2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

My favorite dessert at the moment is the cinnamon sticks from Auntie Anne’s. I had it for the first time last week and since then I’ve had it nearly every day. If you haven’t tried it you should. 6 pieces for 900fils.

Watan TV interviewed the bloggers p0ach and Blushberry about blogging in Kuwait the other day and now the full interview is available on YouTube to watch. One thing I think Watan TV should have done was actually display the url’s of the blogs on the screen instead of just the blog titles. So instead of writing just “4th Ring Road” they should have had www.4thringroad.com under it to make it easier for the viewers to check out. Here is the interview split into two parts:

[YouTube]

[YouTube]

Does anyone here regularly ship stuff to their PO Box? When shopping on eBay I know a lot of people offer express mail shipping to PO Boxes, has anyone tried that? I know when I was in university back in Lebanon I used to order books from Amazon to my mailbox in Lebanon and it would take around 20 days to get there. How long does it take to get the items in Kuwait? Do you pay customs? How does one open a PO Box and what are the fees?

Update: I found this page with details. Mailbox annual fee is KD4 and KD2 as insurance for the key. I need to open a mailbox. [Link]

So you already have packages on their way to Kuwait via Aramex and yesterday like everyone else you found out you will have to pay at least KD20 to clear each package, what will you do?

Personally I have two packages on their way. One is valued at $20 and another at $30. There is no way I am going to pay KD20 for a package that’s worth just $20 or $30.

What are our options?
Did anyone receive any packages yesterday?
Did you have to pay the new clearance fees?
Can we refuse delivery of our packages?

I had seen this video before as a silent movie but someone added the 2001 Space Odyssey music and just made 10 times better. [YouTube]

Kuwait for Kenya will be holding a photo exhibit next week at Bayt Lothan under the patronage of U.S. President Barak Obama Mrs. Farah Pandith, Special Representative to the Muslim Communities for the U.S. Department of State. All proceeds from the exhibit will go towards the funding of future K4K projects. For more information about K4K visit their website [Here]

Location: Bayt Lothan in Salmiya near Marina Mall
Date: October 28-29, 2009
Time: 6-8PM

Update: I updated the time and date above.

Just got the following email from Aramex:

Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for choosing Aramex as your transportation partner.

The Kuwaiti Customs Authority has recently notified us that all courier shipments containing non-documents shall undergo customs inspection upon arrival at Kuwait airport. While Aramex shall continue providing its clearance services, we are unable to provide a specific time frame as to the duration of the clearance period, which may exceed five working days. Aramex therefore encourages all its customers who require speedy clearance to collect their shipments’ documents for self-clearance at the Aramex Ardiya office.

Should you need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us on + 965 1820011.

Best Regards,
Aramex Shop&Ship Team

I wonder if this applies to other carriers like U Shop We Ship and DHL?

Update: I just called Aramex to get more details. Basically everything is still exactly the same as before except now once the package arrives to Kuwait it will take a few days to get delivered to you. You don’t pay anything extra with this new rule, you just have to be more patient. But, like before, if customs decides to hold your package you would need to either clear it yourself or have them clear it for you for a fee.

Update2: I just called Aramex again and spoke to a person I know there. According to her I can expect ALL my packages to be held in customs from now on. Which means I will have to pay a fee to get my packages cleared. The fee is around KD15 (I think) which is just ridiculous!

Update3: Here is the breakdown of what you will have to pay from now on for EVERY single package you get via Aramex

a. 5% CIF.
b. 10 KD Kuwait airways.
c. 2 KD Bank Commission.
d. 1 KD Handling Charges.
e. 5 KD Clearance charges, if your good selves choose aramex to clear on your behalf, otherwise 2 KD only for self-clearance for customs declaration form.

That’s over KD20 per package! I still haven’t verified if USWS and DHL Easy Shop are effected by this since their offices were closed at the time of this posting.

Update4: Want to know how complicated it is to clear the stuff from customs yourself? Check my Kuwaiti Customs Clearance post with step by step directions and a map. [Link]

You can now order Choowy Goowy cookies through BBM. Just scan the barcode above or add them the old fashioned way via PIN 2119FB77. According to the owner, if you currently order 3 cookie jars through BBM you get a 4th one for free.

I found this funny although if it happened to my dog I would also be pissed and sue:

In what must rank as one of the most bizarre lawsuits ever filed against an oil and gas company, it has been reported that Saudi Aramco are being sued for US$267,000 for allegedly causing the death of a female camel that had taken part in a beauty pageant in the KSA.

The attractive three year-old black camel died in tragic circumstances after she fell into a hole in the desert that the Saudi hydrocarbons giant had dug and filled with crude oil.

Her heartbroken owner, Abdullah Al-Saiari, had entered the animal into the Camel Beauty Contest, a hotly contested event that attracts camel breeders from all over the KSA to show off their most eye-catching beasts.

The case is currently being brought before the court in Saudi Arabia.

[Source]

via Desert Girl

I just got an email from a friend at NBK about this new service they will be trying out in Kuwait which is payment via NFC (near field communication). Instead of paying by cash or plastic cards you could pay by just waving your phone. The service is going to be called Bouky and they’re launching a 6 month pilot which you can sign up to if you’re interested (link at the end of the post).

This service is already used in places like Japan and the Far East but it will be the first time here in the Middle East. Another cool feature will be that you could wave the phone in front of “smart” posters and redeem offers or download free pre-paid visa cards. My friend signed me up for the 6 month trial so I will get to try it out. During the trial period I will be able to pay by waving my phone at some 100 outlets in The Avenues. If you’re interested in trying Bouky out they will be choosing only 500 customers for the trial period. To sign up follow this [Link]

Note: You need to be a Zain mobile user to beta test this service

Sooooo lucky… [YouTube]

The new episode of The Chef’s Table is out. The burgers in the video look really good and the fact that I am really hungry at the moment isn’t helping. According to the info attached to the video, Eighty6 Bistro is now open in the Avenues. Lunch is served from 1pm – 4pm, and dinner from 8pm to 11pm. [YouTube]

Until Shake Shack opens up in Kuwait next year, here is a link where you can replicate your own Shake Shack burgers at home. I am going to try and make the Shake Shack special sauce this weekend. [Link]

Note: At the bottom of the article there is a link to the detailed recipe.

Most of you know Cinemagic from their weekly rooftop movie nights but it turns out they’ve also got a small movie theater that they rent out. They originally called me because they wanted to participate in the giveaways last month but since I didn’t have any more space left I told them I would post about them anyway because their theater sounded interesting. They’re located near my house so I went to check the place out and was pretty impressed at how cool their set up was. They’re using the $100,000 Sony SRX-R110 4K cinema projector which is very cool, they had a movie playing when I was there and it looked amazing.

The theater has 12 comfortable reclining leather seats and they provide you with free drinks and munchies . You can rent the theater to watch live television so if there is a football match or a UFC fight you could watch it there. You could also rent out the theater to play xbox or PS3 games, they have both consoles just bring your own game. Finally they have both an HD-DVD and Blu-ray player with hundreds of Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies for you to choose from.

They have two rental prices, non peak and peak prices. Non peak price is KD96 for 3 hours while the peak price is KD144 for 3 hours. So if you are 12 guys thats KD8 per person during non peak hours and KD12 per person during peak hours. If you’re interested visit their website [Here].

For those of you who don’t know about their rooftop screenings you could also visit their website for more information on that.

There are a ton of dessert websites popping up in Kuwait every week but this is the first one in a long time that has caught my attention. Buzberry just posted about Sweet’n Cup, a new dessert start up in Kuwait. They only sell one item and thats a chocolate cup cake covered in chocolate sauce and maltesers. Maltesers by the way are my favorite chocolate so thats why I am probably very attracted to this. I haven’t ordered from them yet since I just found out about them but once I do I will post my feedback here. If you’re interested visit their website sweetncup.com