2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003
Interesting fact, 9.7% of all loans in Kuwait defaulted in 2009, that’s the worst rate among the GCC countries. On the other hand Qatar had the lowest level with just 1.7% of loans defaulting. With the financial crisis UAE went through I would have figured the rate there would be higher but in UAE only 4.6% of the loans defaulted. Weird. [Link]
Thanks FYI
It seems like a good amount of people took part this year in the “The Global Work Party”. I was checking out the pictures on Flickr and found two different group shots representing Kuwait in the Middle East category. Good stuff.
Check out all the pictures of the different groups from around the Middle East that participated this year by clicking [Here]
Even though the official opening of the Historical Vintage & Classic Cars Museum has been postponed till next week, the museum is actually open right now. Their timings are from 9AM to 12:30PM and 5PM to 8PM. They’re located across the street from Tilal Complex in Kuwait City. Tilal Complex is right next to City Center for those of you who don’t know it.
Translation: “We have large sizes available up to 10XL”.
Thought it was funny until I googled it and turns out 10XL is an actual size…
Great old footage of the tank graveyard. I tried to get to the graveyard once and couldn’t pass the army check point before it. Does anyone know if its still there? [YouTube]
A friend of mine, Laila Al-Gharabally, wrote and illustrated a children’s book called “Al-Hadiya” (“The Gift” in English). She will be selling and holding a book signing at her publisher’s booth (Arab Scientific Publishers) on October 14 in the evening at the Kuwait International Fair’s 35th Book Fair in Mishref.
The annual book fair held at Kuwait’s International Fair (www.kif.net) is the biggest book fair in Kuwait and will last for ten days starting from October 13th to October 23rd. For more information on the book fair click [Here]
Some of you already noticed that I changed the blog banner last night from the “THEBSIDES” to “The A-SIDES”. Continuing to use the term B-Sides didn’t make sense since 2:48AM wasn’t the B-Side anymore. Originally during my Miskan project I needed a place to dump photos and talk about things that didn’t have room on Miskan (remember I was limited to 1 post a day) and so 2:48AM was created and the B-Side tag slapped on.
My Miskan project ended 5 years ago and 2:48AM no longer was the B-Side, instead it became the A-Side and I don’t know why it took me so long to change that.
So 2:48AM is now the A-Side but that made me realize something. When the blog first started I used to post 5+ posts per day. As the site grew and my readership base grew I started becoming a lot more picky to what to post and what not to. This is why I decided to create a B-Side to 2:48AM, a place where I could post stuff that wouldn’t usually make it on my main site here but was still content that many people would find interesting.
2:48PM [The B-Sides] is now live and you can access it by going to www.248pm.com or clicking the link on the far right of the navigation bar on top of this site. Starting today you will have a lot more posts and content to shift through so I hope everyone enjoys it. Any comments, feedback and ideas are always welcomed of course.
Since the weather is currently great I figured I would try a new activity this week which is scuba diving. I had never scuba dived before and have always been wanting to try it out but never really had a chance until today. I woke up early and headed to the Kuwait Science Club next to 360 Mall with Nat. There we met up with some members of the Kuwait Diving Team who were going to take us through the Discover Scuba Diving course.
The first thing we had to do was sit and watch a short video about scuba diving. After that we were verbally instructed on the basics of scuba diving, some safety advice and given a bunch of other information before we headed to the pool for a live test.
The idea behind the Discover Scuba Diving course is to give you an idea of what it’s like to breathe underwater. When I first put the air regulator in my mouth it felt a little uncomfortable but I quickly got used to the idea of breathing in and out from my mouth. The scuba gear on your back isn’t as heavy as it looks which was surprising since I thought it would be much heavier than that.
We spent a short period of time in the shallow end of the pool practicing how to breathe, how to put the regulator in and out of our mouth under water, how to signal if everything is ok or if we need help, etc… We then proceeded to swim to the deep end which goes down to 5 meters and we then spent the rest of the time at the bottom there swimming, throwing a small toy torpedo around and generally getting comfortable swimming, breathing and spending time deep in the water without going out.
It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. Nat is going to continue scuba diving by taking the open water course with them but I on the other hand don’t think will have time for scuba diving with all my other activities.
The Kuwait Diving Team guys are really great, they love what they do and they’re extremely dedicated. If they aren’t spending their time instructing they’re out in the sea saving the coral reefs, recovering sunken ships or performing some other environmental heroism. The Discover Scuba Diving course is free and runs for around 3 hours. Once you take the course and feel like scuba diving is something you want to get into then you can sign up to the Open Water / Advance course which is KD140. That course involves 5 pool dives, 5 classroom sessions and 4 open water sea dives. Once you complete that course you would get your scuba diving certificate and will be able to go diving with other certified scuba divers without a need for an instructor.
For more information or to setup an appointment for a Discover Scuba Diving course you can contact PADI Instructor Meshari Alkhabbaz on 97900714.
Last week I was leaving Shuwaikh when I spotted the Historical Vintage & Classic Cars Museum. I hadn’t seen it before but since I was late to work I figured I would pass by again another time. Turns out the museum still wasn’t open and the actual opening is happening tomorrow (10/10/10). The event will start off with a gathering at Kuwait Towers. The Kuwait Riders Bikers Team, Porsche Club Cars & Muscles & Old Cars group will be meeting up in the Kuwait Towers parking lot at 6PM 4:30PM and then drive off towards the museum at around 6:30PM 5PM. The museum is located in the area across from Tilal Complex and will contain over 150 cars. As a huge car fan I can’t wait to visit the place.
Thanks Ramez
Update: I just got a phone call telling me that the event has been officially postponed. No date is yet set but it would most probably be next week.
A friend of mine forwarded me an email that contained a whole bunch of pictures of old Kuwait which I thought I would share them here. If anyone knows the original source of these photos please tell me. To check out the pictures click on the link below.
Found this picture on the KNPC website. I think it’s the small gas station in Kuwait City opposite the Wataniya building. I remember someone telling me once that it was the second gas station that opened up in Kuwait but I am not sure if that’s true or not. [Link]
I have no clue what was going through the guys mind. Like WTF? [YouTube]
Was also craving a Big Cookie from Hardees but already cheated and had that.
A reader shot and uploaded the video above taken today at around 4PM. Don’t know what would start a fire in that little cockpit but hopefully the crane operator managed to get away unhurt. [YouTube]
Thanks Mohammed