Category: Kuwait

Deera Chat found an article online which talks about how Kuwait last month purchased nearly 6 million anti-nuclear radiation drugs. The question here is WHY? What exactly are they expecting to happen in the near future??? Here is the link to the news article. [Link] Here is a link to NukePills.com, the website which sells these pills. [Link]

What do these Potassium Iodide pills do? According to NukePills.com:

Potassium Iodide (KI) is used by health officials worldwide to prevent thyroid cancer in people who are exposed to radioactive iodides caused by nuclear reactor accidents and nuclear bombs. It protects against radioactive iodine by preventing its absorption by the thyroid gland located in the neck…

We don’t have any nuclear reactors in the region (I don’t think we do) so that only leaves a nuclear bomb, who would want to nuke us?

I always knew hotel security was just a gimmick of a sort to let guests feel more secure but I didn’t think they sucked this much. The picture above is of a large container I had in my trunk last night when I drove through a hotel check point at a major hotel here in Kuwait. The hotel had the large metal door that comes out of the ground and security guards with the mirror on a pole checking underneath the car while another one checks the trunk. When I was asked to open my trunk I was like shit now they are going to tell me to remove the case from the back of my car to open it and I really wasn’t in the mood. Surprisingly even though they checked the trunk and saw the container they didn’t even ask me what was in it (it was camera equipment if you want to know). Me and my friend were dumbfounded! Why do they even bother to look in the trunk? How do they expect a bomb to look like, a few red dynamite sticks with a golden colored clock like in the cartoons?

Fasttelco
256 Kbps = 59KD
512 Kbps = 99KD
1 Mbps = 159KD
2 Mbps = 199KD

KEMS
256 Kbps = 70KD
512 Kbps = 110KD
1 Mbps = 180KD
2 Mbps = 300KD
3 Mbps = 500KD
4 Mbps = 700KD

Qualitynet
256 Kbps = 96KD
512 Kbps = 120KD
1 Mbps = 199KD
2 Mbps = 225KD
3 Mbps = 499KD
4 Mbps = 675KD
5 Mbps = 780KD
6 Mbps = 940KD
7 Mbps = 1000KD
8 Mbps = 1200KD

United Networks
256 Kbps = 96KD
512 Kbps = 129KD
1 Mbps = 192KD
2 Mbps = 360KD

[Source]

Note: These prices are per year

I just found out today that there was a fire at Al Mayass. I don’t know how I missed this but I guess it happened while I was in London. Hope it wasn’t too bad.

Some of you requested pictures of the seats, I took some shots today on my way back. The one above is of the first class seats while the one below is of the premium economy seats. Also below is a picture showing the amount of legroom in the economy class. I am 1.86m and as you can see there was plenty of room for my legs. Also the economy class seats have power sockets.

As I mentioned in my previous post I flew with Wataniya Airways to Dubai tonight. It was a very comfy flight since I flew first class. They are my clients so if I say they’re amazing many of you won’t believe me so I will just talk about some of their features.

When you get to the Wataniya Airways airport (Sheikh Saad Terminal) you will be greeted by a Wataniya Airways employee that will check you in while you wait in the first class lounge. When its time for you to board a Wataniya Airways employee will come to you and take you through emigration and then a private car will drive you to the plane. It feels like you’re traveling on a private jet basically.

The seats of the plane are very comfy, look great and are designed by Recaro who are known for their racing seats. First class have a very cool inflight entertainment system which consists of a huge 10.6inch touchscreen. Other than the on demand video the coolest feature has to be the fact you can plug in your iPod or any video device and watch your movies on the planes 10.6inch screen since it has RCA inputs which are located on the side of the seat. A power socket is also available. Finally you can currently send SMS’s and use your phones Internet connection while on the plane which was the first time I experience that. This is a feature available to everyone on board not just first class. Also by next month you should be able to make voice calls with your phone from the plane.

When you land in Dubai you are then guided through the airport by Marhaba employees. They are hired by Wataniya Airways for all their passengers not just first class to offer any kind of assistance needed. Overall a pretty great experience, I love their private airport. Because its just for Wataniya Airways there isn’t any kind of crowd and everything works a lot quicker. Will post pictures of the airport in a few days. If anyone has any questions regarding my experience you can post them in the comments and I will try my best to answer them.

Oh and one more thing. The duty free shop is digital, you flip through the products available for sale on your touch screen and you add whatever product you want into your cart. The flight attendants then bring you your items. I thought that was also pretty cool.

Update: Turns out in flight voice calls WON’T be available next month.

Dean & Deluca soft launch is today. From what I saw over the weekend, it looks like they’re opening both the Dean & Deluca gourmet store and cafe in the same location.

I am looking for a cheap commercial space to rent. Location doesn’t matter, size doesn’t matter it just has to be cheap. Anyone know where I need to look or ask?

Never mind, problem solved.

Spotted this Fiat 500 outside Shamiya Coop today. Although I love the car I don’t think it looks that good in Kuwait.

I took my Tamiya Lunchbox out for the first time today. After all the hard work with the paint job I ironically managed to scratch it while it was still in the trunk of my Wrangler. If that wasn’t bad enough, 10 minutes into my run the Lunchbox lost died on me. It was performing really well, taking some great jumps while my dog was busy trying to catch it when suddenly it just stopped moving. When I got closer I realized the motor was working but the wheels weren’t spinning which meant something was wrong with the gears.

I got home, took apart the car again and turned out it was a problem with one of the gears, the pinion gear which is the one thats connected to the motor was loose. I tightened it back again and used some blue thread locker and its now working perfectly again. I think I am going to spend most of my time breaking my cars and then try and fix them… I love that.

If anyone is wondering where the place is in the pictures above its the huge park off the first ring road.

Q8Life posted about how the ad above is a national disgrace due to the fact that the currency is torn in half. Does anyone else find it offensive? I personally don’t. [Link]

Trojan Women
Directed by Christopher Gottschalk

Playing daily from the 21st to the 24th of January, 2009
Show starts at 8:00PM in the AUK Campus

Tickets are sold on campus for KD5 and also at the door before the show starts. Reservations can be made by calling 99093464 or 97323274.

Only females can watch the play. (segregation…)

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.

I am not usually a fan of parties in Kuwait but Groovimania (Jan 8th) looked pretty cool. Hard to believe the video above was actually shot here in Kuwait. [YouTube]

Update: The DJ removed the video from YouTube so it’s no longer available

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.