2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Last week just before Eid I was able to get a hold of the new Audi A1 from the dealership to test drive over the holiday. I had been nagging them for a test drive since June but since I wanted the car for more than a day I wasn’t able to get my hands on it until now. I’ve always had a thing for hatchbacks but I also got interested in Audi’s recently and even more so after watching Truth in 24 which is a need to watch movie if you love cars.

The car a fuel efficient 2.0l engine pumping out 122hp which doesn’t sound like much on paper but in reality I found the car pretty zippy. That probably has a lot to do with the 7-speed automatic gearbox that comes standard with the car. The first day I drove the A1 I was actually pretty annoyed with the gearbox since whenever I stepped on the gas pedal for just a bit more power the car would dramatically drop down 3 or 4 gears which I thought was overkill. But, by the second day I had gotten used to it and started appreciating the gearbox a lot more. It’s very smooth and really does make the engine power more readily available which is why the car felt zippy. Still 8 gears is a lot of gears and if you use the paddle shift then you’ll be doing quite a lot of clicking.

I’m around 6 feet tall and found the car cozy with a very adjustable seat and steering column. It was actually pretty comfortable… that is as long as you’re sitting in the front. The car is a 2-door and I tried sitting in the backseat and found it too claustrophobic for my size. I wouldn’t mind sitting in the back for a 5 or 10 minute ride but I definitely wouldn’t want to sit there for a trip down to Bnaider. The trunk is also pretty small, you could fit one large travel bag but barely. But since it’s a hatchback the back seats fold down and you end up with a much larger carrying capacity.

Tech wise the car I drove came with LED lights which I think helps give the car an eye catching look. The car I drove didn’t have navigation (it’s an extra option) but it did have a popup screen and a pretty good sound system which comes with two SD card slots to use for MP3s. You could also purchase an iPod cable or even stream music from your iPhone to the car using Bluetooth which is what I was doing most of the time.

Overall I had a lot of fun with the car. I drove it all the way to the junkyards at the end of the 6th ring road and even through Bin Khaldoun Street traffic so I managed to experience a wide variety of environments. It’s easy to maneuver as a hatchback should be but the car also feels really well built with a nice thick steering wheel and great feeling buttons and nobs. Most importantly the car looks great which at the end of the days is probably the most important thing. The starting price of the Audi A1 is KD6,995 but the car I drove costs KD8,995. If you’re interested you can call them up for more information on 1811118.

This is pretty cool, it’s a 2 megapixel camera that is the size of a USB flash drive and costs just $49! It’s called the CLAP and comes in different colors including, black, white, blue, orange, pink and red. It also shoots video and the lens is a bright f/2.8.

Here are the links the cameras on Amazon:
Black CLAP
Red CLAP
Blue CLAP
Neon Pink CLAP
Orange CLAP
White CLAP

When Mada launched 3 months ago I reviewed it and gave it top marks. It was incredibly fast when compared to my 2MB DSL connection at home since Mada was 10MB while my phone line can’t handle more than just 2MB. Originally I was told that Mada would be unlimited bandwidth for the first 3 months and after that everyone would be capped with a 20GB monthly limit. Turns out that plan has changed since Mada will no longer be applying a download cap and they will continue to be unlimited. That’s why I decided to renew my Mada connection for another 3 months since it’s now become my primary internet connection at home. I love it!

I noticed that Ace Hardware now has a small display of paintball guns for sale. They’re carrying the Tippmann brand along with gas canisters and paintball pellets. Imagine if kids started using them on National Day instead of foam cans…

There’s a new local creation called ubon opening up soon in my office building. I checked out their website and this is the description:

Ubon, a contemporary Thai restaurant specializes in curries, rice & noodles. Located in the heart of Kuwait city, Ubon is perfect for a quick lunch break or for a relaxing night out dinner. Ubon serves flavorful Thai food in a hip, modern and welcoming atmosphere.

Seems like its going to be cool. [Link]

Just a quick update on the attempt by Kuwait’s Al Farsi family to break the record for the worlds largest kite. After yesterdays failed attempt they were supposed to try breaking the record today but they had to call it off since it was too windy.

It’s now not know when they will try to break the record again. [Link]

If you’re looking for a bike you might want to pass by the Salmiya branch of Extreme Sports since they currently have 25% off on their 2011 model year bikes (while stocks last). My brother purchased an entry level Trek (2011 3700 model) yesterday for just KD123. Their Tilal branch also has discounts but I think they have 10% off instead of 25. The Salmiya branch had one more bike for KD123 and then the next cheapest was I think around KD140. If you’re interested you can call up the Salmiya branch for directions on 25755898

My package finally arrived to the US. They originally told me it would take a week to get there but it took nearly a month. Glad it got there though.

Yesterday I posted about the attempt by Kuwait’s Al Farsi family to break the record for the worlds largest kite. They already hold the record but they’re trying to re-break it with an even larger kite. Sadly, the kite ended up getting ripped today and so they couldn’t continue with the record attempt. They are currently working overnight to try and repair the kite and will hopefully be flying it again tomorrow. The BBC website has more information on this as well as a video from today’s flight. [Link]

I first saw the brotips website a month or two ago when one of the sites I frequent linked to it and I thought it was a cute idea. Then, a few days ago I found out the website belongs to a young 16 year old Kuwaiti called Yousef Khraibu and thought that was pretty unexpected.

Because of his dads job, Yousef ended up moving from Kuwait to Morocco to England and eventually landing in Canada where he’s currently living. He was always interested in entrepreneurship so he decided to drop out of school to focus on one of his projects when he ended up meeting his current partner Dominique. Together they came up with the idea of packaging commonsense in a pretty way and they ended up with brotips. Their website has gotten pretty popular and they’re now close to signing a book deal.

It’s an interesting story which I thought was worth sharing. If you haven’t checked out brotips just click [Here]

I passed this scene earlier today but right after they had managed to put the jetski back on the pickup truck. I didn’t really know what had happened until I spotted this picture on the Al-Mubarkia blog. It fell off in a pretty dangerous location since it happened coming down a bridge so it’s not something you would have spotted ahead of time. [Link]

Around 6 years ago I posted about these amazing baseball fields off the 6th Ring Road right before 360 Mall (pictured above). There were two fields stuck next to each other and they both stuck out like an oasis in the desert. Well for some odd reason the fields are not there anymore. Below is how the baseball field currently looks like, it’s depressing.

It’s like they were never there! Luckily I took a few pictures of the baseball field back then and you can check them out [Here]

This is a short clip from a really old show from the late 70s staring George Clooney. Whats interesting here is that in the clip George Clooney’s character gets a Kuwait Times newspaper delivered to him and he talks about his experience living in Kuwait. Just press play above and it should start at the right moment. [YouTube]

Thanks Hish

Update: The episode above is from 1985

Kuwait’s Al Farsi family already holds the record for the world’s largest kite but it seems like they’ll be trying to break their own record in the next two days with their new Manta Ray kite at the Bristol International Kite Festival. In case you didn’t know the current world’s large kite is actually in the design of the Kuwaiti flag (pictured above). Here is a link with some more details on their new record attempt. [Link]

Contrary to the rumors, Kei hasn’t shutdown and moved out of Marina Crescent. What’s happened is they’ve just reduced the size of the place by half and sold the other half to Caribou Coffee. I think that’s actually a good move since their Marina Crescent branch was fairly over-sized and I like my sushi places small and cozy. There is no opening date yet but for your Kei fix you can still visit their JW Marriott location.