2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

I am guessing Fahad would not approve this.

The partial opening of the 1st Ring Road got postponed because they forgot to put up signs so until the project fully opens here are shots of a 1st Ring Road model that will give you an idea of how it will look like once completed.

Thanks Cyril

I’ve started getting SPAM on my phone and I don’t know how to stop it. Some company is sending me around 4 or 5 SMS’s a day containing sports news from the number 50122 and I don’t know how to stop it. I replied saying REMOVE but I got back an SMS telling me if I send a reply back containing certain letters I can also receive news on celebrities, the world and I don’t know what else. Anyone know how I could unsubscribe? Is there a universal reply back I need to send to get off the list that I’m not aware of?

Update: Below is what I get when I send “stop” “remove” or “unsubscribe”

Update2: I noticed with a number of readers that we started getting SPAM after entering the Alfa gas station draw I posted about last week. If you also started receiving SPAM after participating in the Alfa gas station draw leave a comment below.

Even though I live 5 minutes away from the Jeita caves, for some odd reason I hadn’t been to them until yesterday. The caves are currently nominated as one of the new 7 wonders of nature but I’m still undecided if I like the place or not.

The cave are divided into two parts, the lower grotto and the upper grotto. The lower grotto consists of a ride on a little boat through the caves which sounds cool but out of the 7km depth the journey only takes you to the first 450 meters since the path becomes too tight for the boats. So it’s a really short trip that ends a few minutes after it starts.

The upper grotto is a walking path through the caves and I found it much more impressive than the lower grotto. The height of the ceiling is ridiculously high and the whole place is lit up very nicely. But my problem with the upper grotto is again the fact that it ends too quickly. Not as quickly as the lower caves but still, I just wish it was longer. Now this might sound strange but I honestly wished there was a Starbucks at the end of the path inside the cave. I would have loved to chill out on a couch eating my chocolate muffin while checking out and appreciating the caves around me.

If you’re coming to Lebanon I guess the caves are worth visiting, just don’t expect to spend the day there, the whole experience takes an hour or two. Also a point worth mentioning is that cameras and phones are NOT allowed inside the caves. Tickets for adults costs around KD3.5. Here is a link with more info [Link]

Although I’ve been trying out burgers on this trip, I rarely have any when I come to Lebanon since the burgers here aren’t good at all. Instead I usually have other things:

Salads
I think the salads in Lebanon are better than the ones I have in Kuwait. The salads are lighter and taste better, probably because restaurants have access to better produce. I had the one pictured above yesterday and it came with goat cheese, walnuts, baby tomatoes, lettuce and figs for a bit of sweetness. It was great.

Pizza
For some odd reason pizza is extremely popular in Lebanon in the same way burger joints are popular in Kuwait. It seems every place around the corner makes pizza and most of them are pretty good. I end up having pizza maybe every other day and every time at a different place.

The Healthy Alternative
When I’m on vacation I’m off my regular diet but I also don’t like overdoing it since I end up feeling guilty. Other than salads there is one healthy dish that I love having and it’s the one above called the light grilled chicken. It’s delicious and very tender grilled chicken that comes with steamed carrots, mushrooms, broccoli and corn. I also order a side of honey mustard with it and I end up wiping the plate clean since everything on it including the broccoli just tastes amazing.

In the first incident of its kind, a traffic policeman issued a citation against an Arab motorist for having bad breath, reports Al-Anba daily.

A police source said it is a very strange incident and problematic too because the penalty is not known. “Will the motorist be fined; if so, how much will he have to pay and if his car is impounded, how long will it be in the police garage?” he asked.
Incidentally, it is also mentioned on the citation that the motorist admitted that his mouth smells. [Source]

If they’re issuing tickets for bad breath then my previous joke about how sunglasses should be banned might actually happen.

Update: I added the picture of the ticket to the post

Update2: The MOI is denying such a ticket was issued [Link]

Shouldn’t wearing sunglasses while driving be illegal as well?

Thanks Musaed

A reader emailed to tell me that the First Ring Road is going to open up tomorrow but I didn’t think it was true. I passed by the other day and it didn’t look like it was going to be finished but according to an article on Kuna the road and bridge should be open to the public tomorrow. Weird. [Link]

Thanks Q8 Mods

A few burger places have recently popped up in Lebanon and I decided I would try a new place every day on this trip. So far I’ve tried two places and have ended up with mixed results which you could read about on my Lebanese blog [Here]. Best part is, since I’m on vacation everyday is a cheat day!

Anyone know anything about a fire that happened today at Bayan Palace? Either that or they were have one huge BBQ…

Pictures by JaberTV

Turns out the bull/cow (we’re still undecided) I posted about the other day who was roaming the Gulf Road ended up going for a swim. [YouTube]

A reader emailed me to tell me that the Taj Mahal Mosque in Kuwait which I posted about before [Here] is now open. Looks like a palace out of Aladdin.

Thanks Yousuf

A friend of mine just posted some great pictures of Extreme Sports in Tilal Complex. I’ve written about them before but never really had my camera with me to take any pictures. You could check his shots out [Here]

I’m going to be posting from here for the next 10 days.

Last month I signed up to the Spotify music service and since then I’ve been using it non-stop. Imagine iTunes with an unlimited supply of music and you have Spotify. Just search for whatever artist or album you want and you can start listening to it right away and it’s free. If you don’t want to sign up to any of their paid subscriptions you can listen to music but every now and then you get interrupted by ads. If you do subscribe to a package then there are many advantages including the ability to use their iPhone app.

If you sign up to the Premium Spotify account you will automatically be granted access to their iPhone app which is a downsized version of their desktop software yet with all the same capabilities. If you’re lucky like me and have a car stereo that allows you to stream music to it using bluetooth then you’re in for a nice surprise because Spotify works flawlessly with 3G. So far in the two days I’ve been using it I haven’t had any streaming problems. In fact, it’s been very responsive and fast when searching for artists and playing or forwarding songs. You really forget the fact that the music is actually being streamed and even the sound quality is pretty darn good. Spotify in the car is just incredible.

So if you haven’t signed up to Spotify you can do so by visiting their website [Here]