Category: Information

A few days ago Mahmoud Alghanim, a pioneer in the local restaurant industry sadly passed away. Mahmoud was the creator of the popular pizza concept “Pizza Italia” as well as the Italian concept “Prego”. Considering the popularity of the concepts, there is oddly very little information on the brands online which is why I was always hoping to meet him so I could document his story and make it available to everyone.

From what I gather, Pizza Italia opened sometime in the mid-80s (1984?) and had at least 16 locations. They were open at least till 2005 since that’s when I took the photo above.

Prego, on the other hand, I found the CV of their executive chef “Luca Umberto Voncini” online so I have a bit more information. Based on his CV they opened their first location in Dalal Complex in Salmiya in 1993 and then closed it in 1995. This was the same location where their Pizza Italia branch was previously located. They had two other Prego locations, one in Mangaf and one in Kuwait City. Those opened up in 1996 and closed in 1997.

Both concepts were under the mother company “Arab Food Service Co.”

An accident in front of Pizza Italia Riqqa Coop branch in 1987.

I’ve started scouring the internet to try and find as many photos, commercials, and information related to the brands so I can put them all under one post. If you have ANYTHING related to both brands, a menu, a business card, anything no matter how insignificant you think it is please let me know.

Tidbit: The popular Pizza Italia commercial above was filmed in Salmiya, in the old souk on Salem Al Mubarak Street. It was directed by Nick Cate on a hand-cranked 16mm Bolex camera. The music was composed by an Egyptian composer called Mohammed Al Banna. The actor running in the commercial is a Lebanese actor but I don’t have his name.

Update: Managed to get some dates!

Pizza Italia opened in 1983 with its first store in Daiya. They ended up closing the whole brand in 2005.

Prego opened in 1993 with its first store in Salmiya, Rabih Building (now demolished), followed by another store on the Gulf Road in Sharq. Prego also closed down in 2005.

The photo above is a before and after photo of Sharq. It’s taken from a recent study by architect Khalid Alsafi highlighting the constant aggressive destruction of Kuwait’s heritage and cultural areas, only to then become abandoned empty desert spaces for decades.

If you want to see a higher resolution photo of the above click here.

If you live outside of Kuwait and were trying to access the blog over the past few days you might have noticed a Cloudflare page or a Captcha page before access the blog. That’s because my blog was under a DDoS attack and so I had to increase security to block the attack.

Last week I got the following email:

DDOSIng ur website

hello i am going to be your senpai today and treat you really well mark-chan.

so recently my whoremones are really high but not my pockets.

email me back for the amount to be paid.

buh-bye

I didn’t really think of it much, I definitely wasn’t going to pay the person and figured if they did manage to bring down the blog that it wouldn’t be an issue. If the blog went offline it would mean I wouldn’t have to post so it would be a mini-vacation of a sort. Over the next few days, my blog got hit with close to a billion requests!

For those of you who don’t know what a DDoS attack is, it’s when an attacker sends an overwhelming amount of traffic to a website which would then either slow down the site to a crawl or bring it down completely. My blog gets around 10,000 visitors a day give or take but just like that I started getting millions of visitors per hour. It was insane!

Luckily for me, all my blog traffic is routed through a service called CloudFlare. I actually did that a couple of months ago when some readers using STC were having difficulty accessing my blog, I figured that might solve the issue (it didn’t). But one of the benefits of CloudFlare is the ability to set up firewalls and extra security measures to block DDoS attacks. Over the next few days I watched CloudFlare spot and block attacks from all over the world, the numbers were just insane and impressive. In just a few days CloudFlare blocked nearly a billion requests, here are some numbers:

Total Requests: 774.65 Million
Total Requests Blocked: 638.32 Million
Total Bandwidth: 6.73 TB

Top Threat Countries:
United States 108,540,196
India 76,169,029
Indonesia 68,455,987
Ukraine 47,789,199
Mexico 40,210,543

If I had set up CloudFlare properly from the start it would have blocked all the threats but it took me a few hours to realize what was going on and set up all my firewalls.

One benefit from all of this is that it taught me how to use CloudFlare properly and now I’ve actually managed to completely block all spam from the blog. Over the past weekend, not one single spam comment made it to the blog and that’s because any traffic coming from countries like India, China, Russia etc.. will now go through a security check to make sure they’re not bots.

So anyway, if you had difficulty accessing the blog this past weekend now you know why.

Back in December, I posted about the Japanese restaurant Kei closing down because the hotel was getting renovated. Since then more details have come out on the project as well as renderings of the new facelifted hotel.

• The hotel’s ground floor will be converted to mall use and become a continuation of Salhiya Complex with a dedicated entrance on Shuhada street. There will be an additional 6 stores on the ground floor and 5 more on the mezzanine.

• The hotel entrance will still be on the ground floor but the hotel lobby will now be moved up higher into the building, possibly the rooftop.

• The entire building exterior will be redone. Although I’m a fan of the current retro exterior, the 40-year-old design does look dated and gloomy.

The project is expected to be completed sometime in 2022.

Thanks ChaoticTranquility

If you order a laptop from the US or Europe it would generally come with an English-only keyboard. So people who require Arabic get Arabic letters printed or stuck on the keyboard which is fine unless you have a backlit keyboard. If you just printed Arabic letters on a backlit keyboard you wouldn’t be able to see them in the dark so when I found out about laser engraving a few days ago, I was a bit surprised it was something that was so easy to do and also available in Kuwait.

Laser engraving as you can see in the video above basically cuts out the letters on your keys so that the light can pass through them as well. There is a store in Sharq area called Sharq Center which does it and charges KD15 for it. The process takes only 15-20minutes so you don’t have to leave your keyboard or laptop there overnight. If this is a service you’re looking for then check out their Instagram account @sharq_center

Thanks Sahbig

Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called “geocaches” or “caches”, at specific locations marked by coordinates all over the world.

A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing items for trading, such as toys or trinkets, usually of more sentimental worth than financial.

Someone was asking about geocaching in Kuwait and I hadn’t heard that term in years. The first time I heard about geocaching was back in 2002 and back then GPS devices weren’t as common, Google Maps didn’t exist and phones didn’t have GPS built-in so the only way to find a geocache was using a dedicated GPS device like a Garmin. I faintly remember a geocache located near Radisson Blu and after a bit of researching it turns out it was actually the first geocache in Kuwait.

The cache was called “Ya Darina Ya Kuwait” and the coordinates were N 29° 17.860 E 048° 05.205. The cache was placed there back in June 2002 by a user called walzuhair.

What’s cool about caches was that you never knew what you’d find and you were always meant to take whatever was inside and then replace it with other items for the next person to find. There still seems to be a bunch of active geocaches in Kuwait so it might be a fun activity to do this Ramadan.

Recently I started having lower back pain and after visiting the doctor I decided based on his recommendation to work on improving my posture, mostly when sitting in front of the computer. Like most people, I tend to hunch over the computer and I wanted to stop doing that so the first thing I did was get a posture corrector strap. A posture corrector strap kinda looks like a gun holster you see detectives wear on TV shows under their suits, just minus the gun. Although it did its job in keeping me from slouching, it wasn’t comfortable to wear for long periods, and depending on what you’re wearing, it could be visible.

I then found out about the Upright GO 2 through a friend of mine, a tiny device you stick to your back and monitors your posture. Whenever you start slouching it buzzes. My friend recommended it so I ended up ordering one for myself.

The Upright GO is super easy to set up. All you need to do is attach it to your back and then connect to it via Bluetooth and an app on your phone. You then sit or stand upright and hit the calibrate button in the app and that’s it, you’re set. It takes around a second or two but once the device calibrates it starts recognizing your movement when you slouch or hunch over. Anytime you exceed a certain angle threshold for more than a few seconds, the device buzzes gently to make you aware that hey, you’re hunching over.

The device is really tiny which is why I used my AirPods for scale in these photos. It’s also very lightweight and so whenever I stick it on my back I can’t tell it’s even there. The reusable adhesive on the back of the device uses a medical-grade sticky silicon, and in my case, it lasts for 7 days. After the 7th day, it no longer is as sticky and I swap the adhesive with a new one. The device came with 10 adhesives so it should be good enough for nearly 3 months of use since I don’t wear it on weekends.

Does it work? Yes, it does!

After using it now for two weeks I noticed my posture has improved. Not only that but because I hate the buzzing so much, even when I’m not wearing the Upright GO I still have the fear it will buzz. There is a bit of PTSD involved because even when I’m not wearing the unit, out of habit I expect my back to buzz anytime I hunch over. So I’ve mentally started recognizing when I start to hunch over and right away straighten up.

The Upright with the help of the app tracks your posture throughout the day and in my case, I recognized I am worse when I’m at the office. When I’m home on my computer I have a very ergonomic TOM chair that offers great back support and keeps me sitting up straight. When I’m at the office I sit on a regular chair with no back support so I tend to slouch and hunch over my laptop. But looking at my data over the past couple of weeks I can see that I have improved overall.

There are two versions of the Upright GO, the original version which is larger, has a shorter battery life and cheaper, and the Upright GO 2 which has a longer battery life, is much smaller but also slightly more expensive. I bought the Upright GO 2 for $99 from Amazon but I noticed it’s now selling for $79 and I’ve even seen it as low as $69. An extra pack of adhesives costs $9. If you don’t want to stick it on your back there is a necklace you can buy that attaches to the Upright GO but I haven’t tried it. The Upright comes with a small case that holds an extra adhesive and it’s where you are meant to put the unit when you’re not wearing it. Battery life on the Upright GO 2 is 35 hours so I only charge it once every few days.

The Upright is not something I’d wear for more than a couple of months at a time, it’s a behavioral training device and as I get the hang of not hunching over I’ll stop wearing it. When I see myself starting to hunch over again I’ll star wearing it again. If you want to get one, here is the link to Amazon.

This is a post for google since I know a lot of people want to powder coat or electroplate parts but don’t know where to go. I found out about a place in Shuwaikh that offers these services when I wanted to powder coat my wheels, but they also zinc-plated all the nuts and bolts for my 240Z that I’m restoring and I might be getting my 240Z metal bumpers re-chromed by them. The place is called Anmar Advanced Services but they’re on Instagram as @pcoatkw and @tankelkw.

The services they offer are:
Zinc-Plating
Tin-Plating
Nickle-Chrome Plating
Powder Coating
Sand Blasting

I don’t have all their prices since it depends on various factors like size and quantity, but for powder coating car wheels for example they charge KD90 for 4. I think I also paid 35KD to galvanize (zinc-plate) all the nuts and bolts of my 240Z but I can’t find the bill. If you’re interested in any of their services, here is their location on Google Maps (they’re in the back left corner of that street). You can also get in touch with the engineer, his name is Maher and his number is ‭66475000‬ DM them on Instagram @pcoatkw and @tankelkw

WELCOME TO THE ARENA KUWAIT

Our Arena is a 5,000+ capacity purpose-built indoor live entertainment and events venue which is set to transform the delivery of live events within the State of Kuwait. It has been designed to world-class standards and is capable of hosting various event types.

We aim to host a comprehensive range of events and differentiated activities targeting the multinational population of Kuwait as well as the world. We are excited about the prospect of bringing family entertainment, music concerts, sports events, comedy shows, theatre shows, cultural gatherings, consumer exhibitions and a variety of other events and activities to Kuwait and the region.

The Arena Kuwait is an integral part of a major destination development by the Tamdeen Group which includes our key destination partners; Rafa Nadal Academy Kuwait, Grand Hyatt Kuwait and 360 Mall.

The Arena is part of the new 360 Mall extension and supposedly the project is on track to open by the end of the year.

Live Nation if you aren’t aware are one of the largest live entertainment companies in the world.

thearenakuwait.com
@thearenakuwait

CityBus has introduced 80 new eco-friendly buses onto our roads and one of the new features of these buses is that they now have a ramp for special needs passengers. I actually didn’t realize that up until now our buses weren’t wheelchair friendly, and other than these 80 new buses, none of the other public buses have ramps.

Although it’s kinda odd that we’re only just now introducing wheelchair-access to buses, it’s still pretty cool that we are. If you’re interested in public transportation make sure you check out @kuwaitcommute as well if you haven’t already. Also, check out the Alqabas video below where one of their journalist’s decides to use public transport and share her experience.

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This list has never been as unimportant as it is now considering it doesn’t really matter what passport you have at the moment (well, unless you want the vaccine) because we’re all stuck here and can’t travel anywhere. But I wanted to share this years ranking since Kuwait has moved up the list of most powerful passports coming in 28th place up from 36th last year. Kuwaitis can now visit 44 countries (10 more from last year) without requiring a visa and they can also get visa on arrival in 39 other countries. Here are some countries with their rankings:

1 – Germany
4 – United Kingdom
12 – UAE
15 – Canada
16 – United States
26 – Qatar
28 – Kuwait
36 – Bahrain
41 – Saudi Arabia
42 – Oman
58 – India
62 – Egypt
67 – Lebanon
76 – Afghanistan

Want to see how your passport compares? Check out the full list here.

I’ve seen a few people online ask where to find weighted blankets in Kuwait before and it didn’t seem like they were available here. But, yesterday while picking up some items from Ace Hardware I noticed some weighted blankets while on my way out.

I spotted the Bell + Howell weighted blanket pictured above, it weighs 12lbs and was priced at around KD36 which is not bad. On the Walmart website the same blanket sells for KD18 without tax but because of its weight, expect to pay over KD20 on top of the price just to ship it to Kuwait. According to the Ace website, they have three different weights of blankets with the lightest being 10lbs and selling for KD27 and the heaviest 15lbs and priced at KD45.

Weighted blankets are considered to be therapeutic and can benefit people with anxiety, autism, and insomnia. Some people find sleeping with a weighted blanket very calming.

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Has anyone tried the new ferry to Failaka? It went into service towards the end of January and I’m curious to know how fast it gets there and if the journey was bouncy? Like am I gonna get seasick?

Update: Forgot to mention the cost which is around KD50 for a return trip depending on the size of your car. This includes one passenger in the car, for every additional passenger, it’s KD10 extra.

I’m a huge fan of Mogahwi but sometimes they’re a bit limited with options with their stationery items. Jarir has a good selection but there is another cool place that might have more stuff than both of them, Rakan Book Store.

Rakan is both a book store and stationery store located in Hawalli. They also have a small selection of toys and various other items but their stationaries section is hard to beat. When I wanted to get a new pair of scissors from Mogahwi I was limited with just a handful of options, while at Rakan they had a full section just for scissors. And that’s just one example I experienced last week.

What I also like about Rakan is on their top floor they have a section filled with tacky looking Arabic posters, stuff you’d find on the walls of your Arabic classrooms back when you were a kid. They’re fun to rummage through.

If you’re concerned about parking because it’s Hawalli you shouldn’t be. The place is located right off the 40th so getting in and out is pretty easy. There is also a large paid parking right next door so parking is super easy. If you want to check them out their Instagram is @rakan_book_store and here is their location on Google Maps.

The first time I visited the camel races was back in 2013 and I posted a guide for anyone who wanted to experience it as well. Because it’s been awhile since I last went, I decided to pass by again and publish an updated guide.

This past Saturday I drove out to the Kuwait Camel Racing Club to see how much things have changed. I took my old Alfa because I recently replaced some parts on it and wanted a long trip just to make sure I installed everything correctly. The trip to the tracks took a bit less than an hour and didn’t feel like a long drive at all. Once I got to the tracks I noticed all the main gates were locked. For a second I thought they were closed but then I noticed SUV’s speeding across the desert in the distance and heading in the direction of the track, I figured there might be another entrance and drove in the direction they were all heading. Sure enough, there was a side gate open off the main road and I drove into the racing club.

Once I drove into the track I didn’t see any spectators, racers, employees or even any signs telling me where to go next. So I just started following other cars and ended up driving through another gate and onto a tarmac road adjacent to the race track. I then kept driving till I eventually ended up at the start line. You can watch the video above which shows you how to enter the tracks and get to the tarmac that takes you to the start line. If you don’t have an SUV you’ll be fine since I was able to get to the track in my Alfa.

If you want to watch the races there are two ways:

• The first way is you drive up to the start or finish line and park your car on the side and just watch the start or end of the races.

• The second way to watch the races is you drive around the track with the race as it’s taking place. There are four tracks technically, the main track for the camels to race on is a large wide dirt track surrounded by railings. To the right of the race track is a dirt track for the camel owners who drive next to their camels during the race to control the robot jockeys on the camels. To the left of the camel track are two paved roads also separated by railings, one for use by track employees and the camera vehicle, the second is for the spectators to drive alongside the camels during the race. I didn’t do that this past Saturday but I did do that the first time I went to the tracks and you can watch the video above to see how it looks (chaotic basically). The only difference now is the spectators road is paved instead of it being a dirt road like in the video. Back then you could also tune into FM 93.1mhz on the radio and listen to a live broadcast of the actual race as you drive around. I couldn’t test it this time since my Alfa doesn’t have a radio.

The races start at 1PM and last till 3 or 4PM depending on the week. They alternate between 8 races and 16 races a week, the more races the later they finish. This Saturday when I visited it was 8 races, 4 races with the large camels and 4 with smaller ones. The only difference between the two is the starting line shifts closer to the finish line for the smaller camels. Each race lasts around 15 minutes before the next one starts. They’re not that strict with timing, they basically wait till the races end and all the spectators drive back to the starting line before starting the next race. The races take place weekly starting in October and this year will end in the first week of March.

I definitely recommend you check the races out just don’t go with high expectations, it’s nothing fancy. If you have kids they’d probably enjoy seeing camels up close and you can get pretty close to the camels both at the start and finish line. If you want to visit the Kuwait Camel Racing Club, here is the link to Google Maps.