2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Who would have thought having a cast would be a complicated thing when traveling. I’ve been in Beirut for a couple of days now and I am getting back today but for some reason security at the Lebanese airport is being very anal about my cast. Kuwait airport didn’t even bring it up as a problem but here I’m being treated like I am trying to smuggle a machete or surface to air missiles in my cast.

I get to the airport at 6:30am still sleepy and hungover when the first security screening stop me from going through. They’re like wheres your paper? I was like what paper? They’re like for your hand. I was like wtf? They then spent 15 minutes fondling my arm and passing it in and out of the metal detector before letting me through. Then I found out my flight got rescheduled till the afternoon so I left.

Fast forward to around 3:30pm and I get back to the airport and pass through the same security checkpoint and they stopped me again. This time I got bounced from one person to another each asking me if I have a paper for my cast. I was like what paper where do I get it from? He’s like from where you got the cast. I was like I got my cast done in Kuwait you want me to go get a paper and come back?? I don’t think they liked my sarcasm because they then wanted me to remove the cast so they could check if I had hidden anything. I told them I couldn’t remove it and wouldn’t remove it and in the end had to get my arm fondled for 15 minutes again and waved through the metal detector a few times. What a mess, glad I just had my hand in a cast and not my ass or something.

It looks like my iPad isn’t getting here anytime soon…

Due to many travelers being stuck all over the world due to the ash clouds from the recent volcano eruption, Lonely Planet is offering their iPhone apps for free. Their regular prices are usually $9.99 to $15.99 for each country app but from now till Thursday the European ones are going to be free. I just got a ton of countries as you can see above. [Link]

Johnny Rockets have started this new frequent burger program where if you order 5 burgers your sixth would be free. Its pretty cool except for the fact on the back of the card it says that its only valid at the Marina Mall branch where I had lunch. I don’t know why that is since all the Johnny Rockets belong to the same person and it would be pretty unpractical to carry a bunch of cards around one for each different branch..

My friend shot this video while driving in Bayan. [YouTube]

Thanks David!

Symphony Mall have placed their logo on top of their building but I have no idea what it is. Anyone have a clue? Kinda looks like a falcon maybe? The whole thing looks kinda squished up there, not enough room for it. It’s like I mentioned last time, building signs always seem like a sloppy last minute addition here in Kuwait.

Thanks Issa!

Update: Turns out it’s Doctor Zoidbergs claw!

Posted by Fahad AlYehya | Core Fitness – Kuwait

Consistency in dieting can be a challenge, especially when living in a country that endorses food more than anything else. Most of our days start out with food, some coffee and dessert, a little strolling around and shopping, and some more food. And at night, a small gathering of friends that involves barbecuing and a lot of muffins.

Some clients, relatives and friends call me every weekend, with inquiries such as “I’m at Gaucho. What do you recommend?” or “Pinkberry! Yay or nay?” and “Dude, why isn’t my girlfriend returning my calls?” For starters, you can’t really go wrong with Gaucho if you stick to Filet De Lomo; Pinkberry’s loaded with 20g of sugar per serving; and you should try being less douchey.

I’m not saying you should eat out everyday, but when you’re cornered into a meal, the right recommendations will prove useful. Moreover, dieting puts you in a state of hunger similar to that of a heroin addict; aching and scratching for that next meal. One last advice before I start dissecting each and every restaurant: if it tastes too good, then it’s probably not what you’re looking for.

Oh, Fahad-san! Ret us begin with hearthy restaurants!

What I hate more than carb and fat-infested fast food chains are eateries that preach about health, but are everything but healthy; which is why I’ll be poking at them first:

Today I got a phone call from a friend telling me my tires arrived from the States. I went picked them up and then headed over to Michelin on Canada Dry street to get them installed. Michelin are also the dealers of BFGoodrich and the guys there are pretty cool so I figured would have them install the tires for me. The result? They look hardcore!

I ordered my tires from Gavin at TireRack.com, I had previously ordered my Z4 wheels from him. This time I ordered 5 BFGoodrich M/T KM2’s. I had asked the local dealer if they could order it for me but turns out they’re not authorized to sell mud-terrain tires for some reason.

Anyway the tires look great, I love them and I’m glad I went for mud-terrain and not all-terrain tires. Next thing I need to do is black out the silver parts on the FJ (already swapped the silver door handle for black ones).

So far my set up is as follows for those of you who have FJ’s and want a similar setup:

Old Man Emu Full Suspension
2x OME-884 Front Coils
2x 2″ ToyTec Lifts Super Flex Rear Coil Springs
2x 90000 OME Front Nitrocharger sport shocks
2x 60020 OME Rear Nitrocharger sport shocks

Tires
Kind: BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/A KM2
Size: 285/75 R16

I ordered the lift kit from ToyTec
I ordered the tires from [email protected]

Thanks Troy for helping me out with all the shipping!

Update: I forgot to add something very important. You can get an OME lift from the local dealer in Kuwait and you can pick up some incredibly good BFG All-Terrain tires from the local dealer as well. Their prices are really good, OME is slightly more expensive than the US prices, the dealer is located in Shuwaikh at the corner of the turn that takes you to Ace Hardware. It’s the ARB dealer. For tires, BFG in Kuwait have the exact same prices as the ones in the States. They are located on Canada Dry right after McDonalds, the BFG dealer is the Michelin dealer. The only reason I got my stuff from the US is because I was looking for very specific items which weren’t available locally.

Yesterday the Things by November store at Tilal Complex caught fire due to an electrical fault. The owners had this message they wanted me to pass on:

Hello everyone 🙂
Things by November in Tilal will be closed for one month due to a fire.. But kitchen is running perfectly as it is in another location, so flowers and bakery will be by order only. Sorry for the inconvenience, but all things happen for a reason and we will be back better than ever soon 🙂

Please call 97313310 or [email protected] for delivery.

How do electrical fires start and how can I make sure I don’t get an electrical fire at home?

I use my In Focus posts to highlight some great businesses here in Kuwait and today’s post is no different. As I mentioned previously, I’m lifting my FJ Cruiser and installing large tires just like I did with my Wrangler. The previous place I had installed my Wranglers lift had shut down so I asked a friend from the FJ Club for a recommendation and he pointed me towards ORP.

ORP is short for Off Road Performance and that’s exactly what they specialize in. If you’ve got a 4×4 and want to install a heavy duty bumper, or get a suspension lift, larger tires and wheels, maybe a light bar etc.. then they’re the place to go. Personally I would love to install everything myself and if I had my own little house with an indoor garage I would attempt to do that but since I don’t, I have to get stuff installed at specialized places which I usually don’t like doing. With ORP I felt comfortable getting my lift installed there because the guys are 4×4 affectionados. I met two guys, both Kuwaitis. Yousef is the one I first spoke to over the phone while Saud I didn’t communicate much with since he was always busy working on a car. They’re both passionate about what they do and to me that’s extremely important.

First time I passed by ORP was to check out the location and see how much they would charge for my suspension lift install. Then I just set up an appointment, dropped my FJ in late at night and picked it up again the next evening. I needed to get the FJ aligned and they recommended I take it to a guy called John at Auto1 on Canada Dry street who also turned out to be really great. So overall I had a very good experience and their prices are very competitive. Now I have to go back and buy a shorter antenna since with the lift kit installed my FJ’s antenna is hitting every pipe in my underground parking. I haven’t even installed my large tires yet so I am starting to worry my FJ is going to be too big to take underground. Hopefully I should be ok.

If you need anything for your 4×4 I highly recommend them. They’re very easy to find in Shuwaikh. If you’re on Canada Dry street with McDonalds on your right keep going straight past the bridge and then do a u-turn at the round-about so you’re heading the same way you came from, then take your first right and drive maybe 100 or 200 meters and you will find them on your left. (see map above). Their website address is www.orp.com.kw and you could also call Yousef on 99422254.

Every morning I pass by McDonalds for breakfast and every morning I see some of the weirdest things. You would think most of the strange things happen late at night but with my experience there is as much of it going on very early in the morning, at least at the Gulf Road branch.

One strange character I see very often is monkey guy. He’s a guy who visits the McDonalds Gulf Road branch early mornings with his pet monkey. He just hangs out outside with his monkey dressed up I’m assuming to try and chat up the girls.

Too much makeup girl: “awww look how cute…”
Monkey Guy: Jackpot!

Now recently I’ve noticed snake guy. Yeah you guessed it, a guy who comes in every morning with a snake around his neck. With monkey guy I can understand his plan but snake guy just confuses me. Unless..

Too much muscles guy: “awww look how cute…”
Snake Guy: Jackpot!

Seriously though one of the McDonalds employees there should set up a blog of some sort posting about all these strange characters. I’d buy the book even!

The creator of the SumSushi iPhone app emailed me telling me he’s now included Kuwait, Bahrain and UAE Yo! Sushi prices in the application. So the next time you pass by Yo! Sushi it’s a lot easier to keep track of your bill. Once you download the app just go to the iPhone’s settings and then click on SumSushi and choose your country. The app is free. [Link]

I can’t believe I slept through it!

Picture taken by Lucie Debelkova this morning via Projekt Cyan.

An update for the 2:48AM iPhone App is now available in the app store. In this version I added the Bazaar Magazine category to the app so now you can read the magazine on your iPhone. Bazaar have also added a full RSS feed to their site so you can now add them to your feeds. I think I like the direction this app is going where I’m trying to get a variety of local entertainment in one app. If you have a suggestion that would fit leave a comment below. Next update will be for the Kuwait Blogs app. [Link]

I woke up this morning to a phone call from a friend in charge at 360 Mall asking me if I wanted to try out the roller coaster at Infunity. Infunity hasn’t opened yet and won’t be open for a few more months but today they were testing out the roller coaster and if I accepted the mission we would be the first passengers on it. I though it was a fun idea since I never beta tested a roller coaster before and agreed to meet him there before lunch.

Last time I passed by Infunity was in October and since then the place has changed a lot. As I mentioned back in October, Infunity will have a bunch of cool things going for it including a very large climbing wall, Go-Kart Drifting (very cool), an indoor roller coaster designed and built by the same people who create ones for Six Flags, and also a ton of other stuff I’m not sure if I am allowed to share.

When we first got there it turned out the German engineers were still working on the roller coaster so I walked around and checked out the place and took some pictures to kill a bit of time. Nat hadn’t been to the place before and I wanted her to see everything anyway. Once they were ready we went up the stairs to the boarding area. They had just finished testing the ride with sacks full of sand and now we would be the first people to ride it. We got into the seats, fastened the safety harness and took off. First of all the whole place was very dimly lit by a few portable projectors here and there. There was no one in the whole place except for three German engineers and the five of us so it was very empty. We were also the first people to try out the ride so there was that slight fear in the back of our minds that something could go wrong which added to the excitement. The ride although short turned out to be incredibly fun. The roller-coaster although on a fixed line actually rotates so one point you could be facing forward, the next backwards or sideways. The ride also takes you through one wall and then spits you out from another side and once the ride is completed the area behind the wall will actually have fake snow that comes down while you pass through. It was really a lot of fun and the whole time I felt like I was either going to get thrown from the track or hit my head on some pole, I loved it. We rode it a couple of times before we headed to lunch.

Now hopefully I am going to go back again once they start trying out the wall climb or drifting. I shot a video of the ride in the coaster which I might put up later but for now you can check out the pictures below.