Search: “kuwait”

You can now order Abercrombie & Fitch gear directly from their official website. Previously they wouldn’t accept Kuwaiti credit cards but now they do and they also ship directly to Kuwait. I just got my first box filled with goodies today. I paid using my Kuwait based credit card but had the box shipped to my Aramex mailbox instead of directly to Kuwait just because I actually wanted my stuff to get here sometime before summer was over. Here is a link to their [Website]

Update: Just found out if you actually ship the stuff directly to Kuwait they ship it door to door using FedEx and for only $10. That’s ridiculously cheap and much more efficient than shipping it to Aramex (I paid KD15 for shipping).

(Reuters) – State-run Kuwait Airways will spend 850 million dinars ($2.98 billion) on 25 new Airbus jets and aims to lease a further 13 to upgrade its ageing fleet, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Sunday. [Source]

The planes will consist of 10 wide-bodied A350-900 jets and 15 of the slimmer A320neo. No A380’s so I guess the “Ya Kuwait Airways naby A380” campaign didn’t do so well.

Thanks Salem
Picture above is Kuwait Airways in the 70s

It’s a project by Google, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NASA and TIME. If you click the link at the end of this post you’ll be taken to an animation showing how Kuwait has progressed from 1984 up until 2012. You’ll mostly notice how more and more buildings got built but the roads basically stayed the same which is why we have so much traffic problems. Here is the [Link]

It’s been a while since my last post and since then I’ve gotten a lot of questions and rent was one of the most popular topics. That’s why I decided to put together a small FAQ on rent which you can take a look at below.

(All questions were answered according to rent law 35 for year 1978)

I have been living in my apartment for 3 years; can my landlord increase my rent?

No your landlord cannot increase rent. A landlord can only increase rent in the following situations:
1) If the tenant agrees to the proposed increase
2) Its been 5 years and the contract has ended (rule is once every 5 years)
3) The rent is 50% less than the market price

My landlord says he wants to increase the rent because he wants to do maintenance work? Does he have the right to do that?

No since the landlord is responsible for any maintenance and not the tenants.

I have a rental contract for 1 year but I’ve been living in the apartment for 18 months and the contract was never renewed. Now the landlord wants to kick me out. I know I have overstayed but do I have to leave immediately?

No in this situation he cannot kick you out but he can inform you to leave while giving you a grace period.
By law, if your rent contract ends and you continue living there then it renews by default for the same time of rent pay. Huh? What? Lawyers and there confusing terms… Simply put, if you pay rent on a monthly basis (which is how the majority of people pay rent in Kuwait) then your contract will renew automatically for a month at a time. If you paid rent every three months, then it will renew for 3 months, if you paid rent every 6 months your rent will renew every 6 months and so on.

What is the grace period?

Grace periods are only for when contracts renew by default (as explained above) and they depend on how often you pay your rent.

When can you really get kicked out? (with no grace period)

Reasons a landlord can kick you out are (for residencies and not commercial contracts)
1) If tenant hasn’t paid rent
2) If the tenant rents out the residency to a third person without permission
3) If the residence is being used for illegal activities
4) If the building is no longer structurally safe
5) If the landlord wants to rebuild the building or reconstruct it. There are a lot of variables for this one which I won’t get into.

My American friends can rent an apartment without a marriage certificate but I can’t seem to do the same? Do different citizens get treated differently in Kuwait by law?

Nationalities are not mentioned in the law so the law doesn’t talk about one nationality being treated differently than another (unless its Kuwaiti but that’s not in the rent laws), and therefore it is very disappointing to see that this kind of discrimination is being implemented in Kuwait.

Marriage certificates are also not mentioned in the law and my guess and only guess is that they ask for marriage certificates because unmarried couples might possibly engage in illegal sexual activities. The law restricts apartments from being used for illegal activities and sexual activity between two unmarried couples is considered illegal by law.

Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
Have a Kuwait law related question? Email me at [email protected]

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.

The long term parking at the airport is so small that on weekends it’s usually closed with a sign saying that it’s full and you’re basically forced to park in the short term parking and pay an exuberant price or park outside the cargo terminal for free but have to take the long walk back to the airport. Since I’ve been traveling a lot I kinda developed a routine which was working pretty well for me until this past weekend.

What I do now is get to the airport early like I usually do but I park in the short term parking. I then checkin to my flight and once I get the boarding pass I get back to my car and just park it outside the long term parking entrance and I sit and wait for someone to leave so that security will let me in. Usually it takes 15 to 30 minutes and it’s became a routine that works for me.

So this past Thursday, 30 minutes had passed and no one had left but since I had already checked in and still had around an hour for boarding I was doing ok. Then a car pulled up behind me and a Kuwaiti guy got out and came up to my window. I rolled it down and told him parking was full and I was waiting. The guy then goes to the security office and a few minutes later comes back with a Kuwaiti security guy who comes up to me and is like I am going to let the guy in because he wants to try his luck and look for a spot. I told the security guy I had been waiting here for 30 minutes now why can’t I go in to “try my luck”? Then the Kuwaiti guy came and told me to move my car so he could go in. I was like no, I was here first and I have been here for 30 minutes and I am not moving. The security told the guy in Arabic that I was a westerner and you know how stubborn they can be. The Kuwaiti guy kept trying to get me to move and telling the security he had his whole family in the car and his flight would be taking off soon etc.. etc..

Finally around 10 minutes later a passenger comes into the long term parking and was leaving. I tell the security guard I should be let in first to park and then you can let the other guy go in and try his luck. Of course he didn’t listen and let both of us in. I ended up driving the wrong way to get to the parking spot first to park.

So much drama just for parking. We definitely need more long term parking spots. My temporary fix would be to combine both the short and long term parking spots into one and then develop a pricing plan that would work for both. Until then it’s going to be like this every weekend.

A friend spotted the Fisker Karma hybrid electric vehicle in Kuwait. Not sure why anyone would want one here since gas is so cheap but my guess is it’s because it would be a very unique car to have in Kuwait.

There was one being sold on Q8showroom for around KD43,000 but not sure if its the same one.

Art Kuwait recently posted about Boushahri’s Art Library in Salmiya. The library is filled with both Arabic and English art and design books and you don’t need to be a member to access the books. You just pass by, sign in and read whatever books you want.

The library is located in the Boushahri building on Baghdad Street in Salmiya and it’s open from 9AM to 1PM and then again from 5PM to 9PM. Their phone number is 25621215 ext 110. For more information click [Here]

Note: Art Kuwait mention that it’s the first art library in Kuwait but I believe CAP (Contemporary Art Platform) have had a similar library in their space for some time now. Photo below.

TJCfilms attended the Red Bull BC One event that took place in Kuwait a few days back. BC stands for Breakdance Championship and it was held at Al Zumoroda Hall in Bida’a. [YouTube]

I love it when people say there isn’t anything to do in Kuwait because it just makes me want to work harder trying to prove them wrong. This weekend I went paragliding in Kuwait and it’s just another one of many activities you can now add to your to do list.

Last week I called the Kuwait Aviation Club and booked a paragliding appointment for Friday afternoon. The meetup point was also the takeoff point and that was past Khiran City near exit 285 [Map]. Once I arrived I met with Sultan Alanizi who is the only certified paragliding instructor in Kuwait and the guy who would be piloting our flight. Since the wind was a bit strong we had to hang out a bit and wait for it to slow down. While waiting, two other paragliders joined us as well. Turns out it’s sort of a club and they usually go flying together whenever they can. After around 30 minutes of waiting the wind had slowed down and we were ready to take off.

[YouTube]

The setup is a sort of an open cage buggy with a large engine and fan connected at the back. The buggy has two seats, the one in the front is for the pilot while the one in the back is for the passenger. After doing some safety checks, I was asked to put on my helmet and strapped myself into the chair. A few moments later we took off.

[YouTube]

Right after take of we started gaining a lot of altitude very quickly and we ended up going pretty high up. It was close to sunset and it was also low tide so I ended up taking a lot of beautiful shots from the sky. We flew towards Khiran City and circled it a few times while changing altitude every now and then. It was very cool although it kinda became repetitive after circling the third time. Finally after 30 minutes we headed back to our original take off spot and landed.

If you’re interested in paragliding you can do so by calling Sultan on 66515855. The cost is KD30 for 30 minutes and you need to hurry up because once the weather gets warmer they stop flying.

Gulf Consult in association with Atkins were engaged to develop a comprehensive detailed Local Plan for Kuwait City entitled ‘Kuwait City Urban Development 2030’. The Plan is to guide development for Kuwait City over the next 20 years to affirm its role as a national/international, financial/business and commercial centre.

Kuwait City is strategically located at the northern peak of the Metropolitan Area overlooking Kuwait Bay, surrounded by the sea to the north east and the 1st Ring Road to the south west. It covers an area of 1,200 hectares and is well connected to the rest of Kuwait through a series of arterial roads that transverse the 1st Ring Road.

The Local Plan proposes that the new development in the city be concentrated in four Action Areas: Sawaber; Mirqab West; Mirqab East and Qibla Commercial Area 1 and 2. The main development premise for these areas is to create mixed use sustainable developments which introduce new land uses into the city.

Also integral to the Plan is the integration of a Park and Open Space Strategy; Transport Strategy; and Utility upgrades and additions.

The Project was completed in six phases: Data Collection and Analysis; Detailed Planning and Traffic Studies; Planning Alternatives for Kuwait City; Detailed Local Plan; Detailed Zoning and Subdivision Plans; and Final Plans and Documents.

The area in question is around Al Tijaria Tower, opposite Al Shaheed Park. It’s currently occupied by old warehouses, an abandoned hospital, a grave yard, garages and tons of stores selling metal pots. The renderings look pretty but since this was just a study, we shouldn’t get our hopes up. More renderings and info [Here]

Kuwaiti author Saud Alsanousi won the 2013 International Prize for Arabic Fiction to become the youngest writer to win the prize. Saud won the prize for his story “The Bamboo Stalk” which is about a character called Issa who is a son of a Kuwaiti father and a Filipino mother.

On returning to his father’s homeland as an adult, Issa finds himself in a difficult position. Rather than the mythical country his mother has described to him, he discovers he is caught between the natural, biological ties he shares with his father’s family and the prejudices of a traditional society, which views a child of Kuwaiti-Filipino heritage as socially unacceptable. Skilfully constructed, The Bamboo Stalk is a story of great strength and depth which questions identity in modern society.

You can find out more about Saud and the prize by following this [Link]

BBC have a short film on Fawaz Al Hasawi, kinda like a behind the scenes look on who he is and why he chose to purchase the football club Nottingham Forest. Although Fawaz says the club isn’t a plaything and is a serious business, I think the way the film was edited by the BBC and the way they kept focusing on his riches made it look like it’s just another toy like his cars and houses. You can watch the video on the BBC website [Here]

AVICII, the extremely popular Swedish DJ posted the following cryptic message on his Facebook page which kinda sounds like he is coming to Kuwait:

Hey KUWAIT! What do YOU think about the new album songs? I would love to hear YOUR thoughts specifically!

Hope to see you soon!

Interesting to say the least. [Link]

Update: Below is a screenshot of the message I am seeing. Some Facebook users are saying they’re seeing a different country other than Kuwait mentioned. I logged in with a New York based VPN and it still showed me Kuwait so my guess is it’s probably showing the location based on where you’ve told Facebook you live and not IP related. In any case looks like it’s a false alarm.

If you want to help the elephants at the Kuwait Zoo you now can by purchasing the tshirt above. For those of you who don’t read Arabic the tshirt basically says “Love Malek and Dalal” who are the two elephants currently at the Kuwait Zoo. All proceeds from the tshirt sale will go towards the renovation of the elephant cage at the zoo by enriching it. The tshirts are for just KD10 and you can order them by sending an email to [email protected]

To know why the elephants need help, read my previous post [Here]

Kids ‘r’ us makes a small cameo appearance [YouTube]