Category: Interesting

Remember the old photographer who I posted about last year? In case you don’t, he was an old man who came to Kuwait over 50 years ago and became a photographer. He was pretty lonely and depressed when I met him but with the help of my readers we were able to make his dream come true and send him to Hajj. Well I just found out Al Qabas newspaper have a full page spread about him in today’s issue (Thursday 21, 2011) which is pretty amazing!

So pick up the newspaper if you can and read about the old man’s life journey or you download the PDF from here [Page 1] and [Page 2]

If you want to read the previous posts about him then here they are:

In Kuwait since 1959
Update on old photograher
What would help the old photographer
Quick update on old photographer
The old photographer left to Hajj!

I spotted the above garbage bin outside Salhiya Complex earlier today. What grabbed my attention was the fact they’re the the exact same kind of garbage bins as the ones currently used all over Salmiya, except they didn’t look as bad. That’s because instead of the bins being painted bright yellow causing them not to blend with their environment, the Salhiya bins are tastefully painted and placed so they fit in with their surroundings.

Just spotted a bunch of really old ads on Bloglaish which I hadn’t seen before. I didn’t even know Tikka had a logo before the “I Like it Spicy” guy. [Link]

[YouTube]

Ansam passed me this link to local artist Mohammed Alturki who uploaded a video showing how to create a Moleskine cover art. I noticed he had other interesting tutorials in his YouTube channel which you can watch [Here]

Ahmadi Town from Archofkuwait on Vimeo.

If you’re a long time reader you will know I have a soft spot for old pictures of Kuwait. Right now I’m extremely ecstatic because Architecture of Kuwait have just posted what has to be the best Ahmadi post ever. They’ve posted a ton of incredible pictures of Ahmadi, nearly all of which I had never seen before and all of them are very good quality shots. They even posted the 20 minute documentary above! Check out the picture of Ahmadi at the bottom of this post, it just looks beautiful.

Here is the link to the Ahmadi post on AOK [Link]

Think the beaches need cleaning up? Well now there’s something you can do about it. Al Yaal is a nationwide marine conservation initiative and through preventive and reactive measures such as clean-up activities, education, advocacy and community ownership, they hope to preserve Kuwait’s coastal environment. So if you’re interested in volunteering visit the Al Yaal website and sign up [Here]

For more information on Al Yaal click [Here]

Kuwaitism (yes he’s back) posted a BBC report he found on Kuwaiti entrepreneurs. It’s a very short piece which is disappointing since it’s a very interesting topic. I really couldn’t figure out what BBC was trying to say with this piece, all I understood was that the Kuwaiti government helps Kuwaitis set up their businesses, so why aren’t there more entrepreneurs? That’s fine as an intro but they spoke to just 2 entrepreneurs and one government official and we’re really left with no investigation or conclusion. For example I’m sure laziness isn’t the only reason for lack of entrepreneurship, what about the fact that the market is flooded with international chains? Maybe rents are too high as well? I’m not sure since I am just guessing here which is why I would have liked BBC to really dig into this subject. If you can’t see the video above for some reason here is the [Link]

Compared to our flashy yellow plastic ones I think theirs look a lot nicer.

I am not a huge fan of art unless it’s something really strange or different and I think this painting fits into that category easily. Kuwaiti artisit Nawaf Al-Hmeli has two oil paintings based on two Kuwaiti horrifying mythical creatures the Tantal and Hemarat Algayla. I honestly had never heard of these two creatures but this is what the artist says about them:

Hemarat Algayla (painting pictured above)
Half Woman/Half Donkey creature which hunts children and feeds on them “ONLY” at noon when the sun is blazing hot. It used to be the elders way of preventing children from wandering about at noon and keeping them safe so they’re not subject to neither heat strokes nor kidnapping.

Tantal
Tantal is a myth created by the elders in order to keep children from going out at night and ensuring their well-being. More like the Kuwaiti version of the Boogeyman if you like. The stories coincided with the disappearance of a young boy at that time who went out to sea at night and never came back. People immediately blamed it on Mr. Tantal here and the myth grew. 20 years later, this man comes along looking for his family and told everyone his story of how he was kidnapped and sold to a Persian man as a slave when he was a kid.

I really love the artist for bringing these two mythical creatures into focus since it allows me to share it with everyone. I’m not sure if there are any more myths but if there are would love to hear about them as well. I don’t have any information on the size of the paintings or if they are for sale but you can check out the artists deviantART page [Here], the Hmarat Algayla painting by clicking [Here] and Tantal by clicking [Here]

Thanks Safaa

A friend and colleague of mine who’s attending the Cannes Lions right now tweeted some pictures of Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa (Creator of The99) on stage presenting. I believe he’s the only Kuwaiti to ever take the stage at the Cannes Lions yet alone present.

The Cannes Lions is one of the largest and most prestigious advertising festivals in the world.

The North Korean airline, Air Koryo now flies in and out of Kuwait once a week. Supposedly this new route was opened to cater to the increase of North Korean workers coming to Kuwait which makes sense since North Korea isn’t really a blossoming touristic destination. What’s also interesting is this route is the first nonstop link between North Korea and Middle East. Make sure you visit the Air Kroyo website since it’s as outdated as their plane above. [Link]

Thanks Aws

I saw the camera above on Gizmodo today. It’s a digital camera that’s waterproof and costs just KD10. Seems like the perfect thing to take to the chalet on weekends and it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. It’s a 1.3MP camera which doesn’t sound like much but it’s more than you need for Facebook or posting on a blog. It also shoots video but from what I read the quality isn’t that great. In case you drop it the camera floats on the water which is pretty cool as well.

Anyway here is the link to the camera on [Amazon]

Update: My friend just told me he got the Kodak camera above from Amazon for KD18. It’s 12MP and looks a lot cooler than the KD10 camera I originally posted. It also comes in 3 colors. Here it is on [Amazon]

All the shops that are located under the streets adjacent to Safat Square have now been closed down. The shops used to sell random items from counterfeit perfumes with funny names to cheap toys and clothes. I always thought the shops didn’t fit very nicely with the location and it looks like they’ve now been closed down as part of the renovation process Safat Square will be undergoing.

Safat Square is actually surrounded by fences at the moment which I thought were set up because the construction work was going to begin but turns out the fences are there because of the demonstrations that have been taking place.

I just found out an interesting fact. I originally thought that Google was the one that was adding more details to the Kuwait map like new streets and highways but it turns out it’s people around Kuwait who are doing the updates. The video above is a timelapse showing how Kuwait City originally used to be and how it’s become more and more detailed over time. The details are added using Map Maker and basically anyone can add updates but once they are added a moderator has to approve it and then it takes a month or two to show up. Interesting to know. [YouTube]

Thanks Yousef

Aramex Shop & Ship have now set up Chinese mailboxes for all their customers which sounds great but what exactly can we get from China and where do we order it from?

The first thing that comes into my mind is buying stuff from Hong Kong sellers on eBay. A lot of times when I am looking for Tamiya parts and cars on eBay, the sellers with the good stuff are based in Hong Kong. Another thing I can think of but still hobby related is websites like HobbyKing.com who have most of their stock based in Hong Kong as well. You can now order stuff from there HongKong warehouse and have them ship the items by EMS to your Chinese mailbox.

Does anyone have any other ideas? Did you know there is a Chinese Amazon?

Note: If the Chinese mailbox hasn’t shown up in your shopandship.com page be patient, they’re currently in the process of generating accounts for all their clients in all 26 Shop & Ship countries.