Yesterday I popped into KIPCO Tower to use the ATM machine and on my way out I saw something that looked pretty cool. It was a sandwich shop built into the wall, at first I thought it was part of Caribou Coffee which was located near it but when I got closer I noticed it had it’s own branding and the place was called ‘Walls’.
While I was getting a closer look at the items a guy popped up behind me and was like Mark? I turned around and turns out the two partners in the place were there and they had recognized me. So I ended up getting a small tour of the place along with a brief on their concept. ‘Walls’ opened up around three days ago and KIPCO Tower is their first location. They have fresh daily made food ranging from soups to sandwiches and salads along with some low calorie options for calorie counters. They also have freshly grounded coffee as well as other cold drinks like soda, water and cold brew coffee. None of the food is reused the next day so if anything is left by closing time they’re donated to an organization.
It’s a very simple concept with good branding and great looking packaging, kinda like a mini ‘Pret A Manger’ for the office tower. They’re open from Sunday to Thursday, 6:30AM to 5PM. If you’d like to find out more about them check out their instagram account @gowalls.
The question ‘What Do You see?’ in reference to the current state of affairs in Kuwait, is a question that I usually get in meetings and tend to dodge to avoid entering into a complaining session about the country in the middle of the work day.
Then, several months ago I was on a red-eye flight back to Kuwait and I began to think what if I am to answer the question. I started writing what came to mind. By touchdown I found myself to have jotted down a collection of contradicting thoughts that have taken the form of a written essay, albeit a loosely-constructed, colloquial essay.
That was in November of 2014. In the weeks that followed I shared that set of contradicting thoughts on LinkedIn, and other social networks, and saw an interesting discussion take place. Since then, two of my colleagues have been working on transforming those thoughts into a visual essay. The result was this well crafted video.
Thank you Mohamed Amin, who shot and edited this video, and Rula Liddawi, who produced and narrated it, for translating my written notes into visual ones.
– Fawaz Al Sirri
Fawaz is the Managing Partner at Bensirri, a local public relations firm. I’ve worked with him a few times and I actually like the guy a lot. I remember the first time I met Fawaz was a few years ago during a meeting in which a digital agency was proposing paying bloggers to write about a brand. Fawaz told the guy that it was unethical to do that and I remember thinking in my head finally, someone else who finds that wrong! It’s why I now always refer Bensirri when anyone asks me if I know of a good PR firm. [YouTube]
The 2015 Global Liveability Ranking list came out a few days ago and Kuwait came 3rd amongst the most liveable GCC cities right after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The liveability ranking is based on 30 different factors related to things like safety, healthcare, educational resources, infrastructure and environment. Kuwait scored high in most of the categories but fell through when it came to the Culture & Environment one. Below is Kuwait’s rankings compared to other GCC countries:
75 – Dubai, UAE
79 – Abu Dhabi, UAE
83 – Kuwait City, Kuwait
85 – Doha, Qatar
89 – Muscat, Oman
92 – Bahrain, Bahrain
107 – Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
111 – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
To find out more about these rankings you can check out The Economist article [Here] or download the full ranking which includes a breakdown of the score [Here]
Since the airport contract has finally been awarded, I figured now would be a good time to repost this video by Fosters + Partners on the new Kuwait Airport. Around a minute into the video they take you on a virtual tour of the departure area followed by the arrival area. It’s the airport we’ve always wanted. [YouTube]
For the sneaker heads in Kuwait you’re probably already aware that Kanye’s third release with Adidas will be launching world wide this coming Saturday August 22nd. If you weren’t aware, the previous grey 350’s were surprisingly released at Harvey Nichols in Kuwait and now they’re also part of the world wide release of the “Pirate Black” edition (). But don’t get your hopes up. Like all the stores world wide, Harvey is also getting a very limited quantity of around 12 pairs. To make matters even more difficult, Alshaya has a no raffle policy so unlike most of the stores around the world, Harvey Nichols won’t be holding a raffle on the Yeezys. Instead, like what some stores around the world do (Colette as an example), “VIP” customers will be given a chance to own a pair while the rest will be up for grabs on a first come first served basis.
I’m still trying to get a pair for myself but as of yesterday Harvey Nichols still hadn’t received the shipment yet so they will most likely be releasing them after the August 22nd world wide release date. I even heard September 21st as a local launch date although I find that hard to believe. Once I get a confirmation on a local launch date I’ll post it here but your best bet might be to check their instagram account daily just to be safe.
FYI, the previous grey release of the Yeezy Boost 350 are now selling for on the grey market while the Yeezy Boost 750 are selling for $2,250+.
Update: They’re launching tomorrow morning (Sunday, August 23rd) at Harvey Nichols. First come first serve, doors open at 10AM and there are around 12 pairs only. Good luck not getting trampled.
Update2: I just realized because this is Kuwait, everyone will probably send their drivers from 6AM to wait in line.
Sanad is an iPhone and Android app that allows you to easily find a handyman in Kuwait be it a plumber or a crane operator you name it. Seriously the app has contacts for any kind of handyman you would imagine, need aluminium work? an upholstery guy? an IT guy? This app has all their contact numbers. It’s fairly easy to use, just type in the area you live in and what kind of handyman you need and the app will show you a list of people you could call.
The app is free to download so check it out. [Link]
There is a really old Korean guy called Mr Kim that has a shop in my building and I always found him fascinating. He’s got fairly long white hair, wears white bell bottoms with funky vintage shirts and drives a very well kept classic Chevrolet Caprice. I’ve actually posted about his shop before but never about him since I didn’t really know his story. But, recently he asked me to help him set up an Instagram account and we got to talking and it turns out he’s got such an interesting and random story.
Back in 1981 Mr Kim was the General Secretary of the Boxing Federation in Korea when Sheikh Fahad Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (the founder of the Kuwait Olympic Committee) was visiting Korea. Sheikh Fahad met with Mr Kim and offered him the position head coach of for the Kuwait National Boxing Team. Mr Kim accepted the position and came to Kuwait in 1982 and right away helped the Kuwaiti team win two bronze medals at the Asian Games that same year.
Mr Kim continued to train the Kuwait National Boxing Team before leaving a few years later to train the Kuwaiti police and later the army. Around 88-89 he left boxing behind and partnered up with Carlton Hotel to open a Korean restaurant (which is still there). In 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait, he was on vacation at the time but his two daughters and son were in Kuwait. His children stayed at the Carlton Hotel at first and later stayed at the home of an employee of the Korean embassy.
In 1991 Mr Kim came back to Kuwait after the invasion and got into a disagreement with the Carlton Hotel and so left the restaurant. In 1992 he opened his current shop which sells mostly hair bands and random little trinkets he brings in from Korea. His children and wife now live in Korea while he lives here alone. He’s 71 years old.
As I’ve mentioned before his shop is really worth checking out. I’ve actually taken a bunch of friends there and everyone was always surprised at how visually intense the interior is. So pass by him if you can, his shop is located on the mezzanine floor of Anjari Complex in Salmiya [Map]. You can also check out his Instagram account [Here]
Kuwait’s government said it had awarded a contract to build a new terminal at Kuwait International Airport to the same consortium that had an earlier more-expensive bid dismissed.
Turkey’s Limak Holding and local construction firm Kharafi National won the deal after bidding 1.312 billion dinars ($4.34 billion) for the work – 74 million dinars cheaper than the offer it submitted in November. [Source]
The local coding school “Coded” is hosting an event tonight with Fasttelco to test an ultra fast internet connection that they claim to be the fastest in Kuwait. The connection will be a 500Mbps fiber connection and everyone is invited to come and try it out. To test that speed you can either bring your own laptop and connect it to one of the available ethernet cables or you could use one of their test laptops. If you’ve got a huge file you’ve been wanting to download or upload then this might be a good way to do it. For more information click [Here]
One of my readers sent me the picture above of a new Citybus thats currently on the road. What caught my attention was the fact it had solar panels on the roof and the message “735w solar cells” on the side. I thought Citybus might finally be getting some new hybrid buses, that is buses that run on fossil fuel and clean electric power. So I gave Citybus a call to find out if that was the case and it sadly turns out it wasn’t.
The bus pictured above is currently being weather tested for the local market and is by the Irish company Wright. It’s not a hybrid but a regular diesel vehicle. According to the person I spoke to, the solar panels are just there to recharge the bus batteries and is not for any energy saving purposes. Oh well that was a downer. I was hoping this was the first step in eradicating the horribly polluting buses currently on the roads. Looks like that’s not going to happen.
Reyoog is a locally created breakfast game for the iPhone where the aim is to try and fulfill as many breakfast orders as you can in 3 minutes. The game is in Arabic without an option for English since the dialect is all in Kuwaiti. The game isn’t free, it costs 99 cents which might or might not be worth it for you. If you’re interested in downloading the game just look for “Reyoog” in the app store or click this [Link]
How the hell did Magic Mike XXL not make the ban list in Kuwait? Cinescape have it listed as coming soon which doesn’t make any sense since the movie is all about male strippers. How long is the movie going to end up being after all the censorship, a full 5 minutes? So weird.
A 16-year-old Kuwaiti boy died after he received a fatal stab wound during a fight at 360 Mall on Thursday night. The teenager succumbed to his injuries – a stab wound in his chest and lung as soon as he arrived at the Mubarak Hospital. Another 16-year-old Kuwaiti boy was injured in the fight and has been admitted to the hospital.
He is in stable condition. Meanwhile, police reportedly identified the suspect; a Kuwaiti teenager with history of criminal activity, and a security source expects the Interior Ministry to announce his arrest ‘within hours.’ Security had been tightened at the local malls following the killing of a Kuwaiti youngster in Marina Mall in 2013, and a similar incident in which a dentist was stabbed to death during a fight in The Avenues in 2012. [Source]
Originally I had read he was in his 20s so I’m surprised to find out he was actually just 16. Thats so young…
Last week I was having brunch with a friend at Cheesecake Factory in Avenues when I spotted two kids on drift boards playing around. My friend hadn’t seen one before but I had a couple of weeks earlier when I was in LA. I didn’t really know what they were or what they were called but the way the kids were going at it, it looked like it was a lot of fun. So I turned to my friend and told her I needed to find out who the dealer in Kuwait was so I could get one to review. Not exaggerating, literally less than 5 minutes later I get an email from a company called ClaroTek who were introducing a drift board to the Kuwaiti market and wanted to see if I would be interested in trying it out. I looked over at my friend and I was like you won’t believe this but guess what…
I ended up meeting the guy and picking up the Cybord drift board later that day. He gave me a brief background on the Cybord as well as instructions on how to use it and once we were done meeting I went back home to try it out. Getting on the drift board the first time is freaky, your first aim obviously is not to fall off but that requires you to put all your trust into a Chinese made device that you’ve never used before. That makes the first couple of minutes the most difficult but once you’re up on the board and moving around the learning curve quickly speeds up and within 5 minutes you’re riding around as if you’ve been doing it for months. The device is very intuitive and requires very little body movement to work which is why when you watch people on it you wonder how they’re controlling it. Thats because to move all you need to do is press down on your toes gently, if you want to turn right you just push slightly more on your right toe, if you want to stop you flatten your feet, to move back you move some weight towards your heels. It’s all done with very minor movements.
These things can also go pretty fast, the Cybord can go up to 12km/h and has a battery that will make it last 15-20km. The whole thing also weighs just 10KG. There are many different brands of the drift board and they all look exactly the same. What sets ClaroTek apart from the rest of the competitors in the local market is that they’ll be selling them at Xcite and will have AAA warranty which basically covers accidental damage amongst other things. That’s why ClaroTek chose Samsung batteries for the Cybord, to increase the reliability of the device.
After using the Cybord for a week, this is what I think. I can’t believe they’ve managed to take the Segway and squeeze it down to the size of a skateboard. The technology is impressive and compared to the Segway, the drift boards are really cheap. Riding it is a lot of fun but my favorite use for it was pacing up and down my apartment while chatting on my phone which brings me to the issue I have with these boards, I wouldn’t know where to use them. As a kid it’s a no brainer, kids will love riding and playing with the drift board and they wouldn’t mind doing it in public because they’re kids. As an adult it’s different, first of all you’re bound to look like a douche riding around on one of these things in public like say a mall. And if you’re not riding it inside malls where else would you ride them? Kuwait doesn’t exactly have fantastic sidewalks and when they do not all the sidewalks have the wheelchair slopes so you’re going to end up getting off and on the device a lot. The only outdoor places I could think of riding the boards is the Gulf Road sidewalks but I’d rather walk, cycle or run them not cruise up and down on an electronic board. On the other hand ClaroTek were telling me they sold a bunch to a company who have a huge warehouse and so they will be used by their employees to move around quicker. That to me makes a lot more sense than riding around Avenues.
The Cybord will be available at Xcite soon but you can preorder one right now from the ClaroTek website. They come in four colors and they will be selling them for KD229 including the 1 year AAA warranty. Here is a link to their website with all the details [Link]
Now since I don’t have any use for the review unit I’ve decided to give it away to a lucky winner. If you’re interested in winning the Cybord just answer the following question in the comments: What is the name of the company that gave me the review unit?
Rules: The comments will be closed tonight. Winner will have to pick up the Cybord. Only one entry per person and please make sure you use a working email since the winner will be contacted by email. If winner doesn’t respond, another winner will be randomly chosen.
Update: I closed the posts for comments at 6AM. I used random.org to choose the winner and it’s comment #102 by V. Email has been sent, if winner doesn’t respond in 24 hours a second winner will be chosen.
