Category: Interesting

@datingkw is a TikTok account where the owner shares her Kuwait Tinder date stories. The account reminded me of some of the previous ones I’ve shared before like Single in the Shires and I Date Kuwait, both of which are no longer active.

There are currently a few stories up, hopefully, she keeps adding more since they’re pretty entertaining. Check out her account here.

This is completely random but the Central Bank of Kuwait launched a podcast a few days ago. They’re the last people I would have expected to start a podcast, but they seem they have a good reason for it. According to the podcast description, they want to introduce economic and financial awareness to people and explain major economic concepts to non-financial folks.

They currently have one episode up so far which is on inflation, so if you want to check it out, click here.

A few days ago a very interesting episode of the Darknet Diaries podcast was released discussing the “service disruption” that Gulf Bank had back in 2019 in which they supposedly lost $9 million. Back then, a local cyber security consultant, Mohammed Aldoub (@Voulnet) discovered evidence that led him o speculate that Gulf Bank might have been hacked similarly to how some other banks around the world at the time that were getting hacked through the SWIFT system. Gulf Bank denied they had been hacked and although Mohammed never mentioned Gulf Bank in his tweets, they ended up suing him and taking him to court. Mohammed eventually won the case last year but only after it cost him a lot of money and time.

The podcast episode is fairly short at around 30 minutes and is pretty interesting. I listened to it on Spotify but you could also listen to it on the Darknet Diaries website. The interview starts 5 minutes into the podcast.

If you found this story interesting, the cyber security website Cyberscoop published an article on the subject last year titled “Trial & Error in Kuwait“. The article has a bit more details and is also fascinating to read so check it out.

Over the weekend I was reading passages from a book by a British journalist who was describing Kuwait after visiting it back in 1831. The book written by Joachim Stocqueler is called “Fifteen Months’ Pilgrimage Through Untrodden Tracts of Khuzistan and Persia, in a Journey from India to England.” It’s two volumes but the passages I was reading were from volume 1. I thought it was interesting and wanted to share two page from one chapter which you can read below:

Koete, or Grane as it is called in the maps, is in extent about a mile long, and a quarter of a mile broad. It consists of houses built of mud and stone, occasionally faced with coarse chunam, and may contain about four thousand inhabitants. The houses being for the most part square in form, with a courtyard in the centre, (having the windows looking into the yard,) present but a very bare and uniform exterior, like, indeed, all the houses in the Persian Gulph. They have flat roofs, composed of the trunk of the date tree. The streets of Koete are wider than those of Muscat or Bushire, with a gutter running down the centre. A wall surrounds the town on the desert face, but it is more for show than protection, as it is not a foot thick. To keep up the farce, however, a trench has been dug around the wall, and two honeycombed pieces of ordnance protect each of the three gates. Beyond the wall, nothing is to be seen but a vast sandy plain, extending to a distance of more than sixty miles. Not a tree, not a shrub affords the eye a momentary relief.

Koete within the walls is equally sterile, it literally yields nothing; and when to this is added the fact of the water being far from sweet, it is difficult to conjecture how such a site could have been chosen for the establishment of four hundred families. I was informed that the Arabs had only been in possession of the place about one hundred and
fifty years, and that previously to that period it was occupied by Englishmen and their forces, who received or conquered it from the Portuguese, in whose hands it enjoyed some notoriety during the plenitude of their importance in India.

It certainly is a commodious harbour for small craft, and may probably have been occupied by the Portuguese, (the English could have had nothing to do with it, ) on account of the command it gives over the mouth of the river of the Arabs, and the power it thus conferred of interrupting the Turkish and Venetian trade with India.

If you want to read more, the full book is available to download in PDF format. Passages above start at page 18. Here is the link.

Also an original copy of volume 1 is available on eBay if you want to buy it. Seller is asking for $3,000 but I was able to negotiate down to $1,350. Here is the link to the book on eBay.

Photo on the very top is unrelated and from 1903. Source

The longest indoor slide in the world just opened inside 89 Mall in Egaila. The slide spans 6 floors and measures 85.02m, beating the previous record-holder, a slide in Taiwan that measured 74.638m.

You can now book a ticket for the slide… if you’re willing to pay 6.5KD for the experience. Even if it’s the longest one in the world, 6.5KD seems like a lot to pay for just going down a slide. In any case, if you want to book a ticket you can do so from their website bookloopz.com. You can also check out their Instagram account @loopz.q8

Currently, Kuwait is the cheapest country to mine digital currencies like Bitcoin. As compared to other countries you don’t have to spend huge amounts on crypto mining. If you are thinking of mine Bitcoin then you can move to Kuwait and start your crypto without incurring much expense every month.

Kuwait has a relatively low cost of living which is why services are pretty cheaper as compared to other countries. Also, another reason for cheap electricity is that sunlight is abundant in Arabic countries like Kuwait. Hence, there is an abundance of solar energy that can be converted to electricity. Source

The article doesn’t mention a source but it looks like the conclusion might be based off a research paper published back in November that states:

Kuwait is the most affordable country to mine Bitcoin, with an electricity cost per Bitcoin of $880. Similarly to many other countries in the Middle East, Kuwait has almost limitless oil and gas reserves, and the government is also heavily subsidizing electricity prices.

I never got into bitcoin but I do see a lot of mining rigs going up for sale in the classifieds section all the time. If Kuwait is indeed one of the cheapest places to mine then that would explain why so many people try it out here but I’m having a hard time believing it can be $880 per Bitcoin, that seems super cheap.

Forbes Middle East posted about Yarmouk Park few days ago. Yarmouk Park is recognized as being the first environmentally friendly park based on recycled materials and waste. If you haven’t been to the park before you can check out some more photos of is @forbesmiddleeast

I hadn’t heard of Duck Park until a few days ago when I stumbled on an old post by @natureinkuwait. It’s a small park located in Shaab that has a small pond and ducks!

The photos on Instagram looked a lot nicer than it was in reality but that mostly has to do with the fact there wasn’t any water in the pond when I passed by. Not sure why there’s no water but there were a few ducks there just playing in the mud. The park overall is pretty nice, small but looks well taken care of and features a climbing rope section for kids along with some swings and toys. There are also birdhouses scattered around including a pretty large one with multiple holes and a rooster that was roaming around freely.

If you want to pass by and check out the park, here is the location on Google Maps.

Ever since old Salmiya got a facelift I’ve refrained from posting about it due to all the issues I have with the project (which I won’t get into in this post). But, one good thing has come out of it and that is Little Manila.

Over the past couple of years, the Filipino community has been slowly taking over the first chunk of Salem Mubarek Street that was made pedestrian-only a few years ago. It started off with popular Asian-focused supermarkets popping up, followed by shops and restaurants (we now have like 400 fried chicken and bubble tea concepts now). There is a lot of life on the street now with a great atmosphere in the evenings. We have live music, lots of outdoor restaurants, dogs and kids running around, and even pop-up markets.

Although I still have issues with the project, I like how the community has taken it over. When I was a kid we used to call the neighborhood old Salmiya but now everyone is calling it Little Manila. If you haven’t been to the neighborhood before or haven’t been in a while, you should come by. Parking and traffic are still an issue but if you’re willing to park a bit far and walk you’ll be fine. Here is the location on Google Maps.

I recently came across the picture above of a Kuwait Airways plane crash dating to 1966. Only a month after Kuwait Airways received their brand new plane, it crashed on landing due to pilot error and was written off.

On 30 June 1966, the Trident 1E registration 9K-ACG was destroyed when it crashed 4KM short of the runway at Kuwait International. The plane was on its way back from Beirut when the plane descended at a high rate and the pilot didn’t follow the proper regulations. No lives were lost.

A higher resolution of the photo is available here, and a full report of the incident can be downloaded from here.

Originally opened in 1983, the Kuwait National Museum was badly damaged during the 1990 invasion and had remained mostly closed since. There were plans to demolish the museum and build a new one but thankfully in 2014, they decided to refurbish and fix up the existing buildings which I think was a great idea. If only the same was done to the ice skating rink or Sawaber.

The picture above was taken by @111.street. Here are some interesting links related to the museum:

History of the Kuwait National Museum
Inside the Kuwait National Museum
The Kuwait Heritage Museum
Preopening Video – 1983

I noticed recently on Twitter a lot of people complaining about Aramex. I thought I was the only one having problems with them recently but it looks like it’s everyone. Yes, I’m aware a lot of you don’t like them and prefer using other services, but from my experience, they offer the best bang for the buck. You also get what you pay for, so very affordable shipping but also fairly slow shipping which is why I don’t have an issue with their speed.

Recently things have been a disaster though. Not sure if it’s because of lack of staff or what exactly but not only are packages being delivered much slower than usual which I’m fine with, the mistakes they’re making is what I have an issue with. For example, I had one package go out for delivery only for the driver to say I rejected the package which I didn’t. It then took 2 weeks, 6 to 7 phone calls, 3 complaint tickets, and contacting their social media team twice just to get the package redelivered again.

This brings me to my post. Which company has the worst or best customer service in Kuwait? Everyone makes mistakes, that’s fine but good or bad service for me is based on how you go about trying to solve the mistake.

Worst: Aramex (Shop&Ship)
Like I said, it isn’t because they’re slow, it’s because they’re just terrible at solving problems when they do happen.

Best: Babel
This was difficult to choose because of the lack of options, but in the end I decided to pick Babel. I order delivery from them and their customer service is great. They always call to make sure the food arrived or call the next day to make sure if everything was ok. But really the reason I chose them is because of the one time I had an issue with my order, they went beyond what was required to make me happy even though I wasn’t even upset. They forgot to put the tabbouleh dressing with my order so I called them to let them know just as an FYI. They were very apologetic and insisted on resending the whole order again and even included dessert to make up for it even though I tried to tell them not to. Been a big fan ever since.

I’m curious to know what everyone’s Worst and Best is. Based on social media I’d assume it’s going to be either Aramex, Xcite or one of the telecoms.

Update: I was right! Looks like the majority of readers rank Aramex Shop & Ship, Xcite and Ooredoo as the worst followed closely by Talabat. When it comes to best customer service it looks to be Deliveroo which I also agree with.

This is some completely random info to wake up to but I just found out that Freddie Highmore, the star of the popular TV series Bates Motel and The Good Doctor at one point was living in Kuwait and interning at Gulf Bank. I thought the info was made up but it’s mentioned on IMDB in the trivia section and there is a photo of him at Slider Station.

If you don’t know Freddie as an adult then you might recognize him as Charlie from Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as well as playing Peter in Finding Neverland.

Mind blown!

Thanks forzaq8

Around two years ago, Kuwait Airways retired its last 747 from its fleet. They had operated five Boeing 747s over its entire history so what happened to them, and where are they today?

I’m not going to spoil it but you can check out this interesting and short article on Simple Flying in which they looked for and found the planes today. Five 747s with five different stories, here is the Link.

I spotted a compact electric composter a few days ago at a small business and it looked really practical. It was an Oklin GG-02 and I hadn’t seen one similar before so decided to track down the dealer to find out more about the unit so I could post about it.

A compost bin is a container into which you place organic waste to turn into very rich plant nutrients. You would throw in your leftover food, your coffee pucks, fruit peels, etc and with time it would get converted into compost which you could then use in your garden or your house plants.

I had only ever seen regular compost bins, ones that are just plastic or wooden boxes you put in the garden and fill in with waste. But what caught my interest with this Oklin unit was that it was electrically powered. The Oklin is a home appliance, you could place it in the kitchen, on a balcony or anywhere you want and just keep it plugged in. Whenever you have organic waste you just empty it into the Oklin and in just 24 hours it would convert it into compost. It can convert up to 4KG a day which should be more than enough to handle a large household.

If you’re interested in composting and looking for an easy quick solution I can’t think of anything more practical than this. The price is KD350 and the dealer is Advanced Technology Company. They don’t have a storefront so to enquire on the Oklin you could call or Whatsapp Zahra on 99912663, or email her at [email protected]

Update: The dealer for the product is now TP Green and the price has increased from KD350 to KD385. But on the bright side, they have a website which you could order the Compost and other green items from which you can check out https://tpgreen.shop