Author: Mark

Gulf Run is a yearly event where guys with fast cars take them The registration for the Gulf Run event that will be held on November 15th is now open. The cost for participating is KD365 and this includes:

1. Registration for One Driver and One Car to GulfRun3
2. Qualified Racing Instructors and Drivers to guide you through the track events
3. Automobile transportation from Kuwait to Bahrain and back by Agility
4. Initial medical service team and fire crew on standby

I am probably going to go with them this year but as a passenger and I will probably be blogging from the actual event. To register or if you want more information or pictures from last years event, visit the Gulf Run website. [Link]

Last year I posted about this very strange tourism video I found on YouTube in which three women try to convince the world that Kuwait is a great place to visit. You would think that alone was strange but the three women then take us on a tour around Kuwait highlighting some of its best parts which include Canary Restaurant, Taxi Al Resala and some unknown electronics store. It was extremely weird, cheesy and funny but now the wait is over, the full version of the film is out!

It’s 43 minutes long but you really don’t need to watch it all to realize how unbelievably bizarre it is. The whole time I am just thinking to myself what the hell are they talking about!? In one scene early on in the movie they point out how the new Kuwait is getting built side by side to the old Kuwait and how old and new architecture is merging and creating a new better future. It all sounds decent and corny except for the fact the video accompanying this theory is of the old back alley streets of Salmiya and their idea of old Kuwait are the 30 year old nearly demolished crack houses while the new architecture of Kuwait are the cheap ass multistory tiny bedroom built cheaply out of cardboard to make money apartment buildings. Actually, that does sound about right. A few minutes later into the documentary they take us to meet one of the “important faces in Kuwait”… the sales manager of Holiday Inn!

They are unpredictable and you never know where they will be taking you next but surprisingly I love it! It just keeps getting weirder and weirder and I can’t stop watching it. Although its a really really really terribly shot and produced movie and although their idea of whats cool in Kuwait is very demented, the documentary still manages to crack me up. It’s soooo unreal!

Full version of the documentary on Kuwait [Link]
Short version of the documentary on Kuwait [Link]
Website of people behind the documentary [Link]

The picture above is the person in fifth place, so imagine how messed up the person in first place is. [Link]

While in London I was able to walk around and discover the city without holding a large map and looking like a tourist because of a simple software I was able to get for my phone called A-Z London Maps. I don’t think I would have been able to enjoy my stay without this incredibly easy to use and practical software.

You don’t need a GPS device and you don’t need to connect to the internet to be able to use the map, the software installs everything onto your phone. To use the software all you need to do is type the name of the street you are in and the software will show you on a detailed map where you are. This helped me a lot since if I needed to find my way back to the hotel I would just check on the map to see where I was and then plan my route. Also if I found a street I liked I could easily find my way back. If I was using a regular paper map it would have taken me ages to find my location on it but with A-Z maps I just type my street and the software instantly circles my location on the map.

There are maps for London, Paris, Dubai, Barcelona, Helsinki and more but they only work on some Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones. You don’t need to buy it to try it either, you can download the map and try it out for 30 days before you decide to purchase it.

I only found 2 problems with the software or should I say there are 2 things I would have liked the software to do. The first is the option to work with a GPS device. Although every street corner in London displayed the street name it would have been more practical if the software automatically recognized where I was. The second thing I would have liked would have been the option to search for shop names and then have the software find it for me on the map. Of course thats asking for to much but still, it would have been nice to have.

Final score is a 4 out of 5. If you are interested in the maps you can check out the Lumisoft website for more details and trial downloads. [Link]

Found the above ad on the Sultan Center notice board. I also heard zMacShop are selling it but don’t know for how much.

I am at the Heathrow Airport waiting to board my flight back to Kuwait. Security here was crazy but honestly this is how it should be in every airport. I noticed outside the airport terminal is a high concrete wall, I am assuming this was recently added after the incident in Scotland where some guys slammed their jeep through the terminal and tried to blow it up. (Posted from my Nokia e61i)

A lot of you have been recommending a variety of restaurants for me to try out ranging from Thai, and Lebanese to Italian and American but no one even recommended a good Fish & Chips place! While walking around today I found a small cozy place where I had Fish & Chips for lunch.

One store I fell in love with here in London is called Size?. Size? is a sneaker store but they seem to have the coolest/funkiest collection of sneakers I have seen all in one place. Majority of the sneakers I saw today I had previously only seen on SneakerFreaker.com and DrJays.com. Now I am trying to figure out which sneaker to get, I only want to get two but I have around 10 I like. Some of the sneakers I found and liked are displayed above and below this post.

This is my first time in London and I have to say its the coolest place I have been to. Its cooler than New York, LA and Montreal, there are soo many streets, shops and people all packed tightly together. The picture above was taken on Oxford Street which is a sucky tourist street. (Posted from my Nokia e61i)

(Posted from my Nokia e61i)

I am at the Beirut airport now waiting for my flight to London. I came early so I could spend time surfing the web and playing some Xbox 360 games in the Cedar Lounge. Since I am travelling with British Airways they gave me a VIP Lounge pass which sounded a lot cooler but I just got to it and it SUCKS. No computers, no WiFi, no English newspapers, no AC and its tiny, dark and gloomy. I am going to see if they will allow me to get into the other lounge cuz this one sucks majorly. (Posted from my Nokia e61i)

My sister emailed me my old class photo taken in the early 80’s while I was in Sunshine School here in Kuwait (its now called BSK). Its a pretty cool retro looking picture with lots of nice colors, check out the larger version [Here]

Just got to my hotel room. The weather is pretty humid and hot. The flight was comfortable, watched an episode of The Wire and an episode of Freaks & Geeks. (Posted from my Nokia e61i)

I am at the Kuwait airport now waiting for my flight to Beirut. I was planning on having breakfast at Fuddruckers but I missed it by 15 minutes (they stop breakfast at 11AM).

I got a nice surprise today morning, a little cupcake from Little Treats. Turns out they are opening a store at the beginning of the month so they sent me and my partner at work an invite for the opening day. Their store is going to be located on the mezzanine floor in the Wataniya Complex in Salmiya. I think thats the small shopping center across the street from NBK. If you don’t know what Little Treats is you can check out my previous post on them. [Link]