2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003We found 8,140 results for your search.
The total number of active Twitter users in Arab countries is now up to 1,311,882, says new data through to March of this year. Kuwait leads the way with a Twitter population penetration of some 8.13 percent, ahead of Bahrain (4.28 percent), Qatar (2.22 percent), the UAE (2.16 percent) and Saudi Arabia (1.37 percent).
Kuwait sent almost sixty million tweets in the month of March. The most popular topic across all Arab countries was the #Bahrain hashtag.
That’s alot of tweets. [Source]
Last week I had a shipment of wireless surveillance cameras get confiscated by Kuwait Customs. For some odd reason they’re cracking down on the import of any kind of surveillance equipment and to get an exception you’ve got to do a small runaround. This post will show you how to get that done quickly.
Aramex passed me my package clearance paperwork on Wednesday and I headed to the Kuwait Airport cargo area the following day. At first I thought clearing the package was a similar process to clearing other packages from customs so I printed a map I had created and instructions I had posted a few years back and started using it as my guide. But I quickly found out that was the wrong process for this case and instead I needed to head to the Aramex office in the cargo area.
The Aramex office is located right at the other end of the cargo area and you need to walk there under the sun since there is no shaded pathway. I highly recommend you go there in shorts, a tshirt and a baseball cap. Seriously it’s a miserable walk. Once I got to the small Aramex office the guy there signed the documents and told me I should head to another office back on the other side of the cargo area where they will have my package. So I walked back in the blistering heat and quickly found the second office by asking someone. Once inside I handed my paperwork to an officer who then went to a back room and brought out my shipment. He filled up a bit of paperwork, handed me one of my cameras from the box (I had ordered 3) and told me I should now take the paperwork and the camera and head over to the Kuwait security department near the VIP airport.
I walked back to my car and drove around the airport twice until I found the building. It’s located opposite the long term parking lot but to get to it you need go in by car from near the airport arrivals entrance. Once I got to the heavily protected compound (it has high walls topped with barbed wire and security cameras pointing in every direction) I then had trouble finding parking space. They have a tiny parking lot that was fully packed so I was forced to park in a no parking zone right next to a your car will be towed signed. Once inside I headed into the first building but turned out it was the wrong one and needed to go into the second white building that was a short walk away.
I went inside to this second building and headed up to the first floor and then walked all the way down to the end of the corridor and into an office on the left side (before the couch). There were two officers sitting, as soon as they saw me they told me I needed to go into another office two doors down on the left where someone would fill in a request for me. I did that and came back to him and he looked at my box and asked me why I got the camera? I told him I wanted to be able to monitor my apartment in Lebanon while I’m in Kuwait. He was like why didn’t you buy it locally? I told him I couldn’t find this specific model locally and it’s always cheaper online anyway. He was like ok, go next door and photocopy your civil id card and come back. I did and two minutes later I get back only to find the officer gone. The second officer who was sitting on the couch told me he’d be back. 10 minutes later some other officer comes and decides to finish up my paperwork. I had to write a letter stating that I was planning to use the cameras for personal use and then had to sign it and give it to him. He then finalized my paperwork and I had to go back to the Kuwait Airport cargo area back to the office that had my package. I showed them the paperwork there and was then allowed to take my cameras and leave.
While there I noticed a variety of other cameras that were held. One guy I met had ordered a helicopter with a camera built in while I noticed another guy was trying to clear a spy camera. So if you’re planning to order any kind of surveillance camera you should know there is a high probability it will be held right now but clearing it isn’t too difficult. The whole process took me around an hour and a half but should take you less now that you know where to go.
Video from the last day of school at ASK back in 1988. I didn’t know they had the bubble back then. Very cool video, wish I had a Sunshine School 1988 video.. [YouTube]
The source suspects the peddlers to be cultivating marijuana inside Kuwait, “as it’s not worth the risk to smuggle it in. It is not worth it unless you are smuggling the goods in very huge quantities, running into hundreds of thousands of KD.”
Describing the hemps that are grown indoors by his friends, the source said the plants are grown in earthen pots under artificial lighting; due ventilation is provided for fresh air.”
“It doesn’t take up much space and can be grown in a closet, or on a corner in the bedroom.” One of his friends grows it in the bathroom because the plant gives off a peculiar smell, which is easy to detect.”
I guess when the oil runs out this could be Plan B? [Link]
Mariam Erzouqi grips her German-made air rifle with carefully-manicured hands, steadies her footing, eyes the target and slowly pulls the trigger until a soft crack echoes through Kuwait’s cavernous shooting range.
The 24-year-old, who is set to become the second Kuwaiti woman to compete at an Olympic Games, has an affinity for her rifle and will take dead aim at a medal in the 10 and 50 metres air rifle in London.
You can read the full article on Mariam Erouqi’s Olympic dream [Here]
Picture from Kuwait Times
The number of Indians living in in Kuwait has quadrupled in the past decade to an estimated 650,000 – making them the country’s largest foreign population. For a long time seen as blue collar workers – now a new generation of Indian businessmen are changing the perception of their community by being partners in some of Kuwait’s top firms. Howard Johnson has been to Kuwait to explore the secret of the Indian community’s success. [YouTube]
Note to self: I need to try Amman Bhelpuri.
Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB) has stated it expects the Metro to begin operating by 2020, and that the first phase of the development will extend more than 54km and be serviced by 28 stations, nine of which will be underground.
We finally got a date! [Source]
While at the Avenues I spotted the Kindle Fire at Office Depot. They’re selling it for KD85 which is around KD25 more expensive than Amazon (without tax and shipping). They also had a few accessories for the Kindle Fire but didn’t spot any of the regular Kindle’s there.
Last September I got a tip saying that Prada was coming to Kuwait and opening up at 360 Mall but according to a recent interview with the CEO he stated the following:
“We are expanding in Morocco, Istanbul, Beirut, Dubai and Qatar” [Source]
What about Kuwait? I guess it could be the CEO just forgot to mention Kuwait…
With a massive dust storm still clearing up 965 Crew’s Doss felt the need to head down to Marina Waves and dance on the Edge Of Kuwait Kuwait’s Shoreline. He did two completely different dances in one take for each. They were both so good I had to use them the first is snappier while the second is smoother. You decide which you like.
Nice track. [YouTube]
A group of Kuwaiti MPs is heading to Switzerland in a bid to persuade the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to allow the Gulf state to compete in the London 2012 Olympics.
Kuwait, banned from Olympic events and funding since 2010 amid allegations of political interference, has proposed a raft of measures aimed at reinstating its athletes’ in the international sporting event, state news agency KUNA reported. [Source]
Ouch! I didn’t know we were banned from the olympics. That must suck for the Kuwaiti shooters who qualified.
Kuwait will have exhausted all its oil savings by 2017 if it keeps on spending money at the current rate, the International Monetary Fund said in a report published on Tuesday.
The IMF, which held a regular consultation with the OPEC member state in the last two weeks of April, said Kuwait would not be able to save oil receipts into its future generations fund.
Not sure what all that means or how it will affect us directly but according to my Magic 8 Ball, the outlook doesn’t seem good. [Link]
On the bright side, at least they’re rapping in Arabic. [YouTube]
Note: Contains offensive language
This is too funny. It seems Kuwait Airways hands out DVD players with a bunch of DVDs to Business Class passengers because the planes built in entertainment system doesn’t work. Check out more pictures on Omarker’s blog [Here]
Is there a place in Kuwait that sells Roomba vacuum cleaners? I used to have the original one back in 2003 and it had cost me over KD20 to ship it with Aramex back then. Today it would probably cost more than double that amount so I’d rather get it locally if available.
