I met up with them and during the meeting they asked me why I didn’t drink coffee. I responded telling them I loved the smell of coffee I just couldn’t stand the flavor to which I was then asked when was the last time I had tried coffee? I couldn’t remember, I figured I must have when I was a kid or something. They told me they wanted to turn me into a coffee drinker and the next time we would meet it would be at the Arabica branch for a little tasting. I didn’t think that would be possible but I told them ok since I didn’t want to seem impolite. So a few days later I end up at Arabica trying a bunch of their different coffees and I strangely found myself attracted to their Spanish Latte which is a regular latte but with their secret sweet syrup. I think I liked it the most because it didn’t taste like coffee, it’s what I now call coffee for beginners since its what got me started on coffee.

A couple of days later I popped back in and ordered another Spanish Latte, then I came back again and started ordering their regular latte, then again the day after. I’m now passing by once or twice a day for my fix. Not only that but wherever I go now I order a latte just so I can taste the difference and try to understand the different flavor profiles. I’m still on lattes, haven’t really “leveled up” to straight up coffees yet but thats because I’ve just been enjoying lattes so much. So much so that I’ve started researching bean to cup coffee machines (got my eye on you DeLonghi XS) so I could just start buying beans from Arabica and making my own lattes at home.

Another thing I’m enjoying is social coffee drinking. Previously I used to tag along with friends to Vol.1 and Richards Coffee all the time and just watch them drink their coffees while I sip on my water. But now I can finally go to these places and have coffee like everybody else. What I find super odd though is that since I started drinking coffee I’ve completely stopped drinking tea. I used to average around 6 to 8 cups of tea a day but since I’ve started drinking coffee a month ago, I’ve had just 2 cups. I’ve just lost all interest.

Brands are always trying to connect with me but it rarely ever works. This is one of the very few times where a brand not only has managed to grab my attention, but they’ve turned me into a huge fan and even a self proclaimed brand ambassador. I’ve been dragging friends to Arabica with me and telling everyone how great I think their coffee is. As I’m sitting in Arabica typing this my brother who I introduced to Arabica recently walked in to get coffee for himself and his office. And now I just ordered my second latte and need to end this post so I can head to work. If you haven’t tried Arabica yet you should, they’re located in Kuwait City [Google Maps] and you can find them on instagram @arabicakw

Back in August a new Italian restaurant opened up called Vigonovo and I wrote about it on the blog a couple of days after their opening. I didn’t mention anything about the food back then since they had just opened but now that I’ve been there a bunch of times I can say Vigonovo has become one of my favorite restaurants in Kuwait.

The food first of all is really great, its Italian but its light with simple ingredients so you never leave in a food coma no matter how much you eat. The menu is always changing and the portions are tapas sized which means you get to eat more than one dish (my average is 3 dishes). But, my favorite thing about Vigonovo has to be the chef, Marco. Its become a habit for me and my friends now to just go there and have him whip up whatever he wants for us. Since the cooking is homestyle it just feels natural to let Marco tell us what we are having that night, as if we’re visiting his home. And I don’t think we are the only people who do that, I think most of his regulars let him just decide what they’re having, it’s more fun. Speaking of his regulars, I didn’t realize we had such a large Italian community until I started going to Vigonovo. Every time I’m there at least two or three other tables are filled with Italians.

I don’t really have anything negative to say about the place, I think the lights could be dimmer in the evening and I find the blue walls weird (when you see it you’ll understand) and thats about it. Oh and their instagram account is private which I’ve told Marco I find annoying because it means I need to follow them to find out about new dishes.

If you’re looking for an authentic Italian restaurant in Kuwait then this is it. The place is located in Salmiya next to Gia. They’re right next door to Lorenzo in the shop called “Rose Gathering” (they’ll be changing the sign soon). Vigonovo is currently open daily from 5PM onwards except on Fridays when they close. Definitely worth checking out. Here is their location on [Google Maps] and their instagram account is @vigonovo_kw

Tavola is one of my favorite kitchen related stores since they carry a number of great brands like WMF, Wilton, Zwilling J.A.Henckels, Le Creuset, Cuisine Art, Bodum, Peugeot mills and Joseph Joseph. The only issue I had with them was that they were located in the industrial area of Shuwaikh past highway 60 and so getting there was always a journey.

But, just before the Eid holidays Tavola opened a new much larger location in Tilal Complex, which is also in Shuwaikh but an easier location to get to. The new location is divided into two floors with all their brands located on the lower floor while the top floor is dedicated to their Wilton baking products as well as two large rooms where they hold baking workshops.

If you want to know what brands they carry the full list is available on their website [Here]. On the other hand if you want to know more on their baking workshops they’re posting the schedules up on their instagram account @tavolakuwait

A contact of mine sent me the picture above of a new speeding speeding camera being installed on highway 50. According to my contact the new cameras are able to capture speeding motorists from a kilometer away but I haven’t been able to confirm that. The only thing that I have managed to confirm is the fact that these new cameras are digital and transmit pictures wirelessly, eliminating the need to retrieve film negatives.

I did a bit of research and turns out he new cameras are called the T-Series and produced by a company called Gatso. According to Gatso these are some features of the cameras:

– Violations are captured regardless of whether the vehicle is approaching the speed camera or receding from it and only one camera is required to enforce multiple lanes of traffic.

– Integrated Wi-Fi and a web based user interface provide easy and secure control from any web enabled device.

– The RT4 tracking radar simultaneously measures the speed and position of up to 32 vehicles in the coverage area. This technology allows even the busiest of intersections to be effectively enforced.

– The 20-megapixel CMOS camera is designed exclusively by GATSO, combining 30 frames
per second (fps) full frame image capture with unrivaled photosensitivity.

So basically we’re pretty screwed mostly since these cameras are hard to spot. On the bright side (if you can call it that), because the images are new wirelessly transmitted, this means we should get the fines sooner then before.

Thanks Dragos

Update: Ok, looks like this picture was NOT taken in Kuwait. I usually double check stuff like this but since my contact on two previous occasions sent me speed camera information that was accurate, I didn’t think to verify the image. In this specific case it was a picture sent to him from a friend and after looking up the image it seems to be old and taken in Bahrain. So false alarm sorry.

The movies below are now showing at Cinescape and Grand Cinemas:

New This Week:
Blair Witch (6.0)
Snowden (6.2) ♦

Other Movies Showing:
Antboy 3 (5.5)
Ben-Hur (5.6)
Blood Father (7.0)
Don’t Breathe (8.3) ♦
Kickboxer: Vengeance (5.2) ★ ♦
Kill Zone 2 (6.7)
Lights Out (6.7)
Mechanic: Resurrection (6.5)
Pete’s Dragon (7.3)
Sully (7.9)
The Secret Life of Pets (6.8)

Numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at time of publishing.
★ is for movies I’m interested in. ♦ implies movie might contain censorship.