Author: Mark

The progress on the Salmiya Boulevard seems to be going very slowly but based on what I saw from my friends apartment, it looks like the main structures are nearly done. Originally the park (located opposite City Center Salmiya) was supposed to house a museum, restaurants, shops, a fitness center and even a veterinary clinic. But I heard that a lot of the original plans changed so not sure whats still left from the original plan and what got canceled.

Their “About Us” page still hasn’t changed since I last poked fun of it. They still think the Boulevard is one of “the most wonderful green places to visit in the State of Kuwait” and also “the largest touristic hub in the country”.

Check out a very large panoramic shot of the park I took [Here]

Last week I posted about my experience with the Subaru BRZ and a good friend of mine just posted about his experience with the Subaru’s twin brother, the Toyota GT86. It’s a very short one liner review but he’s got a ton of great pictures which you can check out [Here]

According to the blog Qortuba Valley, Kuwait’s approved LTE frequency is 1800 MHz which means iPhone 5’s purchased from the UK will work in Kuwait while ones purchased from the US will not. [Link]

Update: Arab Times also confirms the approved frequency is 1800 MHz [Link]

The Historical, Vintage & Classic Cars Museum is holding a parade on Wednesday, October 10th 2012. The parade will start at 4pm from Kuwait Towers and will head towards the museum in Shuwaikh. There should be lots of photo opportunities as well as lots of cars to check out.

A completely revamped and organic Burger Boutique is reopening again on October 15th. Burger Boutique used to be one of my favorite burger places before they closed down for an overhaul. They’re still going to be located on the second floor of Arraya Complex in Kuwait City. [Link]

965Malls posted the list above last week but I just saw it now. It’s translated from an Arabic newspaper and it shows the prices of different drugs in Kuwait. [Link]

Note: What I found interesting about the list is the list itself. Since drugs are illegal there is no official price list but this list by the newspaper is kinda like one.

[YouTube]

Nuqat is currently taking place right now and finishes in 2 days time so if you still want to attend a workshop or lecture you still might be able to. [Link]

Every now and then I invite different people to write on the blog and last week I asked John Peaveler if he’d be interested to share stories regarding animals and wildlife in Kuwait. John is the managing director of Kuwait Society for the Protection of Animals and Their Habitat (K’S PATH) whom I’ve posted about a number of times before and a groups work I highly support. He’s already got his first post up which you can check below.

This should be an interesting photography exhibit.

A group exhibition featuring a series of photographs taken by 15 participants of the CAP photography workshop. Led by two members of the Rawiya Collective, Laura Boushnak & Tamara Abdul Hadi, the workshop took place last May in the Mubarakiyah Souq for a duration of two days. It’s main focus was on the old souq, the vendors, the visitors and the stories that can be found in this local public market.

Date: October 10th to 17th, 2012
Location: CAP (Contemporary Art Platform)

The Taj Arabia complex would be much bigger than the original monument to love and include a 300-room hotel, shops and commercial buildings, developer Arun Mehra said.[Source]

Too slow Dubai, we already beat you to it.

As if things weren’t bad to begin with they had to up the game by include weapons and a destruction derby. [YouTube]

via Qabaq

I love magazines ever since I can remember. As a kid in the 80s I had a huge ass collection of Smash Hits and I currently have a huge ass collection of WIRED (dating back to 1994 I think). When I first signed up to Shop & Ship back in 2001 I think I signed up to at least 20 magazines.

Slowly slowly though I stopped renewing a lot of them once the iPad got released. I just downloaded and subscribed to all the magazines using Zinio and just left one physical magazine subscription and that was WIRED. But, I’ve just canceled that as well.

With the Kindle and Zinio App on the iPad it really doesn’t make sense to buy print versions of the magazines anymore. Other than the cost of magazines in Kuwait being a lot more than the US and since the cost of shipping magazines from the States has increased over time I finally decided to go completely digital. I’ve always wanted a large bookstore to open here in Kuwait but I think I’ve finally realized now it’s just too late.

If you don’t know what Zinio is check out my previous post on it [Here]

According to the 2012 Happy Planet Index, out of 151 countries researched, Kuwait came in at 143! ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY THREE out of 151! The index uses global data on life expectancy, experienced well-being and Ecological Footprint to calculate this score. The happiest place? Costa Rica. If you want to check out the full ranking as well as more details on how the whole thing is ranked you can download the PDF file from [Here]

Back in 2009 Kuwait was 128 out of 143.

The Guardian published the photo above of Kuwait at night taken from space. The photo was one of many photos captured by the European Space Agency and Nasa satellites last month. The description of the photo says:

A night view of Kuwait City, the coastal city which serves as Kuwait’s political and economic capital. The metropolitan area has a population approaching 2.5 million

Check out The Guardian article [Here]

Below is another photo taken from space back in August also showing Kuwait at nigh. It was previously featured as a NASA image of the day.

NASA have a pretty good writeup on the photo above as well as a higher resolution photo which you can check out [Here]

Thanks Khalid

My friend who was attending a conference in Doha today snapped the picture above. The photo on the bottom right in that presentation is the one below which I shot back in 2005 at the Kuwait Airport. It’s by far the most popular photo I’ve ever taken since it been making its away around the world popping up in different places as an epic fail photo.

Thanks Alex