Category: Kuwait

Even though I find the above video extremely disturbing, I have to say, the guy is pretty good. More videos [Here]

I just found out everyone is getting a salary increase, Kuwaitis will get KD120 while everyone else gets KD50. I guess now we can all afford to drink KDD milk again.

Update: everyone else = expats

update2: Here is more info from KUNA

The cabinet approved Thursday a monthly bonus of KD 120 for Kuwaitis employed in the public and private sectors, retirees and those receiving social assistance as of March 1, and KD 50 for expatriates working in the public sector, said Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shimali.

Speaking to reporters following the extraordinary cabinet meeting, he said a monthly bonus of KD 120 will be paid as of March 1, 2008 for Kuwaitis employed in both the public and private sectors. He explained that retired citizens would also be receiving this bonus, as well as all those receiving social assistance from the state. Moreover, Al-Shimali said expatriates employed in the public sector would also be getting KD 50 on a monthly basis.

Someone had told me before that the Chili’s in Kuwait was the largest in the world and a lot of people told me that wasn’t true. Well I emailed Chili’s last week asking them if the Kuwait branch was the largest and this is what they replied back:

Dear Mark:

Thank you for your email and interest in Chili’s.
Our Kuwait location is our largest Chili’s restaurant.
Again, thank you for your email.

Sincerely,
Pharisa Smith-King
Guest Relations

I guess that settles it!

Once again, the view from my office looks as if I am staring into an hourglass. I tried to take a picture of the weather outside but every picture ended up looking like this:

Nibaq explained it best:

Desert: A dry, often sandy region of little rainfall, extreme temperatures, and sparse vegetation.
Fubuki: Japanese for snow storm

Link [here]

-Posted by K.

A large chunk of the old Salmiya souk is going to get demolished soon, its now official since signs are now located all over the building saying this. For the people who said that the building is going to be refurbished and expanded, thats not true, the whole building is going down. I wonder how much traffic will decrease after the building which houses a large chunk of the shops in the souk gets brought down.

Now that I finished with the audio install in my Wrangler the next thing I am going to do is get a lift so I could install 33″ tires. After scouring the Jeep Forum and doing a lot of research I decided to go with the DPG Ultimate Trailgunner Suspension System which is a kit put together by DPG for Jeep Wranglers and consists of a 2.5″ Old Man Emu suspension system combined with DPG springs, a 1.25″ JKS body lift and a bunch of other parts which I need for the Wrangler install like adjustable track bars, quick disconnects and bump stops, etc.. basically all the parts I need to get 33″ tires installed on my Wrangler. You can check it out [Here]

Now as usual I always try to purchase stuff from Kuwait first but also as usual I get put off by the prices. I found the Old Man Emu dealer in Kuwait which is Naser Al-Sayer (Tel: 4747137) but their prices were more than double that of the US. Even with shipping it would be a lot cheaper and more reliable to order the parts from a specialized place like DPG in the States.

So now that I solved my suspension lift issue I have another problem with the tires and wheels. My current setup is 31″ tires with 15×7 wheels, for my 33″ setup I need to get 15×8 wheels and 33×12.5xR15 tires. I found some really nice American Racing wheels (black steelies) for KD16 per wheel but they will cost me an arm and a leg to ship to Kuwait. So I decided to pass by the American Racing dealer in Kuwait who are Silicon Valley Group (Tel: 4826723) to see how much the wheel cost here. The visit was pretty disappointing, they barely had anything in stock, they had nothing that fits the Wrangler and the employee there really had no clue about anything. They are even the local dealers for Mickey Thompson tires yet they only had one model from the size I wanted 33×12.5xR15 and even worse they only had one tire in stock. The guy told me I could place an order for anything I wanted but that it would get here by August/September. Very disappointing.

For tires I wanted BF Goodrich AT/KO but I couldn’t find a local dealer so I started calling other places to see what they had and this is what I found:

Goodyear Wrangler MT/R
33×12.5R15
KD80 per tire (slow shipping, 2 months to arrive)
KD110-120 per tire (fast shipping, 2 weeks to arrive)
Tel: 884737

Mickey Thompson Desert King
33×10.5R15
KD90 (1 tire in stock)
Tel: 4826723

Maxxis MT762 Bighorn
33×12.5R15
KD42
Tel: 4824256

Hankook Dynapro MT RT03
33×12.5R15
KD37 (6 tires in stock)
Tel: 884737

I also tried Dunlop, Toyo and Yokohama but they didn’t have any in stock or in Toyo’s case no one ever answered the phone. I am extremely disappointed with the state of some of the dealerships in Kuwait. Prices are expensive, they don’t have a large stock and ordering stuff with them takes ages. Gives me less and less reason to buy stuff from Kuwait.

Update: A friend gave me a link to a website of shop in Dubai called Icon Auto who sell and install lifts for the Wrangler. Their price is very competitive compared to the US. For example a 2.5″ suspension lift costs $659 in the States, $800 in Dubai and $1100 in Kuwait. How come we don’t have a place like Icon Auto in Kuwait?? [Link]

Since its Kuwait’s National Day next week I decided to post some of my favorite songs I used to hear when I was a kid. They are all available on YouTube and you can check them out below. By the way is it just me or does Kuwait in general seem less decorated than the previous years? Usually the majority of the buildings in Kuwait City would be covered with lights and flags but other then the KTV building nothing has grabbed my attention this year. Strange…

عيدي يا بلاد
امبارك عليك العيد يا بلاد
كاسروه دله
كلما زادت المحن
كويت والعرب

Some readers in the forum have been experiencing account access issues when using Fasttelco. When you login into a website (FaceBook, Gmail, Forum), it informs you that you have been logged out and then you have access to someone else’s account (and vice versa). There are screenshots in the forum of a user being redirected to several different gmail accounts and even gaining access to post under different user-names.

If you are unable to use another ISP to access your sensitive information, I suggest using a proxy, vpn or anonymizer (such as Tor) to bypass the Fasttelco cache server. For those who already logged into sensitive websites; login using a different ISP (or the methods suggested) and change your password.

This is most likely due to the Fasttelco cache server (which stores information locally to speed/conserve bandwidth) incorrectly passing data. If you are a user of Fasttelco, call up the help desk and demand that the cache server be disabled until they can fix it.

Link to the topics [here] [here] [here]

Thanks 36o!

-Posted by K.

Al Mayass is a very popular Lebanese and Armenian restaurant in Lebanon but for some reason I hadn’t heard about it until it opened up here in Kuwait. Since I’ve been hearing only good stuff about the place I decided to try it out and see what it was all about.

Al Mayass is located inside the Shiik Resort which I think is a pretty strange location because I can’t imagine girls in bikinis walking by conservative families on their way into lunch not end up being a problem. Anyway once you walk into the place you will notice it doesn’t look very Lebanese but thats not a big deal since the colors and design of the place is leaning more towards Armenian. What would be a Lebanese look anyway? I don’t think we have one for restaurants.

I only found three problems with the Al Mayass and one popped up right at the beginning. Its not actually a problem more like a nitpick. I found the napkin too small to properly place over the lap. If I am complaining about napkins then you already have an idea on which direction this review is heading. The second problem followed nearly instantly, they don’t have soup on the menu. I was eager to start off with their lentil soup since it was cold outside and wanted something to warm me up. I even asked the waiter about it hoping they had a soup de jour which wasn’t on the menu but he apologized telling me they sadly didn’t have soup on the menu. I think this is a permanent thing and not just temporary which is disappointing.

We then went ahead and ordered a bunch of cold and hot appetizers including hummus, hummus with meat, labne with garlic, tabboule, batata harra (hot potato?), cheese beurek and ras asfoor which translates to bird head although the dish is actually meat chunks. For our main course we ordered chicken taouk and kabab with cherry.

One by one the dishes started to arrive and everything was tasting great. The hummus with meat was probably the best I had ever had and the batata harra was also really great although pretty filling. The cheese beurek is basically a cheese puff and from all the appetizers is the only one I wouldn’t order again. We ordered two cheese beureks at KD1.500 a piece but they were really tiny pieces, each the size of two matchboxes placed side by side. Actually now that I think about it I wouldn’t order the ras asfoor again since that dish cost KD5 and really wasn’t that great.

Once we were done with our appetizers our main courses arrived. The chicken taouk (KD4) was good and very tender but really didn’t grab my attention as much as the cherry kebab (KD4.5). I hadn’t had cherry kebab before but a friend of mine told me I would love it and he was absolutely right. The cherries turned an ordinary dish found everywhere into something much more interesting. The combination of kebab with the sweetness of the cherries resulted in a very flavored kebab which I would definitely want to have again.

By the time we were done with all the food we were pretty full but we still went ahead and ordered the Mayass knefeh which needed 15-20 minutes of preparation time. I guess the waiting period raised my expectations because usually my knefeh gets served instantly but to wait 20 minutes for one meant it had to be really special. It wasn’t, the knefeh tasted like regular knefeh although it did come in a different shape from the usual. My feelings are its just not worth the wait, if you want it make sure you order it while your main course is being served.

Overall I liked Al Mayass even though I am not usually a fan of Lebanese grill. I usually find Lebanese kebab and taouk dishes pretty dry and bland but the cherry kebab has sparked an interest with me. The Lebanese waiters were very friendly without being the talkative type and their service was fast. The lack of soup is a disappointment and the prices of two of the dishes I ordered were expensive. As you can tell though if I am picking on the size of the napkin its because there isn’t much to pick on. The place is great and is probably the only Lebanese restaurant I would want to visit again. The final score is a 4 out of 5.

My friend the blogger Stallion attended the Anti-Segregation Rally that was held yesterday and has posted a short write up and pictures from the event. You can check his post by clicking [Here]

Registration is now open for entry into the third annual dog show. Geo (my dog) participated in the first and second dog show and will be participating in the third one also but I don’t think he will be participating in any of the competitions, maybe just under “Most adorable dog” although its going to be tough category. I would have him compete in the “Most obedient dog” category but with all those dogs around him he will be too distracted to pay any attention to me.

The event will be held on March 7th from 11AM to 4PM at the British Embassy. If you want to attend or register your dog all the forms are on the PAWS website which you can go to by clicking [Here]

Anyone heard anything about this. Someone just called and said that there was a large explosion in Kuwait according to Al-Rai TV.

Update: False alarm. According to the latest breaking news report on Al Rai TV, it was just a military plane that broke the sound barrier while traveling really low. Picture below shows the breaking news report.

This sounds pretty cool, looks like Cartoon Network is opening a theme park in Kuwait.

Cartoon Network Enterprises has entered into an agreement with Future Kid & Real Estate Co. to develop a fully branded Cartoon Network theme park in Kuwait City. The 3,500 square meter venue is scheduled to open at the end of 2008.

“This is a timely and exciting deal which puts Turner at the heart of a thriving entertainment industry in the Middle East,” says Jeff Kupsky, president of Turner Broadcasting System Europe, owner of

Cartoon Network. “The Kuwait City indoor theme park will enable visitors to sample the Cartoon Network experience on a grand scale, and truly interact with our characters and brands.”

[Source]

Thanks MFS!

I don’t know how accurate this information is since it was posted as a comment by a reader of the blog but according to him the IKEA owners are in dispute with the Avenues management due to the new outlet of Alghanim at the Avenues. Alghanim launched a new concept store right across from IKEA where they are selling electronics AND furniture. The agreement between IKEA and the Avenues is that they should be the only furniture outlet in the mall.

According to the same reader a fight has also started between Carrefour and IKEA against the Avenues management. Neither Carrefour nor IKEA are willing to accept the fact that their customers now have to pay for parking.

Finally just some more info. Carrefour paid KD3.5 per square meter, IKEA paid KD4.5 while Alghanim paid KD10 per square meter for their store.

Again, I don’t know how accurate the information above is but it sounds plausible.

A friend just passed me this flyer and I can’t believe some of the prices on these products. For example the 8GB Cruzer costs KD14 in Kuwait while on Amazon its selling for KD17.5 [Flyer Scan]