Author: Mark

Just found this cool site while researching on what kind of seats will be on my next flight. The site has pictures and reviews by people on various seats and classes on different airlines. The site also has reviews and pictures of different airports, lounges and even airline meals! Its pretty helpful and its little things like this that makes the Internet such a wonderful place. [Link]

I found this very fascinating. Its pictures taken of people with their car decades ago compared with pictures of the same people with the same car today. Unbelievably cool. [Link]

via kottke

I just heard that the former Crown Prince and Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah has passed away. I am trying to find some news about this online but as of this post no online news site has posted about it.

Update: The news has started appearing online. [Link]

I am not a big Ferrari fan but the new Ferrari California looks pretty sweet. Its also the first Ferrari with a retractable hard top. [Link]

Looks like its going to a food day on this blog. I hate it when I post about a certain topic and then by coincidence end up with a number of posts around the same topic, in this case food. A reader (SJM MUKI) just emailed me the flyer of the new fondue at Häagen-Dazs here in Kuwait and from the picture it looks reallllly good. According to the flyer the fondue costs KD7.500 and is enough for 4 people.

A reader in the forum (aglocogirl) just posted pictures of the Beef Festival menu at Cheeburger Cheeburger in Souk Salmiya. I already reviewed them when they first opened and their burgers were pretty ok but now with the Beef Festival they’ve heavily discounted their prices which makes them more tempting.

20 ounce burger was KD3.250 and now is KD1.750
3/4lb burger was KD2.450 and now is KD1.450
1/2lb burger was KD2.250 and now is KD1.250
1/3lb burger was KD2.050 and now is KD1.150
5.5 ounce burger was KD1.750 now is KD1.050

That prices are pretty cheap specially for the super large 20 ounce burger which I think I have to try. Oh and I haven’t forgotten about The Burger Challenge, I should start passing by more burger joints again very soon.

There is a new Kuwaiti female video blogger that goes by the nickname Litharia1. She has a few videos on YouTube all uploaded within the last 3 days. I think its kinda fishy, I think its like the Kuwaiti version of lonelygirl15. Anyway here is a link to all her videos. [Link]

update: She seems legit, I got three emails from people who went to school with her.

update2: Sadly due to threats, Lama had to remove the videos and shut down her account.

A reader sent me the following pictures which he took with his phone while visiting an Alghanim Electronics showroom. It seems they are selling HP supplies which are not meant for resale. If it was a small shop in Hawalli I would expect this.. but they’re not a small shop in Hawalli.

I passed by Bakdash when I was in Syria. It was impossible to resist, the ice cream just looked delicious. What surprised me the most was the amount of traffic they had, They were serving ice cream non-stop!

I’ve had a ton of people ask me what I thought of Syria so I figured I would dedicate a post to it. I had heard sooo much negative stuff about Syria that I arrived expecting the worst but it wasn’t that bad. Border security didn’t give me any issues even though I had a Canadian passport. No one asked for a bribe or even hinted to wanting something. The road from the borders to Damascus was gorgeous and reminded me of the drive from LA to Vegas. Damascus is and looks really old and everyone seems very poor but one things for sure, they sure know how to make the most amazing kebabs. The first night I had dinner at a restaurant called Abu Kamal and they had the best kebab’s I ever tried. The restaurant had been around for over 60 years so I figured they had time to get the formula right but next day for lunch I stopped by this random kebab place on the street and again I had the best kebab I’ve ever had! How the hell is it so easy for them to get kebab so perfect?? I could probably walk into a bakala and ask for kebab and it would be the best kebab in the world. The prices are also sooo cheap!

The hotel I stayed in was called Semiramis Hotel. The website says its 5 stars but I don’t know how thats possible. The hotel was decent, I am guessing for Syrian standards its like superb but it really was just standard. The room was big and the location of the hotel was right in the city, walking distance from a lot of things. I had some free time the next morning and headed to the famous Syrian souk (forgot the name) which was ok I guess, not my style.

The airport was the biggest disappointment. Its old, small, unorganized, dirty and boring. But my Damascus stay wasn’t bad, I wouldn’t go there on a vacation but I didn’t mind passing through.

I was in The Avenues for lunch when I noticed that G-Star Raw opened up in the new extension. I quickly browsed through the store and I am definitely going back again and take my time. The store looks pretty cool, its cool they finally opened up in Kuwait.

My escape from Lebanon was a long and adventurous one. Looking back at it now it was an interesting experience but while I was in the car on my way to the Syrian border it was a completely different story. I wasn’t afraid or anything but I really didn’t like the idea that at any moment the road will be blocked and I would have to turn back and cancel my whole trip.

The roads from Lebanon to Syria were randomly getting blocked with burning tires, rocks and sand mounds. There were a lot of taxis offering to take people to the border but none could guarantee you would get there because of the way roads were getting blocked randomly. I needed a “sure thing” and this is why one of my relatives hooked me up with this guy who managed to arrange a series of rides from one area to another until I finally got to Damascus.

The main theory behind changing cars after every area is that the drivers would be very familiar with the roads. So for example if I take a car with a guy who lives in the neighborhood, if one road is blocked he would know another way out and if that road is also blocked he would know another way. By the end of my journey I had taken 6 cars including one that was a van that carried fish! As you can see from the photos, we didn’t stay on the main roads or even the inside roads, we spent most of the time on muddy farmland trails.

The Syrian border I went to (Daboosiyeh) was pretty empty but thats because the roads to get to that border were all blocked. I had some friends who had left much earlier in the day and had gotten stuck at another Syrian border for over 6 hours. Nat did a great job in getting me a Jazeera Airlines ticket before they got sold out and then managed to find me a room in a hotel to stay in even though most hotels in Damascus were fully booked. Anyway I am back and its good to be back but I will be leaving again in a couple of days to Munich.

I got back earlier tonight from Beirut (Syria actually). I have pictures to share and an adventure to write about but don’t know if I will have time tonight.

What a trip! Just got to Syria, my day was full of adventure but will post about that once I get to Kuwait. Just checked in to my hotel and am going to walk around the city now. (Posted from my Nokia E61i)