Category: Interesting

A reader shared with me a story that happened to him recently which I found shocking and wanted to share on the blog. I don’t have anyway of verifying his story but if it is true then it’s pretty messed up and freaky. Below is his story slightly edited by me.

Two weeks ago, I got jumped by five guys! Yep, five guys. It all started in the gas station, where this SUV loaded with these a-holes eyeballing me for no obvious reason. I have never met them in my life. So I gased up my car and left not caring about them or causing any trouble.. I mean come on who am I to cause any trouble with an SUV loaded with muscular guys.. I was alone.

So I left.. as I entered some dark parking lot, this SUV appears and blocks me! And they come out running towards me, so I obviously shift to reverse and let my foot give an orgasm to the pedal. BUT! They run back into the car and follow me, RAMMING ME.. yes, this is in Kuwait.. just like in the movies, they’re ramming and whacking the shit out of my 2009 Corvette and trying to block me, they did that for like 5 or 6 km! Everyone was looking at them just basically ramming me trying to stop me, I managed to escape to a main street where people would see me and help! Finlly, they hit me from the left rear and my car spins and ends up a few meters away from the street light!

And the story doesn’t end there. After everything they did one would think they’d run away or something but that didn’t happen. They got out of their car came over to mine and beat the shit out of me! All of them! Can you imagine? Everyone on the street was just standing there watching not helping. What the hell, am I being executed? I was shocked, alone and helpless.

The reason he emailed me is he wanted to know the legality of self defense weapons like stun guns and pepper spray. If you had one would it be legal to use in a situation like his? Is there a store in Kuwait the sells self defense weapons? I don’t know what I would have done in his situation.

Update: Below is a picture of the rear of the car. Note the rear wheel…

Update2: Here are more shots plus a map of where the incident took place. This was also in the papers.

Here is a large size of the map [Picture]

Update3: Here is an update I just received which explains a lot of things. It wasn’t a random attack and it did involve a girl.

I had my girlfriend with me and the reason why I was going to the parking lot is to drop her to her car. After the investigation it appears that the SUV’s driver is her ex-bf which she left over a year ago.. Some fucking grudge huh? And one of the guys with him is his younger brother, and rest are his friends.

I didn’t want to give out that information since I didn’t want it to interfere with the investigation or whatever, I’m telling you now because I made sure that it is ok to talk about the incident and won’t cause me any legal issues.

Anyhow, the girl was with me the whole time and they beat her up too! And the reason why no one in the street helped is because the guys were yelling “it’s a family/honor matter” Which it’s not! I tried to explain to them on the spot but no one listened.

When the police came, all of the guys managed to escape except the driver. But they eventually got them because their were a lot of witnesses. And of course, they’re denying everything they did!

Paris Hilton has a reality show called My New BFF which I’ve watched once before by mistake. The show is about Paris Hilton looking for a new best friend and it involves a bunch of guys and girls all trying out for that position. Well the show has now moved to Dubai and one of the contestants is a Kuwaiti girl called Reem Al Alnezi (pictured above). The Dubai version of the show doesn’t have any male contestants which means I am not in the running to be Paris Hilton’s best friend. That’s ok though since the only thing we had in common anyway was our love for Hardees.

Here is a link to photos from My New BFF Dubai [Link]

Thanks Fatemah

I don’t know how many people have noticed this but right in front of the Scientific Center there is an abandoned Kenny Rogers Roasters. I never knew about it when it was open and I’m actually curious to know why it closed down. Does anyone know anything about the place? For those of you who are Seinfeld fans you might remember the episode below when a Kenny Rogers Roasters opens up across the street.

[YouTube]

Still alive… just not kicking.

I was just checking the blog ArtKuwait when I found out that there was an article on Art in Kuwait yesterday in The Economist. Turns out there is an artist who currently has his work exhibited on four billboards in Hawalli (who would have thought) and they’re going to be up there until the end of the month (check pic above). Here are some excerpts from the article:

ABOVE a busy roundabout in Hawalli, a suburb of Kuwait, loom four giant but subtle photographs about Arab identity and placelessness by Tarek Al-Ghoussein. A Palestinian photographer originally from Kuwait, Mr Al-Ghoussein has exhibited widely, but this is the first time his work has been seen in the country of his birth. Kuwaitis and Palestinians have a chequered past. Decades of relative harmony between the two peoples were soured when Yasser Arafat, as head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, applauded Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Since then, the Palestinian population in Kuwait has dwindled from nearly half a million to around 40,000.

…

Mr Al-Ghoussein’s billboards will be on view in Kuwait until the end of April. They are the second instalment in a series of four art projects by Palestinians that includes Khalil Rabah, Jack Persekian and Tarek Atoui. Instigated and underwritten by Rana Sadik, a collector and philanthropist of Palestinian descent, the series is arranged to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Kuwait’s independence and the 20th anniversary of its liberation from Iraq.

“The billboards are a way to remind people on both sides of the positive historical relationship between Palestinians and Kuwaitis,” said Abdulaziz Al-Mulla, a board member of the Kuwait Graduates Society, an organisation of some 5,000 members. Interestingly, the artist’s father was Ambassador to America in the 1960s and instrumental in getting Kuwait into the United Nations. So it is apposite that Mr Al-Ghoussein’s photographs have been given such a cordial diplomatic role.

You can read the full article on The Economist [Here]

via ArtKuwait

Yesterday I posted a video taken at Flight Experience in 360 Mall, well there is another place that’s officially opening tomorrow (April 20th) that has a wider range of flight simulators available. The place is called Kuwait Flight Simulation Center and they are located in the basement of Discovery Mall in Kuwait City. I originally passed by them yesterday to take pictures but wasn’t allowed to since there was a miscommunication but the owner told me I could pass by today and take pictures which I did except I didn’t have my camera with me today just my iPhone 4 so apologies for the quality of the shots.

The place looks like a large plane fuselage from the outside. Once you walk in you have 7 simulation capsules on the right hand side, 3 combat stations on the left and right next to them you have a large enclosed room which is a proper full scale flight simulator similar in style to the one at 360 Mall. You also have a small coffee shop, a small shop that sells scale models and another shop that sells flight simulator accessories for PCs.

Today the place is open but it’s invite only, starting tomorrow though it should be open to the public. For more information you could visit their website [Here] or Facebook page [Here]

That’s how the inside of the capsule looks like

The 3 machines on the left are the fighter plane simulators

I think the fighter plane simulators actually move and give force feedback

Thats the inside of the full sized simulator

Cy from the blog Cyrographics uploaded pictures of Al Hamra Cinema before it got demolished. He used to work for a company that surveyed the site and he found these photos while searching through some old files. This is what he had to say about the photos:

Disclaimer Notice: I am not the owner of these photos, they are just uploaded for the sole purpose of sharing a rare glimpse of Kuwait history for the younger generations of citizens and expats alike. All credits are due to LAS Architectural and Consultancy Office

I was browsing through my files from my previous office when I chanced upon these photos of the Al Hamra Cinema as it was before. Our office (LAS) used to do a lot of Master Planning studies and proposals for the development of Kuwait City and this area, Al Maqwa Al Shargi, where the cinema used to stand, was part of one of our studies. I don’t know much about the history of this cinema, or even Kuwait in general, but I know this cinema was and will always be a part of each and every Kuwaiti families lives.

We took these photos during our survey of the area in 2003.
The other photos in the set were taken in the latter part of 2004, I guess for sentimental reasons, when the building was demolished to give way to the construction of the Al Hamra Tower.

These files had been stored in our hard disks since then, almost forgotten and in danger of being corrupted, deleted and worst, being lost forever.

You can check his blog post [Here]
You can check out all the pictures [Here]

Also, here is my post on Al Hamra Tower that was built in place of Al Hamra Cinema [Link]

According to the latest report by CB Richard Ellis “How global is the business of retail?”, Kuwait City ranked 13th in the world the list of most targeted retail destination, up one place from 14th last year. Dubai and London tied for first place followed by New York in second and Paris third. 13th place is actually incredibly good (we tied with Berlin and Istanbul) since the 12 countries ahead of us are big shots like LA, Moscow, Hong Kong, Barcelona, Berlin etc. plus we beat out cities like Milan, Munich, Tokyo and Miami. Below is the top 20 list:

1 – Dubai
1- London
3- New York
4- Paris
5- Madrid
6- Hong Kong
7- Moscow
8- Los Angeles
9- Singapore
10- Barcelona
11- Beijing
12- Shanghai
13- Berlin
13- Kuwait City
13- Istanbul
16- Riyad
17- Milan
18- Munich
19- Tokyo
20- Las Vegas
20- Miami
20- Hamburg

You can download the full report from the CBRE website [Here]

Now slightly off topic, they represented Kuwait with two visuals in the icon above, one is a stretched out version of Kuwait Towers, but what is the other? Looks like our very own Taj Mahal maybe.

A reader emailed me the flyer above, I’m guessing Alshaya sent it out to their employees. I am also guessing the first Alshaya store is the Mothercare branch next to my house in old Salmiya. I remember when they opened up all those stores in my street, Mothercare, BHS, The Body Shop, Oasis, Next, River Island and whatever else I might have missed. It made the street pretty cool and they’re all actually still open here except I think Oasis which became H&M.

I know a lot of people don’t like Alshaya but I grew up with them on my street so I’m a big fan and I love how they’re bringing over American chains now (example Shake Shack). It’s sad though that their 2000th store had to be one that opened up in Dubai and not here in Kuwait. I guess it’s not something you plan… or at least I hope it wasn’t planned that way.

Thanks Joe

I like posting strange and out of the ordinary stuff and I think this falls into that category. Abdulaziz Al-juraib is a 19 year old Kuwaiti special effects make-up artist who’s currently still studying in university. I took a look at some of the stuff he’s done and I have to say he’s not that bad. Keep in mind we don’t have any schools for this here nor do we have proper facilities or shops to purchase special effects products from. If anyone is doing a short movie that requires a bloody and gory scene then he’s probably the guy you should contact. Check out some of his work on his facebook page [Here]

Has anyone been to Tatami Japanese Restaurant yet? I just heard about it from a friend and a quick google resulted in some shots of the place. It’s supposedly a local creation and judging by the pictures, a pretty cool looking one.

Here is a link with pictures of the place [Link]
Here is a link to the Tatami website [Link]

Update: His&Hers passed by Tatami over the weekend and you can read their review [Here]

I got this footage yesterday when I met the Al Hamra Tower people. It’s a time-lapse from the start of construction back in December 2005 all the way up to February 2011. They’ve had two cameras pointed at the site from the very start, one is located on Al Raya the other on Al Khalejiah. [YouTube]

Note: There is no sound

One of the best things about blogging is the fact I get invited to check out a lot of cool work in progress projects like Messilah Beach, Missoni Hotel and The Regency Palace. My dad’s an interior designer and as a kid I used to tag along with him on Friday mornings to various construction sites which is why now whenever I get invited to visit one I can never say no. It brings back good childhood memories and that’s why when I was asked if I wanted to tour the Al Hamra Tower I jumped at the opportunity. I’ve been a big fan of the tower for a long time to get a tour of it before completion would literally be a once in a life time opportunity since they’re only going to build it once.

First a bit of history and some facts. Al Hamra used to be Kuwait’s and the GCC’s first indoor cinema. It had two large theaters, one played Bollywood movies while the other played Western movies. Al Hamra Tower is being built in the same location where Al Hamra Cinema used to be located. It’s currently the second tallest building in the region with Burj Khalifa being the tallest. It’s the tallest asymmetrical structure in the world (no side is like the other side) and it’s also the second tallest concrete building in the world.

So my tour started off with a video presentation of the tower. It wasn’t really boring since there was a presenter and I was able to interrupt and ask questions. After the presentation I was taken to the mall that’s located at the bottom of the tower. The mall is made up of five floors and each floor will be around the size of a floor at Al Raya mall across the street. The fifth floor will hold the Al Hamra Cinema. Whats special about this cinema is the fact it will be the first non-Cinescape theater in 50 years. Back in 1953 Cinescape got a 50 year exclusivity for cinema’s in Kuwait. That exclusivity expired in 2003. The mall will be a luxurious one and having Hermes there is a good start.

Once we were done walking around the mall we headed to the main tower lobby (pictured above) which is really going to be huge when completed. Although the tower is super tall your average wait time for a lift will be under 30 seconds, the lift also travels at a speed of 10 floors a second. To get to the top floor of the tower we had to take a lift up to a lobby on the 54th floor I think and then swap to another lift and continue up to the very last floor.

[YouTube]

Once we got to the last floor it was filled with scaffolding since they still have a few more glass panels they’re installing at the very top. But the space up there is just astonishing, the ceiling is incredibly high and the view is just overwhelming. I shot the video above to try and show what I was experiencing and seeing but you really need to be there (Trivia: Can you tell when I hit my head on a scaffolding? Luckily I was wearing a hard hat!). Once completed this last floor will sadly be a private invite only chairman’s club and not a restaurant like I had previously heard. This means very few people will actually get to enjoy this beautiful view.

It’s hard not to like Al Hamra Tower, it’s an office tower done right and we don’t have many “done right” projects in Kuwait. I really can’t wait for it to launch which should be September of this year. Below are some pictures I took today.

Update: Forgot to mention that the windows will be cleaned by a team of robots and it will take a month to clean all the windows. Burj Khalifa on the other hand employs 36 window cleaners who take 3 months to clean all the windows. Burj Arab I believe uses 2 people who take a full month to clean their windows.

There is an interesting article on 5 things that Donald Duck invented and Kuwait was mentioned in one of the stories:

In 1964, a freighter capsized off the coast of Kuwait. This caused a bit of a problem, as the ship’s hold had been filled with 5,000 sheep, who were now drowned and decomposing in close proximity to Kuwait’s drinking water. And really, no one wants to drink dead sheep water (well, except maybe the Scots). So Danish inventor Karl Kroyer designed a ship-raising technique that involved filling the vessel with small, buoyant balls injected through a tube. The combined buoyancy of which would float the ship to the surface. It took 27 million balls, but it worked. The Al Kuwait rose from the depths, with the furious ghosts of 5,000 dead sheep and all.

So, what does this have to do with Donald Duck? Well, Kroyer wanted to patent his idea and so he applied for it at a Dutch office but they stopped him accusing him of stealing his idea from Donald Duck. Turns out in one of the Donald Duck stories they lifted a sunken ship by pumping millions of ping pong balls into it, an idea similar to Kroyer’s. Anyway you can read the full article and check out the original comic by following this [Link]

I thought is was interesting that the first ship ever raised from the sea bed was here in the coastal waters of Kuwait.

Thanks lloyd_911

According to the description under the image above, this was the first concrete and bricks building in Kuwait and it was built by Alkurafi & Almatrook opposite the customs in Al Seif Street. I wonder if it’s still standing today. [Link]

Update: Mithos from the blog Habatq8 sent me a scan from what looks like an old Kuwait almanac. On the page there is a list of “Prominent Merchants” (see above) and topping that list is Alkurafi & Almatrook who were listed as “Grocer and a dealer in piece goods”. Here is a link to the full scan [Image]