2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

I just checked in to my room awhile ago at the Beau Rivage. The view is amazing (pictured above) and the weather is fantastic. I’ve got a ton of emails which I need to catch up on but since I only have 4 hours before we’re all off to dinner, I’m going to use this time to try and do some shopping instead.

In a few hours I’m heading to Geneva courtesy of the watchmaker Audemars Piguet. The local dealer is sending some of their customers to the main Audemars Piguet headquarters in Switzerland and I was lucky enough to be invited as well. I’m a huge AP fan and I’ve always wanted to visit the Vallée de Joux area (pictured above) where all the prestigious watchmakers are located so this trip should turn out to be amazing.

Once I get there I’ll be getting a local sim card so I could continue to post pictures on Instagram whenever I find anything interesting. As usual you could follow me by adding me on instagram, my username is mark248am or you can check out my pictures with your web browser by clicking [Here]

According to Abo Flan, a second Hungry Bunny branch is opening soon and this time in Egaila. I still haven’t been to their Jahra branch because I thought it was far but Egaila is even further. [Link]

The Q80 High Street blog has pictures of all the stores and restaurants that are currently open at Al Hamra Tower and pictures of ones that are opening soon. I personally need to pass by and check out the Adidas Originals store since it’s the first one in Kuwait. You can check out her post [Here]

I’ve posted about Photolenders before, a local website that rents out cameras and lenses but it seems they now also rent studio space. Prices seem reasonable, it starts at KD25 for 2 hours and includes strobes and triggers. Could be useful if you’re interested in studio photography. [Link]

I passed by this strange abandoned old villa over the weekend that was full of random quotes (that barely made any sense) spray painted all over the walls. Here are some I managed to make out:

– Nothing is real unless you think it is… way cup
– Everything starts with a puff
– When I smoke dyin’ to live… penis
– House is made of brick and stone a tree house is made of weed
– All the other kids with the pumped mess you’d better run better run faster than my bullet

Pretty weird funny stuff.

Just found out that Alshaya are bringing Garrett’s Popcorn to Kuwait. According to my source it seems Alshaya accidentally leaked this news in an internal company memo ahead of time.

While looking for something else I accidentally found a PDF on the Ministry of Oil’s website that has a bunch of old pictures of petrol stations in Kuwait dating back to the early 50s. The PDF is over 200 pages and around 40MB’s in size so not really practical to go through it. But, I chose four of my favorite pictures and posted them below for you to see.

If you’re interested, you can download the PDF containing other images from their website [Here]

Members from the Kuwait Quarter Mile Motorsports Club were crowned winners in multiple classes including the Pro Mode Bike class won by Meshal Al-Sabr, and followed by fellow club members Mohammad BuRashid, Misfer Al-Misfer and Mohammad Al-Awad respectively.

Meanwhile, Kuwaiti racers Mohammad Al-Baddah, Yaqoub Al-Ali and Ahmad bin Belal won the first, second and fourth places respectively in the Superstreet Bike class. In sports cars classes Tariq Al-Qudairi was crowned champion of the Index 4.8 class, while Imad Al-Jassem came in fourth place in the Pro Mode class. The Superstreet V8 class was dominated by Kuwaiti racers in the meantime, as the top four places went respectively to Mohammad Dashty, Mohammad Al-Sulaiman, Faraj Al-Ajmi and the Q80 team led by Abdullah Al-Shatti [Source]

What sucks is the fact that these guys can only compete abroad since their only drag race strip here in Kuwait was closed down years ago.

Check out some pictures from 1985 of guys drag racing here in Kuwait [Link]

A blog reader contacted me around two weeks back asking me if I wanted to review his McLaren and of course I said yes. After spending the day with it this weekend I can easily review the car with 3 words… “I want one”. Seriously I want one. I can’t afford to buy it but that doesn’t change the fact I really really want it.

There are a lot of reviews of the McLaren online and Top Gear have a great one which you can watch on YouTube. So, not wanting to come about this review in the same way I decided to look at the car differently. It’s obviously a fast super car and everyone already knows that but I was curious to how the car would perform as a daily driver in Kuwait. I would hate to spend this much on a car and then only drive it on weekends. I’d want to drive the car to work, to the gym or even to the supermarket.

First thing I looked for after getting into the car was cup holders and I ended up finding two right behind the center console. Cup holders are great for holding your drinks but they’re also more useful for storing items like your phone or sunglasses. The McLaren not only has two easy to access cup holders but there is also a 12v socket inside one of them which means you can plug in your phone charger as well. That’s practical. Another practical feature is the AC, both the driver and passenger have separate control panels which is a feature you usually find in large cars but not super cars.

The seats are also fully electric and have 3 memory positions which is convenient if the car is being shared between say a couple or family members. The sound system is naturally located in the center console and is made by the high end audio guru’s Meridian. The sound system control panel is a large touch screen that is more than double the size of the iPhone and is 100% iPhone/iPod compatible. Once you connect your iPhone or iPod to the car you can then navigate your music by touch and even view album art beautifully all on the center console screen. I think it has the best iPod integrated system I’ve seen so far. The car boot is a lot bigger than I expected. I wouldn’t take the car to IKEA if I need to get a bookcase but it’s definitely supermarket friendly.

The McLaren is very comfortable to drive. I actually found it more comfortable and forgiving on worn out roads when compared to say my old Z4. I’m also pretty tall (6’1) and I didn’t feel claustrophobic or cramped in the car neither did I have problems finding my correct seating position (the seats are incredibly adjustable). Driving the car I was actually impressed by the fact I could cruise in it at 80km/h and not feel like I should be driving it a lot faster. Of course once you step on the gas the car is breathtakingly fast but as a daily driver you want to be able to drive on regular roads at regular speeds and the McLaren does that really well. Even the car’s gas mileage is pretty good at 15mpg which is similar to my FJ Cruiser. I did find the brake peddle a bit too stiff to press but it’s something you would get used to after a few hours in the car.

The only two things that hurt the car as a daily driver is the ride height and the doors. It’s a pretty low ride since it’s a sports car which means the majority of the speed bumps you’ll need to take sideways. The second issue is the doors, they swing open upwards which means you can’t park in very tight spots. If the parking spot is tight you won’t be able to open the doors so you always need to make sure you have ample room on the sides. But again if you’ve paid this much for the car, I doubt you’re going to be squeezing it anywhere.

I love the car but then again who wouldn’t? The thing is I don’t only love it because it’s a super car, I love it because it’s a super car you can actually use every day. I wasn’t kidding when I said I want one, I do I just can’t afford the starting price of around KD70,000. But if anyone from McLaren is reading this, give me a fat discount (like 75%) and you’ve got yourself another customer.

There was a dumpster fire near my building just awhile ago. It’s a common occurrence but what grabbed my attention this time is that their were a bunch of kids trying to put out the fire with water bottles and sand. Obviously that wasn’t helping but it was still nice to seem them try.

When the firefighters came I wanted to take pictures of them putting the fire out but the fireman in charge wouldn’t let me. That’s happened to me before but this was the first time I was told nicely not to shoot AND I was given an explanation to why. Turns out the firefighter putting out the fire wasn’t in full gear and I guess that’s against their regulations and he didn’t want his firefighter to get in trouble. I’m cool with that.

So I was reviewing the McLaren today and decided to head to the junkyards to take some photos of the car. On the way, there was a small cloud of smoke in the distance and I figured it was the tire fires again. Turns out it was a lot closer than the tire dump… it was in the exact same location where I wanted to shoot the car! Talk about a weird coincidence. There were no fire trucks or cops at the scene but not wanting to get stuck there once they did arrive we decided to leave. As we were heading back to the highway the firetrucks and cops had started arriving but the fire looked HUGE so not sure if they were able to put it out yet.

Taken from Skyscraper City:

This is a proposal for a Hyatt Regency hotel and full-fledged convention center that was proposed way back in 1975. I can’t help but be completely floored by this concept – the hotel and overall complex look absolutely massive! The hotel building itself has a timeless classicism to it; I think it would cohesively fit in with all the modern, glassy buildings we have today while retaining its 70s feel. This could have been our equivalent of the Sheraton in Doha, which began construction way back in 1978 and opened in 1980. That Sheraton is one of Doha’s iconic landmarks today, something Qataris are proud of. –ChaoticTranquility

Client: Kuwait Hotels Co.
Location: Kuwait City, Kuwait
Starting Date: 1975
Completion: 1977
Cost: 33,000,000 KD

Project Description:
The site of Hayatt Regency Kuwait on Kuwait Bay, overlooks a traditionaly landscaped Arab park in downtown Kuwait City. The focus of six floor, 586 room luxury hotel will be a large landscaped atrium lobby. Restaurants, commercial space, recreational facilities, service amenities and the hotel rooms will face on the atrium. The fully air-conditioned hotel will feature 16 special duplex suites on thetop two floors in addition to its many luxury suites. An adjoining conference center, similar in character to the United Nations General Assembly Hall, will provide seating for 700 presons. Fixed seating for 400 will be placed on the main floor with 300 filling the balcony, which can be subdivided for smaller conferences. Parking for 885 cars will be below grade. Recreatinal activities such as swimming and boating and the hotel’s health club will be linked to the hotel by an underpass to the beach. [Source]

Lady walking nude in Sharq?
When an unidentified person informed the Operations Department of the Ministry of Interior that a woman was walking nude on a street in Sharq, a police patrol was dispatched to arrest, reports Al-Rai daily.

When police arrived at the spot, they saw the woman, she was carrying a handbag but she was not nude. She was wearing skintight light brown leather pants. [Source]

Thanks Tuan

Last month I posted about how a friend ordered photography gear from DigitalRev.com and ended up paying just KD12 for customs. Shipping was free, they cover warranty in Kuwait and more importantly their prices are either similar or cheaper than Amazon. Since I posted about them I know of at least 3 other friends who ordered gear from DigitalRev as well as two other forum users and everyone reported the same thing, that DigitalRev is basically the best place online to order photography gear from.

There are a few advantages to ordering with DigitalRev over for example Amazon. First of all shipping to Kuwait is for free and they use DHL to ship the items so they arrived in just a few days. That’s quicker than the Amazon+Aramex combo. Plus you have to pay Aramex while they ship the stuff for free. Secondly on average people are paying just KD8 for customs which is pretty cool, I was expecting at least double that. The items are also wrapped as if DigitalRev are aware of the state of the postal service here because their packaging are drop proof. The items arrive in a box and inside that box the item is rolled in a ton of bubble wrap. So if the box is thrown around you don’t have to worry about anything getting damaged.

Not sure why I only recently found out about DigitalRev but I guess it’s better late than never. They’re selling the D800 for example for $150 more expensive than Amazon but with Amazon you pay tax which is $320. That means DigitalRev are selling the D800 for $170 cheaper and that includes DHL delivery to Kuwait. If that’s not a good deal I’m not sure what is!

Anyway you can check them out [Here]

Update: Ignore my last example since I can’t calculate to save my life!