Category: Information

iLSuL6ana has pictures and information on the new mall that opened near the 7th Ring Road called Al Bairaq. It doesn’t seem very interesting compared to 360 and Avenues but it could be convenient for people who live there. [Link]

There is going to be a protest tomorrow (Monday) at 4PM in Mishref to raise awareness about the whole issue with the sewage plant problems and the construction that’s taking forever. The protest which will be more of a walkathon will take place near the sewage plant on the side of the 6th ring road in Mishref. Everyone is invited.

Thanks b19

I got the following by in my mail about an Improv Comedy Troupe that’s in affiliation with LOYAC:

Are you the funniest person in your family? Do you make people laugh with your clever wit and humor? Is Jokey your favorite Smurf?

If you answered YES to any of the above questions, then
Audition for Kuwait’s first ever Improv Comedy Troupe

When?
Saturday, November 1st from 4:30-6:30pm
Monday, November 2nd from 6:00-8:00pm

Where?
Bayt Lothan – Room 78 (Drama Studio)
Bayt Lothan is located right next to Marina Mall in Salmiya

Who?
Males and Females, age 18+, all nationalities are welcome, proficient English speakers only.

No preparation necessary.
For questions, contact Hassan at 97211327.

Since we don’t get that many world class sport events here in Kuwait I would think an event like this deserves a bit more publicity…

The Kuwait Men’s World Open will be staged from the 1st to 7th November 2009 and will boast a record prize fund of US$277,500.

The championship is the climax of a three year agreement with the Professional Squash Association (PSA) which has already seen the successful staging of Super Series Platinum events in 2007 and 2008.

As well as offering the largest prize money of any World Open, the championship will also include spectacular opening and closing ceremonies as well as an Official Championship Gala Dinner.

The championships will bring together all of the world’s leading players from the PSA World Tour. World No.1 Karim Darwish of Egypt will head a star-studded field including compatriots Ramy Ashour and Amr Shabana, Gregory Gaultier and Thierry Lincou from France, Australia’s former World Open Champion David Palmer and England’s British Champion Nick Matthew.

The quarter-finals, semi finals and finals will be played on a dedicated court being built on Green Island which sounds cool considering the weather is great at the moment. For more information visit the official website [Here]

Thanks Akbar!

Aramex and the Kuwaiti customs have come to an agreement. From now on all goods that are valued at $100 and up will be subjected to a 5% customs charge and a KD1 handling charge. No additional delays or charges.

Thats actually not a bad compromise at all. I would rather pay 5% than pay KD20 + 5% they were talking about last week.

Update: Some readers have brought up an interesting theory which is there never was any issue with customs and that Aramex created all this so they could just increase their prices. Some readers have also written that they had contacted USWS and DHL both of which had said they didn’t receive any letter from customs and that it was business as usual for them. This is just a conspiracy theory but an interesting one nevertheless.

Today I was lucky enough to be taken on a tour of Infunity which will be one of the largest indoor amusement parks in Kuwait once completed. Three things that grabbed my attention there, the first is they will have a pretty cool indoor roller coaster that’s designed by the same people who build ones for Six Flags. Secondly they will have Go-Kart Drifting which I didn’t know existed but sounds pretty cool. Finally my favorite thing, they will have a huge proper climbing wall! The place will launch early next year and they will be located on the top floor of 360 Mall near the bowling and arcades.

Watan TV interviewed the bloggers p0ach and Blushberry about blogging in Kuwait the other day and now the full interview is available on YouTube to watch. One thing I think Watan TV should have done was actually display the url’s of the blogs on the screen instead of just the blog titles. So instead of writing just “4th Ring Road” they should have had www.4thringroad.com under it to make it easier for the viewers to check out. Here is the interview split into two parts:

[YouTube]

[YouTube]

Does anyone here regularly ship stuff to their PO Box? When shopping on eBay I know a lot of people offer express mail shipping to PO Boxes, has anyone tried that? I know when I was in university back in Lebanon I used to order books from Amazon to my mailbox in Lebanon and it would take around 20 days to get there. How long does it take to get the items in Kuwait? Do you pay customs? How does one open a PO Box and what are the fees?

Update: I found this page with details. Mailbox annual fee is KD4 and KD2 as insurance for the key. I need to open a mailbox. [Link]

So you already have packages on their way to Kuwait via Aramex and yesterday like everyone else you found out you will have to pay at least KD20 to clear each package, what will you do?

Personally I have two packages on their way. One is valued at $20 and another at $30. There is no way I am going to pay KD20 for a package that’s worth just $20 or $30.

What are our options?
Did anyone receive any packages yesterday?
Did you have to pay the new clearance fees?
Can we refuse delivery of our packages?

Just got the following email from Aramex:

Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for choosing Aramex as your transportation partner.

The Kuwaiti Customs Authority has recently notified us that all courier shipments containing non-documents shall undergo customs inspection upon arrival at Kuwait airport. While Aramex shall continue providing its clearance services, we are unable to provide a specific time frame as to the duration of the clearance period, which may exceed five working days. Aramex therefore encourages all its customers who require speedy clearance to collect their shipments’ documents for self-clearance at the Aramex Ardiya office.

Should you need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us on + 965 1820011.

Best Regards,
Aramex Shop&Ship Team

I wonder if this applies to other carriers like U Shop We Ship and DHL?

Update: I just called Aramex to get more details. Basically everything is still exactly the same as before except now once the package arrives to Kuwait it will take a few days to get delivered to you. You don’t pay anything extra with this new rule, you just have to be more patient. But, like before, if customs decides to hold your package you would need to either clear it yourself or have them clear it for you for a fee.

Update2: I just called Aramex again and spoke to a person I know there. According to her I can expect ALL my packages to be held in customs from now on. Which means I will have to pay a fee to get my packages cleared. The fee is around KD15 (I think) which is just ridiculous!

Update3: Here is the breakdown of what you will have to pay from now on for EVERY single package you get via Aramex

a. 5% CIF.
b. 10 KD Kuwait airways.
c. 2 KD Bank Commission.
d. 1 KD Handling Charges.
e. 5 KD Clearance charges, if your good selves choose aramex to clear on your behalf, otherwise 2 KD only for self-clearance for customs declaration form.

That’s over KD20 per package! I still haven’t verified if USWS and DHL Easy Shop are effected by this since their offices were closed at the time of this posting.

Update4: Want to know how complicated it is to clear the stuff from customs yourself? Check my Kuwaiti Customs Clearance post with step by step directions and a map. [Link]

I just got an email from a friend at NBK about this new service they will be trying out in Kuwait which is payment via NFC (near field communication). Instead of paying by cash or plastic cards you could pay by just waving your phone. The service is going to be called Bouky and they’re launching a 6 month pilot which you can sign up to if you’re interested (link at the end of the post).

This service is already used in places like Japan and the Far East but it will be the first time here in the Middle East. Another cool feature will be that you could wave the phone in front of “smart” posters and redeem offers or download free pre-paid visa cards. My friend signed me up for the 6 month trial so I will get to try it out. During the trial period I will be able to pay by waving my phone at some 100 outlets in The Avenues. If you’re interested in trying Bouky out they will be choosing only 500 customers for the trial period. To sign up follow this [Link]

Note: You need to be a Zain mobile user to beta test this service

Most of you know Cinemagic from their weekly rooftop movie nights but it turns out they’ve also got a small movie theater that they rent out. They originally called me because they wanted to participate in the giveaways last month but since I didn’t have any more space left I told them I would post about them anyway because their theater sounded interesting. They’re located near my house so I went to check the place out and was pretty impressed at how cool their set up was. They’re using the $100,000 Sony SRX-R110 4K cinema projector which is very cool, they had a movie playing when I was there and it looked amazing.

The theater has 12 comfortable reclining leather seats and they provide you with free drinks and munchies . You can rent the theater to watch live television so if there is a football match or a UFC fight you could watch it there. You could also rent out the theater to play xbox or PS3 games, they have both consoles just bring your own game. Finally they have both an HD-DVD and Blu-ray player with hundreds of Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies for you to choose from.

They have two rental prices, non peak and peak prices. Non peak price is KD96 for 3 hours while the peak price is KD144 for 3 hours. So if you are 12 guys thats KD8 per person during non peak hours and KD12 per person during peak hours. If you’re interested visit their website [Here].

For those of you who don’t know about their rooftop screenings you could also visit their website for more information on that.

Before you leave to your destination check #q8traffic on Twitter for the latest traffic updates. [Link]

If you are a Twitter user you can contribute by placing #q8traffic in your tweet.

British Business in Kuwait is holding an introduction to Kuwait event tomorrow (Tuesday, 13th October) at the Hilton Hotel. According to the flier it’s a free event and 70 companies are participating. If you’re interested in attending, the event is from 6:30PM to 10PM. Here is the flier [PDF]

Thanks Desert Girl

Someone emailed me an interesting question today which I thought I would ask here:

…I was wondering where can someone go and get tested for all types of STDs and HIV here in Kuwait… would really appreciate your help…

I never thought about that before. I am guessing private clinics? The thing is if you do get your test back and you’re HIV positive does the clinic have to inform the ministry or do they keep your results confidential?