Author: Mark

Alghanim Motors have officially opened the Lotus dealership in Kuwait. I passed by yesterday to check it out and they’ve got two models in stock, the Lotus Exige and the Lotus Evora. The Exige starts at KD27,000 while the Evora starts at KD34,000.

For those interested, according to the salesman they’ll have two test drive vehicles available in the next couple of days (pictured above). Here is their location on [Google Maps]

REUSE 2016, is a huge interactive event experience thats going to be taking place this weekend. REUSE will feature over 20 local and international artists who will be hosting a two day event on April 1st and 2nd at DAI Yarmouk. The artist that will be taking part in this event include:

Nonotak (France)
Maurice Mikkers (Netherlands)
Fari Bradley (Iran) + Chris Weaver (UK)
THE ERA (USA)
Altersal (Kuwait)
Norimichi Hirakawa (Japan)
TACIT (Germany)
Empty1/4 (Kuwait)
Maotik (Canada)
REFUNC (Netherlands)
Daan Brinkmann (Netherlands)
Tim Terpstra (Netherlands)
MagicIsland (Poland)
Nicholson (India)
soul xxx kicks (Kuwait)
David Munir Nabti (Lebanon)
Cheb Moha (Iraq)
Wolff (Germany)
A.S.N Rao (India)
Karim Sultan (UAE)
SALT (Kuwait)
Hababa (Kuwait)
Aaron Kim (Korea)

The event consists of three parts, (Day), (Night) and (LAB) with all three offering different experiences:

REUSE (Day)
April 1 – 2 / 1PM to 9PM / Free
REUSE (Day) will be an immersive audience experiences that includes interactive art, impromptu discussions, engaging collaborations and more. These interactive experiences will take place in the various open spaces at DAI and is free to the public, no registration required just walk right in.

REUSE (Night)
April 1 – 2 / 5PM to 10PM / KD15 (single entry) or KD20 (weekend pass)
REUSE (Night) will consist of a series of live multimedia performances in partnership with the Red Bull Music Academy. This musical event is taking place at the DAI Yarmouk theater and requires tickets which can be purchased online [Here]

REUSE (LAB)
April 3 / 5PM to 9PM / Free (Registration Required)
REUSE (LAB) will be held on the final evening and it will take place Shaheed Park. The last night will engage the public through informal chats, panels and workshops. This event is free to attend but registration is required. To register click [Here]

It’s going to be a massive event with a lot going on so I’ve tried to simplify it as best as I can. I’ll be posting more about the event until it takes place but for now check out the links below for more details:

Website: www.reuselabs.com

Facebook Links:
REUSE (Day)
REUSE (Night)
REUSE (LAB)

Have you checked out the 248AM Community? It’s an online discussion forum and with over 200,000 posts so far, it’s a great space to ask questions and debate topics. You can access the community by clicking the link in the navigation strip on top or by typing community.mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com in your browser.

My good friends at Al Nata have started selling their baked goods on Talabat. They’re the guys behind the addictive Portuguese tart pastries (pictured above) which I posted about on the blog. Previously you could only catch them at various food markets on weekends with also a limited product placement at Sultan Center. But now their full product line is available on Talabat and that includes the Al Nata tart pastries, the Claudinos and their fluffy croissants. Check them out [Here]

The Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) is planning to increase the tickets of the Kuwait Zoo from 250 fils to KD 2, reports Al-Rai daily quoting informed sources.

They revealed that the Director of PAAAFR Eng. Faisal Al-Hasawi said this decision is part of a policy aimed to reduce the financial losses resulted from the bad behaviors of some visitors which affect the animals so badly that money is required for treating the animals and maintaining the zoo. [Source]

I would generally be against raising ticket prices since it would make the zoo less accessible to the lower income bracket. But, when I published my article “Why the Kuwait Zoo is a disaster“, the conclusion was that the biggest problem at the zoo were the visitors and one of the solutions I had suggested was to increase the ticket price. Not because the lower income visitors were the cause of the problems but by increasing the ticket prices, less visitors would end up going to the zoo overall which would be more beneficial for the animals.

Also aren’t ticket prices currently 500fils and not 250fils?

Last week I was at Boots and purchased two bottles of medicine at 880 fils each. When I went to pay the total was KD1.750. At first I thought Boots rounded up because the horrible mathematician in me calculated 880×2 to 1.740 and I was a bit bothered. But, the total instead was 1.760 and Boots had rounded down to 1.750. Then last night I decided to pay my phone bills, I’ve got two lines, my main line is with Viva while I have another line I don’t use as much with Zain.

My Viva bill was KD 17.502 and I ended up paying that exact amount with my knet card. On the other hand, my Zain bill was KD 1.994 but the Zain website refused to let me pay 1.994. Instead it kept rounding up my total to KD2.000. I tried to manually fix it but it would keep changing it back to 2.000 and in the end I was forced to pay that.

It doesn’t sound like a big deal, I mean it’s just 6 fils but if Zain are doing this with me they’re most likely doing this with all their customers. To give you a bit of perspective, they have over 45 million customers across their network and if they’re taking 6 fils from every customer then thats an extra KD225,000 profit every month!

Update: A reader made me realize the extra 6 fils goes back into my Zain account as credit. No idea why they’ve complicated things.

I just found out via Kuwait Times that the Sawaber complexes are being prepared for demolition soon. I think I’m more sad about Sawaber getting demolished than I am about Bayt Lothan. Why demolish the buildings instead of restoring them? They’re beautiful buildings, with huge apartments (295 square meters), lots of outdoor space and most importantly, they’re located right in the heart of the city. I’d love to live there and I’m sure many others would as well.

You can check out the article on Kuwait Times [Here], but if you’re looking for an interesting historical read on Sawaber, check out this research paper called “The Destruction of Modernist Heritage: The Myth of Al-Sawaber” by Asseel Al-Ragam [PDF]

The public prosecution yesterday detained a well known fashion blogger in Kuwait for 10 days and referred her to the criminal court on charges of forgery. She allegedly left the using her friend’s passport before the forgery was discovered at Dubai airport and she was returned to Kuwait. [Source]

Since I like gossip, does anyone have any idea which fashion blogger Kuwait Times is talking about?

It’s a sports filled weekend with rugby, volleyball and show jumping competitions. No markets oddly this weekend even though the weather is perfect for one. Check out this weekends events below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Edge by Abdulrahim Sharif
TedxAlShuwaikh
Show Jumping Competition
Rooftop Movie: Ai Weiwei – Never Sorry

Friday
Show Jumping Competition
Taichi in the Park
Yoga at the Park (Hatha Yoga)
Kuwait Men’s Local 7’s Rugby Tournament
Mamaste: Mother’s Day Restorative Workshop
International Men’s Volleyball Tournament

Saturday
Farmers Trip
Yoga at the Park (Vinyasa Flow – Women Only)
Guided Tour: Arab Organization Headquarters
Yoga at the Park (Yoga with the 3)
Madeenah Tour: Made in Kuwait – Subhan Tour
K’S PATH Shelter Open Day
Gardening at The Secret Garden
Rooftop Movie: Samba

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 double check info with organizers.

Gia have finally opened up their new location in Kuwait City after countless construction related delays. Their new location has a slightly revised menu to better cater to the employees in the area including different ready made sandwiches and munchies to go like muffins and manaeesh.

The new location has indoor seating as well as outdoor seating and they’re open daily except for Friday’s from 8AM to 4PM. Here is their new location on [Google Maps]

Ministry of Communications (MOC) prepares to undergo the largest privatization process in its history after a proposal has been already made to privatize the mail sector, long distance calls and landlines and their infrastructure, Undersecretary Hameed Al-Qattan said. Qattan added that the once established, the Telecom and Information Technology Authority would be responsible for offering those services for privatization.

Once those projects see the light, the MOC would only be responsible for marine transportations, he said. [Source]

I hope this means we’ll finally have a proper mail service.

Tonight is the final night of the Green Caravan Film Festival and it’s going to take place on the rooftop of CAP (Contemporary Art Platform). Other than short films there will also be live music and food tonight.

If you’ve never been to the rooftop of CAP it’s a great venue and the weather is perfect for it right now. Tickets cost KD5 and are available [Here]

For a map and more details of the event, click [Here]

As very early adopters of consuming flowers online and in looking for something already in existence they came across Q8flowers.com. “If you look at the region, the [online flower] community is fragmented, and if you zoom in on Kuwait it’s even more so,” AlOtaibi said.

The undisclosed investors, are, according to AlOtaibi’s office, a pool of angel investors who now can add Q8flowers.com as the seventh addition to their portfolio. “Like the PayPal mafia, we’re the Talabat Mafia,” one of the investors told Wamda.

According to a spokesman for AlOtaibi the user growth of the site has been growing at 100 percent year on year, “and this was with minimal traditional [marketing] efforts,” they said.

Going forward the new owners have a 12 month plan that involves, revamping the IP infrastructures of the site, expanding into other geographies and expanding into similar services within the same vertical of online and flowers. [Source]

Great for Q8flowers.com but I have to say I’m pretty surprised, I didn’t think they were doing that well.

via Sala6a and Frankom

A couple of days back I headed with a friend to AAB World in Symphony Mall to check out the Sony A7R II camera. She wasn’t planning on buying the camera from them since we figured it would be much cheaper from Amazon, but she did want to check it out in person before placing the order. When we got to AAB World to our surprise we found out it was actually considerably cheaper to buy the camera locally, which she ended up doing. Below are some popular camera price comparisons from three brands to Amazon, keep in mind with the Amazon prices below you still need to add around 8% tax and the shipping fee to Kuwait in addition to Kuwait customs. So the actual cost is even higher. AAB World is also slightly flexible with their prices, if you’re buying other stuff along with the camera they’ll more than likely give you a small discount.

Sony A7S II (Body Only)
Amazon: KD 962
AAB World: KD 949

Nikon D810 (Body Only)
Amazon: KD 841
AAB World: KD 799

Canon EOS 5D Mark III (Body Only)
Amazon: KD 752
AAB World: KD 649.950

If only more things were priced like this in Kuwait.

My brother spotted the vulture above in the trunk of a Chevy Trailblazer while waiting at a stop light a few days back. So random.