Category: Information

I received two emails regarding a fire at the Avenues mall this morning. The last email I received stated that the damage from the fire effected the area from Debenhams up to as far as Top Shop and that some stores were still closed as of this moment and the mall was full of smoke and water.

According to an employee of iCity, a restaurant next to Starbucks caught fire. I also called D*lush and they told me that a large portion of the mall was currently cordoned off by police and that they couldn’t get close enough from their side to see what had happened. An employee of the store Carbon Fiber told me he didn’t know the name of the place that caught fire but it was near Columbus Cafe.

Update (11:55AM): My original source emailed back with an update. Currently the word is the cause of the fire was electrical and thats why it spread really fast. Esprit has also been completely obliterated which means that the fire also spread to the second floor not just the first.

Update (6:32PM): The Slider Station owner sent me a picture of some of the damage from the Avenues. I posted it above.

Update (11:12PM): According to my original source, the fire started on the 2nd floor (ESPRIT) and spread quickly. The sprinkler system came on and ended up flooding the stores below (Top Shop, Foot Locker). The smoke re-circulated through all of the air conditioning ducts and has smoke damaged all of the products in the stores below.

It seems there was a nasty oil spill a couple of days ago here in Kuwait. The beach from the Free Trade Zone up to the hospital has been badly contaminated. This is the email I received regarding this incident:

Can you please spread the word on this issue. Very important.
There has been a terrible crude oil spill on Jan 14, which stretches from the free trade zone to the hospital. It has already killed many birds and is going to injure thousands of flamingos and other birds.

Governmental and volunteer organizations have visited the sites and witnessed the disaster, yet they have done NOTHING to solve the problem.

Please if you know anyone who can help spread the word. You must act NOW!!

Check photos
https://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14906&l=eadae&id=1255022280

I hope this post brings this oil spill into the spotlight.

I just wanted to give a shout-out to my sponsors and introduce them to everyone. You’ve got Saso Lounge who I’ve posted about before [Here]. Zain which everyone knows about already. D*Lush which make the best Cookies N Cream milkshake in Kuwait and I’ve previously reviewed them [Here]. Pink Moon I’ve actually never posted about before because its a girly store. They’ve got an online store [Here] and a physical store on the Gulf Road opposite Seef Palace next to Slider Station and The Burger Hub. The Exhibition is also located next to Pink Moon and they’ve just started advertising with us this month, they’re a trendy place where people can exhibit whatever they want. Revive is a new juice bar concept with a location at Souk Sharq and Mishref Coop. Finally Lola et moi is a new kids store that’s launching in the Discovery Mall next month but are currently temporarily located at IRIS.

In support of the Kuwaiti National team Jazeera Airways are opening one special flight to Oman (Muscat) from Kuwait so people can catch the Kuwait vs Saudi Arabia game on Wednesday 14th Jan 2009. Fares are for 85KD round trip(same day return), including taxes. I think thats a great move by Jazeera Airways. [Link]

I was checking out Safat when I found a post by Intlxpatr talking about a Kuwaiti restaurant located next to Marina Mall. She had posted a bunch of pictures and the place looked really interesting and since it was on the same street as my house I decided to pass by and try it.

I have no clue how I never noticed this place before but even if I had I don’t think I would have thought much of it since from the outside it looks pretty average. Once you walk inside though you’re suddenly transformed into an old Kuwaiti city. The private cabins are actually little old Kuwaiti houses and to get to a cabin you have to walk through small narrow corridors, kinda like the old tight streets between the houses.

The menu is full of Kuwaiti dishes as you can expect, I ended up ordering hummus for starters followed by mourabian (yellow rice with shrimps on top) for my main course. The hummus was fine, the bread was weird, kinda like crepes but it was good. My main course also wasn’t bad at all and for KD2.500 was pretty cheap for the quantity. I prefer Oum Habbibs mourabian but that’s also nearly twice as expensive and located all the way in Kuwait City while this place is just minutes from my house.

Nothing I had tonight was wow but the place is an experience and I still have a ton of stuff to try on their menu. Prices are VERY cheap and you can actually check out most of the menu in Intlxpatr’s post. I passed by around 9:30 and the place was pretty packed. Overall it was a good experience and will definitely pass by again. They are located on the same street as Marina Mall, opposite Kwik Kopy, first floor, entrance is from the back next to the red truck (motor hamar).

To check out a lot more pictures of Freej Soeleh check out Intlxpatr’s post by clicking [Here]

I just wanted to remind everyone that the AUK Car Boot Sale is tomorrow in the parking lot of the American University of Kuwait in Salmiya.

The Butcher Shop & Grill are opening tomorrow at phase II in The Avenues. They’re located right at the start of the food court, opposite Starbucks. The picture above isn’t of the actual place although it does look very similar.

Picture by Amro ABDOUN

Brands for Less is a store located in Salmiya opposite Eureka and NBK. Although they’ve been open for around 2 years now yesterday was the first time I passed by. Nat wanted a kitchen scale and she had heard there was a good one at Brands for Less so we went to check it out. The place although not very big was surprisingly interesting. They had a clothes and shoes section but I stayed downstairs where they had on display various electronics, stuff for the house and just really random stuff. I am trying to name some of the random items I saw but they’re just too many to list out. I mean they even have a unicycle!

The prices are very cheap, the cheapest I’ve seen in the market for what I was looking for and everything or at least the majority of the items were a German brand called Tchibo. All the product descriptions on the packages were also in German so its recommended you take a German speaking friend along. I ended up leaving with a few items my favorite being an Ethernet-Over-Power setup. The package came with three wall adapters and it cost me only KD13! Thats very cheap and although all the instructions were in German I didn’t need to set them up, they worked perfectly out of the box. There was only one more left so if you interested you need to hurry up.

I highly recommend anyone who loves places that carry random stuff to pass by. They’re located in Salmiya and their number is 25752456.

One of my favorite shows on the Discovery Channel is called Ultimate Survivor (Man Vs Wild in the States). The show follows a guy called Bear Grylls who gets dropped into the middle of no where and is expected to survive and find his way out. One episode it could be the Rain Forrest, another he could be dropped in the middle of the ocean etc..

So anyway I was researching Bear Grylls and found out there is actually a controversy. It seems the show is not what it appears to be. As a viewer we are led to believe that Bear Grylls is surviving with no help and in the middle of no where but some videos have popped up on YouTube showing otherwise. Even though he really does eat maggots and other absurd things, I can no longer watch the show. It just feels too much like fake wrestling (WWE). So if you’re also a fan of the show and Bear Grylls, sorry I am ruining this for you but its a fake. There is another show on Discovery called Survivorman which I’ve started watching and this one seems to be real and I haven’t found anything online that says otherwise.

I just got the following in my email from a passenger on a Kuwait Airways flight who’s currently stuck at the Cairo Airport. This incident just happened awhile ago:

Hey Mark –

I wanted to contact you for a [potentially] new post you might want to write. First off, what I’m gonna write about isn’t in the news yet but it will almost definitely be in the morning, so you get the insights before they do.

I was on Kuwait Airways flight 542 from Cairo to Kuwait today with my family. Basically, after the plane left the gates and was on the runway, we stopped and the crews opened up the doors claiming there was an apparently major technical problem with one of the engines. About a half hour later, they said it was fine and we could be on our way. Plane taxis once again, but I noticed that the ride was strangely bumpy.

We took off, and about 20 seconds after take off with the plane going up rapidly, the right engine exploded. The plane shook hard, another explosion went off with another hard shake, and then one final boom and the plane dipped. Passengers in the back started screaming that fire was coming out of the engine and the plane began to lose altitude freakishly quickly. People were screaming, panicking, praying and getting out of their seats. I was flying first, but even from there, I managed to see flames and smoke billowing out of the engine. Mix all that together, and voilà, a scene from Hell. I thought it was all over, and clearly, so did the 200+ others on that nightmare flight.

Lucky for us, after thirty minutes or so spinning around in the air, the pilot managed to stabilize the plane and we made an emergency landing at Cairo International again, complete with fire trucks and ambulances. The plane stops just off the runway, they offload everyone and the airline offered to set us up in a hotel. Things got a bit messy on the ground when a passenger blacked out and collapsed on the runway, but I hope he’ll be fine.

Definitely adds to Kuwait Airways’ stellar reputation lately, don’t you think?

I’m on the next Kuwait Airways flight out of Cairo in an hour or so. Wish me luck.

I hope to hear back from you.

– Khaled

Thats really freaky, I am never going to fly Kuwait Airways again. I just checked the Kuwait Airport website and it’s showing the plane as currently being delayed. This is crazy!

Update: I couldn’t find a mention of this incident in the Arab Times but the Kuwait Times have written about it. [Link]

Its the time of year again when AUK hold their annual car boot sale in their parking lot. If you’re interested in selling items out of the trunk of your car, one parking space is for KD10 while two is for KD15. The car boot sale will be held on January 10th, 2009. [Link]

Kuwait ranked 31st in the world in computer ownership. Doesn’t sound that bad until you realize Estonia, Slovania Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Latvia scored higher than Kuwait. Not that I have anything against those countries mind you! [Link]

Update: I just purchased the ebook version of The Pocket World in Figures 2008 and here are some interesting facts I found related to Kuwait…

– Kuwait ranks second in lowest death rate per capita. UAE is first, Qatar is third.

– Kuwait ranks 20th in most deaths in road accidents, I used to think we were first?

– Kuwait ranks 2nd in most injured in road accidents, Qatar is first with more than 3 times the amount!

– Kuwait ranks 3rd in death by diabetes, UAE is first, Saudi is second.

– Kuwait ranks 2nd in largest amount of carbon dioxide emissions per person. UAE is first.

– Kuwait ranks 4th in “Proportion of a country’s population residing in a single city”. That city being Kuwait City which doesn’t make sense since not many people live in Kuwait City.

– Kuwait ranks 3rd in Least economically dependent on agriculture. I don’t know if thats a good thing, I doubt.

– Kuwait ranks 1st in Largest consumption of energy per head (oil). UAE is second, the US is 5th.

– Finally, Kuwait ranks 5th in most crowded road networks. Qatar is first, Hong Kong second and Germany third.

It seems Starbucks is having a Toys Drive where all toys collected will be donated to the orphans at Dar Al-Atfal. A reader spotted the sign above with a basket full of toys at the Starbucks branch located at The Palms so I don’t know if this is something that’s exclusively being done at that branch or if all branches are participating in this. If someone can clear that up it would be great and also does anyone know when will this toys drive end?

Thanks Someday Red!

Update: The following email was sent to me from Alshaya containing more details on the Toys Drive…

Thank you for your interest in Starbucks “Holiday Joy” toys drive. I am happy to share with you an overview of the toys drive, the first time to launch in the Starbucks Middle East Markets, in selected stores in Kuwait, UAE & Lebanon.

Participating stores in Kuwait are:
Al Kout, Palms, Mishref, Jabriya, Behbehani, Keifan Sporting Club, Flagship, Hilton Hawally Plaza, Souk Sharq, Shamiyeh and Free Zone.

Duration of the drive is from 1st week of Dec. till 1st week of January.

The idea originated mainly as we were looking for ways to give back to our communities, especially during the holiday season, so we are inviting our customers to join our partners (employees) in sharing the joy of the season, by donating a toy to an orphan.

Warm regards,

I got the following in my email today:

You are all cordially invited to attend FIVE60’s first Flea Market featuring handcrafts and arts, anime cartoonist, fashion & accessories, gardening & nurseries, food vendors (candy + pancakes + desserts + corndogs) and more.

The market is held on December 26th – 27th from 4:00PM to 10:00PM in FIVE60 HQ @ Al Rawada – Block 5 – St 60 – House #4.

For more information please give us a buzz +965 9785 3033 or drop us an email [email protected]

Cheers!
FIVE60 Group

Some Contrast posted some pictures of the plane a couple of days ago but I couldn’t until I got approval from Wataniya Airways since they are my client. The above and below are pictures of the plane parked in Toulouse, France where Airbus plant is located. Hopefully next month I am going to be in Toulouse for the official unveiling and take some of my own photos but for now here are some of the photos taken by Airbus. The Kuwait Towers are proudly displayed on the tail of the plane and I think it actually looks pretty good. Definitely much better than the new MEA design which I HATE.