Search: “kuwait”

Some of you might already know that playing video games is a favorite hobby of mine and now I’ll be able to write about my thoughts on games as they get released here in Kuwait. Mark worked out a deal with the local online game rental service Digumz.com who will be providing the games for me as soon as they’re out. I’ll be reviewing a game every week or two depending on when they get released and if there aren’t any new releases I’ll probably write about an older game I find worth sharing.

This week I’ll be reviewing a fairly new release called Spec Ops: The Line, spoilers will be kept to a minimum.

[YouTube]

Spec Ops: The Line is not your ordinary war themed video game. It isn’t anything like Call of Duty, Battlefield or Medal of Honor. Spec Ops: The Line has a proper, mature script that will have you talking about the game long after you put the controller down. The gameplay is flawed and has trouble dealing with the issues that the script raises, but it’s still a lot of fun to play. Think of it this way: if Call of Duty is a Michael Bay movie, Spec Ops: The Line is Apocalypse Now (which it has been compared to). There was some controversy in our region due to the fact that the game takes place in a destructed Dubai. Personally, I don’t see what the big deal is. All major metropolises get destroyed in games and movies; how many times has New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo been demolished by either a giant monster, war or aliens? As far as I’m concerned, the fact that Dubai is destroyed in this game is a good thing. If the UAE government is concerned about the portrayal of their citizens, then they have nothing to worry about. In the game, Dubai may resemble real Dubai, but it’s not an exact replica. You’ll see skyscrapers that look like they should belong in Dubai, but you won’t see an exact copy of Burj Khalifa.

So I woke up this morning at around 4AM and for some odd reason started thinking about my previous Tesco posts. Originally last year I posted that Alshaya were bringing Tesco to the region. A month later I posted that Sultan Center had signed with Tesco and they were also bringing them to the region. Something didn’t click and it was around 5AM when I started sending out emails and doing a bit of investigating.

What I have managed to piece together is the following but please note this is just my theory based on bits and pieces of information I managed to gather. Last year Tesco representatives came to Kuwait and met with two parties with the aim of finding someone who would give them around 50 stores over a five year period across the MENA region. The two parties they met with were Sultan Center and Alshaya. My guess is that Alshaya signed a confidentiality agreement with Tesco which explains why they got really upset when they read my post. My source took the confidentiality agreement as a done deal which it wasn’t because a month later I posted Sultan Center had also signed with Tesco (Again most likely it was a confidentiality agreement). What I understand now is that Sultan Center is no longer in the picture and that Alshaya have most likely signed with Tesco… but to bring the brand Florence & Fred (F&F) to the region and not the supermarket. F&F is the clothing division of Tesco.

Disappointing news I know but theres light at the end of the tunnel. My opinion is that Alshaya will be bringing F&F to the region so they can build a relationship with Tesco. According to a previous interview with Mohammed Alshaya, he picked Tesco as the one brand he doesn’t have and one which he wants the most. So although it doesn’t look like Carrefour is going to be replaced with a Tesco supermarket anytime soon, I do believe that is the long term goal. By getting the F&F brand they’re putting their foot in the door and if everything goes well which I’m assuming it will, then we can expect Tesco supermarkets in the near future.

Palm trees next to a building near Marina Mall caught fire in the morning, Some of the cars were burnt as a result. Kuwait fire department was quick to douse the fire, small video from the incident (I guess no one was injured in the incident)

Happened earlier today. [YouTube]

The popular Kuwait guide iPhone app Urban Moon just got a major update yesterday. The biggest difference I’ve noticed is the speed of the app. My biggest complaint with their previous version is that once you launched the app you had to wait a few seconds for it to download the latest phone numbers. Now the downloads take place in the background so you can start using the app as soon as you launch it.

Another new feature is that the app will now contain reviews. Currently restaurants in the app have a generic description but they’ve already started writing reviews and soon they’ll be swapping out the generic descriptions with honest reviews of the restaurants. That I think could be interesting and maybe even more so if they allow people to submit their own reviews similar to the Yelp app.

You can check out the full list of improvements and features in the Apple Store [Here]

The Al-Hasawi family promised if they took over Nottingham Forest they would offer Kuwaitis a chance to play for the team. Looks like they’re sticking to their promise because Kuwaiti footballer Bader Al-Mutawa is set to begin a month-long trial with Nottingham Forest.

Arabian Business have more details [Here]

I’ve collected most of this years Ramadan commercials and listed them all below after the jump. If you prefer you could also watch them all consecutively by playing the video above or on YouTube [Here]

Note: I will keep adding to the list below, if there is any good commercial I’ve missed let me know.

Update: Added the National Youth Project commercial
Update2: Added Asnan Tower’s commercial
Update3: Added 6alabat and ABK
Update4: Added new Zain, Viva and McDonalds commercials

According to Forbes, Kuwait is the 7th laziest country in the world. But, on the bright side, Saudi Arabia came in third so at least we’re not the worst in the region. [Link]

Thanks Sahar

The 99 comic book has now turned into an animated series which will be broadcasted exclusively online this Ramadan on Yahoo. Firstly just to be clear I’m a huge fan of The 99 concept and a very big supporter of the creator Naif Al-Mutawa. I really love how a local idea turned into a worldwide sensation and it goes to show how success can be achieved even if you live in tiny little dusty Kuwait.

But, I’m not sure what to make of this Yahoo deal. Does anyone in our region watch TV online? Watching a one minute video on YouTube of a cute cat playing the keyboard is one thing but watching a full 30 minute animation on Yahoo is another. I would much rather have had the animated series launch on a satellite channel or even YouTube. Right now I can’t even embed The 99 trailer into this post because Yahoo doesn’t seem to have that feature. Check out the announcement and trailer on Yahoo over [Here]

Update: According to Alarabiya it’s also going to be broadcasted on MBC3. Now that makes sense, not sure why Yahoo would say they have the exclusivity when they don’t. [Link]

I’ve had a love and hate relationship with the Sony NEX-7 even before I got my hands on it. Specs wise the camera is nearly flawless and Sony have somehow managed to fit a ton of great features into a really compact camera… that is until you mount the lens onto it. Thats where the hate comes in. Because the sensor on the Sony is so large, the lenses needed to be large which turned a very slim compact camera without a lens into a not so practical I might as well carry a DSLR size with the lens. In addition to that, the only lens I wanted for it cost as much as the camera itself. But, I’m an open minded person and I change my mind all the time and after trying the camera out it might have.

I picked up the Sony NEX-7K (comes included with a 18-55mm lens) last week from the Sony dealership along with the Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 lens. The Zeiss lens is the one I really wanted to try with the camera and it’s the one I ended up using 95% of the time. The packaging for the camera is one of the nicer ones out there and feels premium right away with the black velvety textured interior and the way the items are laid out. The camera is also solidly built and doesn’t weigh too much even with the lens on which was unexpected. The camera without the lens as I mentioned is very compact and could easily slide into a jeans pocket which makes me wish Sony releases more pancake lenses for the camera (currently they only have the 16mm f/2.8). There are two circular knobs on the back of the camera which are used to control certain options in the camera like aperture, shutter speed and exposure. The viewfinder is electronic but is the first one ever to use an OLED screen which means the blacks are really black. Finally there’s a high resolution tilt’able 3″ screen on the back which tilts down 45° and up 80°.

I took the camera and headed to Souk Mubarkia on Friday afternoon since I wanted to see how easy it would be to capture moving people. I got there as the sun was setting but the weather wasn’t really great and the lighting was very poor and flat. Still, I tried to make the best of it and started walking around snapping pictures. What I like about Souk Mubarkia is that it’s frequented a lot by tourists so the people there are not intimidated by cameras. One of the few places in Kuwait where you can snap away without worrying you’re going to offend anyone. I shot with the camera’s ISO set on Auto since I knew the camera had great ISO capabilities. My favorite feature in the camera has to be the tilt’able screen on the back. Most of my first digital cameras like the Nikon Coolpix 2500 and Sony F717 used to tilt and I used to like that. But lately none of the cameras I’ve purchased had such a feature and until I started using it again on the NEX-7 I had completely forgotten how practical it was. I actually found myself using the rear screen a lot more than the view finder but that might also have been because of the fact people are less aware you’re taking a picture of them when the camera isn’t plastered to your face. The camera is pretty fast and by fast I mean it focuses quickly and shoots instantly which really helped when I was walking around trying to capture certain moments. I did get some blurry shots, maybe around 4 or 5 shots out of a hundred but that mostly had to do with the poor lighting conditions and moving subjects. The Zeiss lens is superb and really is the lens to have for this camera.

I did have some issues with the camera. I was walking around Mubarkia with the camera on and in my hand ready to shoot at any moment, sometimes I’d have two hands holding it sometimes one. When I’d find a shot I’d raise my camera and shoot, thats when I started noticing two annoying issues. The first is the fact I thought the rear knobs were too easy to turn. Every time I put up the camera to shoot I would notice either the exposure compensation shifted or the aperture wasn’t what I had previously set. Maybe I’ve got fat fingers, or maybe I was just holding the camera wrong but if only the knobs were slightly more difficult to turn, that would have made a huge difference with my clumsy hands. The second issue I noticed is when I tried to shoot from my waist (only works with a tilt’able screen). I’d hold the camera with two hands from the sides and then suddenly the rear LCD would go dark for a second or two. It happened a few times before I realized what was going on. The viewfinder has a sensor that detects when the camera is close to your face so it shuts off the screen and turns on the viewfinder. Somehow while holding the camera my thumb was sometimes passing in front of the sensor which was shutting off the screen. Annoying to say the least but by the end of the day I had gotten used to keeping my thumb away from that area.

So is it still a love and hate relationship? The answer isn’t that straight forward. The camera is ridiculously good and if I hadn’t taken the shots myself I would have guessed they were taken with a DSLR and that’s because the NEX-7 is basically a DSLR in a compact body. Where my view on the camera hasn’t changed is with the size. It’s not a compact camera. Yes, it is more compact than a DSLR that’s for sure but it doesn’t compete with Point & Shoots in the same way the Panasonic GX1 or Leica X2 do. The NEX-7 competes against the bigger guys and if you’re looking for DSLR quality but want something in a much smaller package than this is the camera to get. Just don’t expect it to fit in your pocket. The price of the camera with the kit lens is actually pretty good in Kuwait. The local dealer is selling it for KD449 which is not far off from Amazon who are selling it for KD418 without tax and shipping. The Zeiss lens on the other hand which is the must have lens for this camera sadly costs KD515. It’s still not available on Amazon yet although they have a pre-order price of around KD340 without tax and shipping. Even at the Amazon price it’s not easy to dish out a price of a camera on a lens. The most expensive lens I’ve personally purchased is the Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 for KD200 and that was second hand and it’s really a huge lens with lots of glass. KD340 for a prime lens? Not sure I’d have the courage to pay that.

If you’re interested in checking the camera out Sony have it on display at their Avenues branch although I picked up the review unit from their new branch at Tilal Complex. The next two cameras I’m trying to get my hands on are the Sony RX100 as well as the Olympus OM-D.

I had to pass by and get my government health insurance renewed today and so I passed by the government’s health insurance center located behind Mubarak Hospital to get the paper work done. Once I walked in I was shocked at how many people were there all waiting in long lines. I’ve experience similar lines before for car registration and car ownership transfer but wasn’t expecting it today at this place which up until a few hours earlier I hadn’t heard of it before. I showed a security guard my papers and he told me I had to go to the top floor which I figured would have less people but turned out it was also packed.

But…

There were around 5 or 6 different windows each had a long line and then one window with KNET written on top that was empty. Under the word KNET was a small notice saying that there was an extra charge of KD4 for KNET transactions. I went to that window, handed my paperwork, paid the extra KD4 fee and walked out with all my paperwork completed in less than 5 minutes! Not only that but the guy asked me for photos which I forgot to bring so he took my civil ID card, scanned the photo from it and used it for my medical insurance card.

EVERY government related task in Kuwait should have a VIP line like this!

Back in December I posted about the Sulaibikhat beach cleanup which was done by K’s PATH in which they manually collected approximately 2 tonnes of waste in 4 hours. Along with that post I posted a shot of the beach before the cleanup and one after. Well they now have another shot of the same beach taken 6 months after the cleanup and as you will see below, the mangrove stretch, which was layered with plastic and styrofoam waste is now supporting new life.

Our 65th beach clean-up today at Sulaibikhat beach 1 (dubbed by volunteers as Kuwait’s ‘mangrove’ beach) proved to be a momentous day for K’S PATH and Al Yaal’s year-old sustained marine conservation program. Despite the rising summer heat, a fresh stretch of new vegetation was spotted flourishing along the mangroves today. This stretch was cleared of over 2000 kgs waste, mostly styrofoam and plastic, in December 2011 by 25 volunteers and students of AIS in 4 hours. Ever since, our team worked tirelessly to clear smaller waste and debris from top soil. Spring 2012 saw the first signs of growth – green saplings sprouting from soil which was, presumably for years, layered by a blanket of waste unable to support life. A big thank you to all volunteers who have worked relentlessly to protect this stretch of Sulaibikhat since the launch of the program in April 2011! We have much work yet to do, both in clearing waste from lower layers of soil and beneath mangrove branches. [FaceBook]

Two weeks ago I posted a letter from Aramex Shop and Ship saying that due to customs regulations they will be charging 5% customs fee on all shipments not including a KD1 handling charge and a KD1 government stamp. From what I understood this was going to apply to all shipping companies but today I received a package via DHL Borderlinx and to my surprise there was no charge. According to the DHL employee they’re not charging 5% customs on shipments. But does that make DHL cheaper? I’m not sure.

The problem (the only problem actually) with DHL’s Borderlinx is they charge based on volumetric weight. What this means is if a small box weighs 1KG and a large box weighs 1KG, the large box is going to be more expensive than the small box even though they’re the same weight. In my case my package weighed around 2KG but the volumetric weight was around 5.35KG. If I had shipped it with Aramex they would have charged me for the 2KG but with DHL I had to pay more than double the actual weight. On the other hand unlike Aramex, with DHL you don’t pay the 8% New York State tax and you also don’t pay the 5% Kuwait customs tax so which comes out a better deal?

Item cost: $187 (KD51)
Actual Weight: 2.2KG
Volumetric Weight: 5.35KG

Aramex Shop and Ship
8% NY tax: $15 (KD4.1)
Shipping cost to Kuwait: KD13.75
Kuwait customs: KD6*
Approx time from US to Kuwait: 8 days**
Total shipping cost = KD23.85

DHL Borderlinx
No NY Tax
Shipping cost to Kuwait: $110.60 (KD30.8)
No Kuwait Customs
Time from US to Kuwait: 4 days
Total shipping cost = KD30.8

So even with the new 5% customs fee Aramex is charging and even with the NY State tax they still somehow end up cheaper than DHL. This mostly has to do with the fact that DHL charges on volumetric weight. If they charged on actual weight than they’d be considerably cheaper. On the other hand DHL is practically twice as fast as Aramex so that alone could be worth the extra cost for many people.

My conclusion
Large (not necessarily heavy) packages ship to Aramex
Small or regular sized packages ship to DHL

So basically I’m still going to be flip flopping between the two companies for now.

*Calculated using their customs calculator
**Based on a different shipment just received from Aramex

I’m currently in the process of reviewing the Sony NEX-7 camera so I was in Souk Mubarkia over the weekend taking some photos when I found the Mubarak Kiosk open and decided to check it out.

The function of the kiosk changed a lot over the years, originally in 1934 the kiosk was the first independent legal court in Kuwait. Later it was rented and used as a pharmacy an then as a post office run by the British. At the end of the 1950s the kiosk was used as a public library and 60s forward the top floor was used as a photography studio while the ground floor was turned into a samboosa shop. In 2010 the National Council for Culture Arts and Letters took over the kiosk and renovated it from ground up and turned it into a museum.

The museum is pretty small but that doesn’t really matter. The fact that the kiosk was renovated and turned into a historical site is what’s important and they really need to continue renovating more and more old buildings. It’s not worth driving all the way to Souk Mubarkia just to visit this museum but if you’re in the area it’s interesting to see. They have an iPad on the top floor in the back corner that has a photo gallery of old pictures of Kuwait as well as pictures of the kiosk from the outside and inside before and during renovation. I thought that was very interesting and even tried emailing the photos to myself using their iPad but failed (didn’t have access to the home button).

If you want to pass by here are their opening hours:

Summer Visiting Hours
Saturday to Friday
9AM to 12PM – 4:30PM to 8:30PM
Saturdays and Fridays they’re closed in the morning
Sunday they’re closed in the evening

Winter Visiting Hours
Saturday to Friday
9AM to 12PM – 4PM to 8PM

Ramadan Visiting Hours
Saturday to Friday
9AM to 12PM – 8:30PM to 11PM
(First days of Eid they’re closed)

Update: Below is a picture of the kiosk taken by John Newton back in 2009. I can’t believe how much the whole area has changed.

Spotted the above sign on the Gulf Road seaside path. I guess they’re either keeping their eye out for car thieves or more serious criminals like illegal barbecuers.

Had lunch today at OFK and tried their new no-frills burger called The Emperor. It comes with a thick 8oz beef patty, cheddar cheese, roasted onions and a soft milk bun. No ketchup, no mustard and no special sauce, just a pure real burger. The verdict? Right now I think it’s the best burger in Kuwait.