2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

The new iPhone 5 uses new “nano” sim cards that are smaller and slimmer than micro sim cards. Luckily it seems all local telecom providers will be getting nano sim cards and we won’t have to do any cutting or card slimming to get it working with our iPhone 5’s. Wataniya already posted on twitter that they will have nano sim cards and Viva just confirmed to me that they will also have nano sim cards available. I’ve contacted Zain as well but I’m still waiting for a reply from them.

Last week I went on a tag along with John Peaveler of K’S PATH. It was a spur of the moment thing, I had emailed John during the day asking him if he had anything interesting I could tag along with him on and he replied telling me they had something that night and if I was interested I could join them but I’d have to basically sleep in the desert. So I did. I had no idea what to expect or what they were doing, all I was told was to bring some food in case I needed to eat.

I headed out to a nature reserve in Abdeliah around 9 in the evening where I met up with John and his team. This nature reserve was a small protected area in the desert with some artificial lakes and plant life that were starting to flourish. It’s a KOC funded project located right next to one of their water wells and it’s a beautiful place that’s attracting birds and other wildlife like desert mice and foxes. Since the reserve is also a few kilometers from Kabd, an area known for puppy mills and dog fighting, a lot of stray dogs from there wonder into the desert and dig their way under the fence into this nature reserve. The stray dogs end up scaring away wildlife and disrupting the ecosystem which is why K’S PATH was hired to clear the area from strays.

During the day the dogs tend to hide and take cover but during the night and early mornings they’re out and about looking for food. I was actually pretty surprised to find dogs in the desert but turns out they live in the desert because it’s safe and go into the city whenever they need food. K’S PATH had around 24 cages placed all around the reserve to try and catch the dogs and our evening was spent driving around and listening for dogs that might be caught in them. Once the dogs are caught there is a very strict procedure that has to be followed, one that is incredibly humane to the dogs:

1) Only one person approaches the cage
2) The cage is covered with a tarp so that the dog feels safe
3) No flash lights are used, only a very low intensity red LED
4) No loud noises, sticks or anything else that might scare the dogs are used

Once those steps are taken the dog is evaluated. If the dog is deemed friendly it is taken back to the K’S PATH shelter where the dog goes through further tests before being placed up for adoption. If the dog is deemed aggressive then the dog is humanely euthanized on location.

One of the dogs saved that night

Last year a program similar to this was done on a larger scale in Ahmadi. The dog problem in Ahmadi had gotten so bad that dogs where chasing people on the streets. KOC really had only two options, either get the government involved who would have poisoned the dogs similar to what they did in the Free Trade Zone. Or there second option was to get K’S PATH involved who would handle the situation in a much more humane manner and even save the dogs that could be saved. In the end over 1,000 dogs were captured and there no longer is a stray dog problem in Ahmadi.

My not so comfy bed for the night

It was a pretty interesting evening and I managed to learn a lot. Best part is on the way back home the next morning I ended up capturing the surreal “Camels in the mist” shot. I’m hoping to do some more tag alongs with them so I can try and document their work which I believe needs attention. They’re a non-profit organization are always looking for volunteers and donations so if you’re interested in helping out visit their website [Here]

BigMo is a Kuwaiti/American Artist based in Portland, Oregon. He recently got signed to an indie music label in the US called GreenLuckMediaGroup and this is his first new single titled “WakeUp”. I just heard it and it’s pretty good. [YouTube]

WakeUp will be featured on his upcoming album called TheNomadic2 but if you’re interested in hearing TheNomadic1 you can do so [Here]

BigMo on Twitter
BigMo on Facebook

Thursday night I attended the Nikon launch event in Dubai that was held at the Armani Hotel Ballroom. Based on the rumors circulating online I had a feeling they were planning to launch the D600 and that became more of a sure thing when Nikon officially announced it in Thailand a few hours before the Dubai event. The Nikon D600 is an entry level full frame camera and currently the most affordable full frame DSLR you can buy. When they announced it at the Dubai event I was hoping they’d have some display models for us to play with and surely right after the event I found a table with a bunch of D600’s for us to try.

Honestly the first thing I wanted to do is see if I made a mistake by buying the more expensive D800. Originally when I purchased the D800 I did so because I wanted a full frame camera. I wasn’t too interested in the 36MP and if the D800 was even 16MP I would have gotten it. The D600 is a 24MP camera and after playing around with it for a bit I realized it’s physically closer to the D7000. The D600 is smaller and lighter than the D800, and while the D800 has a button layout similar to the larger pro D4, the D600 has a button layout closer to the D7000. I love buttons so that alone was enough to convince me I made the right choice with the D800. DPReview have a very detailed post on the D600 which you can check out [Here]

I personally think the biggest announcement of the night was the fact that Nikon is going to start treating the Middle East like the rest of the world. When a new camera gets released we will now have it at the same time as everybody else. The D600 is going to the be first camera they do this with which is why they had this event on the same day as the worldwide launch. One thing they didn’t mention during the event was the price of the D600, according to Nikon Middle East they haven’t finalized the price yet which was odd since the price of the camera in the the States had been announced a few hours earlier (it’s going to cost $2,100). I am hoping the reason they haven’t finalized the price yet is because Nikon is trying to price the camera for us so that it’s closer to the rest of the world instead of the currently exaggerated pricing we have to deal with because we live in an oil rich region. We’ll have to wait and see.

A reader who’s currently in Dubai for the weekend spotted the new soon to be released 2013 Range Rover covered in a bit of camouflage while being tested on the highway there. Check out the pictures below.

Thanks Vampire

I was under the impression that this was already available but I guess it wasn’t. It still doesn’t work with iPhones but if you have Android 4.0 and above then you’re in luck. [Link]

Thanks Rami

If you want to order an iPhone 5 the easiest and most likely the quickest way right now is to get it from the UK Apple store. The UK Apple Store sells the iPhone 5 unlocked and you can ship it to your UK Shop & Ship or a UK Borderlinx mailbox. You don’t require a UK credit card, any local Kuwaiti card would work.

Price wise the 16GB costs around KD240 but then you would also have to add the shipping price to Kuwait and the 5% local tax both Aramex and Borderlinx are charging. It doesn’t come out very cheap in the end but if you’re in a hurry this is the best way to go about it and it’s what I did last year.

This year though I’m not in a rush to get it and instead I’m going to wait either for the US store to start selling the unlocked versions (they sell them cheaper than the UK) or for Viva to get them early like they did last year.

Here is the link to the iPhone 5 on the UK Apple Store. [Link]

I’m heading off to Dubai early morning for a Nikon launch event. There are actually two Nikon press events taking tomorrow, one in Thailand and the other in Dubai. According to the rumors Nikon will be announcing the D600 full frame camera tomorrow along with other goodies.

I think there might even be a second camera, maybe a D7000s or something since the invite says:

Nikon is delighted to invite you to a showcase event celebrating the launch of the latest additions to its DSLR range.

The event in Thailand is taking place a few hours ahead of the Dubai one so the surprise will be ruined for us Dubai folks.

I’ve driven by the site and I have to say it’s going to be HUGE. [YouTube]

A reader caught this spelling mistake on a flyer for a shawerma place. I’d definitely describe that as a “wow”.

Thanks Rakan

Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah is planning on creating an 86,000-square-foot Exhibition Hall, scheduled to open in 2014 inside Kuwait City’s 360° Mall. Who is he getting to design the hall? The legendary Rem Koolhaas!

Like the glass cube that is Villa Moda, the new department store will consist of transparent facades, punctuated by circular cutouts to let in natural light. Unlike the average high-end mall, however, its design and programming will pay homage to its surroundings: Corridor-shaped shops reflect “the geometry of the Middle East,” WWD reported, with a special push towards spotlighting homegrown talents.

“We want to introduce the future Elie Saabs and Zuhair Murads,” Al-Sabah told the fashion industry paper. It’s a timely decision, in light of the Arab Spring uprisings. As a result of the region’s tumultuous political climate, there has been increased interest among denizens in local leisure activities and, consequently, local art as security concerns in cities like Beirut and Cairo have kept would-be travelers grounded.

Here is a link to the full article [Link]

Note: Dear Sheikh Majed, please let me know when Rem Koolhaas is in Kuwait so he can sign my S,M,L,XL book!

Around two years ago I posted about Abdullah Al-Moussawi, an 11 year old Kuwaiti boy with incredible football skills. Someone uploaded a video of him on YouTube playing football and called the video “the new Maradona from Kuwait“. The video become popular and ended up catching the eye of a football scout in Holland who later tried to get Abduallah to move and train in Holland. Abduallah became a sensation in Holland and was given the nickname “the Pearl of Arabia”. But there was a bit of controversy and the move never happened. You could read my old post for the full story [Here]

Now that two years have passed I thought I would post a followup and let everyone know what Abdullah has been up to since then. Well first thing you’ll notice from the pictures is the fact he cut his hair and it’s now really short. He’s still living in Kuwait and hasn’t move to Holland just yet. He’s been training in Kuwait but with older kids so that its more challenging for him. Every six weeks he travels to Holland where he puts on the #10 jersey and plays for the top Dutch club SBV Excelsior. The biggest change for him will come next year since Abdullah and his family are currently finalizing things so they can move to Holland where he will be able to get the best training possible.

I don’t have any new videos to share but I did get some pictures of Abdullah playing in Holland. You can check them out below. He’s got a lot of potential to become a really great player.

Update: I just got an email with more information about the academy team Abduallah plays on:

Thanks Marcel

Yousef is a 17 year old Kuwaiti kid with a thing for backflips. He went around Kuwait and shot clips of himself backflipping in front of different landmarks and inside different places with the idea to show Kuwait in a different way.

He makes backflipping look so easy. [YouTube]

The Kuwait Towers have been closed for a few months due to the fact they’re being renovated. If you’re curious to see how they will turn out after the work is completed check out the video above. [YouTube]

Update: I just found out the video above is a design proposed around six years back but was never approved. There currently isn’t an approved design since they’re still getting proposals from various companies and this process requires another 6 to 9 months. There are plans to have a 3D theater and some other features you can see in the video above but again there is no design finalized as of now.

Currently the Kuwait Towers are closed and the interiors of all three towers have been ripped out since they’re upgrading the fire system, plumbing, electricity cables etc.. in preparation so that once a design is approved they can start work immediately. It’s expected to take 3 years for the project to be completed and the towers to reopen.

If you order stuff from Amazon and ship it to your Aramex Shop & Ship mailbox, you are probably aware that Amazon taxes you. Well as a customer based outside the US you aren’t supposed to pay tax and so Amazon allows you to get a tax refund. All you need to do is prove the package was shipped to a freight forwarder (Aramex in this case) and that the final destination was outside the US. Sounds complicated but it isn’t. This is all you need to do to get a tax refund.

1) Once your package arrives to Kuwait request an airway bill from Aramex
2) Then, email the airway bill (as a PDF) to [email protected] with your Amazon order number
3) That’s it. In under 24 hours Amazon will reply back confirming that they’ve received your documents and that you will get a tax refund to your original payment method within the next 2-3 business days

How cool is that? And how much do you love me right now?