2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Every year I have to go through the dreaded process of renewing my car registration and I hate it. The traffic department in Maidan Hawalli is just a chaotic, over crowded unorganized mess. It involves a lot of pushing and shoving and lots of waiting. But this year, something changed.

I had already finished my car check in the morning without any incidents so I headed to the traffic department to get my car registration printed. Right as I walked in I noticed they had setup a desk at the main entrance and an officer was standing in the doorway leading to the main hall. The officer was not letting anyone through unless they had stood in line and gotten their paperwork checked and stamped at the desks. I naturally stood in line which wasn’t long at all, just two people ahead of me and when it was my turn the guy behind the desk checked my papers and then told me I needed to get a stamp from the machine. I went got a stamp while he patiently waited, I then passed him the stamp, he stuck it on my papers, signed it and gave it back to me and told me to go inside. I walked into what usually is a large, noisy and overcrowded hall and walked up to a window and handed the guy my papers. A minute later he called my name and I went and he gave me my new car registration. I walked out dumbfounded.

I am a pro at renewing car registrations since I do it a few times a year for my cars and my parents cars and I’ve been doing it for a fairly long time now. Not once have I ever managed to get anything done there in under 30 minutes. It usually takes longer but lets use 30 minutes as a number for now. This year the process took less than 10. Not only that but I didn’t get shoved, I didn’t have people try and push in front of me and I didn’t have to sit in an over crowded room watching people getting yelled at by an overzealous police officer.

Whomever they’ve put in charge at the traffic department in Hawalli needs a medal. It was literally the quickest and simplest governmental service I think I’ve ever experienced anywhere yet alone in Kuwait. Why can’t all of Kuwait’s government processes be so organized like this?

Girls, have you ever felt uncomfortable walking down the streets in Kuwait? Ladies, have you ever heard unpleasant comments at a traffic light? Women, have you ever received a shocking sexual image via email from a co-worker by “mistake”?

These are all common incidents that happen in Kuwait to women of all ages and backgrounds, from men (or sometimes women) of all ages and backgrounds. I know this, as I am a female! Please I beg you, please stop the “Dear Mr Fajer” emails, “Dear Fajer” is fine. These incidents can come in many shapes, sounds and forms as well. I have had a few cases recently on this very topic and therefore wanted to clarify the law to my readers and the options they can take.

Please note that this article is not about “rape” or “statutory rape”, I have written about sexual crimes in a previous post [Here]

This post is about sexual harassment.

Article 191 of the Kuwait Penal Code states:
– Any person that sexually harasses another through hate, threatening or deceiving shall be punished with up to 15 years of imprisonment
– If the victim is related to the harasser, or is under his/her upbringing (example uncle, aunt, teacher, domestic worker so on) then he/she shall be punished with life imprisonment
– If the victim is under the legal age, not mentally stable, unable to know the nature of the act, then the harasser shall be punished with life imprisonment

Article 192 of Kuwait Penal Code states:
– Any person that sexually harasses another without hate, threatening or deceiving shall be punished up to 10 years of imprisonment
– If the victim is related to the harasser, or is under his/her upbringing (example uncle, aunt, teacher, domestic worker so on) then he/she shall be punished up to 15 years of imprisonment

What do you do if you are in this situation?
– If you are not 21 years of age, please speak to an adult you trust, this doesn’t have to be a family member, it can be a teacher, a friend’s mother or anyone else that you trust (you can also email me, I promise everything will be kept confidential).
– If you are an adult, please email me or go to the nearest police station.

Please note that this does not apply to online harassment, there are other departments in Kuwait that can find the person online and assist you, and they are very professional and no one will judge you. I will be discussing this in more depth in a separate post next week.

Before I end this post I would like to request your help. I recently received a few reports about a man on the loose in Salmiya that is sexually harassing minors. If you have any information on incidents of this nature in the Salmiya area, and you are willing to share, please email me urgently as this might help us put this man away and save other children.

Thank you.

Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.

It seems someone got upset at a speedcam and decided to cover the camera flash with his shemagh. Don’t know why he didn’t just cover up the camera instead.

Thanks Nicolas

Back in March I reported that the Sahara Restaurant Village was expected to open up sometime in April or May. It’s now the end of May and although the village hasn’t officially opened, it’s basically ready with many of the restaurants opening any day now. One of those restaurants that is set to open first is Jar. Full disclosure, Jar belongs to a close friend of mine who also happens to be the owner of Choowy Goowy. We met through the blog back in 2006 when I first discovered his cookies and we’ve been friends ever since. I can’t believe that was nearly 10 years ago, insane.

The menu at Jar hasn’t been finalized yet but I did try a few things and I generally loved most of what I had. It’s definitely not going to be a place to go to if you’re weight watching, instead its a place to go to when you just want delicious food and desert (in my case a cheat day). The interior of the place is beautiful, very minimal with a hardwood floor, super high ceiling, some copper accents and some nicely designed chairs which I fell in love with (I have a thing for chairs).

Jar is set to open up in a couple of weeks time and I’ll post another update once they do. For now you can check out their instagram account @jar.choowygoowy

The whole village seems to be properly put together with plenty of parking space and nice landscaping. I’m not sure, but I only saw one entry and exit point to this village which will most likely create a bottleneck, I’ll need to ask about that. Below is the most current list I have, of places opening up in the village:

Slider Station
Jar
Villa Fayrouz
Tatami Japanese Restaurant
52 Degrees
Caribou Coffee
Costa Coffee
Athletes Foot
Skinny Cloud
Emirgan Sutis
Le Relais de l’Entrecote
Khaneen
Ubon
Crumbs

via @Qatami

The Mabanee 2014 annual report recently got released and with it some updated information on the Avenues Phase 4 project:

– There will be two hotels not one, a five-star hotel and a four-star hotel
– The final new districts are: Arcadia, Electra, The Forum, The Grand Plaza and The Cinema
– Grand Avenue, Prestige and the Souk will all be expanded as well
– The new opening has been pushed back to the first quarter of 2018

Mabanee, the mall’s owning company is also building The Avenues Riyadh, The Avenues Khobar and The Avenues Bahrain. The total Phase 4 expansion will be adding 400 new stores to the Avenues, taking the total up to approximately 1200 stores. I honestly have no idea what else is still left to open, we pretty much have everything already as it is.

Check out my previous posts on the Avenues Phase 4 [Here]

Thanks Khaled

Re:Kuwait is back from the dead and with an insightful post on why more highways aren’t the solution to Kuwait’s traffic problems, instead other solutions like the metro is. Check out his post [Here]

The weekend is finally here and there are lots of interesting things to do. Three musical events are taking place this weekend, you have Outlandish and A Night of Dreams taking place Friday and the Zade Dirani concert taking place on Saturday. There is a Fitness Retreat that is being held on Thursday and Friday which looks like fun. Finally if you know how to knit then pass by the Secret Garden on Saturday for some Yarn Bombing. Check out the full list of this weekends events below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Geometry of Colour
Urban Culture Week
Exhibition: Abolish 153
Fitness Retreat
Rooftop Movie: Ida

Friday
Exhibition: Geometry of Colour
Urban Culture Week
Fitness Retreat
Culinary Event: Perfecting Gnocchi
Inter Gavel Clubs Contest 2015
Outlandish Live
Red Bull BC One
A Night of Dreams

Saturday
Exhibition: Geometry of Colour
Yarn Bombing at The Secret Garden
Workshop: Mommy & I Play Together
Paleo Taste Night
Rooftop Movie: Calvary
Zade Dirani Concert

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events for the month click [Here]

Frankom just shared the video above on his blog and I just wanted to highlight one thing. Just keep your eye on the two cops in the video who do a fantastic job at breaking up the fight. [YouTube]

Ajar Online is a cool service which allows you to pay your rent online. The way it works is fairly simple, first your landlord needs to register the building and the tenants, then once a month he sends out an email or SMS to all the tenants reminding them to pay the rent. The tenants can then click the link included in those messages and proceed to pay the rent online using knet.

Right now every month I need to head to an ATM machine, withdraw the rent and then make sure to pass by the landlord at certain hours of the day to pay the rent. I always end up paying the rent late because I am either never home or out of the country so I’d love it if my building signed up to Ajar Online. Which is where the problem is with this service, even though I think it’s very practical and would love to use it, I can’t unless the landlord signs up to it. Would have been much cooler if I could pay my rent online and for a small fee they can send a mandoob to pay the rent on my behalf. Or if there was a form at least which I could fill in with my buildings details so their salesman can come and pitch the service to my landlord.

Check out their website [Here]

Last Thursday before hurting my ankle I was supposed to go paddleboarding with the local Red Paddle Co distributor so I could write about it. That never ended up happening but I figured I would still post about paddleboarding since it’s a fun activity for those looking for something to do in the summer.

Red Paddle Co are the world’s number 1 inflatable stand up paddleboard manufacturer. The advantage of an inflatable paddleboard is pretty obvious, when you’re not using it you can pack it away in a small bag and store it or if you want you could take the board with you when you travel. I tried paddleboarding for the first time two years ago and I had a blast. It’s a full-body workout and great for your core strength, cardio and balance.

The local Red Paddle Co distributor offers boards for rent and for sale. The cost for renting a board is KD25 per day (12 hours). They also sell 5 different board models and their prices range from KD345 to KD349. This includes the inflatable paddleboard, the paddle, pump and travel/storage bag. If you’ve never gone paddleboarding before they offer a 30 minute introductory session with basic instructions.

The local distributor also arranges group SUP sessions where they paddle up or down the coast and every now and then head out by a boat to one of the islands. On their last trip they went to Umm Al Marradim where they got to explore reef from on top. So if you’re interested in a fun summer activity, try paddleboarding. For more information check them out on [Instagram] and [Facebook] or call/whatsapp them on 94422593.

These are some photos of the Ahmadi post office I got from my last trip to the KOC photography archive. They’re probably dated back to the early 1960s.

Starting October, GCC expats will no longer be able to get a visa on arrival to the UAE. Instead, GCC expats are required to apply for a visa online before the trip. The idea behind this is do reduce long queues for on-site visa applications and payment at the airport. They’ve already started the online service and a friend of mine just applied for his visa online and the total amount he had to pay was AED230 (around KD19).

Although the graphic above has been making its way around whatsapp, according to online news sources [1,2] it’s not accurate. Applying for an online visa became possible starting May 15th but visitors will continue to be able to get visas on arrival until October. You can apply for visas online at [ednrd.ae]

Thanks Fahad

Hopefully we’re next in line.

Logo look familiar?