2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003
A friend made me aware you can order groceries online from Saveco supermarket. At the moment they only have their Tesco products and the website isn’t that great really but I guess you have to start from somewhere. Actually, I take that back, you either do something right or you don’t and right now I don’t know why Saveco has bothered with an online website if it only includes a tiny fraction of their products and just one brand. [Link]
“Mishwarna” is a new weekly YouTube show produced by LOYAC and hosted by two of their interns. The show is all about finding new and interesting things around Kuwait and sharing their discoveries with their viewers. They upload a new episode every Thursday and the one above is their third. If you like the show then you’ll have to subscribe to their YouTube channel to be notified on new episodes. [YouTube]
From a legal stand point, cannabis and its legalities is very interesting to look at. The decisions towards cannabis seem to be changing rapidly in the west, now whether it should or shouldn’t be legal (I will leave that for the internet people to argue) I am just going to discuss the legalities of cannabis here in Kuwait.
Kuwait has very strict laws when it comes to drug abuse, but what does it say in regards to “smoking up?”
Kuwait’s Penal Law which speaks about crimes in general (and btw has been there since 1960!) states the following:
Article 208:
– Penalized for a period not exceeding 2 years in jail and/or a fine not exceeding KD2,000 for personal use (in a private place)
Article 207
– Penalized for a period not exceeding 7 years in jail and/or a fine not exceeding KD7,000 for drug dealing, or made it easier for another person to use drugs
This means that even if a person does not smoke up but facilitates for another person an environment to smoke up, they can get more years in jail. Let me re-explain this, if I let Mark smoke up in my living room but I don’t smoke up, I can get more years!
There are a lot of other things that come into account when the court looks at weed cases, there are also more detailed charts of each drug and its consequences, so please stay legal people.
Feel free to email me [email protected] with any legal questions. I do not have the capacity to answer everyone for free (but I try), and I am happy to annanounce that I am currently working with a great team and therefore we are able to reply back to all emails with a reasonable time frame.
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.
Photo by Prensa 420
A few weeks back I briefly mentioned that I was launching a business soon. Well the business is called supersoulxxx and although I won’t go into details on it in this post, I did want to mention an event we’re hosting in Dubai in a few days.
We’re bringing the creator of the All Gone book to the Middle East for the first time along with limited quantities of his book. All Gone is created and published by Michael Dupouy and is a collection of the finest in street culture ranging from sneakers and apparel to skateboard decks, toys and so on. The book in itself is very limited in number, just like the featured items hence the title ‘All Gone’.
So if you are in Dubai on the 11th of March come by pick up a copy and get it signed by Michael Dupouy.
Once a year Arabian Business releases a list of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Arab Women” and every year I go through the list and find all the Kuwaiti women and list them on the blog. This year the list seems to the be the smallest since I started posting them with only 5 Kuwaiti women making the list and all at lower slots than the previous year. Shaikha Al Bahar whom back in 2012 was in #8 dropped to #21 last year and is currently at #31. This years leader in my most powerful Kuwaiti women list is Maali Alasousi, a newcomer. I hadn’t heard of her before but according to an article on Knowledge@Wharton, “Maali Alasousi gave up a comfortable life in Kuwait to live in Yemen, dedicating herself to developing social programs in a country that is among the most impoverished in the world”.
Below is this years list of most powerful Kuwaiti women with their 2014 ranking in between parentheses:
25- Maali Alasousi (new)
31- Shaikha Al Bahar (21)
46- Rasha Al Roumi (43)
51- Maha Al Ghunaim (27)
94- Sara Akbar (67)
For the full list of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Arab Women” click [Here]
A redditor left the message below and it made me realize that asking my readers to answer his/her question could be beneficial not only to them, but to any other person who might be googling this in the future:
I need help. obviously Kuwait doesn’t have any suicide hot line or anything like that. But I was just wondering, what would be the ideal choice to resolve my depression here. It’s tearing my life apart. [Link]
I personally was lucky not to fall into depression after my divorce but I do understand the affect of mood fluctuations. If you can help or have any advice leave a comment below.
An airport bus accidentally drove into a brand new Kuwait Airways plane earlier today. The plane is one of the new leased planes and had just arrived to Kuwait a couple of days ago. The driver has already been deported (not really… I think).
via @jassimboodai
After a quiet weekend last week the events are back this weekend in full force. There are an insane amount of things to do but my personal picks are: Q8 Con, Alwan Art Festival, Q8 Food Festival, 7Market and of course Qout Market. Check out the full list of activities below:
Thursday
Exhibition: Al-Seef
1001 Inventions Exhibition
Q8 Food Festival
Rooftop Movie: Before Sunset
Kuwait Dino Park
Unique Market
Friday
1001 Inventions Exhibition
Q8 Food Festival
Make That Shot 3
Q8Con Comic Convention
Moto Bazaar
7Market
Alwan Art Festival
Book Club Meeting
Kuwait Dino Park
Native American Storytelling
Unique Market
Saturday
1001 Inventions Exhibition
Q8 Food Festival
Q8Con Comic Convention
Moto Bazaar
7Market
Guided Tour: Grand Mosque
Green Festival
Rooftop Movie: Lars and The Real Girl
Qout Market
Kuwait Dino Park
Unique Market
If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
Until Uber comes to Kuwait we have to make due with alternatives and as of recently the only alternative we had available was Easy Taxi. I’ve used them a few times and I have mixed feelings about them. For one thing every time I book a car the driver calls me up and asks me where I am even though he has my GPS location on his map. The other annoying thing is the fact that they try to negotiate a price before they even pick me up which I hate doing. My last issue is the fact that I have to pay cash instead of having the ride charged to my credit card similar to how I do with Uber. This is where Careem comes in.
Careem is an alternative to Easy Taxi that has recently come into the market. I haven’t had the chance to use them just yet but first impressions from their app and website is that they might be a worthy alternative. Why?
– You can add a credit card to your account and use it to pay for your rides
– The rides are metered
– You can pre-book a cab in advance
The only negative I can see at the moment is that their rides will cost you more. The minimum cost for their “Economy Car” is KD3 while their “Business Car” is KD4. If you’re interested in trying them out you can download their app or visit their website [Here]
According to Numbeo, the crowdsourced global database of reported consumer prices, Kuwait has the 9th highest cost of living in the world. Qatar was next Arab country on the list coming in at 27 followed by Lebanon at 35 and UAE in 36. The ranking is based on a multiple factors including consumer prices, rents, restaurant prices and local purchasing power. I don’t think anyone living here will be surprised by this.
On the other hand if you’re looking for an affordable place to go on vacation, the list above is of the countries with the lowest cost of living. I have a friend who just came back from Nepal and according to him his room was just $7 a night. Check out the full index [Here] and the infographic [Here]
Thanks Ryan
The Creative Times Report held a Q&A with Sultan Al Qassemi, the co-director of Art Dubai’s Global Art Forum and asked him about the decision to have the Global Art Forum begin in Kuwait. This is a snippet from the conversation:
CTR: Can you talk about the decision to have the Global Art Forum begin in Kuwait this year before it comes to Dubai? Kuwait was at one time a leader of the regional art scene, but attention shifted away from the country in the years after the Gulf War, and now there appears to be a resurgence of interest in Kuwaiti art and culture. What attracted you to bringing the Global Art Forum to Kuwait City before Dubai this year?
SAQ: Kuwait was the launchpad for the globalization of Gulf culture over half a century ago. Kuwait is where some of the earliest radio, cinema, theater and even political and social movements of the Gulf originated several decades ago. Kuwait was also the launchpad for the first Gulf publication in color that was sold not only in the streets and markets of the Gulf but also in Cairo, Damascus and Beirut. So for the first time, the Gulf had moved from being a receiver of culture—from the West, India and other parts of the Arab world—to being a broadcaster, a publisher, a producer of popular content. This is our way of tipping our hat to Kuwait and recognizing its pioneering role in the globalization of culture. [Source]
For those interested, the Global Art Forum will be in Kuwait from March 14 to 15. For more information click [Here]
As I mentioned in my previous post on my stay in Marrakesh, my main reason going there was for a ski holiday. Not many people consider Marrakesh as a ski destination and even I didn’t even know they had slopes until a friend pitched the idea. Preparing for the trip was a bit of a pain since there was very very little information online on skiing in Marrakesh. I couldn’t even find a website that told me if it had snowed in the mountains or if the slopes were even open. All I knew is that the ski slopes were around an hour and a half drive from the main city and located in an area called Oukaimeden. Originally I wanted to take my own snowboard and boots with me since I wasn’t sure I could rent gear over there but, since I didn’t even know if the slopes were open, I decided not to go through the hassle and instead just took my snowboarding clothes with me.
Once my friends and me were in Marrakesh we asked around if there was snow in Oukaimeden and to our relief turns out there was. We rented a car with a driver and headed out to the slopes the following day. We ended up leaving the medina at around 9:30AM and arrived to the slopes before noon. The road to the top of the mountain was small and not very eventful except for this one incident involving a camel. Some people have camels on the side of the road for tourists to sit on and take photos and one went wild and ran into the middle of the road just as my driver was speeding to overtake another car on the road. Luckily we missed the camel which continued running down the run barely missing other cars.
Once we arrived to the slopes things got a bit intense. Two of my friends had never snowboarded before and needed an instructor. We spotted some guys hanging around on the side of the road and when they noticed we were tourists they all attacked our car. Turns out they were all instructors / guides and started arguing amongst each other on who saw us first and who should get us. Too dramatic but understandable since it’s a very poor country and everyone is trying to make a living. After having our driver translate for us we found out that they charge 100dhms an hour to take care of us either by instructing or just helping us get around. 100dhms is just KD3 so we each took a guide and headed towards the best equipment rental store to get our gear.
Their best equipment rental store was ghetto, like if your local bakala decided to rent out 90s ski gear (including neon colored one piece ski suits). But, compared to the alternative (people renting boots and equipment on the side of the road) this place seemed like a great find. Renting boots and a snowboard cost us 250dhms (KD7.7) each for the day, which I think was expensive compared to everything else. I think we could have gotten them even cheaper if we had asked for the gear for half a day or at least haggled. Once we got our stuff we headed to the first slope. A day ski pass to access the slopes is just 50dhms (KD1.5) which is the cheapest I’ve paid anywhere… ever. The bottom of the slopes was pretty packed but once you get the lift and head to the top its empty. That’s because many people just play with the snow at the bottom of the slopes or ride sleds. There aren’t many people who ski and there weren’t any other tourists from what I could tell.
One thing I found interesting is there were people walking around the slopes selling coffee and traditional Moroccan sweets. There was even a stand where you could pick up a bowl of steaming hot snails (a delicacy over there) if you wanted to. It’s actually pretty smart especially if you’re looking for a bit of an energy boost.
After spending sometime at the first slope we then decided to tackle their largest and steepest slope but that was a bit of a distance away. Our guides gave us three options of getting there:
1) Drive there by car
2) Walk
3) Take a donkey ride
Obviously we opted for the donkey ride which was a ton of fun and something again I hadn’t experienced in any other ski slope in the world.
Their highest slope was insanely cool and according to my guide 3000m high. The ride to the top was fairly long, maybe around 20 minutes and the closer we got to the summit the worst the visibility got. It was extremely foggy with a visibility of around 10m or so. Once we got off the lift at the top I couldn’t tell where the slope started and just figured I’d accidently end up flying off a cliff on my way down. But my guide knew the route by heart, which was great since we were going to snowboard down the slope blindly. It had snowed all night and there was a blizzard while we were at the top so the snow was fantastically deep and powdery.
Getting a guide was the smartest thing I did since I really couldn’t see shit the first half of the route down. I kept yelling at him that I couldn’t see and he just kept yelling back that if I see rocks to start turning the other way. Simple obvious advice but it worked.
Anyway I got to the bottom of the slope in one piece even though I did face plant on more than one occasion. Would I recommend skiing in Marrakesh? Hell yes I would, it’s a wonderful experience and they have enough strange characteristics to make the experience unique to them. It’s also a very affordable ski experience, one of the cheapest I’m aware of. Since it’s difficult to find information online what I would recommend to do if you’re interested in skiing in Marrakesh is to call a hotel there and ask them if the slopes are open. I would also do a search for #oukaimeden on instagram since I found a few photos of people on the slopes that way. If anyone has any questions let me know.
There is a video that has been circulating via whatsapp of a woman dressed in full Kuwait national day gear (screenshot above) at a McDonalds hurling insults at an employee. The woman who seems to be a local citizen verbally abuses the employee calling him names and demeaning him in front of everyone over what seems to be a misunderstanding.
Many readers have emailed me requesting to share the video which I would usually do because it’s news worthy in a tabloid sort of way but, I’m not sure I can do so without legally getting in trouble since the woman in the video is recognizable.
Anyway, here is my opinion on the video. This woman obviously doesn’t represent the majority or even minority of Kuwaitis. From the way she’s dressed and the insults she’s throwing I don’t think she’s even mentally stable. It’s just a one off situation similar to those random homeless people you run into in New York subways who talk to themselves and hurl insults randomly at strangers.
On the other hand one reader sent the following email which I thought I would share:
Being a Kuwaiti man, I am insulted by the behavior of some Kuwaitis over behavior like this:
Please do something about it. I truly believe this behavior needs to be made example of. A few years ago, a woman who threw her Kuwaiti passport on the ground to get a message across was made into an example of after social media widely spread her video. Such behavior that is displayed in this video needs to be stopped as well and it will if social media does the same thing to her.
I do agree that there should be consequences to her actions but again I don’t think this behavior or at least behavior this extreme is common. For those of you who’ve watched the video what are your thoughts on this?
