2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003
I am not a big fan of Golf but the Kuwait National Finals 2007 of the Mercedes Trophy Golf Tournament is going to be held tomorrow 23rd March 2007 at the Sahara Golf Club. I might just go for an hour if I don’t have anything better to do. Tee-Off is at 7AM and will end at 3PM. The presentation and prize distribution ceremony will commence at 7PM followed by dinner.
Also if you need more details about Golf in Kuwait you can check an old post of mine [Here]
I had a meeting tonight at the Salmiya Club and when I got there the club soccer team were practicing so I spent some time watching them. It made me really miss playing soccer, the last time I played was during high school. Although I have been living in Salmiya all my life and passed the club from the outside like a million times, I never imagined the club was this huge from the inside. They have the largest soccer field in Kuwait, they also have 2 small ones, 4 outdoor and 1 indoor tennis court, squash courts, a large pool and bunch of other stuff. I was completely flabbergasted (this is officially the biggest word I have used this year), since I had no clue the place was this cool.
Monday I am going back to play some indoor soccer. I also might start going there to play some tennis and squash with Nat. I can’t believe I never bothered to go into the club before..
Here is the club on Google Maps [Link]
Kabab Al Hajat are know in Kuwait for their Kababs but recently they started making shawerma and I was curious to know how well it faired up.
Anyone who has ever been to Kabab Al Hajat and tried ordering food will know that there usually its extremely crowded and wait is long. Thankfully the shawerma station there has its own cashier and so is never full. When I passed by they only had chicken shawerma but the guy told me they were going to add meat also soon. I ordered two chicken and a coke, each shawerma costs 250fils and the coke 100fils.
Firstly it is important to point out I had my shawerma at lunch time. Very very few places serve shawerma during the day for some reason, I can only think of maybe 2 or 3 places max that serve shawerma for lunch so Kabab Al Hajat don’t have much competition while the sun is still out.
How did the shawerma taste? Well the garlic wasn’t strong which I usually mark as a bad thing. This time though I actually appreciated it because I was having shawerma during my lunch break and I didn’t want to get back to the office stinking of garlic. The overall flavor of the shawerma though was average, nothing in it stuck out as being amazing and there was no flavor that tasted weird or out of place. They use small Arabic bread not the hot dog one (samoon).
For the final score I would give it a 3.5 out of 5. Since they serve shawerma for lunch I think thats a great thing and I would pass by again for sure. At night though I would rather drive a bit further and get a shawerma from Badar Al Badoor.
Today on our lunch break me and my friend decided to pass by Marina Waves and try wall climbing and it turned out to be a lot of fun.
After some short instructions we decided to climb the beginners wall first. It looks easy when you see someone climbing but its really not. After some minor struggling we both raced to the top but then we didn’t know how to come back down. We both looked down and it was the scariest sight, we were like hanging from the top and the bottom looked really far. In the end we decided we would climb back down the wall and not try and see if the safety rope worked. Around half way down I decided to let go though and the safety rope did end up bringing me down. Turns out to come down you just rappel down with the rope.
We spent 40 minutes trying to climb different difficulties, I managed to climb two thirds up the medium side while my friend managed to hit the top. Thats as far as we got ranking wise. Other then that the whole thing was a struggle for both of us since we both aren’t very fit, me less fit then him of course. After 40 minutes I couldn’t even make it half way up the easy side yet alone attempt to climb the difficult one.
The whole thing was a lot of fun and I am definitely going back again. It costs KD4 for an hour of climbing, gear included. They open from 12PM to 12AM except for weekends its 10AM to 12PM. I now appreciate the extreme climber a lot more.
Just got back from The Avenues and its pretty big. The place looks cooler then Marina Mall and I counted at least 5 Starbucks, 2 Boots, 2 H&M’s and 2 The Body Shops. A lot of stores are still closed but its still worth a visit.
Not only Marzouq can get his picture taken while riding his bike. Today morning a friend of mine took this picture of me while I was riding in to work.
Since a large stake of Aston Martin was purchased by Investment Dar and Adeem Investment Co it makes Aston Martin a Kuwaiti company and this is why I suggest they update the Aston Martin logo with something that relates to Kuwait. This is one suggestion:
Another suggestion would be to replace the dhows on the Kuwaiti currency with silhouettes of Aston Martins…
update: A friend suggested maybe Aston Martin can now release a small white pickup truck (waneyt)
This is cool news, Investment Dar and Adeem Investment Co have agreed to purchase a stake in Aston Martin. Yabeela! [Link]
The Annual exhibition by KASA (Kuwait Architectural Students Association) is being held at Bayt Lothan from 10 to 14 March. The exhibition is open from 7PM to 9PM and will be displaying work done by architecture students. Bayt Lothan is located in Salmiya adjacent to Marina Mall.
Just came back from my morning ride awhile ago and the new exhausts sound ridiculous! They are unbelievably good!! Its like a completely different bike, they are loud, mean and look much better then the stock ones. The whole bike feels lighter since the new carbon exhausts are much much lighter then the old aluminum ones. Anyway below I have pictures of the bike with the new exhausts and front fairing. If you want to see how the bike looked like before click [Here]
Today morning I got 24 cup cakes from Little Treats. The delivery guy came early in the morning to my office, I paid him and then hurried back to my desk so I could dig in. I spent the first 5 minutes just staring at the cupcakes, they were just so beautifully decorated I didn’t know if I should eat them or just look at them. Finally I opened up the package and tried the cupcakes.
The Little Treat cupcakes are much better then Juju’s. Everyone at my office who tried them gave the same comment “these are better then yesterdays”. Yesterday being Juju’s cupcakes. Other then the fact that the cupcakes are bigger and better decorated then Juju’s, they also taste better.
My biggest issue with Little Treats is the packaging. Its difficult to take out one cupcake without damaging the decoration on it or on the cupcakes adjacent to it. Other then that after trying both Juju’s and Little Treats cupcakes I have realized I prefer muffins over cupcakes and cookies over muffins.
If you are interested in Little Treats check out their website by clicking [Here]
Was leaving Sultan Center when I spotted these two ads:
I remember the air show that was held in the early 90s. I think over 140 planes participated in that one. Today there is another air show although not as grand, if you are passing by Salmiya keep your eyes up in the air. Dailystar has more details. [Link]
update: I think I posted this too late
I just found this old article from TIME Magazine that was written after alcohol was banned in Kuwait:
A month ago the oil-rich sheikdom of Kuwait banned all liquor within its borders, and since then many of its thirsty citizens have been drinking everything in sight from perfume and eau de cologne to rubbing alcohol and Sterno — with predictably disastrous results. By last week, an estimated 150 Kuwaiti had died from alcohol poisoning, several hundred more had been blinded, and Kuwait’s hospitals were filled to overflowing. Bathtub gin is flourishing, and bootlegging the real thing has become Kuwait’s fastest growing business. A fifth of Dewar’s White Label Scotch now commands a sheik’s ransom of $50 on the black market.
Prohibition came to Kuwait as deviously as an Arab horse trade. In theory only Christian residents of the predominantly Moslem nation could drink, using ration cards to obtain whisky through London’s Gray Mackenzie & Co. Ltd., which has had an import monopoly on Kuwait’s liquor flow for decades. In fact, Moslems imbibed increasingly, and drunken-driving fatalities mounted apace. The nation’s stricter religious leaders then teamed up with local merchants who resented Gray Mackenzie’s lucrative monopoly to introduce a prohibition bill in the Kuwaiti Assembly. With voting a matter of public record in the tiny Moslem land, the bill passed easily, despite its manifest unpopularity and whatever the legislators’ private lapses from the temperance of Mohammed’s grace might be.
Gray Mackenzie padlocked its doors, and the poisoning cases began to stagger in as sales of after-shave lotions and cologne soared tenfold. Several dozen British and American petroleum engineers served notice that they would not renew their employment contracts if Kuwait stayed dry. Several influential Kuwaitis have applied to remote countries for posts as honorary consuls, hoping thereby to qualify for diplomatic liquor privileges. Many of the thirsty began flocking to Basra in Iraq, 100 miles from Kuwait City. Their pilgrimage has also produced agitation for repeal of the law from their weekend widows left behind. They fear that the forced-draft drinking by the boys and the wiles of the women of Basra may prove a dangerously combustible mix.
Wow Kuwaitism just posted the coolest music video ever made in Kuwait. The video was recorded in 1978 back when alcohol was still legal and when the sea was actually visible while driving down the Gulf Road. Its an English music video called Do You Love Me? and its by the Bendaly Family.
Kuwaitism also has another video linked and more info so check out his post [Here] Also the guy who put the video on YouTube has a ton more vintage music videos which you can also check out by clicking [Here]
update: I asked my mum if she knew a group called Bendaly Family since she was in Kuwait back then and she told me she did and it turns out I do to. They are a Lebanese band and their daughter Remi Bendaly later went solo and was pretty famous. According to my mum back in around 1985 or 1986 I actually attended a Bendaly Family concert here in Kuwait and got to sit front row. The concert was held in Shaab Park which was an open area back then. The Showbiz owner back then George Karam brought the Bendaly Family to Kuwait.
