2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Last week I had a disaster of an experience with Aramex since they had misplaced a package of mine. What actually pissed me off was the lack of transparency from their support team. My package was coming from Germany and like all Shop & Ship packages stop in Bahrain before heading to Kuwait. On February 13th my package left Bahrain and after no updates for a few days I decided to contact support via their live chat. According to Aramex, my package was clearing customs, no biggie so I continued to wait. By February 21st, over a week after my package left Bahrain my tracking number had still not been updated. So I contacted support again and they told me they’ll check on my package and have someone call me.

Since I was frustrated, I decided to vent my frustration to Aramex on their twitter account. They replied back telling me they had checked on my package and it was currently clearing customs. That didn’t help with my frustration since my package was just a pair of sneakers and I didn’t know why it needed 8 days to clear. Since it wasn’t urgent though I was like whatever. Then, a few minutes later I get a call from Aramex telling me that they can’t find my package and they needed a few days to try and figure out where it was. I was like WTF? You guys just told me on twitter that my package was in customs. The guy over the phone told me the people managing the twitter account didn’t have access to check my package status.

So I went back on twitter now noticeably upset since I couldn’t understand why they would tell me my package was in customs while I was also being told my package was lost. In the end though it looked like the twitter account people were right while the person that called me was wrong since my package ended up getting it’s status updated then then delivered the following day.

For some reason, Aramex have recently turned into a big mess and I just wish they were more transparent. Things happen and consumers are mostly understanding. When my internet connection at home is down, first thing I do when I call support up is ask them if the problem is from their side or mine. If they’re facing issues I just reply telling them ok just wanted to check and then hang up. If my package usually takes 3 days from Bahrain to arrive to my door in Kuwait and now suddenly it’s been 8 days and my package was still not delivered, something is clearly wrong so fill me in and don’t act like it’s business as usual. If you’re having issues with flights from Bahrain, local customs officials being lazy or whatever the reason, I’d like to know so I can be understanding.

In any case the reason I wanted to post about Aramex in the first place is that we can now finally pay online with Knet. You’d think this would have been their first feature on their website but up until now we could only pay by credit card or PayPal. Knet obviously makes things a lot more convenient.

I’ve been interested in Podcasts for the longest time but I was always hesitant to get into it because I’m more of a writer than a speaker. But then I ended up meeting some of the guys from the LuckyGG Arabic gaming podcast who encouraged me to take a chance and start my own Podcast especially since there aren’t many English podcasts about video games in this region.

I co-created the podcast with Yaqoub Al- Hussaini who is one of the hosts of LuckyGG and we’re also joined by Abdullah Boushehri also from LuckyGG. The goal of Double Jump is to discuss games we’ve been playing, news that we find interesting and regional news that we feel like our listeners would be interested in. The goal is to record an episode a week and publish it every Wednesday. These episodes will be two hours long.

I’m also planning on recording Double Jump episodes where I’m on my own and some episodes with a different co-host each week but this is still a work in progress, hopefully I’ll be able to start publishing those episodes sometimes mid-March.

We recorded and published our first episode last week and I’ve linked to it at the end of this post. We’re learning as we go and I think Yaqoub and Abdullah both did a great job especially since English isn’t their first language. I also appreciate the fact that they’re willing to go out of their comfort zone for me. I’m learning a lot after listening to just this one episode and feedback is always welcomed so feel free to leave a comment with suggestions or thoughts.

In this first episode we discuss a variety of games, mainly The Division Beta and Street Fighter V. We also discuss some major news that came out these past few weeks like the pricing of the HTC Vive. Our first episode is available everywhere!

iTunes | Android | RSS | Play in New Window | Download

Posted by Patrick

Hala Yummah is a new track by the duo Issa Hashemi and Ali Habib. It came out over the holidays and has been quickly gaining popularity with it’s fusion of electronic and Kuwaiti music. Check out the video on top. [YouTube]

Stay off the Gulf Road.

Mercer’s 2016 Quality of Living rankings were just released and it’s not that much different from last years. Nearly everyone in the region dropped a couple of spots but Kuwait managed to move up one point to 124th place world wide. Regionally though Kuwait still trails behind UAE, Oman and Qatar.

1 – Vienna, Austria
75 – Dubai, UAE (-1)
81 – Abu Dhabi, UAE (-4)
107 – Muscat, Oman (-3)
110 – Doha, Qatar (-2)
124 – Kuwait City, Kuwait (+1)
133 – Manama, Bahrain (-3)
164 – Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (+1)
165 – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (+1)
230 – Baghdad, Iraq

Check out the full list over [Here]

Photo by Mohammed Al Sultan

I’m assuming the vast majority are choosing not to travel this year because the holiday falls on a weekend.

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been looking for a clean Datsun 280zx to buy and I’ve noticed that the cleanest (and closest to stock) models I’m finding all have Saudi plates. Does anyone know what the process is to register the cars in Kuwait? Is it an easy process or do I need some sort of wasta? All the cars I’ve been checking out are older than 25 years old so they should be considered a classic for importing purposes.

If anyone can shed some light on this I’d appreciate it.

Update: If you know anyone selling a clean 280zx or even a 240zx or 300zx let me know as well!

So this past Friday (February 19th) was my blogs 11 year anniversary. I published my first post here back in February 19th 2005, a really odd post which I find hilarious now since my blog has become what it is today. If I had known my blog would end up here I would have probably posted something a bit less… crude.

But, what I just realized a few moments ago is that this February also marks the 13th anniversary of my first post on my first blog ever. Back in 2003 me and a few friends launch a blog called Qhate and my first post there was published on February 6th, 2003. At that time we were the first blog based in Kuwait and unlike my early posts on 248AM, I actually enjoy reading my old stuff on Qhate. For those of you who don’t know, Qhate started off as a war blog in which we were posting about life in Kuwait during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. So reading through my old posts there just takes me back in time during the volatile period. If you’ve never gone through some of the posts there you should, it’s like an untouched time capsule. [Link]

The Kuwait Towers will be reopening next month to the public on March 8th with the actual opening ceremony (which will include fireworks) on March 5th. Oddly though, according to the general manager of the Kuwait Towers Mubarak Al Anezi, the refurbishing of the restaurant and observation deck took only two months to complete. So why were the towers closed for 4 years?

[YouTube]

Thanks Sala6a

Just another casual day at The Avenues. [YouTube]

Although those beach side chalets would look great if they were refurbished, at least someone is doing something with Failaka even if its just blowing shit up. [YouTube]

I should start holding this poll every year just to see if there is a drop or increase in traveling over the previous year.

[poll id=”6″]

Someone put up a petition in a bid to stop the demolition of Bayt Lothan. Not being pessimistic here but I highly doubt a petition will make a difference, I mean when they were going to demolish the original Chamber of Commerce and Industry building two years ago, there were protests and it was all over the media yet the building still got demolished in the end. But I guess it doesn’t hurt to at least try so here is the link to the petition [Link]

I’ve had my Tumi suitcase for 6 or more years now and it just won’t die. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Tumi but I’ve also had my eye on an aluminium Rimowa for sometime now. I saw a badly beat up and dented one at an airport a few years ago and even though the suitcase wasn’t in its best shape of its life, it had a lot of character and I fell in love with it right away. I decided I would get one as soon as my Tumi fell apart but that day doesn’t seem like it will be coming anytime soon.

I travel a lot and my Tumi bag (pictured above) is my favorite and primary suitcase which I take with me wherever I go. I’m not very gentle with it, I’m abusive and I really throw it about and expect it to take my shit with no questions asked. The wheels have probably taken the most amount of abuse from me and yet they’re still in perfect condition. The suitcase is bullet proof (probably literally).

After all these years of my Tumi putting up with me, I figured it was time I’d be nice to it and show my appreciation with a post on the blog. So if you’re looking for a durable travel suitcase I can’t recommend Tumi enough.

A smoking ban inside malls will be implemented this week, a source at the Environment Public Authority (EPA) said, reminding that smokers indoors would have to pay a fine ranging between KD 50 and KD 100.

The penalty would also apply on those who smoke electronic cigarettes inside restaurants or cafes, the sources said. Meanwhile, an owner of a restaurant or cafe that allows smoking inside his or her facility risks paying up to KD 5,000, the source added.

An office for environmental police has been allocated in malls around Kuwait to monitor and make sure that the anti-smoking law is applied, the sources said, adding that the officers would intervene instantly should customers refuse to cooperate. Mall administrations were allowed to set up special cabins for smokers. [Source]

Sounds like déjà vu.