2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

9ura.com is a Kuwait-based group that was created to showcase talents and educate people about the Middle East through photography.

They just launched a few days ago and they’re holding their first photography competition with the theme “Environments in the GCC”. There will be three categories: Culture, Nature, and Urban and I think I already have a photograph that I will be submitting.

If you want to take part in this competition you need to upload your photo to their website some time between August 15th and October 15th, 2011.

Here is a link to their website [Link]

Photo above taken by Bader Al-Ajeel

IMPORTANT: I just read the fine print and there is an important point that I previously missed. According to their fine print, by submitting your photographs to 6ura.com each of your submissions becomes THEIR property. They will have free, permanent, non-exclusive, and royalty-free rights to use, reproduce, and/or display your photos in any format they please. Personally, this means I won’t be submitting anything to them since I want to remain the owner of my photographs.

I had to pass by the post office to mail some defected RAM back to the States and I have to say the place was as weird as I was expecting it to be. I went to the Safat post office in Kuwait City and I only managed to find it by asking passers by since there wasn’t any sign outside the place.

Once I walked in I thought I took the wrong door and stepped inside the post office museum since there were cabinets with old stamps lining up the wall on my right and I could see more cabinets ahead in a large hallway.

I saw stamps in the cabinet that dated back to the 60’s and figured I might as well check out this museum first and then head to the post office.

After checking out a couple of cabinets the room opened up and I realized I was actually in the post office and not the museum.

I went up to the counter and asked the employee there about bareed mumtaz which is what they call EMS in Kuwait. He took my items, weighed them and told me it would cost KD6 to mail it to the States and that it would get there in under a week. In comparison, Aramex wanted KD10.5 to mail it in addition to another KD20 as a deposit in case US customs charged a duty.

Although the post office does look very outdated I didn’t mind it since the place was deserted which meant no lines. The employee I also dealt with was friendly and most importantly the EMS service seems pretty reliable and reasonably fast. Not bad.

They shut down The Noodle House on the Gulf Road at the start of Ramadan. I thought they were going to renovate but yesterday they put up the hoarding above saying the Moti Mahal Indian restaurant was coming soon. I hadn’t heard of the restaurant before but since there is already a Moti Mahal open in the UAE, I’m guessing we’re getting the same one. [Link]

As I’ve posted before I am now riding to and from my gym on my bicycle. The combined distance is around 16.5KM, it takes around 30 minutes each way and I end up burning around 600-700 calories in the process. Since I go to Core three times a week that means I’m basically burning around 2000 calories a week just by riding my bike to the gym.

The way I look at it is every time I ride to the gym that’s an extra 700 calories I’m burning which means I can have a burger that’s also around 700 calories and I would even out.

What this means is I now ride to eat. If anyone is looking for a way to burn calories I highly recommend riding. Even with this hot weather it’s not bad at all, it’s actually not that hot at night. Just park your car near Corniche Club on the Gulf Road and then ride to the Kuwait Towers and back. Easy as that.

There are two promotions I know about that basically involve you not doing anything different from your usual routine and yet get entered in a draw to win a prize. One promotion is for Alfa the other is for NBK.

Alfa Gas Stations
Friday I passed by the Alfa gas station on the Gulf Road to fill up and noticed they had mascots, clowns and loud music playing. I thought it was EXTREMELY annoying since all I wanted to do was drive in, fill up gas and leave but instead I was greeted with a long queue of cars stopping to find out what all the commotion was about and parents with kids stopping so they could see the clowns. Some guy approached me to give me a flyer but since I was pissed off at the traffic they had created I didn’t even care what the promotion was about.

Yesterday on my way home from work I passed by to fill up again but this time asked about the offer and it turned out to be pretty good. Basically fill up like you regularly do and get a receipt. Every receipt has a code which you SMS to a specific number and every week you will have a chance to win a bunch of prizes including a car, iPhone and iPad’s. I thought that was pretty easy to take part in. [Details]

NBK
The second promotion is for NBK and is also very easy to participate in. All you need to do is use Watani Online and that’s it. Just by using it you’ll have a chance to win KD1,000 every week. Simple as that. [Details]

If you know of other promotions that are currently taking place and also as easy to take part in, mention it in the comments below.

Note: Full disclosure, NBK is my agencies client but I am posting about their offer on my own accord.

Credit ratings for every country around the world including Kuwait. Our rating is AA which is similar to the US. [Link]

Kuwaiti artist Fatima Al Qadiri got a lot of hate here the last time I posted about her, and now she’s featured as the new band of the day in the Guardian. Even though it doesn’t mean much being in the Guardian, at least she’s being appreciated instead of being attacked. [Link]

I could clearly make out the Durango’s license plate in the video above and it’s 8-60971. So this brought up an idea. Instead of stopping and impounding cars with lightly tinted windows, why doesn’t the Ministry of Interior assign one police officer to check YouTube for illegal and dangerous racing videos and impound those cars and arrest those reckless drivers instead? [YouTube]

Mustache – شنب from Meqdad Al Kout on Vimeo.

The locally produced short film Mustache is finally available to watch online. I haven’t watched it yet so glad they finally uploaded it.

I found out last night that Cheesecake Factory is going to be located in Avenues Phase III right across from where Gaucho Grill is currently located. From what I understood, that whole outdoor area is actually going to get covered in glass and become indoor I’m guessing similar to the picture below which Avenues released last year. I also heard Cheesecake Factory is going to be around 1,000m2 which is pretty huge but not very surprising since they own the mall anyway. No idea when it’s going to open up but my bet is next year with the rest of Phase III.

A friend of mine spotted the two pictures at the “Bisht Al Baghli” store in Mubarikiya. The line on the poster above says “The man with the longest mustache visits the ‘Bisht Al Baghli’ store”. I’m guessing the two men below are the tallest and shortest Kuwaitis?

Thanks Shaheen

Am I wrong to think the article below from Gulf News is extremely difficult to read and very confusing to understand?

Manama: Kuwaitis expressed mixed reactions to a decision by municipal authorities in the north-eastern Italian town of Citadella not to allow shops to sell kebabs and other “non-traditional” food.

The council of the medieval walled town in Veneto on Friday said that kebab was not part of their tradition and identity. Mayor Massimo Bitonci of the anti-immigration Northern League party said that the ban was made on health grounds against “dishes cooked and then left in the open for a long time”.

Food savvy Kuwaitis reacted by focussing on the quality of kebab and the possible motives behind the decision.

“They are right since kebab is not healthy food,” Bu Msaad wrote on Al Aan news portal. “It is mainly fat and skin that are well spiced in order to fool clients,” he said.

According to “Kuwaiti Citizen”, Italians are “free to decide what should be sold and what should be banned in their country”.

“An appropriate reaction by Arabs for instance is to ban the sale of pizzas,” he wrote.

However for Mohammad Bu Jassoom, the issue went beyond the quality or origin of food. “It is not about food. The problem is that there are some people in that town who want to hurt immigrants and Muslims. They are willing to use all means to achieve their goal,” he wrote.

Kebab generally refers to shish kebab served on the skewer or döner kebab served in bread with a salad and a dressing.

It consisted traditionally of grilled, roasted, and stewed small cuts of lamb meat. However, as it gained global popularity and depending on local tastes and taboos, it may now be beef, goat, chicken, pork, fish or even vegetarian foods such as falafel or tofu.

Bitonci, who also sits as a deputy for the Northern League, made headlines in 2009 when he introduced measures against beggars and street sellers as well as parking restrictions for caravans to dissuade travelling people.

He has also proposed mandatory public service for under-16s found drinking alcohol. The anti-immigration Northern League is part of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, ruling coalition. [Source]

I am curious to know how many Kuwaitis live in Citadella since their whole population is just 20,000…

First time I hear of this project and I’m curious to know if it will ever get executed. The idea behind Sport City is to create world class Olympic level sporting facilities in Kuwait:

The concept consists of a plan in the shape of infinity, around the existing Jaber Stadium and a new man-made lake on which will float three Olympic sized stadia. Contained within the main superstructure are another Olympic stadium, a five star hotel and a shopping centre. The tower, working within the long tradition of Kuwaiti tower-based architectural icons, contains a seven star hotel as well as luxury apartments, VIP suites for the stadium, and a Michelin star restaurant with extraordinary views. [Source]

Looks like Baking Tray is going to be opening up in Avenues Phase II. They’re opening up in place of where Obika used to be which I think is kind of a dead zone right now. But, with SNOG opening up next door and Phase III opening up next year, that passageway should end up getting more traffic.

The Kuwait Fund for Arab and Economic Development (KFAED) loaned Morocco 712 million dirhams ($89.2 million) as part of the first phase of its participation in funding the project of the High Speed Train (HST) linking Tangier to Casablanca.

I just read about this awhile ago and it kinda upset me. Where is our high-speed train? [Link]