2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

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!

Jay King is an American Security Expert and trainer living and working in Kuwait. His real passion though is Parkour and he is a superb Traceur. He is also a funny, loyal and well liked guy. He is close friends with and constantly traines with the PK Jaguars, Kuwait and the Middle East’s premiere Parkour team. Keep your eyes open and you are bound to see him running around Salmiya or Sawaber at any given time.

My favorite shot is the one pictured below. Reminds me of an Alfred Hitchcock movie for some reason. [YouTube]

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram you might have seen the tshirt pictured above. I wasn’t planning to post about it just yet since the tshirt isn’t available yet but I also didn’t expect to get a lot of emails asking about it.

Those of you who’ve been reading blogs for quite some time might remember a blogger called Tatabotata. Well he shutdown his blog ages ago but it’s going to be relaunched again soon as a tshirt store. He used to have a lot of cool and controversial tshirt designs back then (snapshot here) and when he showed me the design above last year I told him I wanted first dibs which is how I became his first customer (and #1 fan).

If you also want this tshirt or his others you will have to wait until his website goes live which is very soon. Right now you can sign up to be notified when his tshirts go live so if you’re interested you can head over to his website [Tatabotata.com]

The wife of a former British ambassador to Kuwait suffered third-degree burns after having boiling water thrown on her in a restaurant by a suspected Islamist activist, The (London) Times reported Wednesday.

Dianne Wilton, whose husband Christopher Wilton served as British ambassador in Kuwait between 2002 and 2005, was dining with a member of the Gulf state’s royal family and other friends when a woman entered the restaurant and grabbed a pot of scalding water.

The woman proceeded to hurl the pot at Wilton’s table.

The boiling water hit Wilton on the neck, shoulder and back — causing her to be hospitalized for treatment. She was released from a Kuwaiti hospital Tuesday night and will fly back to the UK for more treatment Thursday, the Times reported.

“She was extremely shaken up,” said her husband, the former ambassador.

“She’s all right but traumatized that this could happen at all. The assumption is [the attacker] singled out a table where Arab men were dining with obviously Western women.”

The attacker managed to run from the restaurant without being apprehended. [Source]

Haven’t read about this anywhere else yet so not sure how accurate the story is. But out of curiosity what kind of restaurant has “a pot of scalding water” lying around?

Thanks Najib

Just read an interesting post on the K’S PATH blog in which they’re recommending closed garbage bins (basically with lids) similar to the ones pictured above over the current open ones in helping to prevent strays.

I think that’s actually a pretty good idea and doesn’t require much work from the municipality other than some financial investment to purchase the new bins. Not only will it help prevent stray dogs and cats from munching and living off the garbage but it would also hide the garbage from plain sight and also reduce the foul smell. [Link]

A short documentary by TJC Films on Bruha Eve, a talented artist from the Philippines living in Kuwait. I found it a bit slow but I’m not into art myself so I’ll let you be the judge. [YouTube]

I love watches so when I was given the opportunity to get a preview of the new Behbehani Luxury store I was very interested, not because I was going to get to see the store but because I knew there would be a ton of watches I would get to play with and try on. It’s always a very strange and exciting feeling holding a watch that costs as much as my house.

The Behbehani Luxury store is located in the Hamra Tower Luxury Center opposite Hermes. The interior actually looks pretty good and very tastefully done. From what I understood the store was actually designed and built overseas in Europe then dismantled, shipped and rebuilt again here in Kuwait. Everything is imported from the lights to the walls. The way the shop is structured reminded me of Harrods watch court because once you walk into the shop there is a space in the middle with some displays and then small boutiques for various brands all around. Some of the brands they carry in their new store are Blancpain, Breguet, Cartier, Hublot, Omega and Roger Dubuis among others. My favorite brand from the bunch is easily Hublot not only because their watches are sportier then the rest but because their CEO Jean-Claude Biver actually contributes and participates in the Time Zone forums (his nickname is jcbiver). He’s a very cool down to earth guy.

So anyway about the watches, I got to play with a whole bunch and I took some pictures of some of my favorites. They had four limited edition Formula 1 Hublot’s I got to check out as well as the new Maradona edition. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this before but Maradona wears two Hublot’s at the same time one on each hand (picture).

The Hublot’s looked great but at 48mm they’re just ridiculously big on my skinny wrists. I also got to check out a Breguet Tourbillon and a Blancpain with a flying sapphire carrousel (super tiny movement floating in the middle of the watch on transparent glass. Both are definitely too classic for my taste (and cost as much as my house) but it’s hard not to appreciate the engineering.

If you’re interested, the Hamra Tower Luxury Center as well as the Behbehani Luxury store open starting from today. For those of you who are into watches I’ve got something very cool coming up next week (at least I think it’s very cool) so stay tuned.

If you guys remember around 3 years back I posted about Smoke House who at one point I thought had the best burger in Kuwait (that’s pre-OFK, Elevation, Fatburger and Shake Shack days). Well things went from perfect to a mess, they had consistency issues, they changed their burgers and some people ran into issues with their management.

But it seems things have finally been sorted out. They posted a very honest and fun to read update today on their website where they talk about some of the problems they had and how they’ve gone ahead and changed or improved things. After reading their post I actually have a much better impression about them and I’m now interested in going back and trying them out again. Why can’t more businesses be this down to earth and honest with their customers? Check out their post [Here]

This Friday (May 4th) a photographic walk will be taking place from the Scientific Center to the Kuwait Towers in which over 50 amateur and professional photographers are expected to participate. Photography lovers from all skill levels are invited to take part in this walk which will also include classes and demonstrations by experts.

The walk starts off at 5AM which is early but necessary to capture the sunrise and the magic hour. The group will be making a bunch of stops along the way to take photos including a 7AM stop at the Hard Rock Cafe to photograph a motorcycle club and a stop at around 11AM at the Green Island to photograph some models.

It sounds like a lot of fun so if you’re interested or want more details check out their Facebook page [Here]

I heard that BoConcept the trendy furniture store that recently closed down might be reopening again in Avenues Phase III (possibly under new ownership). I was kind of surprised when they originally announced they were closing down but the fact they’re planning reopen in Avenues Phase III (if the rumor is true) might explain why they shut down their small Marina Mall location.

The brand should do a lot better in Phase III specially since there should be a lot more foot traffic. Also previously they were located inside THE One which is a completely different brand with a different pricing structure and I’m sure it wasn’t helping BoConcept’s brand. If they do indeed open in Phase III it would be their third store location in Kuwait since for a short period they were also open in Tilal Complex but that location must have not done so well because it didn’t take long to close it down.

I was visiting one of the soon to open stores at the Al Hamra Tower Mall and decided to snap some pictures of the interior. The mall looks amazing, it’s a lot bigger than I expected (5 floors) and it’s also bright because of the natural daylight that comes in from the skylight. It looks very elegant, I really think it looks great. The mall is officially opening after tomorrow (Tuesday, May 1st) so just two more days left. Here are some pictures:

Update: I just found out the official name which is Al Hamra Luxury Center.

While I was at the Violet Concept Store checking out the Wolf Designs watch winders (check previous post) I got to see something else that was very very cool. The Violet Concept Store have an “OriginTimes’ Big Block Winder” on display! The Big Block Winder was featured in Robb Report’s “21 Ultimate Gifts” back in 2010 and while the Wolf Designs watch winders are on the affordable side, this watch winder lies in the other end of the spectrum.

The Big Block Winder is a large watch winder that’s made from an actual Bugatti Veyron engine block. The watch winding mechanism are located in each of the 16 cylinder locations and the whole thing is controlled with a futuristic looking control panel. This thing is a beast! The price? KD35,000. Expensive I know but this wasn’t built for us. If you have 16 decent automatic watches which cost on average say KD7,000 and up then you probably already have an actual Veyron in your garage and this watch winder is just pocket change. It’s for the person who has everything. You can check out some more cool pictures below or on the Robb Report website [Here]

I’m a fan of Wolf Designs products mainly because they’re a family owned business that dates back nearly 200 years and also because their products are pretty affordable and well made. I purchased a Wolf Designs watch box from Amazon awhile back and then a few months ago I emailed them to find out if there were any stores in London that carried their brand (there wasn’t) which is why I was pretty surprised when I found out a local place called Violet Concept Store carried them.

I passed by the store yesterday honestly not really expecting much since I figured they’d have a couple of items and that they’d be overpriced but I turned out to be wrong. They had a pretty large collection of Wolf Designs watch boxes and winders and they were very reasonably priced compared to Amazon. To give you a rough idea about their prices, the watch box I bought from Amazon cost around KD30 and another KD30 to ship it with Aramex while they’re selling the exact same box for just KD35. It was a Homer Simpson “Doh!” moment but they only recently opened while I bought my box over a year ago so I didn’t feel too bad.

So if you’re interested, they’re located in Sanabil Tower (near Amiri Hospital in Kuwait City) and they’re open only on weekdays from 2pm to 8pm. They also carry a small collection of Wolf Designs jewelery boxes and drawer inserts if that interests you. Here is a link to their website [Link]

I have no idea when the new Gulf Road Fuddruckers branch is going to open but it looks huge so I can’t wait.

I downloaded the Kuwait Times iPhone App last night and so far I think it’s pretty cool. Visually the app doesn’t look that great or appealing but I am finding it pretty practical to use. My favorite feature in the app is the ability to easily move over to the next article once you’re done reading it without having to go back to the main list. Sounds like a trivial thing but I’ve seen news apps that don’t have this feature for some odd reasons.

The app is free and you can download it from the App Store by either searching for Kuwait Times or by clicking [Here]