Category: Kuwait

Virgin Megastore is open again and I think this time around they are taking censorship to the extreme. I think thats what I would do if I was them, I would want to show people how ridiculous censorship can be. The CD cover above is of the Buddha-bar CD, they’ve censored the Buddha’s face!

update: I have been told censoring the Buddha is not something new.

American University of Kuwait which is located in Salmiya is having a carnival/open-day this Thursday from 10am till 5pm.

I am at the airport now waiting for a flight to Dubai. Originally we were supposed to leave on the Sri Lanken airlines flight at 7:10 but that got delayed till around 9:30. Problem is there is a soccer match tonight and me and my partner are supposed to watch it at the Double Decker pub in Dubai. We tried getting on the Emirates airline flight which takes off at 6 but it was fully booked and in the end there was only 1 seat left and they gave it to this guy who had like a gold skywards card or something.

I am now sitting in Starbucks just waiting for our late flight. We are going to miss the soccer match which I was looking forward to watching…

I finally picked up my car today from the BMW dealer but before I picked it up I got taken backstage to the garage and given a short tour plus introduced to a few people.

Overall I found the employees backstage to be a lot friendlier and more interesting then the people they have in the front dealing with customers which is kind of ironic. They told me they had received calls from various people around the world regarding my email and post (thanks to everyone who told me to email BMW in Germany and Dubai). The workshop manager told me no case ever grew to this proportion and that next week a delegation is even coming to Kuwait to check on the problems.

I told the workshop manager I was positive they weren’t coming because of my complaint alone but because they had been receiving a lot of complaints from many people. I also told him I wouldn’t have even sent out the emails or posted what I posted had there been friendly and good customer service.

Anyway they fixed the car and didn’t charge me for it and now its running perfectly so I am happy.

A large collection of old and new Egyptian movie posters. I don’t know whats funnier the posters or the names of the movies translated to English. [Link]

Thanks Holla

I started watching this documentary/movie called The Last Flight to Kuwait which talks about the British Airways flight 149 that landed in Kuwait just as Iraq was invading back in 1990. I don’t know how accurate it is but it looks like its based on facts.

There always was a conspiracy surrounding the reason the BA flight landed in Kuwait. According to Wikipedia the flight landed after the invasion had begun but according to the documentary it landed just before. In any case, the documentary talks about the reason the plane landed in Kuwait which was because there were eight MI6 (the British secret intelligence service) agents that the British government wanted to position in Kuwait. It sounds very plausible especially since there is no other reason why BA didn’t cancel the flight like every other airline that night.

If you can manage to get a hold of the movie its definitely worth watching. The movie is a combination of real footage from the war, reenacted scenes and interviews with some of the passengers and crew of that flight.

The weather today is really gross. I rode in on my bike in the morning and later at lunch I had to ride back home and it was just awful. Its not only really dusty but at some points on the Gulf Road the air becomes really hot for some reason and it just makes things disgusting. It was terrible, I think riding season is nearly over.

Toilet paper found at Sultan Center. Not as funny as Ass Sizes but still funny.

Today I got some brownies from Choowy Goowy to work. I had tried them before but this was the first time I got them to the office. I let everyone try a bite and everyone simply loved them. They are really good and aren’t too sweet so they don’t feel heavy. It comes with either caramel or chocolate dip but I prefer the caramel. The packaging is nice and 2 dozen brownie bites will set you back KD5.500 but keep in mind they are brownie bites meaning the pieces aren’t very big. If you want to order some you can call them on 2626559.

Picture above taken by RA-1

I just got a phone call a few minutes ago from the BMW workshop manager. He was very sincere and apologized about how my radiator leak was handled and they want to now fix the car at their cost. They are sending a tow truck to pick up my car from the other garage.

I was in Marina Mall yesterday when I noticed that Mac&More surprisingly have the Apple TV in stock. They are selling it for KD129 which is around $140 more expensive then on Amazon.

I was driving the E-Class all day today and so far I have mixed feelings about it. First let me get the negatives out of the way.

The E-Class I am driving is the E200 which is the lowest spec’d E-Class at the moment. The engine is a small 4-cylinder pumping out 183hp which means the car isn’t fast at all. In fact I found it frustratingly slow when driving off from a stand still. When you first slam the gas nothing happens until the RPM passes the 2000RPM mark and only then the car moves so it feels very laggy, you have this 1 or 2 second pause before the car reacts. The 0-100 acceleration is around 11 seconds! The second thing is, the car doesn’t have any special options, no navigation system, no rear view camera, no seat warmers, the steering wheel and chair don’t retract when you come in and even the passenger side chair isn’t electrically adjustable.

Now that we got that negatives out of the way here are the positives. The car is extremely comfortable and its very relaxing to drive. The mood inside the car with the plush leather seats creates a very cozy atmosphere. The sound proofing is also great, even at high speeds there is barely any wind or engine noise, although the later might be attributed to the small 4-cylinder engine. The legroom in the back is really roomy and the car does have a large sunroof which is always appreciated. The AC and stereo controls are very simple to operate which is a godsend for people who don’t want to fidget around with a complicated control system.

Really though I am really curious to know why Mercedes has the lowest spec’d E-Class as a test drive vehicle. If I wanted to buy the car I would have been put off with the lack of power and features in this test drive vehicle. Its a Mercedes which is expected to last a long time so if I was going to buy it I would personally invest more money and get a higher spec’d model like the E280 or even the E350. But for those who are budget conscious or for people who don’t want to pollute the planet with a gas guzzling 6-cylinder car, the Mercedes E200 costs around KD12,000.

You can get more information on this car and a full price list on the local dealers website. [Link]

Q80Boy sent me an email telling me that last night at 9:30PM, Virgin in Marina Mall was shutdown because they were caught selling inappropriate movies. Can anyone confirm this? It’s confirmed!

update: I just got back from Marina Mall and Virgin is closed. There are red stickers all around the place and two A4 photocopies of the closing order which you can view [Here] and [Here]

I am going to be test driving the Mercedes E-Class for the next few days. I was hoping to get the brand new redesigned C-Class but that won’t be possible until next week. The E-Class series is positioned between the smaller C-Class and the larger S-Class Mercedes. So far, judging by the ride from the dealership to my house it looks like its going to be a very comfortable weekend.

Zaydoun just posted two pictures of a Monster Burger taken at The Burger Hub here in Kuwait. Its cool a place finally decided to create a monster burger, I haven’t been to The Burger Hub yet but now I have a reason to because I NEED TO TRY THIS BURGER! [Link]

note: I called up The Burger Hub and it seems this Monster Burger will launch on the 29th of April which is on their anniversary. The price isn’t final yet but it should cost over KD15.