2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

I tried FlyDubai for the first time on my recent trip to Dubai. I booked everything the last minute and FlyDubai had the cheapest prices so I decided to try them out.

My experience with FlyDubai itself didn’t turn out bad. We started off on the wrong foot since when I tried to check in at the airport I had to wait around 20 minutes because the ticket staff lost the list that contains all the job occupations that can get a visa on entry to Dubai. That was extremely annoying and frustrating. Then once we boarded the plane I thought the interior was gloomy. I think its the color of the seats (brownish orange with a dark blue) made the interior look old. But I thought the uniforms of the flight attendants were cool and trendy plus they were also very friendly and polite. On my way there the seats didn’t have a TV screen but on the return flight there was a screen with a credit card slit. You could use your card to purchase movies or tv shows to watch (movie is 25dhm tv show is 5dhm). You could also order duty free and food items using the screen including alcohol.

Actually my only issue with FlyDubai is the airport they fly in and out from in Dubai. FlyDubai uses Terminal 2 which is one of the saddest airports I’ve been to (and I’ve been to quite a few). After falling in love with Dubai on this trip (mostly because of Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa) I found the airport a step in the opposite direction. It was old, small, dark and had no source of entertainment whatever. The Duty Free looked very poor and the only restaurants available were McDonalds, a Kebab place and Costa. On the bright side there was free wifi at the terminal but after spending time in a very futuristic and modern city to end the trip in that depressing airport was an extreme let down. The airport sadly is a deal breaker for me which is a shame since everything else wasn’t bad at all.

Spotted a golden Bentley parked outside Salhiya today. The car had Saudi license plates and I later spotted it on the road. I have to confess, I thought it actually looked pretty good on the road.

Yesterday I was checking twitter when I read that Sylvester Stallone is going to be coming to Kuwait for the launch of Planet Hollywood. This sounded a bit déjà vu for me since back in December 2009 I posted the exact same thing but that it would open March 2010. That obviously never happened and now it seems they’re opening up this month on the 24th. If its true that Sylvester Stallone is going to be here then I really really REALLY need to meet him. First I need to get my picture taken with him for facebook, and secondly I need him to sign my Cobra DVD for me. Wish I had a Cobra poster for him to sign but I guess there is always time to order one online.

I’m going to be in Dubai for the next couple of days and I won’t be taking my laptop so posting will be slow. Lets call it a small break. Will be back to Kuwait on the 2nd.

In addition to the videos of the fireworks I posted about earlier, Cajie a photographer posted some great shots of the fireworks display in his flickr page which you can see [Here]

Update: Here is another link to photos taken by Bu Yousef. My favorite one is below. [Link]

Blogger Yousef took videos of the fireworks tonight and posted them on his blog. He divided them into 6 parts and you can check them all out on his blog [Here]

Update: Here is the link to the full 50 minutes fireworks display recorded from KTV [YouTube]

I walked into 360 Mall today to find a B&O stand right in front of me. Since they’ve closed their Fanar branch and are waiting for their Symphony one to open they’ve temporarily set up at 360 Mall while that happens. I love their stuff but there is no way I can afford plunking down KD3,500 for a pair of speakers yet alone one of their audio systems or TVs. But while checking out their stuff I spotted the BeoSound 8.

I had only seen the BeoSound 8 in pictures online before but never in person. It’s one of the coolest and slickest looking iPod docks as well as being one of the few B&O items that is somewhat affordable. From first impressions the sound is pretty good with a lot of good deep bass but not overpowering and well balanced. It comes with a tiny remote control that looks exactly like the circle controller on the main device as well as a wall mount in case you want to mount it on a wall. Just like other B&O speakers, the two circular cloth speaker covers can be exchanged for different colored ones to match your interior. The BeoSound 8 has auxiliary inputs and a USB input in case you want to connect it to your computer but most importantly you can dock any iPod that ever came out which had a dock connector and you can even connect the iPad to it. Price wise it’s not cheap but it’s a lot more affordable than one of their TVs or audio systems. The BeoSoud 8 is being sold locally for KD400, which is a discounted price since they will be selling it for KD450 once relaunched at Symphony mall.

Here is a link to the BeoSound 8 online [Link]

Lots of good footage in the video. [YouTube]

via 965malls

In case you missed it. [YouTube]

Very funny, my favorite has to be the chipmunk. [YouTube]

Update: Just noticed I posted this here, I meant to post it on 248PM… oops.

Shot this video on my way to work this morning. There is a lot of prep being done around the Kuwait Towers to get ready for the fireworks tomorrow night. I saw two large white balloon shaped objects (you can spot one in the video) which I couldn’t figure out what they were. Looks like something that belongs on Mars. [YouTube]

I received an email yesterday from a reader who told me that his internet provider had limited his DSL download bandwidth to just 1.6GB a day. He told me that according to his provider every internet provider in Kuwait will be doing the same thing to their customers in the next coming weeks as well. I thought he might have misunderstood and it could have been a problem he was having but I just read in the forum that another person also ran into a similar problem. His internet provider downgraded his speed from 2MB to 512kb because he was downloading on average 3GB a day.

This freaked me out so I called up my provider (Qualitynet) and asked them if they had implemented the same system and according to the customer support guy I spoke to they haven’t. He actually told me I could relax and download the whole Internet if I wanted to and I would be fine.

Anyone have any more information on this?

They’re using some sort of 3D projection system and looks really great. [YouTube]

Thanks Black Swan

Nibaq (he got me into blogging) just posted on his twitter a link to a video of him and his wife camping in Antarctica last November. You can watch the video above in which you can see the Kuwaiti flag planted. I guess that makes them the first Kuwaiti man and woman in Antarctica? [Link]

Thanks to one of my readers, below is a schedule of some of the events happening this weekend including time and location:

Thursday Feb 24th
– Kuwait Towers: Special Forces show at 3:30pm followed by fireworks at 6:00pm
– Marina Crescent: 5000 doves will be released in less then 5 minutes in an attempt to break a Guinness World Record at 3:30pm

Friday Feb 25th
– Anjifa Beach: Classic Car Show at 1:00pm. they will drive on the Gulf Road starting from Anjifa Beach to Kuwait Towers. Other cars can join.
– Kuwait Towers: Big fireworks at 7:00pm. This is a must see

Saturday Feb 26th
– Subiya Road: Military Parade that will include Coalition Forces as well at 10:00am. Subiya Road starts from the end of the 4th Ring Road heading towards Jahra. It is about 25min drive

Sunday Feb 27th
– Gulf Road: Carnival Parade starting from Shaab Park on the Gulf Road (Dunno what time)

Monday Feb 28th
– Marina Mall: Water Show at Marina Mall Beach around noon

Thanks Othman