Author: Mark

I won’t be posting anything today because I’ve been invited to fly out and spend the day on a US aircraft carrier thats currently somewhere in the Arabian Gulf. I’m not allowed to share any more details for security reasons but I will have my camera with me to take photos. I’m obviously super excited and I’ll be posting all about it once I get back to Kuwait.

The Jazeera Airways 2015 Report is out and amongst all the financial data they have a section dedicated to future plans. Here are the ones that caught my attention:

Remote Check-in
Jazeera are building a check-in facility two minutes away from the main airport terminal (pictured on top). You arrive at the facility where parking valets will meet you, unload your baggage and then park your car for you. You then check in your baggage at this facility and get your boarding pass before being shuttled to the main terminal where you can head straight to immigration. The idea here is that you’ll bypass the airports congestion by skipping the whole parking and check-in process at the main terminal. They’ve already started construction on this facility and it should be operational by the end of this year.

In-flight Broadband
Jazeera Airways will be the first airline to be connected with Rockwell Collins PAVES™ Cabin Wireless and next-generation Global Xpress connectivity. It’s a new technology I previously hadn’t heard about that will give passengers fast, reliable and consistent coverage while also having access to the same high quality broadband that was previously only been available on the ground. According to a press release by Rockwell Collins, this service will be active by end of the year but in the Jazeera Airways report it says winter 2017 so it could be a typo.

Jazeera Airways Introducing Long-Haul Flights
Starting 2018 Jazeera will be flying long-haul flights. They don’t mention which countries specifically but they have a little map with a bunch of countries on it including popular destinations like London and Paris.

One thing the report fails to mention is the dedicated Jazeera Airways terminal which I’ve been hearing about for ages. My guess is the rumored terminal is actually just the new remote check-in area and not a separate terminal similar to FlyDubai. Check out the full report [Here]

Update: Just got a couple of clarifications. A dedicated Jazeera Airways terminal is still planned, it was just left out of the report. Also in regards to broadband on flights, by Winter 2017 they mean January 2017.

There are several steps which might develop Kuwait and make new national income for the country, and one of the ideas it to make Kuwait a touristic city where people visit to try high standard quality and ingredients. Creating the world’s food capital within 2030 in Kuwait is the main goal. And this video is the first step toward the main goal.

I have mixed feelings with this idea, on one hand Kuwait does have some really great local food concepts but I don’t think we have enough of them. The majority of the local food concepts basically lack any creativity and are just clones of one another. Plus, the lack of alcohol will definitely be an issue for elite chefs as well as the food tourists coming here. And what about the elephant in the room? Dubai like it or not is more of a GCC food capital than Kuwait is right now. Just thinking about Dubai is making me crave the warm chocolate mousse at La Serre. Yum. [YouTube]

Blue Zone is a juice bar that just opened up a few days ago at Sultan Center Shaab. For those of you who’ve been to Sultan Center Shaab, the juice bar opened up near the main entrance once you walk in where the sliced fruits used to be on display.

I was at Sultan earlier tonight and spotted a friend sitting at the bar. Turns out the place was for a relative of his, Khalidah Alessa, a former health coach was behind the bar busy baking a hemp seed and date protein bar. She’s managed to turn the little corner into a cute space serving healthy cold-pressed juices, smoothies and small treats. She even has wheat grass shots and will start serving healthy breakfast options soon.

If you’re interested in trying Blue Zone out, they’re open from 8AM to 8PM and you can check out their instagram account @bluezonekw

The National Assembly yesterday passed in the second reading the commercial agencies law, but after introducing a crucial amendment that allows more than one agent or dealer for commodities in the country, officially breaking the monopoly of agents over imports. [Source]

Does this mean what I think it means? Does this mean there can now be more than one BMW dealer or more than one Nikon dealer in Kuwait?

Have you gotten your loved one a Shani today? [Link]

Even though there were huge lines at passport control, this officer at the Kuwait Airport still found time for Farmville. Seriously you can’t make this shit up.

I didn’t think there was much going on this weekend until I started putting this list together. This is probably the busiest weekend so far! My favorite event this weekend has to be the IMPROV Comedy Night and as of this post there are still tickets available. This is by far the funniest show you’ll see in Kuwait and I’ve been to the last two and would have gone to this one as well if I was going to be in Kuwait this weekend. So get tickets if you haven’t! Check out the full list of events below:

Thursday
Art Exhibition: Complicity
Winter Land Carnival
Kuwait Riders Bike Show 2016
Children Workshop: Wearable Art
Workshop: Environmental Portraiture Photography
Rooftop Movie: Blue Ruin
Dance for Romance
IMPROV Comedy Night

Friday
Winter Land Carnival
Kuwait Riders Bike Show 2016
Your AOK Benchmark 2016
Yoga in the Park
The Longest Flag in the World
International Women’s Volleyball Tournament
Jeep Roadshow 2016
Cycling Day

Saturday
Winter Land Carnival
Kuwait Riders Bike Show 2016
Your AOK Benchmark 2016
Tour of Kuwait 250
Walks at the Park
Sustainable Youth Event – 5KM Run
Mix-Fit Body Workout
Guided Tour: Grand Mosque
Lilly Center Carnival
Madeenah Tour: Sulaibikhat Coast
Brunch at the Secret Garden
Art and a Burger on the Side
The Imaginative World II Workshops
Poetry Slam
Jeep Roadshow 2016
Rooftop Movie: The Assassin

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.

I can’t remember the last time I posted about a home business but something about Xocolat caught my attention. Maybe it was the packaging or all the mouth watering shots in their instagram account but I had been meaning to try them out for awhile now and I finally got to do so at the last Qout Market.

Xocolat was created in 2013 by Sarah AlHajji, a graduate of the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in London. She got into handcrafted, artisan chocolate because she saw chocolate as a platform for experimenting with new flavors and she wanted to pass on these flavors to her customers. Xocolat is pronounced sho-ko-laht and comes from the ancient aztec language of nahuatl. The word Xocolat translates to “bitter water”, because pure chocolate has a very bitter flavor profile.

Sarah makes the chocoaltes herself with a bit of help from her husband who also takes care of the business and marketing side of Xocolat. If you’re interested in trying her chocolates she’s usually selling them at Qout Market but you could also order them by calling 98771742. As I mentioned earlier, her instagram account is filled with mouth watering shots but she also shares a lot of behind the scenes photos of her making the chocolates. It’s pretty interesting to see so make sure you check out the instagram account @xocolat_kw

Although the title sounds like a joke it isn’t. Bayt Lothan, the non-profit organization that has become an important community center hosting a variety of workshops and events is being evicted from their current property in Salmiya. They’ve been active from that location for the past 20 years but late last year they were told they would have to move out by the end of March.

Even though the current Bayt Lothan house used to belong to one of the former Amirs, the current owners want the house back so they could turn it into something commercial. The rumor is that the house will be demolished and a mall will be built in it’s place although based on the land size I think it will probably be turned into a food complex.

Q8 Books whom are located in Bayt Lothan are also being forced to leave although they don’t have anywhere to go. Q8 Books is hoping someone could provide them with space as Bayt Lothan were providing the space to them for free. So not only does it suck that Bayt Lothan is being pushed out but Q8 Books as well. Both are very important culturally and it’s sad to see this happening.

We don’t need more malls and we definitely don’t need more food complexes.

Even though InfoConnect got canceled this year, the local internet providers still decided to introduce special offers and discounted prices. I took the liberty to list all the internet prices in a table to make it easy to compare. Most of the internet providers are providing additional benefits like scratch and win cards or gifts, so make sure you visit their website for more details. The list above is based on the yearly prices and taken from the internet providers websites. This year I’ve also decided to add mobile internet prices to the list due to the fact that their connection speeds and prices have become extremely competitive with the regular internet providers. Check out the list below:

I’ve been posting the Madeenah Tours on my events page ever since I first heard about them but I never actually went on a tour until a few days ago.

On Saturday I was invited to join Madeenah on their final tour of Bneid Al Gar. We met up outside Safir Hotel at 4:15PM and the Madeenah people handed out tablets with maps and historical images that we would use during the tour. I’m generally not a fan of tours but this one was being led by the very knowledgable Dr. Alanoud Al Sharekh and within the first 15 minutes I was hooked. I knew the Madeenah people were legit but the tour exceeded my expectations. All the information they shared along with the walk around Bneid Al Gar was facinating and the two hours passed by fairly quickly.

So if you’ve never been on any of their tours I would highly recommend you do. They have different kinds of tours every week and they tend to sell out pretty quick. To stay posted on their tours you can follow them on instagram @madeenahkw. There is one coming up this Saturday if you’re interested and here is a link with more details [Link]

In the past two months I’ve had three different KNET cards fail on me because the security chip on them stopped working. The first time it happened I didn’t think much of it, I just went to NBK and got a new ATM card made. But, a few days after getting my new card it stopped working again with the exact same chip error. I was kinda embarrassed to go back to the same branch cuz I thought maybe I had done something wrong but I couldn’t think of any change I did in the way I was handling my ATM cards. Still, I went back to a different NBK branch and had them print another card for me. Everything was fine until last week my card stopped working again with the same chip error as before. So I went back to NBK and this time the employee at the front desk asked me if I had used my card at a gas station? She proceeded to tell me that they’ve been having a lot of chip failures because the gas station card machines were ruining the chips. She wasn’t talking about the KNET machines which you use to pay at gas stations, but the second machine they slip your card into after you’re done paying. Thats when it hit me, every time my card failed I had used it to fill up gas at the Alfa gas station on the Gulf Road (Shaab).

I’m not sure if this applies to all gas stations or just the Alfa ones, but in my case my chip cards were getting ruined because of that one Alfa gas station on my way home. As you can imagine its extremely annoying to have your ATM card just stop working but this is exactly why I have two bank accounts with two different banks, it’s for unfortunate situations like this. And even though NBK can print a new card for me while I wait, I still have to keep creating a new account for my online banking every time I get a new card and I am so over filling in answers to different security questions.

So if you’ve had ATM card failures recently now you know why. I’m going to be paying only cash at the gas stations until this issue gets sorted out.

Last week I posted a link to the popular architecture website ArchDaily who had nominated Al Shaheed Park for “Building of the Year 2016” under the category Public Architecture. Over the weekend I was made aware that there was another nomination for a Kuwait based project, the Ali Mohammed T. Al-Ghanim Clinic. The clinic was designed by AGi architects and is nominated for “Building of the Year 2016” under the category Healthcare Architecture. The building looks pretty cool for a clinic and I actually want to pass by and check it out in person.

To see more pictures of the building click [Here]. On the other hand to vote for this project on the ArchDaily website, click [Here]

Late last year Alshaya soft launched their “Privileges Club” card. The card provide a number of benefits to Alshaya shoppers including automatically entering them into their monthly prize draws and giving them access to exclusive offers amongst other benefits. Back when I posted about the card their app hadn’t been released yet but now that the app is out I figured I’d post about it because it’s actually a pretty good one.

The biggest issue I have with my Privileges Club card or any other loyalty card for that matter (like my IKEA one) is I never carry them with me since I’ve got one of those slim wallets which can only fit four cards. So I end up leaving my loyalty cards at home and forget to take them with me when I go shopping. The best feature about the Alshaya Privileges Club card app is the fact you don’t have to carry the physical card with you, instead they can just scan the card’s QR code from your screen. Other benefits of the app is that it lets you know how many entries you have in their monthly draw, what new offers are available, the ability to sign up or sign out of notifications and other helpful features. It’s a loyalty card done right surprisingly. So if you’ve got an Alshaya Privileges Club card, download the app. I’m not sure if it’s available on Android but on iPhones just search for Alshaya in the Apple App Store.

Update: It’s also available on Android.