Search: “kuwait”

Last week I posted about the LEGO store officially opening in Kuwait and a lot of readers were curious to know how the prices were compared to the U.S. So I decided to pass by the store and randomly pick out a few items from the different LEGO collections to compare. Below is a list of 18 different items with their prices in Kuwait as well as their prices on Amazon.

LEGO Star Wars 75095 Tie Fighter
Kuwait: KD149.950
Amazon: KD61

LEGO Star Wars 75059 Sandcrawler
Kuwait: KD159.950
Amazon: KD91

LEGO Star Wars 10240 Red Five X-Wing Starfighter
Kuwait: KD129.950
Amazon: KD78

LEGO Star Wars 75054 AT-AT Building Toy
Kuwait: KD97.950
Amazon: KD48

LEGO Minecraft 21118 The Mine
Kuwait: KD73.950
Amazon: KD38

LEGO Pirates 70413 The Brick Bounty
Kuwait: KD72.950
Amazon: KD45

LEGO Architecture 21019 The Eiffel Tower
Kuwait: KD18.950
Amazon: KD10

LEGO Architecture 21017 Imperial Hotel
Kuwait: KD69.950
Amazon: KD39

LEGO City Police 60068 Crooks’ Hideout
Kuwait: KD32.950
Amazon: KD16

LEGO City Police 60047 Police Station
Kuwait: KD65.950
Amazon: KD24

LEGO City Space Port 60080 Spaceport
Kuwait: KD60.950
Amazon: KD29

LEGO Simpsons 71006 The Simpsons House
Kuwait: KD134.950
Amazon: KD61

LEGO Creator Expert 10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper
Kuwait: KD69.500
Amazon: KD39

LEGO Creator Expert 10246 Detective’s Office
Kuwait: KD99.500
Amazon: KD48

LEGO Creator 10232 Palace Cinema
Kuwait: KD79.950
Amazon: KD45

LEGO Mindstorms EV3 31313
Kuwait: KD249.950
Amazon: KD106

LEGO Technic 42039 24 Hours Race Car
Kuwait: KD76.950
Amazon: KD33

LEGO Technic 42030 VOLVO L350F Wheel Load
Kuwait: KD169.950
Amazon: KD74

As you probably noticed, the prices in Kuwait are double that of Amazon and in one case triple. It’s pretty ridiculous considering this is an official store. One of my readers made the extra effort and contacted LEGO to complain about the prices. They replied to him with the following:

Dear Quintin,
Thanks for getting in touch with us.

I’m sorry you’re not happy with the price of LEGO® sets in Kuwait. We know we’re lucky to have so many loyal LEGO fans around the world and we’re always pleased to get feedback – especially when it’s about how we can improve.

Finding the right price for a toy isn’t easy and depends on a lot of considerations. To name a few, our marketing team looks at statistical data about a country’s population, transportation costs, currency exchange rates, local laws and taxes and the prices of other toys. No two countries are exactly the same, so the price may be different from country to country.

Futhermore, to date we do not have any official LEGO® stores in the either Kuwait and Dubai. Therefore, it is not the LEGO group who have set the prices in the particular stores you are referring to, but the individual stores themselves

Please let us know if you need anything else.

Kind regards,

Onno
LEGO® Service

What do they mean they don’t have an official LEGO store in Kuwait? My guess is the customer support person hasn’t been updated on new store openings. In any case, based on their response I’m guessing the reason LEGO costs twice as much in Kuwait is because people here can afford to pay that much. Sucks I know.

In case you missed it, a selfie taken by a Kuwaiti couple in Dubai with The Address Hotel in the background up in flames went viral this weekend and not for good reason. Loads of people thought the photo was in bad taste and started commenting about it on social media. Personally I didn’t think it was funny, but I also didn’t find it offensive or anything of the sort. If anything I thought the Burj Khalifa fireworks show next door while The Address was still on fire was more inappropriate but I guess to each his own. The Daily Mail posted an article on the photo earlier today and you can read that [Here]

I didn’t think there was such a big comic books community in Kuwait but it seems there is. Below is a list of local online instagram accounts and websites where you could purchase comic books from, if you know of anymore let me know.

Websites
Dragonarab
Games Q8

Instagram
@comics_for_sale
@comicjunkiie
@q8comicscollectors
@q8_superhero
@gtmcomics
@world_of_comics

via Reddit

No idea if is related to this but the all black Yeezy 750’s that launched world wide 10 days ago didn’t get released in Kuwait. The all tan Yeezy Boost 350’s that are scheduled to launch world wide today also aren’t making it to Kuwait. My guess is that Adidas found out that and got pissed and pulled the brand from them. But this is just my guess, there could be other reasons to why we aren’t getting the Yeezys anymore.

As far as the regular Uber cars (a.k.a. uberX) the experience in London can be mostly described as no frills. The driver takes you from A to B and you’re done. A few drivers from a certain ethnic background try to cheat the system. The platform is designed in a way that the driver doesn’t know the destination until he starts the trip. To avoid accepting a short trip that won’t make them a lot of money, some drivers call you to ask about where you’re going or falsely start the trip on the system and either way if they don’t like it, they’ll cancel or worse ask you to cancel because they’re “stuck on the road”. According to Uber rules, if you cancel the request when the car is less than five minutes away from you, you’re charged £5.00. Of course, I complain through the app and within minutes they apologise in an email and refund me. Not that much of a pleasant experience, and that’s in London. Strange enough, the driver’s attitude in New York is much better.

I don’t claim to know how Uber will legally operate in Kuwait – that’s if they manage to make it happen. However, if they open the door to individuals as they do elsewhere I am concerned about the quality of the experience customers will have. The Kuwaiti market suffers a great deal from poor customer experiences caused by both sides: untrained and/or unfriendly staff and rude or unresponsive customers. I know I’m generalising but this is the mainstream scene. With immature consumer behaviour and a lack of professionalism from drivers who feel empowered to treat you anyway they like when they’re hiding behind the app’s platform the experience can be rigged or ruined in spite of regulations. That being said, Uber claims to be strict with drivers who receive poor ratings. Regardless of the business model Uber chooses, it would be better for the Kuwaiti market if Uber offers existing taxi companies to join their system conditional to following strict regulations that can be monitored. At least, we’ll have less horn-honking on the streets from taxis trying to get the attention of people walking by. This week’s tip: Expanding from one location to another is a sound move, if and only if, you can consistently maintain the standards of operation everywhere.

Post by Loaay Ahmed, a strategic business therapist since 1995. He currently lives and works in London, UK, while earning his master’s in Service Design Innovation, and managing knightscapital in Kuwait. For Loaay’s advice on business or work matters, send a short email to [email protected]. Regrettably, only the questions chosen for publishing will be answered.

We take our hobbies seriously. [YouTube]

Did Kuwait Airways just scrap an entire flight service to avoid carrying Israeli passengers?

The airline has this week pulled its connection between New York’s JFK airport and London Heathrow after U.S. authorities threatened legal action over alleged discrimination.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) in September warned the Kuwaiti carrier that it had “unlawfully discriminated” against a passenger using an Israeli passport by refusing to sell him a ticket.

It sent a letter giving the airline 15 days to outline how it would in the future comply with anti-discrimination laws.

Kuwait Airways response, according to the DOT, appears to have been to drop its London-New York route. [Source]

I guess that’s a quick easy fix.

Expats in Kuwait aged over 50 will be forced to leave the country under a new measure announced to reduce the number of foreign workers, Arabic daily Al Anba reported.

The age limit would apply to people working for the Kuwaiti government and in professions where vacancies can be filled by Kuwaitis.

It would be implemented from March 1 and cover all nationalities, a government source reportedly said. [Source]

Based on the wording of the article this doesn’t seem like a proposal but instead something that has already gotten an approval. Damn.

But, keep in mind Arabian Business aren’t really a reliable source and have a habit of making shit up. I mean they mention an Al Anba report in their article yet link to Arab Times…

As I’ve previously mentioned, Kuwait is currently going through change, for the good and bad although I strongly believe that the changes are mostly for the good. This week Kuwait went through some very important changes.

Around a year ago, the “segregation law” was taken to the constitutional court by Kuwait University students who thought the law was unfair since they weren’t able to register for classes that were available for females only. This was the first time in Kuwait’s history where people were allowed to take a law to the constitutional court, previously only the government or parliament were allowed to do so.

I originally started writing this article last week because I wanted to share what was happening but then I decided to wait until the constitutional court ruling came out which it did yesterday. Lawyers, politicians, professors, non-profit organizations, were all waiting patiently to see what the Constitutional Court would rule, was segregating the sexes legal or not?

Back in 2000, the Kuwaiti Parliament voted by democratic ways a law that seemed to many as being undemocratic. In English media outlets it was referred to as “the segregation law”, and in Arabic media as “منع الاختلاط” which translates to “preventing integration”. But, the actual name of the law was “The Establishment of Private Universities” and was inspired by “The Higher Education Law” that was voted for in 1996. The law is very simple and short, with not a lot of details to its articles, for example ‘Article 2’ states “Student attire, behavior and activities shall be according to Islamic values”. Somewhere along the line though the Ministry enforced segregation on all higher private universities by referring to the law mentioned above.

Yesterdays court’s verdict came to everyone as a surprise. Although the court did not claim that the “segregation” law was unconstitutional, it instead stated there has been a mistake applying the law, as segregation was never mentioned in the original law.

On another brighter note, Kuwait’s Parliament yesterday finally passed an Animal Rights law making animal abuse in Kuwait illegal, as well as banning people from having certain pets like lions, cheetahs, etc. The law also enforces pet owners to take good care of their animals. The law shall be implemented within 6 months.

Feel free to email me [email protected] with any legal questions. I do not have the capacity to answer everyone for free (but I try), and I am happy to announce that I am currently working with a great team and therefore we are able to reply back to all emails with a reasonable time frame.

Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.

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Below is this weekends list of events. If you still haven’t had the chance to the try my friends Portuguese tart pastries called Al Nata, they’ll be at Qout Market this weekend so make sure you pass by and check them out. They’ve got some delicious new flavors.

Thursday
Exhibition: Behind the Crisis
Thuraya Lynn X Do Chan Art Show “I saw the cat hiding”
GulfRun Karting Race
Rooftop Movie: Singing in the Rain

Friday
Thuraya Lynn X Do Chan Art Show “I saw the cat hiding”
GulfRun Karting Race
The Market at Al Kout Mall
Gingerbread Decorating Event
Movie in the Park: The Machinist
Chill-Out Fridays

Saturday
Thuraya Lynn X Do Chan Art Show “I saw the cat hiding”
GulfRun Karting Race
The Market at Al Kout Mall
Yoga at the Park
Qout Market
Madeenah Tour: Mubarak Al Kabeer Street
Kidsarty’s Fun Outdoor Art Workshop
The Secret Garden Project
Protein Sheikhas: Bootcamp
Kuwait Writing Club Open Mic Night
Rooftop Movie: Vanya on 42nd St.

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Note: Sometimes events get canceled, postponed or have details changed. I try to make sure all the information is accurate but always double check with the organizers to be sure.

The Kuwait Champions Challenge is in a few days and already three players have been stopped from playing in Kuwait due to the fact Kuwait was suspended by FIFA in October because of government interference. The three players banned are Steven Gerrard, Andrea Pirlo and Xavi Hernandez. [Source]

I just tried accessing the Kuwait Champions Challenge website to see if they’ve updated the players list but the site seems down at the moment.

Update: Here is a good article for CNN on this muck up by a good friend of mine Motez Bishara [Link]

In case you haven’t heard, Russell Peters, the popular comedian and actor will be coming to Kuwait next month for a one night comedy event. Tickets went on sale yesterday and they range from KD20 all the way up to KD750 for the VIP section.

There’s been a lot of negative feedback on social media regarding the ticket prices with a lot of people saying they’re too expensive. The thing is I don’t think they are. If you put aside the KD750 for the VIP area, the most expensive ticket is KD60. I’m not sure what people are comparing the prices to but based on my personal experience KD60 for the best tickets in the house is pretty cheap. For example last year I paid KD100 for a Bob Dylan ticket and it wasn’t anywhere close to the stage. I paid KD200 this summer for front row tickets at a Smashing Pumpkins and Marilyn Manson concert and I paid another KD200 for a UFC189 ticket that was so far away I spent most of the time watching the fights on the large overhead screens. KD60 for great seats is a pretty good deal for Russell Peters in Kuwait.

Regarding KD750 for the VIP tickets, I called the organizers to get more details about them. Firstly it isn’t KD750 per person, it’s per table and each table holds 5 people so it’s KD150 per person. But according to the organizers these tables are no longer available since they’ve decided to give them away to certain people instead of selling them. So most expensive ticket you can currently buy are the KD60 Platinum ones.

Anyway for those of you who’ve never heard of Russell Peters you can watch the two videos below. For details on the event you can click [Here]

Shakshooka Market is back again this Saturday (pictured above) and I’m going to be there helping a friend out who’s making delicious Salt Beef Bagel Sandwiches. So make sure you come by, say hi and order a Salt Beef Bagel, our stand will be called “The Untitled Deli”. Check out the full list of events taking place this weekend below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Behind the Crisis
8th Fitness Convention
Pantomime: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Burpees for Humanity
Workshop: Japanese Shibori Tie-Dye
Rooftop Movie: Le Papillon

Friday
Pantomime: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Bungee Jump at Al Kout
Food Truck Festival
AlSalmi Star Gazing Trip
Chill-Out Fridays

Saturday
Pantomime: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Bungee Jump at Al Kout
Food Truck Festival
Yoga at the Park
Shakshooka Market
Workshop: Fabric Printing
Art Night Out
Protein Sheikhas: Bootcamp
Lulwa Piano Concert
Rooftop Movie: Manhattan

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Note: Sometimes events get canceled, postponed or have details changed. I try to make sure all the information is accurate but always double check with the organizers to be sure.

If you’ve already booked a ticket to the Kuwait Champions Challenge then you already know that you don’t get to choose where to sit instead you’re just told if you’re upper level (single men) or lower level (families). You also would have noticed that as a single guy you can only book 1 ticket.

If you’re concerned you won’t be seated with your friends don’t worry about it. According to the organizers, if you arrive to the stadium with your friends then they will seat you all together depending on availability. So try to get there early if you all want to sit together.

If you haven’t booked a ticket yet you will be able to do so today between 4PM to 8PM from [Here]

The Kuwait Mooseheads Ice Hockey Team are looking for new members. If you can ice skate and play hockey then this is for you:

Looking for something fun, active and social? Miss those days at the rink? Well you’re in luck, the Kuwait Mooseheads hockey club is looking for new members to join us for our weekly scrimmages. We play twice a week at the ice rink next to Discovery Mall. The club also takes part in international tournaments throughout the year. Full equipment is required, and some experience is necessary. Check us out on Facebook or contact Graham via email at [email protected]