Category: Information

Recently while riding my bike on the Gulf Road, I noticed an Extreme Sports truck loaded up with bicycles parked in one of the lots. I didn’t know what it was for at first but then spotted an employee a few days ago and decided to stop and find out what they were doing. Turns out it’s an Extreme Sports bicycle rental truck. For KD3 an hour you could rent a bicycle from them to ride up and down the Gulf Road.

I’ve previously posted about their bike rental location at Marina Waves, this one on the other hand is located at the Green Island parking lot. If you don’t have a bicycle but feel like riding one, this is a pretty good option. Here is the location of the rental truck on Google Maps.

I don’t remember how I first found out about the Ahmadi Desert Motoring Club (ADMC), or how I came about a picture of their car badge, but when I first saw it I knew I needed to have one. It’s such a great looking badge with the cute desert mouse and beautiful colors, I ended up spending over a year looking for one to purchase and wasn’t able to find a single one for sale, anywhere and for any price! I got in touch with random people whose parents might have been part of the club, I checked small private sllers, large auction sites, I checked with car badge collectors, and nobody either had one or wanted to sell one. Finally, back in September, one went on sale on eBay, and not just any, but one that was in pristine, 10/10 condition. It looked like it had never been installed on a car before and all the enamel was still intact and vibrant. I put a ridiculous maximum bid number since I knew I’d most likely not come across another one ever that was so clean, eventually, I ended up winning the bid for a lot less than I expected, around KD75.

Now that I had the badge I found it very frustrating that I couldn’t dig up any info on the club, there wasn’t anything online except for a single photo from an ADMC Alitalia Darts event dating back to 1964 and that was it. So I got in touch with a friend at KOC and asked him if he could check their archives for any photos or articles on the club and he struck gold.

Turns out KOC had some photos related to the motoring club but they were still negatives which hadn’t been scanned. So they dug them out of their archive and scanned them so I could share them on the blog. These images haven’t been seen by anyone for over 65 years! They also shared some articles relating to the club from the old KOC newsletter called “The Kuwaiti”. The Kuwaiti was a weekly newsletter and he flipped through the 1954 and 1955 archive of the newsletter and sent me some photos of ones relating to the club and motoring in general. Some really interesting stuff.

I’ve decided to share everything in two ways. Firstly I uploaded all the photos and articles to a Flickr album. If you prefer viewing things that way click here.

I’ve also created a PDF file of all the articles and if you prefer viewing the articles that way then click here to download the PDF

For the scanned images I have all of them embedded in high resolution below. The blog will resize them automatically to fit the width of my page, but if you save the images, you can view them in higher resolution on your phone or computer. Check those out by clicking more below.

Finally, I’d like to thank Kuwait Oil Company for digging these photos out and scanning them for me. Now people looking for info on the club will be able to find some kind of information online.

I found out about a website a few days ago called Yalla Compare which is a financial comparison website. It’s actually a website that sells insurance but is made to look like a financial comparison website but they do actually have comparissons. Using the website you can compare the different requirements and rates for personal and car loans between the different banks but more importantly, you can also see all the different credit cards offered by the local banks and compare their costs and benefits.

I’m not sure if people choose a bank based on credit card benefits, I’m assuming no. But, if you’re at least curious about what other banks are offering compared to what you’re getting, check out the list by clicking here.

There is an interesting conversation currently on Reddit regarding companies who either reduced salaries because of the pandemic, or who missed or aren’t paying the salaries. Not sure how many of my readers are going through this issue but if you are and want to file a complaint you can do so by contacting the Public Authority of Manpower:

Phone: +965 69009600
Email: [email protected]

Check out the discussion on Reddit here.

Totally random and insignificant post to everyone but this post is for people googling looking for a certain brand of oil for their car. My FJ and Lotus get their oil changed at the dealer, but my Alfa and Datsun I change the oil myself. Previously I was getting my car oil from Auto1 on Canada Dry street but they only carried the Lukoil brand and the last time I went they didn’t even have the right viscosity grade I needed. There’s a BMW spare parts store nearby that carries the Liqui Moly brand of oil but they also never seem to have the viscosity I needed and they’re overpriced. But, I recently found a place in Shuwaikh that carried a ton of oil from different brands and grades and its now my goto place for oil.

If you’re looking to buy oil for your car they carry a number of brands including Liqui Moly, Lukoil, Lucas, Kassel, Kendall, Mercedes-Benz, and Shell. Their Instagram account is @q8.oil.center and here is their location on Google Maps (large sign outside that says Motor Plus and also Kuwait Oil Center).

There have been a lot of changes compared to the last time I posted the Arton Capital Passport Index 5 years ago. Kuwait has moved up quite a bit on the list from 54th place back in 2015, to 36th place this year. Kuwaitis can now visit 34 countries without requiring a visa and they can also get visa on arrival in 38 other countries. Here are some countries with their rankings:

1 – New Zealand
4 – United Kingdom / Canada
13 – UAE
21 – United States
34 – Qatar
36 – Kuwait
41 – Bahrain
44 – Saudi Arabia
45 – Oman
58 – India
60 – Egypt
68 – Lebanon
74 – Syria
75 – Iraq

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

I’ve gotten a number of messages from STC users that they’re having difficulty accessing my blog from their devices. Do you have STC and are having difficulty accessing my blog? If yes, let me know in the comments cuz I’m curious about how widespread this issue is.

A few days ago my friend asked me if I knew of a good pest control company, he had gotten one already but he still had a pest problem and wanted to see if I knew of a better company. That made me realize, I never posted about Boecker. Although it sounds German, Boecker is actually a Lebanese pest management and food safety company. I go way back with the brand since when I was in university I interned at the company that helped create the Boecker brand, so I’ve been a fan for a long time. Then a few years ago a friend of mine got the franchise to Kuwait and started offering their services to the business and residential sectors.

I used them last year to come spray my apartment for pests and they’re such a professional company from the communication over the phone, to their uniforms to all the little cards and informative material they leave around the house. Another reason I highly recommend them is because they’re a pet friendly company and I wouldn’t trust any other company to come over and spray for pests if I had a pet.

To get an idea of their prices I think I paid KD90 for my large 3 bedroom 2 storey apartment. My friend which I mentioned at the start of the post told me they were cheaper than the first company he hired so I don’t think they’re crazy expensive or anything. They also have a disinfection service for germs and viruses including COVID-19 if that’s something you’re looking for. If you’re interested in calling them, their number is 22210015 and their website is boecker.com

I previously posted about Wara Hospital since I used their drive-thru PCR test service but last week they introduced an even more convenient option, a home service. Like with their drive-thru, you’re going to have to pay a premium for the convenience of having them come over to your house to give you a swab test. The price? KD55.

I’d rather do the cheaper drive-thru but if you don’t have a car or for some reason can’t leave the house (maybe you’re under quarantine), this could be an option. Link

Recently I needed to get a hold of a macro lens for a project and a friend of mine told me about a place called DD Cameras. Turns out I had been to their store previously looking for used equipment but either didn’t know or had forgotten they also rented cameras, lenses and other photography equipment. So I sent them a Whatsapp message asking if they had a Sony mount macrolens available and turns out they did. The price? KD5 per day, KD14 for 3 days or KD20 for a week. Surprisingly, extremely reasonable. They didn’t have many requirements to rent it either, I basically had to be over 21, have a valid civil ID, and have a photography Instagram account. Basically, to keep random people from renting their gear and possibly damaging them or not returning them, they filter their customers by checking their Instagram account and making sure they qualify to rent them.

It’s an interesting approach and I managed to pass that test so no complaints from me. I ended up dropping by filling out a form and picking up the lens. Super easy process and payment is done when you return the lens which is convenient in case you wanted to keep the gear for longer than originally planned.

If you’re looking for a place to rent photography gear check them out, their Instagram is @ddrents and they’re located on the mezzanine floor of Daiya Coop.

Thanks Dalal

Yesterday I found out the popular Thai restaurant Pattaya Beach closed down their Kuwait City location. I think they had been there since the late 80s so it sucks that it closed down. I drove by their Salmiya location and that turned out to be open but part of the restaurant charm was the Kuwait City location in that old travel agency mall. So many things are changing!

For my last post on the home gym build, I’ll be writing about training racks. I needed a compact and versatile set up since I was using only half of one of my rooms for a gym and still wanted to be able to perform a variety of exercises. I decided to get a squat rack because I’d be able to perform chest, shoulder, legs, triceps and back workouts, basically, the whole body using this one set up which made it very versatile.

I found a bunch of local companies that sold racks but I narrowed it down to three options:

Sports World – They had a Torque brand squat rack
Nomad Strength – A very cool local brand that custom-build racks
AFE Fitness – Another local brand that custom-build racks

Sports World sells the Arsenal 7 squat rack by Torque Fitness but it was priced at KD480 and ready-made so you couldn’t customize it if you needed to. Nomad Strength sell their squat rack for KD350 without any attachments. AFE Fitness on the other hand sell their squat rack for KD155. So I decided to go with AFE. Their work looked really solid and they’ve built rigs for commercial gyms so I knew I’d be getting a rack that could take abuse. But, what I also liked about AFE is they had a pretty cool website that allowed you to build and spec the rack as you wanted. This is such a smart idea because I went from a KD155 rack to a fully specced out one for KD242 with just a few clicks.

The way the AFE website works is you pick which piece of equipment you want, you then get to pick if you want it in their signature red color or fully matt black. You then have addons you could get so I got the dips bar attachment (KD30), the safety bar attachment (KD20), Ground Rotational Landmine (KD20), installation (KD10), and delivery (KD2). I also asked for the height of the setup to be reduced by 10cm. It was a super easy process, got everything I wanted, and more for a good price plus I was even was able to customize it for my room.

The rack was built and delivered to me in around a week and I’m loving it so far. As expected it’s really well built but it also has great details like cut out numbers next to the holes so you can keep track of where you’re putting the attachments. In my case, I’ve started sticking labels on the side to help me set up my rack quicker for the various exercises I’ll be performing. The only negative I could think of is that the J-hooks that hold the bar aren’t rubber/plastic protected so they’re already starting to get scratched up. It’s fine for my J-hooks to get scratched (pictured below), but my expensive bar has a black zinc coating and that’s gonna end up getting scratched and not sure I’m going to be too happy about that. If it got scratched over a long period of time that’s fine, makes me feel like I’ve been working out. But, I don’t want the thing to get totally scratched up from the first week, that’s not rewarding.I might find a DIY solution but haven’t really given it much thought yet.

Other than that quibble it’s a great rack. I liked it so much I just placed an order this morning for their dumbbells storage unit (also customized the length for my needs). They have a whole variety of racks and rigs so if you’re looking for anything else from a simple pull up bar to a full-on 2x1m outdoor training rig, check out their website arabakw.com

If you missed my previous build parts here are the links:
Home Gym Build: Part 1 – The Floor
Home Gym Build: Part 2 – The Equipment

Enviroserve is a local recycling facility that is trying to solve the e-waste problem in Kuwait. E-waste or electronic waste is basically discarded electrical appliances and devices which the majority of people generally throw out with regular garbage. Some examples of e-waste are laptops, computers, tablets, phones, refrigerators, IT equipment, lighting, and air conditioners. Enviroserve takes your e-waste and recycles them for you in an eco-friendly manner.

There are two ways you can dispose of your e-waste:

Drop off: Enviroserve have a bin at the Scientific Center (inside next to Starbucks) that can be used to drop off small appliances and devices

Pick up: They can pick up your e-waste but they charge a fee. If your e-waste fits in a small car the cost is KD5, if your e-waste requires a large car the cost is KD10.

If you’re a company and are getting rid of your old computers, they also have a data protection service where they secure the picked up hardware until all the hard drives are destroyed along with any confidential information that might have still been on the drives.

If you want to find out more about Enviroserve or if you want to request a collection, here is the link to their website.

If you missed my Part 1 post on my home gym build, you can check that post here. For the second part, I wanted to talk about some of the equipment I got, where I got it from, and what options you have for getting the same as well. The pandemic started this home gym craze which has left the market bare of decent gym equipment, and when you do find any available, they tend to be overpriced. The quality of some of the equipment being sold is also questionable with lots of clones and overpriced poor quality hardware being imported by people who are looking to make a quick buck.

For my gym needs all I really needed was weight plates, an Olympic bar, a curl bar, and dumbbells. I managed to get everything except for dumbbells. Not sure what pre-corona prices were for dumbbells, but right now they seem incredibly expensive, at least to me. I can’t just get one set of dumbbells either, I’d have to get a whole range since depending on the exercise I might need anything from 10KG up to 36KG. So for now, I’ve put the thought of getting dumbbells aside unless I want to spend over 700KD which I’m not gonna do.

Weight plates aren’t that difficult to find, but finding a whole set of weights is. I was originally planning to get my plates from ProSports, but they had certain weights out of stock when I first checked which meant for example I could get 20KG plates but couldn’t find maybe 5KG or 10KG. I then decided to get bumper plates from Nomad, but they were out of stock. Gym Doctor? Also out of stock. Nobody had a full set of weight plates and I didn’t want to mix and match different brands or looks since my OCD wouldn’t be able to deal with it. I also needed them to be in KG not Lbs since I’ve only ever used KGs at my gym and didn’t want to change that. At one point I found all the weights I needed on the ProSports website but they were out of stock on the 7ft Olympic bar. I decided to wait until they got the bar in stock, but by then some of the weights were out of stock. Waiting until everything you want is available to order isn’t gonna work.

Eventually, while going through my Instagram explore page I noticed Sports World were selling a Torque brand package that included a full set of colored bumper plates (5KG, 10KG, 15KG, 20KG), a 7ft black Olympic bar and 2 collars all for 392KD. They also had a Torque adjustable bench for 220KD. I also bought extra 2.5KG plates from them. It was around 10PM at night, maybe later and the owner quick responded to my questions on Instagram and I managed to place the order and pay for my items all through Instagram DM. It was an impulse buy but it had to be if I wanted to make sure I got what I wanted before they sold out. The prices might sound expensive, but they’re actually acceptable for what you’re getting. For example, the bumper plate package retail cost is around KD340 in the US (pre-corona) so we’re only paying a slight premium here. What I’ve actually noticed is that the no-brand Chinese stuff is being sold for a pretty high price while the premium brands which have proper dealers in Kuwait kept their prices fairly stable.

So the difference in price between the no-brand clones and premium brand items has narrowed to the point you might as well pay a bit more and just get the premium brands. This price discrepancy is more obvious with things like the adjustable bench. At 220KD I think the bench I got is a steal compared to other benches in the market that cost 150-200KD. The Torque bench is commercial grade and pretty much bombproof and so is gonna withstand all the abuse I give it. But I’ve seen no-brand benches sold for just slightly less that look like they’re gonna start wobbling a week into use. The only thing left that I needed to get was a curl bar and Sports World didn’t have any in stock. I saw one on the Wawan website but they were selling it for 50KD which sounded overpriced. I eventually found one for sale on an Instagram account called @gym__home123 (can it get any more generic?) for 30KD and the guy delivered it the same day so not bad.

I really love the stuff I got, the colorful bumper plates look great and so does the black zinc coated Olympic bar. Since these items were going to be mine and used by me hopefully for a very long time, I wanted to get a proper set of gym equipment and so I’m glad I found these by Torque. I also ended up getting a squat rack to use with all the above but I’m leaving that for the final third post since there is a lot to talk about with that. For now I’ll leave you with a bunch of links below to where you could try and find stuff you need for your own home gym:

Sports World
ProSports
Nomad Strength Co.
Beyond Equipment
Gym Doctor
Perform Athletics
Sports Group
Wawan
@gym__home123

Update: Thanks to a reader ended up finding dumbbells that were priced extremely well, a set from 10KG up to 25KG in 2.5KG increments for just 225KD! Got them from @gymequipmentskwt

A friend just told me about a company called Dustx where they come over and wash your house exterior. Kinda like those home car wash services except for your house. They come over with their truck and powerwash the outside of your building making it look all clean and new again.

Prices vary depending on the size of the building but range from 180-370KD. If you’re interested you could get in touch with them and they’ll over someone to check the house and quote you. Their Instagram account is @dustx.kw