2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Before I book a hotel at a travel destination I usually use TripAdvisor to find out what hotels are popular in that city and I read up on peoples reviews. It’s helped me make a lot of right decisions and I think I can make even better decisions with the help of another website I just found about called Oyster. One of the great things about Oyster is their photos which they take of the hotel, the room and the hotels surroundings. For example I was checking out pictures for the hotel I am going to be staying at in New York (Nu Hotel) next month and Oyster has around 500 photos of the hotel divided up into sections. The picture above for example is just one of the many pictures of the room I will be staying in. They have pictures of everything in that room from the cable box to the toilet paper roll. It’s a very cool site and can prove very helpful the next time you want to travel. [Link]

This one is for my readers in Dubai. Choowy Goowy the popular Kuwaiti cookie bakery are launching their first branch outside Kuwait next week and they will be located at the Radisson Blue Dubai Marina. Like in Kuwait they will also have delivery in case you don’t want to pass by their place. To order you can contact them on +97144355043 or +97144355000 (starting next week). Check out some pictures below.

This is an interesting article that was released today in the Times Online. Basically Kuwait is seeking $1.2 billion in compensation from Iraq because during the Gulf War Saddam stole 10 planes and millions of dollars worth of parts. Iraq kept telling Kuwait they didn’t have any money but then went and ordered $6 billion worth of planes from Boeing. [Link]

Thanks Dymatize

Update: Below is a picture a reader recently took while in Iraq. Thats the current state of the Iraqi Airways.

Thanks Keith

Does anyone remember Dr. Sbaitso? I used to love impressing friends and guests with it back in the early 90s. [YouTube]

High Street Q8 is an interesting local fashion blog I found out about recently. It’s basically meant to be a kind of show and tell website were if you like what you’re wearing or maybe want feedback on what you’ve got on at the moment you just snap a quick picture and email it to [email protected] with some details on the items you have on and people will leave a comment. Check it out [Here]

I’ve posted about the Kuwait subway system before and it seems like its becoming a reality. I spoke to someone connected to the project and had him explain where the project stands today, how they got here and whats next. You can watch the short interview above. I can’t wait for this to become a reality since there is going to be a subway station right next to my house! [YouTube]

Has anyone stayed at Nu Hotel or any other hotel in Brooklyn? I’m looking to spend max $200 a night on a room in New York and all the good places in Manhattan are like $300 and up. How practical is it staying in Brooklyn and taking the subway to Manhattan every day?

Update: How about W Hotel in Hoboken New Jeresey?

Update2: After hours and hours of research and reading I ended up booking at Nu Hotel. I’m going to be staying in NY for 12 days and needed a decently sized room and most of the ones in and around Times Square were pretty tiny. I don’t mind staying in tiny rooms (I love EasyHotel Paddington) but I could never stay in one for 12 days. Subway station is 5 minutes from the hotel and I can get to times square in 20 minutes. Takes me as long to get to work every morning so its no biggie.

I felt like breaking my no carbs in the evening diet and decided to pass by with Nat to Johnny Rockets near Sultan Center for dinner. For some reason I felt like sitting at the bar and now I am not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

I was watching the cook prepare a bunch of burgers and noticed he put a piece of lettuce that had something dark on it. Since he didn’t react so I figured it was maybe just part of the lettuce texture or something and I ignored it. A few minutes pass and the cook starts placing the beef patties on the buns. He turns away and goes back to the grill and that’s when I notice something moving on the bottom bun of one of the burgers. At first I thought it was just my imagination and maybe it was a piece of the patty that fell off or something but then the cook came back with the top buns and put them on the burgers in front of him and that black thing I saw was now crawling on the top bun! It was a fucking worm! I am sitting there in shock cuz there was a fucking worm crawling on the bun! Then the cook starts wrapping the burger to place on a plate. I tell the waitress who was standing behind the bar that there was a fucking worm on the burger. She’s like what? I am like there is a worm on the burger and I point towards the burger. She looks and spots it and gives out a little shriek. The cook asks her whats wrong and she tells him about the worm. He quickly takes the burger and throws it away. I was like no thanks I’m leaving. I put 500 fils on the bar which was the cost of the bottle of water I had ordered and got up to leave. Two guys were sitting on the bar near by asked me what happened, I told him there was a worm on one of their burgers and I walked out.

This is extremely depressing. I spent the next hour wondering why I decided to break my diet tonight and why I decided to sit at the bar. Why did I have to see this? Why couldn’t I have eaten healthy tonight? Now I am never going back to Johnny Rockets again. In fact I am never going to have any kind of salad or vegetable anywhere outside my house. From now on I am going to order all my burgers without vegetables and I am not going to have any salad with my meals (maybe just at Le Notre since I pick my own salad at the bar). This is depressing! Where will I go from now on for a quick burger???

A friend of mine spotted this falcon outside his window in Salmiya. He lives right next to Seef Hospital so I’m guessing it’s their falcon and they use it to keep the pigeons away but that’s just my guess.

You’ve probably already read about the new KFC sandwich that got launched in the States called the Double Down in which they replaced the buns with fried chicken. Well someone was able to improve on the KFC recipe by bringing back the bun to the sandwich in the form of a Krispy Kreme donut and created the Luther Double Down. Don’t forget to add the extra sauce… [Link]

Back in December when Shake Shack announced they was were opening up in Kuwait I had been told they were going to open up at the Avenues in the first half of the year. Well the first half of the year is nearly over and there still isn’t any sign of Shake Shack. According to my insider, Shake Shack was originally planned to open in the Benihana location but that plan was scrapped and now it still hasn’t been decided where in the Avenues Shake Shack will be opening. My guess is they’re looking for a prime location like PF Chang and Pinkberry. On a different note Pottery Barn Kids is going to open near The One and X-Cite.

Update: Ok a friend of mine told me that he heard that they are planning to open up in front of PF Chang. The restaurant will be built where the elevator is and the elevator shaft will be used for the ventilation (kinda like a chimney). The seating will be in the open in front of the restaurant. Although its hard to believe this actually makes a lot of sense since it would end up looking a lot like the Shake Shack in NY (picture above).

Some guy goes from Kuwait to Sharm el-Sheikh and records the whole thing on video and uploads it onto YouTube. I’ve never been to Sharm el-Sheikh so I was curious to watch this video but just a warning up front before you watch the video, the guy wears a speedo and has bad taste in music. [YouTube]

Thanks Ahmad

Update: Video has been removed by the user.

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]