Category: Kuwait

I went to work today to finish up a couple of jobs before starting my 10 day vacation. I was on my way back home when I spotted this strange accident. According to eye witnesses at the scene, there was a woman parked in front of the store and instead of hitting reverse she put the gear on drive and ended up climbing up 3 steps into the store.

Here is another angle
Here is also another angle

Update: The location of this Al-Rifai branch is in Baghdad Street, Salmiya.

Yesterday while walking around Muthana Complex I found this really cool Golf store called Golf Me. I hadn’t seen it before and I later found out that it had only been open for 2 weeks now. I went inside and spoke to the owner who was a very nice guy. The first thing I asked him was if there was a Golf course in Kuwait. He told me there was one in Ahmadi thats a sand course, I told him I knew about that but if there was a grass one. Surprisingly he told me there was, a place called the Sahara Golf & Country Club. I then started to get some details about the store and how much it would cost to golf in Kuwait and this is what I found out. Firstly they have this cool setup in the store where you can try golf clubs out and watch your swing replayed digitally on a TV screen. I also found out that they teach golf. For KD70 you get 10 courses and this includes the use of their golf clubs and time on the golf course. If later on you want to buy your own golf club set you can get one for as low as KD150. I forgot to ask how much it would cost to play golf in the Ahmadi course but I did ask about the Sahara Golf & Country club. The owner told me you need to be a member at the country club and its not cheap. Originally when they first opened membership was KD1300 a year, the price then went up to KD1500 and now the price is KD2000, KD500 of which is a one time setup fee. The course is managed by PGA and is 18 holes and 6,700 yards so its not your run of a mill golf course.

Anyway here are some links and pictures related to the above.
Sahara Golf & Country Club Website
Details on the country club
The Golf Me website
Golf Me from the outside
Golf Me from the inside
Golf Me from the inside 2

The Golf Me store is located on the Mezzanine floor of the Muthana Complex in Kuwait City. Their phone number is 2634660.

After stepping on Geo last night I was hoping by today morning he would be ok, well, he wasn’t. He was still limping in the morning so me and Nat decided to take him to the International Veterinary Hospital. We arrived there at 8:30AM to a beautiful sight of around a dozen dogs with a dozen handlers all lined up outside the place doing some training. We later found out these dogs were mostly used for narcotic and bomb detection, really cool. We continued going in and asked to see the Vet, after waiting for a while outside on the green grass we were called in. Our usual vet only comes in during the afternoon so today we had another Italian vet except this time it was a woman. She did some physical tests on Geo and recommended we take some Xrays just to be safe. Good thing we did because it turned out he fractured bones. Now geo has something like a cast around his leg and he is going to have to be in it for up to 3 weeks depending on how fast he will get healed. The vet was very nice and although Geo looks like a dork now with his one green leg I am really glad he is going to be ok. I am going to hopefully get 10 days off work so I could be with him at home. I feel really guilty for what I did and even though he loves to runaround and play its not going to be possible until his leg heals. The vet told us he is lucky he is still a puppy because they heal a lot quicker. She gave us some calcium pills and told us to give him a lot of cheese to help speed up the healing process. The whole thing cost us only KD34 which is pretty decent and now Geo is sleeping in the living room while I am watching the Discovery Channel. I am sorry Geo!!

As I mentioned yesterday I was going to send an email to Pizza Hut International about the cockroach I found walking on the table. Well they replied to my email and here is what they had to say:

Dear Mr . Mark,

Thank you for taking the time to contact our International Customer Services Hotline regarding your feedback.

As per the standard of Pizza Hut, we aim to provide and serve the highest quality product at all times. Your feedback and comments are very important to enable us further improve our service.

We do apologize for the inconvenience this situation may have caused you. By copy of this note, I am passing your comments to Mr. Louay Ghandour from Al Homaizi Foodstuff Co., our Pizza Hut Franchise partner in Kuwait and I am confident that Pizza Hut representative will contact you to address the points you raised.

Please do not hesitate to contact us again in the future.

Best regards,
Lanie Kadwani

A good reply but lets see how the local management will react.

I was sitting having my salad at Pizza Hut in Muthana Complex (Kuwait City) with Nat when I look to my left and see a huge fucking cockroach on the table! I quickly got up surprising Nat who hadn’t yet noticed the intruder yet. I was like look there is a fucking cockroach on the table which quickly made her get up in disgust and shock. So I call the head waitress over and I told her there was a huge cockroach on the table. She calmly asks us if we would like to change to another table. I asked her if there were gonna be any cockroaches there and she laughed and said no. I didn’t find any of this funny. We sat down at the new table but neither Nat nor I felt like finishing our salads so I got up to the counter to pay the bill.

While I was standing there waiting for the cashier to hand me back my change I hear Nat calling a waiter and then telling him that the cockroach is back on our old table, he quickly goes and kills it. I tell the cashier I want to talk to the manger and he tells me OK but then starts tidying up around the register and putting away menus and stuff. So I tell the cashier I wanted to see the manager NOW, he was like why is there a problem? I was like fuck yes now get me the manager. The manager comes out of the kitchen and asks me what the problem was. I told him the problem was there was a huge fucking cockroach on the table while we were eating. I told him I found that disgusting and I would never come back to the place again. The manager who looked like he was confused and didn’t know what to do told me the reason for the cockroach was that they had sprayed the night before. I told him I didn’t fucking care and thats not an excuse since there was a fucking cockroach on my table! Seeing as I wasn’t even going to be able to convince the manager that the cockroach on the table was a problem I picked up my stuff and left.

I am never going back to another Pizza Hut again. Other then the cockroach on the table I found the staff very unprofessional and I found the manager to be incompetent and an idiot. He barely even apologize about the cockroach nor did he offer any kind of compensation! I am now going to make sure the owners, Al Homaizi Food Group know about this incident and I will also send an email to Pizza Hut international so they know what kind of managers work for them. This was really fucking disgusting.

I just found this website called Q8 Beasts and according to the description on the website its “The Only Free Home Delivery Online Dog Store In Kuwait”. I checked their products list and they don’t have a lot of items plus the fact that they are calling dogs “beasts” kinda puts me off. The background music is also pretty out of place considering this is an online dog store and not a music shop. Anyway here is the link to see what I am talking about. [Link]

Since we got our pet dog Geo we have been neglecting our Hamster Zero. Geo is taking up all our time and we haven’t been paying any attention to Zero and this is why we have decided to find Zero a new and better home. Zero is a female and she spends most of her time sleeping. Hamsters sleep during the daytime and come out to play at night which is perfect for people who have a job. Zero doesn’t make any sound and taking care of her is really easy. We will be giving Zero away with her two cages (which you can connect together) and all its accessories as seen in the picture above. We will also be giving a maze which you can attach to the cage if you have enough room. You will also get a large ball you can put the hamster in and he can run around your living room safely in it. Finally you will also get around 3 large bags of pet bedding (cedar wood chips) and some hamster food. All this for free but on the conidition you will take good care of Zero. If anyone here is looking for a very playful and friendly hamster then leave a comment below and I will contact you.

Susan, a regular reader of the site recently went on a sky tour of Kuwait and this is what she had to say about it:

A recent start-up called Kuwait Sky Tours is now operating in Kuwait and taking passengers on 15-minute helicopter rides at a cost of KD25 each. The 15-minute flight takes off from the helipad behind the Sultan Centre restaurant on the Gulf Road, travels up to Green Island and then back down to the Amir’s Palace in Salwa, before returning to land. It is a great way too see Kuwait from a different perspective. The helicopter is a MD 500-E and seats 3 adults. There is space for a child or a very skinny person between the pilot and front passenger. If you want to go, give Steve a call on 705 6666. They also fly from Khiran and Failaka on occasion. Cameras are allowed.

You can also go on a larger helicopter, for an hour-long flight for the princely sum of USD1,500. Or, try the executive jet, which is ready to fly you and 13 of your friends to any destination in the world! Don’t know that price; I was too afraid to ask!

P.S. Don’t talk into the headset during the flight. The pilot told me off!

Here are Susan’s pictures from her trip:
The Helicopter
Looking North West
Marina Mall and Marina Hotel
The Scientific Center
View of Salmiya
The Gulf Road and Kuwait Towers
House in Salwa
Radisson SAS

Did anyone hear the large explosion bang today just before 9AM?

I was out and about yesterday walking our dog Geo from Marina Crescent all the way to Scientific Center and I noticed the cops weren’t letting any cars slow down on the road. They were also stopping cars that were spraying foam outside the windows and they had cop cars parked in all the locations were people usually stood on the side of the road to spray passing cars. There wasn’t any traffic building up on the streets and all the traditional foaming was very minimal. Why did they become so strict this year? I used to love National Day because everyone is out on the streets having fun…

My mum was a flight attendant on Kuwait Airways during the 70’s and she always talks about how great the experience was and how she got to travel to so many places and meet a lot of new people. Two months ago while I was in Lebanon I found a stash of old photos she had taken during that time and I found the pictures really interesting since I love photos from the 70’s and 80’s that deal with Kuwait.

[Click here to view the pictures]

Note: The last two pictures were taken on board the Amir’s plane (Amir Sabah al-Salim Al Sabah) which she served on the last period of her career.

Note 2: If anyone has a bunch of “colored” photos dealing with Kuwait which were taken during the 70’s and 80’s send me them and I will post them online.

Note 3: The uniforms were designed by Dior.

I am not good at this but maybe some of you readers could help out. I want to make put together a (funny) list of tips for people who will be spending their first Kuwait National Day and Liberation Day in Kuwait. Something like David Letterman’s Top 10 list. Here are some bad examples I just thought of:

– Do not leave your house.
– Don’t make eye contact with someone with a foam can.
– If you are driving on the Gulf road, keep your windows closed and your doors locked.

blah blah etc.. Can anyone with a better sense of humor help out? Leave a comment and if its good will add it to the list.

If you have any tips for people who will be spending their first Kuwait National Day and Liberation Day in Kuwait, post it in the comments below.

Although I had my camcorder prepared next to my bed in anticipation of this evenings talent show, the band formally known as idiots never showed up. I hope they just postponed the show till the weather drys up, I really want everyone to hear how weird and annoying these guys sounded singing in the middle of the night.

I was just checking out Frankom’s site when I found a picture of this guy above. If you have ever been to any of the popular malls in Kuwait you MUST have seen this guy atleast once. It seems he goes by the nickname Shark and you could usually spot his Blue vintage Bugatti or yellow T-Rex parked outside Starbucks in Salmiya opposite Fanar. I sometimes see him at Souk Sharq during my lunch break and Marina Mall during the evening and I always wonder if this guy has a job or not since he is always hanging out at cafes. Anyway you can check out more pictures of the Shark at his website. Maybe next time I see him I will try to find out what he does for a living. [Link]

During my lunch break I went to the ice skating ring. It was my first time there since I went back in June and I had posted about it on Miskan.com. In June though the weather was really hot and Ice Skating helped cool us down. Today though I froze my ass off ice skating, my fingers actually turned blue from the cold. The cool thing though was that it was empty except for me and my friend, there was absolutely no one else which was really cool. Entrance cost us KD1.5 and we took the free skates this time around which were actually easier to skate with compared to the ice hockey ones we took last time. I am a really terrible ice skater and I find ice skating a very dangerous sport, don’t know why it freaks me out so much. Even though, I like going there during my lunch break because I find it very refreshing.