Search: “kuwait”

Kuwait football player Mohammad Al Azmi scored a self goal the other day during an AFC Cup match. Some are calling it the worst own goal of the year which is why I’ve chosen it as this weeks fail of the week. [YouTube]

Spotted this picture on Kuwaitiful awhile ago and it cracked me up. It was taken at Arabella by @william_in_arabia.

Prosecutors say Craig Stevens, 55, started sending out emails in January 2014, telling people that franchises of the popular West Coast burger chain were available at $150,000 per location, with royalties costing $250,000 a year, the Los Angeles Times reports. This scheme brought in $4.27 million, charging documents say, and Stevens allegedly committed wire fraud last June by sending a counterfeit In-N-Out licensing agreement via email to an investor in Lebanon. He pleaded not guilty to charges of wire fraud on Monday, and is free on $10,000 bond. [Source]

I wonder if he sold the franchise to anybody in Kuwait as well?

Thanks Susan and Angel

Awhile back a reader on the blog mentioned that TEC (Touristic Enterprises Company) were building a skatepark, so I emailed the person asking about it as well as a few other things and this is what I found out:

– The new skatepark will be located next to the ice skating rink in Kuwait City. There will be a new sports complex built there and the skatepark will be a part of it. The project is currently on hold because TEC is working with the Diwan Al Amiri to integrate the whole area which will include a new ice skating rink and a new musical fountain with water screens and fire shows. Initially they wanted to build each of the projects separately but the new TEC CEO wants to combine them all into one large project and make it as great as Al Shaheed Park which is right next door. The new project will have to work around the existing Discovery Mall building.

– Regarding the Kuwait Towers, the Amir wants the Kuwait Towers to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site so all work on the interior had to be put on hold. Work will continue after a meeting with UNESCO in Paris where they will receive the rules and specifications required to be approved as a UNESCO site. UNESCO doesn’t mind the exterior as much as the interior but the original plan of the towers had a disco dance floor as well as a bar so they’re waiting to see exactly how much of that can be changed.

– As I previously posted, Entertainment City is shutting down. They’re bringing in a firm to do a feasibility study so they can rebuild the park from the ground up. My contact didn’t mention Six Flags and he literally said “we will start re-building it” so my guess is the park will remain with TEC.

– TEC is currently considering turning Shaab Park into a LEGO Theme Park

– There are still around 12 other projects in the pipeline including a world class water park

I found all this very encouraging and exciting except for one aspect, the ice skating rink. I really hope they don’t demolish the current one, I think it’s as important to Kuwait’s History and landscape as are the water towers and Kuwait Towers. I wasn’t able to get access to the 3D renderings of the sports complex project because the contracts with the design firm hasn’t been finalized but if anyone here has them by any chance please email me them.

If I find out any more information on any of the above projects I’ll make sure to share them here on the blog.

Entertainment City photo by Ahmed Al Bather

A friend of mine who owns a sporting goods shop is importing a new brand of sneakers to Kuwait. So I was over at his place a couple of days back and asked him if the sneakers had arrived yet since I was looking to pick up a pair for myself. My friend told me that they had arrived to Kuwait but they’ve been held in customs for a month now. I was like why? He told me you’re going to laugh at this but basically the sneakers are made in China, and the certificate of origin says they’re made in China. But, the customs officer is refusing to clear the shipment because inside the sneaker tongue it says Made in China but it also says US, UK and EUR. He says it’s misleading and so is holding the shipment at the port.

At first I thought he was kidding but he was actually serious. Obviously the customs officer is looking for a bribe to release the shipments but he could have at least come up with a better excuse for not releasing them.

I’m in contact with one of my readers who has some old photos of Ahmadi and I’ll be posting some every now and then. Kinda like what I was supposed to do with the KOC Archive posts which I realized I’ve completely forgotten about. Anyway this post is about the Ahmadi Hospital and this is what he had to say about it:

Ahmadi Hospital is known to many people especially the oil sector. Ahmadi Hospital was in inaugurated in April 1960 by Kuwait Oil Company and was called then “Southwell Hospital” after Kuwait Oil Company Sir Philip Southwell who was KOC president from 1946 to 1959. Sometime during the 80’s it was changed to “Ahmadi Hospital”

Before the hospital was built in Ahmadi town, KOC had a hospital in Magwa area (North Ahmadi Town, separated with Kuwait airport by the 7th ring road). That is where I was born and many others in that period. Attached are some pictures of Magwa Hospital.

I’ve also uploaded the two photos of the hospital staff in high resolution in case you’re interested in seeing them up close. You can view those [Here] and [Here]

Sandarah by Yousef

Sandarah is a short animated film by Kuwait animator Yousef Al Bagshi. The film was uploaded 7 months ago but it seems to have just been discovered recently. It’s Yousef’s first animation and it took him nearly a year and a half of work to complete it. The film is gorgeous, I really love his illustration style and the way he renders the light in all the scenes. The story is also captivating and from what I’ve been told based on a true event that took place during the 1990 Iraqi invasion. The film is under 7 minutes long so make sure you watch it.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

Good Afternoon Kuwait!!! DQ Opening Soon @ Marina and Avenue's Malls. pic.twitter.com/AcWVsKNIC3

— Dairy Queen® Kuwait (@DQKuwait) April 29, 2015

As I’ve previously mentioned, Dairy Queen is coming back to Kuwait after being absent for nearly a decade. Based on their tweet above it looks like they’re starting off with two locations, Marina Mall and The Avenues. No word on when but looks like it’s pretty soon.

Last summer I posted about how tap water is safe to drink even though the general consensus was that it wasn’t. Now a video is making its rounds around social media where four different bottled water brands have their pH levels tested alongside tap water and it seems tap water scores another win by being alkalized. According to proponents, alkalized water can neutralize acid in your bloodstream, boost your metabolism and help your body absorb nutrients more effectively. Check out the video above or on [YouTube]

Does anyone know of any place serving food and playing the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight in Kuwait?

New Kuwait have uploaded a video of a tour of the Al Salam Palace construction site. Al Salam Palace if you aren’t aware is currently being refurbished so that it can be turned into a museum. The video tour is in Arabic and you can watch it above or on [YouTube]

On a side note what is New Kuwait and are they connected to the government? Their website is newkuwaitgov.com and their logo is in English only as “New Kuwait” but their website and all their content is only in Arabic. Why give something an English name and then create just an English logo when all your content is going to be in just Arabic?

Thanks Khaled

For Asia there is a wide range of results, reflecting the diversity of cultures within the continent. The biggest financial concern for people searching about Lebanon appears to be the cost of a PS3; for Kuwait it is Lamborghinis, carpets for Armenia, and watermelons for Japan.

They used google’s autocomplete feature to find out what people around the world are obsessed with. It’s definitely not a scientific study but doesn’t make it any less funny. [Link]

Thanks Musaed

[YouTube]

On Friday I posted about chickens that were trapped in cages after the shop they were in got demolished on top of them. This morning I found out K’S PATH were heading to rescue the chickens and I’ve now been told they’ve been rescued. This is the email I got from Fatima Al-Sabah, the Vice Chairperson and Executive Director of K’S PATH:

We responded to the complaint last night and sent out our Animal Control Specialist to investigate and rescue the chickens. He was unable to do so yesterday as it was dark and one of the guards of the neighboring buildings was stopping him.

So we decided to provide water for the chickens to be able to survive the night and he went back today morning to rescue but this time a Kuwaiti man was forbidding him from rescuing, he insisted that our specialist clean out the whole thing or not do anything at all. That’s when I was called as the Executive Director to provide support. When I got there the Kuwaiti man had left and we could start rescuing. We asked a cleaner to help us rescue and we were able to remove about 30 live chickens from the premises. All were trapped in the cages unable to move and the living ones were walking among the dead ones. It was quite disturbing. The stench was unbearable.

People from the community came to look and thanked us for the work we did. And then we contacted the company that rents the shop lot and asked them to remove the dead carcasses as it is a health hazard considering that there is a school right opposite the location. I was later contacted by the company and they said that the owner of the land demolished their shop without notifying them and they have raised a complaint in the police station but they say they couldn’t do anything until the court case is seen by a judge and settled. I explained that they must think of public health before leaving animals to starve and decompose in public harming people around them and they said they would send over their personnel to clear the area from the carcasses.

All the living chicken are now safe in our K’S PATH Shelter in Wafra and we are waiting to hopefully find out that the shop has been cleaned.

Today I picked up a package from the post office for the very first time and I was pleasantly surprised with my experience.

A few weeks ago I ordered an item from an online store in Germany and chose DHL as my shipping option. Little did I know that DHL also had postal mail which is how the store mailed my package to Kuwait. When I found out they had shipped it by regular mail I almost had a heart attack. The item was limited (just 1 of 5) and I thought it was gonna get lost for sure because I kept hearing how screwed the local mail system was. It took around 10 days for the package to get here and I finally had the time today to go pick it up.

I took my tracking number and headed to the Kaifan Post Office where all international mail gets delivered to. Package pickups are in the basement and all I had to do was give a woman behind a counter my tracking number which she then typed out on a computer and told me that it had arrived and to wait while they get it. Five minutes later my name was called and I showed them my civil ID card and signed a paper that I had received the shipment. My shipment was then passed over to the customs agent who opened to see what was inside before handing it over to me.

It was such an incredibly easy process that I think I’m going to be shipping stuff to Kuwait via regular mail much more often. Things to note, they’re open from 8AM to 1PM and once a package arrives to Kuwait they store it for 40 days before sending it back or destroying it. If you want to know where the post office is, here it is on [Google Maps]

Update: They’ve changed the location. To pick up mail you now need to head to Al Sadiq, block 5 near the police station and boubyan bank. Here is the location on [Google Maps]

I had my first lobster roll a couple of years back while I was in London but before that my only experience with lobster rolls was watching Guy Fieri devour them on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Before one of my trips to London, a good friend of mine had told me to pass by Burger & Lobster and order their lobster roll, so I did, over and over. It was so delicious I kept going back whenever I could and every time I went back, there would be a long line outside the restaurant. So, I started going there at odd times so there wouldn’t be a line or, when I did find a line, I’d go up to the hostess and ask to sit at the bar which usually involved no waiting at all. Then the best thing happened, they opened up a location inside Harvey Nichols which very few people knew about and so there was never a line. Imagine how good the lobster roll must have been for me to want to come up with a strategy plan on how to get it.

In Kuwait on the other hand lobster rolls started popping up I think last year. The first one I had here was from the Nomad Kitchen food truck back in December. Their lobster rolls are Sriracha glazed and come in a small size like sliders. But I kept hearing about the Baking Tray lobster rolls although the feedback I was hearing was mixed. Some people loved it while others told me not to bother with it. A couple of days back I decided to pass by and try it out for myself.

I’ve been eating clean for three weeks now (summer is here) and I hadn’t had a cheat day in over two weeks so when I got to baking tray not only was I starving but I was also looking forward to cheating a little bit. I ordered the lobster roll and water to go along with it and after waiting for sometime the lobster roll arrived with a side of french fries. My first impression going by looks was that the size and portion of lobster was perfect and the bread looked proper. The only thing that put me off visually was the fact the lobster color was completely washed out by a white sauce. I took my first bite of the roll and realized the bread was perfect and the lobster cooked right but the sauce used on the other hand was disappointing. The sauce tasted like mayonnaise mixed with lemon juice and was unexciting and too watery killing all the lobster flavor. I finished up my roll, ate a couple of the fries, paid and left but not before giving them my feedback regarding the sauce. Hopefully they’ll take my feedback into consideration since if they get the sauce right they might have a hit on their hands. The price on the other hand is going to be an issue for some people as well. They’re selling the lobster roll for KD12, which is around KD3 more expensive than what I pay when I’m in London. I would like to pay a maximum of KD10 but not sure if that’s doable with the price of lobsters in Kuwait. In any case if you’re interested in trying it out, here is link to the their instagram account @bakingtraykw