2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Back in May I posted that Q8Books, the used books store was closing down. Well since then a lot of things have happened. Q8Books did in fact close down but all the books were purchased by Fajer the lawyer and she’s moved the bookstore into a much larger location in Salmiya. She’s bringing back Q8Books and it’s going to be better than ever. The new location is at Bayt Lothan and it’s around four times the size of the older location.

The bookshop is nearly done and Fajer is planning to relaunch it sometime next week. Once it’s officially open I’ll have her post about it with more details including information on how you can donate books and on the bookstore’s outreach project to support a library in Gambia. For now you can follow them on Instagram to see what they’re up to @q8bookstore

I just upgraded my iPhone to iOS7 and realized both my 248AM and Kuwait Blogs app now no longer work. I need to update them so will be doing so this weekend. Once the update is available I’ll let you know.

[YouTube]

Firas Assaad is an expat born and living Kuwait and works as a software developer in a small company in the city. Firas had always wanted to make games and so for the past 2 years he’s worked on a side project called Octopus City Blues.

I found out about Octopus City Blues last night when I got an email from a reader telling me about a Kickstarter project based from Kuwait. Firas went on Kickstarter to secure funding to help pay the other team members for their time and was hoping to get just $7,000 but with 6 days left he’s already gotten pledges of nearly $17,000. The game looks super cool and trippy plus it’s 2D which I love. You can watch the trailer on top to see the style of the game and below are some links with more information on Firas and the project:

Octopus City Blues on Kickstarter
Octopus City Blues Interview: Grab that Tentacle!
Octopus City Blues website

Thanks Hish

There will be music, face painting, a puppet show and other activities.

Date: Saturday, September 21st 2013
Time: 5:30PM to 9:00PM
Location: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP)

The Peacock which was unarguably the best Chinese restaurant in Kuwait is reopening its doors this coming Saturday. The Peacock was located in Radisson Blu Hotel which recently reopened after going through a complete overhaul. To reserve you need to call them on 25673000.

FYI: For Saturday they’re already fully booked and currently have just one more table left for 8

I’ve already posted about this before but since schools just started it would be a good time to remind everyone about it.

The Regional Center for Development of Educational Software (ReDSOFT) have created a pretty amazing iOS App which allows you to download all the books for all grades required by of the Ministry of Education in Kuwait. You just have to tell the App which class you’re in and then you will then have access to all the books that are required by the Ministry for that year. The App is called “كتابي” but if you don’t have an Arabic keyboard setup on your iPhone or iPad then you can search for “nader marafie” in the App store and you’ll find the app or even better here is the direct link to the App Store [Link]

Sabaidee is a Thai place that has been open for some time now only I started passing by quite recently. They have three locations around Kuwait but the one nearest to me is in Salmiya behind Villa Fayrouz on Baghdad Street. I knew there was a Sabaidee in Salmiya I just didn’t expect it to be so close to my place and I was surprised when I found out it was located in a small street perpendicular to one I always drove on.

The restaurant is small but nicely decorated. It has large windows on one side which lets in a lot of light during the day although in the summer it can be a bit annoying since there are no blinds. From what I can tell, the restaurant just has just two employees (I think), one serves the guests while the other one works in the kitchen. Service can be a tad slow especially since the waitress is always in the kitchen but I’ve learned that if I needed anything I just go up to the kitchen door and ask for it, saves a lot of time that way.

The menu is pretty big with lots of dishes to choose from and they all have their pictures alongside their descriptions. My favorite two things to order are the Gai Satay which is grilled chicken marinated in peanut sauce and the Beef Pa Naeng which is a peanut sauce curry. The prices at Sabaidee are very reasonable with both dishes for example costing KD1.750 each.

If you haven’t tried Sabaidee yet you should, it’s a great casual place for lunch or dinner. Here is their location on [Google Maps] and here’s a link to their [Facebook Page]

I am a big fan of street art and one of my favorite past times is to explore old Kuwaiti buildings looking for graffiti, taking photos and maybe collecting old bullets from the gulf war. But is it a crime to walk into old deserted buildings that the owner has neglected? Is it vandalism to tag those walls? Do the owners even know they are the owners?

I have to be honest, this topic is not something widely discussed in law school or at the office and I have never heard of a private law that discusses these matters, all I know of is the Kuwaiti Penal Law (yeah yeah yeah, the one with Rupees) include the rules for vandalism and trespassing. So let us look at the laws together:

1) Street Art or Vandalism?

First thing first, if you’re planning to tag a building you need to keep the following in mind. The building must not be a prayer place, a public office, a governmental building or a school building. The building should be abandoned with no one living in it or no one intending to fix it up to live in it (For example the amazing parking lot in old Salmiya and most of Failika island). I am also assuming your art is not just two circles with a pointy long oval in the middle.

If you want your canvas to be a new apartment complex or a mexican restaurant or a bookstore, then do what the amazing Monstariam does; get written consent from the owners first. Otherwise if the building has half a floor knocked off, no ceiling and 300 bullets have gone through it, then enjoy it. Just don’t be offensive please.

2) Exploring or Trespassing?

Article 254 and 255 both talk about entering buildings/trespassing owned by other people, but they also claim that the buildings should be in a possession of another person or inhabited by a person or is being prepared from someone to live in; and so the places that Mark (and I) have visited or intend to visit do not fall under those two articles.

PS: Does anyone have any creative ideas I could use with my collected bullets, please don’t tell me necklace.

Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
Have a Kuwait law related question? Email me at [email protected]

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.

Kuwait Little Theater is starting off the 2013-2014 season with a short, informal evening of Cabaret. If you’re interested in attending send an email to [email protected] to reserve your free seat for this fun hour and a half of talent. Be sure to include your name, phone number, and number of tickets you’d like to reserve.

Curtain goes up Thursday, September 26th at 7:30PM.

For more information visit their [Facebook Page]

Update: Event is sold out.

It’s already available at Rihab Complex but their current asking prices are hovering around KD40 to KD50. Insane.

via @thebarbecuechef

This never ceases to amaze me. [Large Photo]

A reader emailed me a couple of days back telling me about the Onam Festival which would taking place at the Caesars Dakshin Restaurant over a period of two days. I was told I needed to pass by during those two days and order the Onasadya. The Onasadya is a traditional vegetarian dish in Kerala, India and since today is Onam Day, a festival celebrated by the people of Kerala, Caesars Dakshin is serving the traditional dish today and tomorrow.

I’m going to start by saying I have no idea what I just had for lunch, but it was delicious and more importantly a lot of fun to experience.

The dish is served on a large banana leaf and consists of around 20 different sides. When they first served the leaf it kinda looked empty and I didn’t know what to really do but then different waiters started coming by and filling my plate up with various colorful curries. They also filled up my dish with rice, gravy and also gave me a milk and butter drink. All the other diners were using their hands to eat and traditionally that’s how you’re supposed to do it but I decided to use a spoon since I needed to use my camera and phone throughout the experience. I watched how other diners were eating and mixing the different curries and I just tried to emulate them. Once I was done and asked for the bill they served me two kinds of desserts in cups. They were both different kinds of rice pudding desserts and they were delicious. All this for just KD3, it’s crazy…

Throughout the whole meal I was taking photos and sending it to my friends since everything was so colorful, flavorful and so random and unexpected. It didn’t feel like I was in Kuwait and I love it when that happens.

As I mentioned, the Onam Festival is taking place today and tomorrow only. The restaurant is in Jleeb Al Shuyoukh but isn’t difficult to find since it’s located on a main road right on top of Xcite. This isn’t a hole in the wall place, it’s a proper and pretty large restaurant. Below are the details:

Date: September 16 and 17
Time: 12PM to 3PM and 7PM to 11PM
Price: KD3
Location: Caesars Dakshin Restaurant

Here is the location on [Google Maps]

Don’t miss this!

Yesterday I posted a beautiful shot of the Dubai nightscape and a commenter made me aware that the photos were taken by Daniel Cheong who happened to also take some beautiful shots of Kuwait. I’ve posted two of my favorite shots here but you can check out all his photos on his Facebook page [Here]

Kuwaiti Children Left Behind is a website that was inspired from the popular Saudichildrenleftbehind.com blog. The aim of the website is to help Kuwaiti children find their parents who might have left them when they were young. The story I posted awhile back of the American girl who’s mother stayed at the Sheraton back in the late 70s is on that website for example.

Check it out [Here]

Buzfairy posted a link earlier today to around 3,700 reports on Kuwait in wikileaks. I took a look at them awhile ago and kinda hoped there was a way to search through them all and turns out there is. I searched for my blog and it turns out it was mentioned once in a cable on the Kuwait Oil Spill. If you want to search through all the wikileaks visit the following link and make sure you choose Kuwait as the country of origin. [Link]