Category: Kuwait

I’m not sure why this isn’t made a bigger deal of but one thing that really bothers me is how Kuwaitis are discriminated against when it comes to renting apartments. It’s one area where expats have it much better and I don’t understand why no one seems to be protesting this. It just doesn’t make any sense how everyone seems to be ok with ads advertising homes and then having a large note stating its “Only for foreigners” on it. How is this even legal?

I’ve had a lot of friends struggle to find apartments because they were either single male or female Kuwaitis. There is a post on Reddit right now by a Kuwaiti guy who had to leave home due to family issues and ended up living in his car because he couldn’t find an apartment that would rent to him. Eventually, he managed to crash at a friend’s place for a couple of months but now he needs to move out and he still can’t find a place that would rent to him.

salam people of r/Kuwait. some of you may have seen my post slightly less than 3 months ago about how i am homeless due to family issues and could not find a place that would rent for a single Kuwaiti male. i wish they would trust me because i am a nerdy guy whose day only consists of going to work and playing video games so i never have anyone over. i am very responsible with spending so inshallah i would never be late for monthly rent payments unless a great emergency occurs.

some compassionate people have messaged me either offering emotional support or offering to help me find a residence to rent. i was planning on accepting one of those offers after getting my salary but a chance for free stay came up and i took it. i am sorry for ghosting on those who offered me help but i felt too awkward to tell them that i didnt need it anymore (rude and stupid of me).

now unfortunately i have stayed more than was comfortable (2.5 months) for the friend who provided me with free stay. i need to find a place of my own before Friday otherwise i will have to sell most of my stuff and go back to sleeping in my car. it will make me so happy to find a clean place where i can sleep comfortably without hearing shouting all day and without worrying whether i will be told to leave the next day. source

It’s pretty absurd that a single guy who has a job and the ability to pay rent is forced to sell his belongings and live in a car because he is Kuwaiti and can’t find an apartment to rent. I’m not sure if it’s because a lot of Kuwaitis aren’t aware of this housing issue and that’s why it’s not a big deal, but if I was Kuwaiti I’d be calling up MP Safa Al Hashem daily to get this changed.

A bunch of these new enclosed pedestrian bridges have popped up around Kuwait and although they had been completed for some time, they remained closed and non-operational until recently.

There isn’t really much to see inside, instead of regular stairs you have escalators to take you up and down and the bridge is air conditioning for the summer.

I’m not really sure why we need air-conditioned bridges since if I’m using it in the summmer, it’s because I got there walking in the heat in the first place. I guess a cool down area or maybe to entice people to use it instead of crossing the street under the bridge? Not sure…

Has anyone tried reporting traffic violations to the General Traffic Department using WhatsApp? The screenshots above got forwarded to one of my groups and it shows a person reporting a car parked illegally to the traffic department and then getting a response back an hour later showing the person was ticketed.

I tried the service a few days ago and I didn’t get any response back so no idea if an action was taken or not so can’t verify this whole thing works. But, you can try it yourself, the WhatsApp number to report violations is 99324092‬. If you’ve tried this before and it’s worked, let me know in the comments.

One of the writers for the publication The Points Guy UK came to Kuwait to see if it was one of the most boring tourist destinations in the world. Instead, he found Kuwait interesting even though based on his article he didn’t really venture out much outside the city. Check out his article here.

Thanks K

If you’ve never been to the Red Palace (or Red Fort) in Jahra then you should really check it out. Back in 2013 I went to Jahra for the first time and made a fun day out of it and I decided to do it again last week with a friend who themselves hadn’t been to Jahra before.

We started off by having lunch at the Kuwaiti restaurant The Seventies. It’s located next to a bunch of interesting things which makes it a great spot to visit first. Right next door to it is an artificial lake with swan paddle boats, the largest City Center I’ve seen (reminded me of Walmart), and there’s an amusement park that used to be called The 99 Village after the comic books.

After we were done killing time in this area we headed to the Red Palace which opens at 4:30PM. There is plenty of parking inside the Red Palace grounds and we were the only ones there except for this one security guard. Once we parked we told him we wanted to go inside to check out the palace and he unlocked the main gate for us and then all the little rooms inside.

The Red Palace was the site of the Battle of Jahra in 1920 between Kuwaiti and Saudi forces and so is a historical site. If you go with very little expectations the place is actually a really great place to check out. There isn’t a lot inside, there are four rooms which each sharing a subject relating to the Kuwaiti past but the real fun is walking around the palace, exploring the grounds, and taking pictures. The sky was beautiful and the sun was setting as we got there so I ended up getting some great shots.

Going all the way to Jahra just to check out the Red Palace might not be worth it alone, but when you combine it with a bunch of other activities it’s actually really fun. Entrance is free and they’re open from Monday to Saturday from 8:30AM to 12:30PM and then again from 4:30PM to 8:30PM. On Fridays they only open in the afternoons from 4:30PM to 8:30PM. Here is their location on Google Maps.

Back in 2012 we were given an up and running date of 2020 and I posted about it and even shared a map of the metro routes but then nothing…

If you’ve wanted to know the story of Kuwait’s stock market crash in the 80s, NPR released a short 9 minute podcast about it a few days ago. Here is the description of the podcast:

In the early 1980s, Kuwait’s unofficial stock market — run out of a parking garage on the site of an old camel market — was the third largest in the world, second only to the U.S. and Japan. But then, in an instant, it all came crashing down, plunging Kuwait into a brutal recession that would last for nearly a decade. How is it that a simple financial innovation could create such vast wealth and such devastating chaos? And what can it teach us about the fundamental forces at the heart of modern capitalism?

Today on The Indicator: the story of the Souk al-Manakh and one of the greatest stock bubbles of all time. Source

If you want to listen to it search for “THE INDICATOR FROM PLANET MONEY” podcast in your favorite podcast player or listen to it below.

Thanks momoxoxo

A lot of people have been asking me if there are any fireworks happening this year on New Year’s eve. I haven’t heard of anything happening at the Kuwait Towers but Al Kout will have a fireworks show this year. They had one last year and I heard mixed feedback about it but I guess something is better than nothing.

[poll id=”9″]

Here’s a great list for Kuwait to rank high on, the 20 countries where people live the longest. According to a recent report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Kuwait has the 11th highest life expectancy in the world with an average life expectancy of 70.7 years. Kuwait has the highest life expectancy in the GCC and the second-highest in the Middle East with only Israel ahead in 8th place. Singapore tops the list with the highest expectancy of 74.2 years. Check out the full top 20 list here.

Thanks Bader

I’ve previously posted about the US Embassy’s Air Quality Index page which shares data on the pollution level around the US Embassy in Bayan. The data most of the time is pretty alarming because of the high level of pollution we generally have which is why it interested me when I found out it’s not that difficult for someone to set up their own air quality sensor.

PurpleAir is an air quality monitoring network where people can purchase an air quality sensor from them for $229 and then set it up near a wifi spot to allow it to measure and share pollution data over their network. As of now there are three sensors located around Kuwait, one at the Kuwait University Khaldiya Campus, one in Mishref (I think that’s my friend’s place) and one at the ArtStudio in Funaitees.

If you want to check the pollution levels around Kuwait then click here.
On the other hand, if you want to purchase your own air quality sensor and be part of this network then click here.

via Nibaq

It’s that time of year again when the Expat Insider list of worst places to live comes out and Kuwait gets named the worst place in the universe for expats. No surprise really, but it’s also not that bad when you compare us to other places you’d think would be much better off. Here are some of the worst cities for expats to live and work:

82 – Kuwait City
81 – Rome
80 – Milan
78 – Paris
77 – San Francisco
76 – Los Angeles
74 – New York

Ummm yeah, so Kuwait is basically like Paris, NY and LA so really, it can’t be that bad right?

For the full data and reasoning behind our poor ranking, click here. You can also check out the Arabian Business article on this here.

Thanks Musty

Yesterday on Reddit someone published a step by step guide on how to file a complaint against a telecom or ISP in Kuwait and I thought it was important to share here as well. The Redditor probably posted the guide after seeing another post where an Ooredoo customer had the pop up below come up randomly on his phone.

Below are the instructions on how to file a complaint copied and pasted from Reddit but you can still check out the original post and comments here.

First of all, I’m sure many of you have noticed the frequency of spam that you are receiving on your phones. Or the mysterious charges that are being tacked on to your bills.

So in order for all of this to stop is to start reporting such things to CITRA. What is CITRA? It’s the Communication & Information Technology Regulatory Authority in Kuwait. They have been established as the overall authority over all telecoms & info tech in the country. So nothing happens without their say so.

CITRA is staffed by a lot of qualified and knowledgeable people, I have worked side-by-side with them in the past. Even participated in some of the national infrastructure (overhaul) programs that they are introducing.

OK enough of an intro, what you need to do is to report those spam text messages and the illegal usage of the EAS system for advertising. The people receiving those complaints at CITRA do actually investigate each and every one. So go ahead and visit the Complaints Page, then sign up if you haven’t done so already.

Try to provide as much information as possible when filing your complaint, include screenshots/photos where possible.

Give it a few weeks for your complaint to be reviewed then actioned on.

Most of all, don’t worry about any backlash. Nobody is going to come after you and nobody is going to deport you. Telecoms laws were put in place to protect the consumers, so use them to your advantage.

People really need to act and stop these unfair practices by the telecoms in the country.

Thanks u/thisdodobird!

The Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) has a section on their website filled with statistics. Below, for example, is their list of the top 10 jobs in Kuwait:

Kuwaitis
1- Inspector of Government Department
2- Other authors (no idea what this is)
3- Military Army
4- Correspondent and passport representative
5- Secretary (Clerk)
6- Accounts Clerk – General
7- Other education specialists
8- Data Entry Device Operator
9- Public Writer
10- His own trade business

Expats
1- Servant
2- Private car driver
3- Ordinary laborer
4- Seller on the market
5- Cleaning worker for buildings and residential buildings
6- Manual cultivation worker
7- Electric worker on high voltage networks
8- Nurse
9- Light transport vehicle driver
10- Correspondents, baggage carriers and other parcels

I don’t think there is anything surprising in the list, I’m just surprised we actually have these lists. The PACI page also has other stats like the oldest ages. The oldest male in Kuwait is 115 years old (Kuwaiti) while the oldest female is 119 years old (also Kuwaiti). The oldest male expat is 113 while the oldest female expat is 118.

The most populous nationalities in Kuwait? They are:
1- India
2- Egypt
3- Bangladesh
4- Philipines
5- Syria
6- Saudi
7- Pakistan
8- Seri Lanka
9- Nepal
10- Jordan

Percentage of workers in the private sector?
4% Kuwaiti – 96% Expats

You can check out other interesting stats on the PACI website here.

Last year I posted about how much I hated the housekeeper’s category on the Q8 4Sale website since people were listing their housekeepers for sale. After my post, the 4Sale website started removing those posts and set new rules for the category but I still wished they had closed it down instead. Well it took a thorough BBC investigation and reporting for that to happen.

Over the weekend, BBC published its investigative video below exposing the trade by interviewing a number of people who were selling their housekeepers including a police officer and a woman who was selling her 16-year-old housekeeper!

Posing as a couple newly arrived in Kuwait, the BBC Arabic undercover team spoke to 57 app users and visited more than a dozen people who were trying to sell them their domestic worker via a popular commodity app called 4Sale.

The sellers almost all advocated confiscating the women’s passports, confining them to the house, denying them any time off and giving them little or no access to a phone.

The 4Sale app allowed you to filter by race, with different price brackets clearly on offer, according to category. Source

After the video and article went viral, Kuwait announced that it was cracking down on slave traders and I checked the 4sale website and it looks like they finally completely removed the housekeeper’s category. Hopefully, this will cause the government to consider reforming the kafala (sponsorship) system which in it’s current state is flawed and being abused. Check out the BBC articles on this subject below:

Slave markets found on Instagram and other apps (Oct 31)
Kuwait moves on Instagram slave traders after BBC investigation (Nov 1)

If pictures weren’t enough to show you how bad things are in Salmiya, here is a video of the garbage dump right outside my apartment building.