Search: “kuwait”

An abandoned puppy mill was discovered in Lebanon by BETA (Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) where they found 28 dead dogs and 12 that were alive feeding on the dead ones. Absolutely horrible and the video is graphic so you’re warned. Hopefully this will cause Lebanon a lot of embarrassment and the owner of the puppy mill gets prosecuted to set as an example to others. [YouTube]

In other news, here in Kuwait the Public Authority for Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) will no longer be poisoning stray dogs. If you remember early on in the year a huge controversy erupted when video and pictures showed dogs in the Free Trade Zone dead after being poisoned. PAAAFR will now be working with the UK-based WSPCA and local animal non-profits organizations to learn alternative animal control methods. Here is the link to the full story on Kuwait Times. [Link]

I passed by Marina Mall tonight since I had read they were opening tonight. But when I got there I noticed the shutters were still down but the lights were on inside and I spotted some employees. So I made a few phone calls and managed to get a tour around the store and take some pictures.

First off, the place is HUGE. I was expecting it to be big but not this big. It’s like a giant supermarket filled with sporting goods. The store is located in Marina Mall where Virgin and a bunch of other smaller shops used to be right across from Cinnabon and The Athletes Foot.

Decathlon is a French brand and most of their stores have 18 different sections but the one in Kuwait will be missing two, climbing and hunting. The other 16 sections in the store are the following (taken from their website):

– Camping
– Running
– Cycling
– Fitness, Dance, Martial Arts
– Swimming
– Surf Sports
– Boating
– Diving
– Teamsports
– Racket Sports
– Horse Riding
– Walking
– Golf
– Roller, Skate, Scooter
– Fishing
– Target Sports

I really loved the place and can’t wait to go back once they open which will hopefully be tomorrow night (Tuesday). They were supposed to open up tonight but due to a technically difficulty they’re now aiming to open by noon tomorrow. If anyone is looking for a watch with a heart rate monitor I spotted an affordable one there for KD12.5.

Lt Gen Ghazi Al-Omar, Ministry of Interior’s Undersecretary has released new set of instructions to grant rewards, including cash payments to civilians who help prevent a criminal act or provide valuable information to police.

…

According to a report published by some Arabic dailies, the cash prize can reach up to KD 500 depending on the nature of crime and assistance provided. Both Kuwaitis and expatriates can benefit from the new regulation, said the source.

They should create an App for that. People submit pictures or tips on criminal activities and the ones with the most likes wins. [Link]

Thanks Tuan

It seems everywhere I look someone is wearing a FuelBand on their wrist. Since I recently got one myself, I was curious to find out how accurate it really was. The Nike FuelBand is a wrist band that has an accelerometer built in that measures your movements through out the day. Movements like running, walking, basketball etc.. get translated into something Nike calls Fuel. You start off by setting a daily Fuel goal and the more active you are the more Nike Fuel you earn. The FuelBand turns activity into sort of a game or at least makes it more enjoyable by giving you a visual target (in this case Nike Fuel) which you want to reach at the end of everyday.

The device looks pretty cool and it has a small button which when pressed lights up LEDs inside the bracelet displaying your information. Every time you press the button you flip through the menu which includes your Fuel count, calories burned, steps taken and the time of day. If you hold the button down for a few seconds it syncs the data with your iPhone and Nike Fuel App. But is it accurate?

I decided to take the the Nike FuelBand on a run along with my Garmin Forerunner. While the FuelBand uses movement to guess how much exercise you’re performing and how many calories you’re burning, the Garmin uses a heart rate sensor and a GPS connection to more accurately calculate the same. The total distance I ran was 5.12KM and this is how each device calculated the calories burned:

Garmin: 407 calories
Nike FuelBand: 602 calories

So the FuelBand was off by around 200 calories and at a sport which it should excel in. But the result was actually more accurate than I was expecting it to be.

Does it mean it’s useless? No, I don’t think so. If you’re already very active you most likely have a Polar or Garmin watch already which you wear to the gym or when running or riding your bike. The Nike FuelBand is more for people who aren’t that active but want to be. It’s something you could wear all day long and even though it’s not really accurate, it does give you a ballpark figure which helps starters understand how much their movement is burning calories or how its helping their Nike Fuel. Most importantly it’s a lot easier to use than most sport watches and the Nike App and website helps people visualize their activities and set higher targets.

The biggest issue I have with the device is the price. At $150 it’s not cheap and costs as much as those dedicated sport watches that are much more accurate (my Garmin cost me $128). The Nike FuelBand isn’t available officially in Kuwait right now but if you’re interested in getting one the best (and cheapest) options are:

Amazon: Sells for around KD60 there [Link]

Nike Store: Sells for around KD40 there but it’s a bit tricker to order. First make sure you are at the US Nike website. You can tell if you are by scrolling down to the bottom of the Nike page. If you see a US flag on the left you’re there just go directly to the shop. If you don’t see a US flag there then change it to the US store by clicking on the flag and then selecting the US. When you place the order you need to use an American Express card and then use your Aramex or Borderlinx shipping address as your billing address. I wasn’t able to use my Mastercard to place an order, it just worked with my Kuwait issued American Express. [Link]

Interesting tidbit, the charactar Ashur who they call “the Syrian” on the TV series Spartacus (and who is probably the most hated character on the show) used to live in Kuwait back in the 80s. His real name is Emad Tarabay. I tried to get more details like what school he attended but he wouldn’t share any details with me.

Update: I am aware Emad is originally Lebanese, but on the show they call him “the Syrian”.

Kuwaiti runner Mohammad Alazemi (in blue and white above) was disqualified after finishing 3rd in his 800m heat. It seems he pushed the Polish runner and so was disqualified for obstruction. [Link]

Mohammad Alazemi had previously won gold in both the 800m and 1500m races at the 2011 Asian Championships in Kobe, Japan. This was Mohammad’s third time competing at the Olympics.

Thanks Akbar

As I mentioned last week I’m starting triathlon training so I could hopefully participate in the upcoming triathlon this October. I had my first day with The 3 Club and I don’t think I did that bad. My biggest issue actually is the fact I barely had time to do anything with three different sessions squeezed into my evening. At 5PM I had cycling which went easier than I expected. This was stationary and indoor which is why it probably felt easier than my usual rides to the gym in blazing heat riding against strong headwind. Class was done by 6 and I barely had enough time to rest before I hit Core Fitness for an hour of intense weight lifting at 7PM. I finished from Core, headed home, barely had time to feed my dog, grab a bite and update my post on Fehaid Aldeehani before I had to leave again for my 10PM running session with The 3 Club. Exhausting to say the least.

The running session was held at a track in Keifan and while we were there I spotted a lot of young guys and girls doing a variety of track and field training. I spotted everything from discus throwing and high jumping to hurdles and tripple jumping. It felt great running around the track while a bunch of other track and field sports were taking place at the same time. It actually energized me and made me feel like an athlete for the hour I was there (an old one with a bad knee but still). So overall it wasn’t a bad first day at all.

Social Slave put together a short list of restaurants serving Iftar buffets along with their prices. The list needs more hotels but it’s a good start. [Link]

[YouTube]

Last month Sidekick Academy competed at the 2012 US Open World Championships in Orlando and they ended up leaving with a ton of trophies. Last year when they competed they ended up winning 17 trophies and medals but this year they ended up leaving with a total of 28 which was more than any other team at the tournament! Here are the results:

Day 1: Standup “Tae Kwon Do”

FORMS DIVISIONS
Shaikha Alshuaib 1st Place Creative Teen Forms
Omar Alosaimi 1st Place Int Creative Forms
Hussain Gholoom 1st Place Int Extreme Forms
Ahmad Hayati 1st Place Adv Creative Forms
Shaikha Alshuaib 2nd Place Extreme Teen Forms
Hussain Gholoom 2nd Place Int Creative Forms
Ahmad Hayati 5th Place Adv Traditional Forms

SPARRING DIVISIONS
Nasser Alqattan 1st Place Adv Cont Sparring Heavy Weight
Ahmad Hayati 1st Place Adv Clash Sparring Heavy Weight
Shaikha Alshuaib 1st Place Teen Clash Sparring
Shaikha Alshuaib 1st Place Teen Cont Sparring
Omar Alosaimi 2nd Place Int Cont Sparring Middle Weight
Abdulrahman Aljasser 2nd Place Int Cont Sparring Heavy Weight
Mosab Alali 2nd Place Int Point Sparring Middle Weight
Abdulhadi Aladwani 3rd Place Int Cont Sparring Middle Weight
Ahmad Hayati 3rd Place Adv Cont Sparring Heavy Weight
Shaikha Alshuaib 3rd Place Teen Point Sparring
Hussain Gholoom 4th Place Int Cont Sparring Middle Weight
Ahmad Hayati 5th Place Adv Point Sparring Heavy Weight
Nasser Alqattan 5th Place Adv Point Sparring Heavy Weight

Day 2: “Jiu-Jitsu”

NO-GI Division “No- Uniform”
Abdullatif Aladwani GOLD Blue Belt Bantam Weight
Abdulrahman Aljasser SILVER Blue Belt Cruiser Weight
Abdullah Alshamri SILVER Blue Belt Master Bantam Weight
Ahmad Hayati BRONZE Blue Belt Middle Weight

GI Division “Uniform”
Nasser Alqattan GOLD Blue Belt Middle Weight
Abdullah Alshamri SILVER Blue Belt Master Bantam Weight
Ahmad Hayati BRONZE Blue Belt Middle Weight
Abdulhadi Aladwani BRONZE Blue Belt Bantam Weight

I seriously love these guys, if you want to know more about Sidekick Academy you can check out their website [Here] and their Facebook page [Here]

Last month I posted about the Flying Start Triathlon that is going to take place this coming October here in Kuwait and it got me thinking if it would be possible for me to compete. I think I’m in great shape since I’ve been working my ass off at Core Fitness for the past two years and I’ve been eating really healthy so I think I’m ready.

There are two distances in the Flying Start Triathlon and I’m hoping to complete The Sprint which is the shorter of the two. The running and biking seem very doable it’s the swimming I’m more concerned about. Currently I can swim across an Olympic sized pool horizontally once before collapsing in exhaustion and that’s only like 25 meters or something which is not even close to the 750m distance required in the race. That’s why I passed by The 3 Club who are the organizers of the event and asked them if they did any training. Turns out they did and starting next week I’ll be training with them twice a day every day.

There will be two sessions daily which rotate between biking, running and swimming exercises. I’m pretty nervous about this since I have no idea how I’m going to perform. Once I actually start the classes I’ll post my impressions here. So far my schedule for Ramadan looks like this:

5PM – Training with The 3 Club
7PM – Training at Core Fitness
10PM – Training with The 3 Club

Best part about this though is I’ll be eating WHATEVER I want since I’ll be burning so much calories. Fat Mark is going to make a comeback.. at least in a mental state.

According to a post on Mental Floss, Kuwait is among 21 countries with only one Olympic medal. I don’t think that is bad considering how tiny Kuwait is and how there is very little interest in track and field or most other Olympic sports. [Link]

Kuwait’s only Olympic medal was won by Fehaid Aldeehani in the men’s double trap shooting event at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Fehaid is competing again in this years London Olympics and was the flag bearer during the opening ceromony (pictured above).

Thanks Ds

That looks slightly better than our DeLorean in Kuwait. [Link]

Grand Cinemas, the new theater company in Kuwait will be opening in Al Hamra Tower during Eid. The theater once open will have a total of 9 screens with one of them being a VIP theater which I’ve been told will rival those of Dubai.

Update: The launch has been postponed [Link]

A few days back a reader contacted me and told me he was leaving the country for good and wanted my recommendation on a shipping company. Since I had just used a shipping company myself I figured I might as well write about my experience.

Back in May I shipped some furniture and electronics to my apartment in Lebanon. I didn’t really look for a shipping company, I just contacted Alghanim Freight since I previously heard they were the best and so didn’t even bother looking for any other options. My experience was a mixed bag but truth be told, not sure they can be blamed for all of it.

The problem with shipping stuff to Lebanon right now is the the fact there is internal conflict taking place in Syria right now. Before the internal conflict shipping stuff from Kuwait to Lebanon could take anywhere from 1 to 4 days but now it takes around two weeks. The shipping trucks are held at the Jordan/Syria border a few days and then formed into a convoy and led by security to the Syria/Lebanon border. Once they get there they get stuck in a long queue waiting to be cleared into Lebanon.

Based on a previous conversation with Alghanim Freight we were told our stuff would arrive to Lebanon on June 3rd. So me and Nat booked out tickets from May 31st to June 16th. Alghanim Freight sent over a packing crew and they did an amazing job. They worked around 10 to 12 hours with just a small break packing everything into carton boxes and wrapping up stuff with bubble wrap. In the end we had a total of 105 boxes which they loaded up onto their truck and took off.

Insurance
The day after they picked up the packages and while talking to Alghanim Freight we found out that although our shipment was insured, it was only insured up to $20,000. That amount was far less than the cost of the items we were shipping. To increase the insurance we were told that we would need to state the value of the items in each box. Although we had a list of all the boxes and what was inside, the descriptions were generic. Majority of the boxes were described just as “Furniture”, a few boxes were described as “Kitchen” and only a few boxes mostly the electronics were more specific. Since there was no way to know what was in each box there was nothing that could be done and so we didn’t get the extra insurance. We should have been asked ahead of time if we needed extra insurance kinda like how McDonalds asks if you want to upsize your meal while taking the order and not after you’re done.

Delivery Dates
This is where we had the biggest issue but now looking back at it I realized it mostly wasn’t in their hands. Originally we were told our shipment would arrived June 3rd. Two days after our packages were packed and taken we were told our shipment would arrive to Lebanon June 8th. That’s already a 5 day delay and the packages hadn’t even left Kuwait. When we got to Lebanon we found out that the shipment would get delayed again and in the end the shipment finally arrived on June 12th.

The Delivery
Our biggest concern was if all our items would end up arriving to Lebanon and how much we would get charged for customs. Luckily we didn’t end up having any problems. All 105 boxes were delivered with nothing damaged and nothing missing. In addition we also didn’t pay any customs at the border. Seems Alghanim Freight use trucks who have good relationships with the border people and so their cargo don’t get unloaded which is why we didn’t pay any taxes.

Conclusion
The fact that all our items arrived safely and the fact we didn’t pay any Lebanese taxes on our shipment is more than enough reason to use them again or recommend them to people. They were not accurate with the delivery dates but I truly believe it wasn’t in their control this time around. Total cost for shipping was around KD650.

This is another angle of the fire that took place near Marina Mall which I posted about two days back. This video of the fire was taken from a tenant living in the building right above the fire. [YouTube]

Thanks Abdulrahman