Search: “kuwait”

The picture above is of the US military preparing for the 50/20 parade. Someone told me the military parade will take place on the Gulf Road but according to the PDF I downloaded from the Kuwait Fest website, the only military parade that takes place is going to be in Al-Subiya. Does anyone know if there will be one on the Gulf Road? [Link]

My brother has a thing for taking pictures of old and broken down buildings and I’ve posted the last two of his photo-sets on the blog before (here and here). He recently went and shot another building and uploaded a new photo-set on his flickr account. One picture grabbed my attention since it had an old poster advertising a wrestling event. I told him to send me a close up of that poster which he did and which you can see above and below. The poster was on a building that’s soon to be demolished on Fahad Al Salem street.

I don’t know how old the poster is since there isn’t any date on it, my brother thinks it’s the 80s but my rough guess based on a bit of online research would put this sometime in the early 60s. I think it’s very cool and someone needs to preserve stuff like this. Maybe the part of the wall that has these posters can be broken off or maybe just these pictures are enough?

Here is the link to the full set of pictures my brother took [Link]

Update: A reader was able to calculate what year the poster is from based on the day, date and my rough estimation. The best guess to when this poster dates back to is now 1965.

This is the strangest thing I’ve ever seen for sale on Q8Car, it’s a bus that has been converted into a cafe with a small kitchen and seating area. Pretty weird, I wonder where this used to be parked before? Check out the inside and more [Here]

Bayt Lothan have an event that started a couple of days back and will last every night up until the 23rd. The event showcases craftsmen working like they used to in the past and then at night they have traditional live music hosted by a variety of famous Kuwaiti artist like Basem al Radhan and Ferqat el Television amongst others.

Date: February 19th to February 23rd
Time: 9am to 1pm and 5pm to 9pm
Location: Bayt Lothan

Here is the flier for the event [Link]
Do not miss this!

Update: Here is the music schedule for the next few days
Monday – Laylat Haban
Tuesday – Bassem alRadhan,
Wednesday – Hamad Bin Hussein
They’re playing from 7pm to 9pm

Whoever started this car window sticker trend in Kuwait is a genius. I think I first started noticing them at Marina Mall but now other malls in Kuwait are using it and even universities. Basically how it works is if you park in a place you shouldn’t park (handicap spot, over the curb, black and yellow etc..) you get a sticker stuck on your window telling you not to do it again. Doesn’t sound too dramatic but you can’t really just peel those stickers off your car since they tear apart and look horrible. Because it’s actually pretty difficult to get removed is why this is so smart.

Many people would rather get a ticket than get a sticker which is why I think cops should start using these. Anyone caught speeding? Give them a ticket AND stick this on their window. Car illegally parked? Give them a ticket AND stick this on their window. I think it would work.

Ibrahim Al-hulail is a Kuwaiti student who’s currently studying in Japan and I previously posted a video of his in which he had some Japanese students say a Kuwaiti phrase. Well this time he made a new video to share with my readers dedicated to Kuwait from his Japense friends to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the independence of Kuwait and the 20th anniversary of the liberation of Kuwait. In the video his Japanese friends sing the popular song Watani Habibi. [YouTube]

Thanks Ibrahim

The Al Salasil bookstore is now open at The Avenues. I was expecting the bookstore to be huge since according to their teaser it was going to be the biggest bookstore in Kuwait but from what I saw it didn’t look like it. I guess I was expecting us to finally get a bookstore as big as Kinokuniya in Dubai. Anyway you can pass by and check it out yourself, they’re located in phase 2 of The Avenues right next to Soccer Scene.

Update: Danderma just posted a review with pictures [Here]
Update2: 965 Malls have some more pictures as well [Here]

I know I haven’t mentioned anything about the Benihana case recently and thats not because they’ve dropped the case against me but because I’m trying to keep a bit of normality on the blog. Today though blogs around the world have taken my original Benihana review and reposted it on their blogs while twitter also lit up with supporters tweeting against Benihana’s actions. So, I decided to post a status update on the situation so far.

Yes, Benihana are still suing me

If you don’t know what all this is about here is a quick summary. Last December I passed by Benihana for dinner and then the same night I posted about my experience which wasn’t that great. The next day a person claiming to be the GM of Benihana commented on my post threatening to sue me for my review. A month later I got served with a court order, Benihana was suing me for posting a not so positive review.

After getting the court order and talking to my lawyer, I decided to share with everyone what was happening to me. Originally I had thought this lawsuit was just going to affect me but I quickly realized this lawsuit was bigger than me since the outcome of this case would affect all the bloggers in the region. The amount of support I started receiving from people was unimaginable. Bloggers and tweeters all around the world posted what they thought about this lawsuit and the media quickly picked up on it.

As of today the case still hasn’t been dropped by Benihana and I am still being sued by them. According to the court order they’re suing me for a yet undisclosed amount that will be over $18,000. I am not sure why they want my money and I really think this lawsuit is unfair. Being sued for a review that wasn’t even that negative is just ridiculous.

My court date is still scheduled for March 8th. Below are links to my previous Benihana posts. Thank you once again everyone for your support.

My Benihana Experience
I’m being sued by Benihana
Media coverage on Benihana post

On the occasion of Kuwait’s 50th National Day as well as the 20th anniversary of Kuwait’s liberation and the 5th anniversary of HH The Amir of Kuwait “Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah, Al-Sayer will be attempting to break the Guinness World Records by releasing 5000 doves into the sky.

Date: February 24th, 2011
Location: Marina Crescent
Time: 3:30pm to 6:00pm

For more information visit their Facebook page [Here] and [Here]

The other day @nibaq posted a 360 panorama of a graveyard in Kuwait and I found out he did it with an iPhone app called 360 Panorama. So I downloaded it and tried it out and found it incredibly easy to use. I just did a 360 interactive panorama of Fahad al Salem street which you can see by clicking [Here]

I think I will be doing various panoramas of places and events around Kuwait when I can and post them here since its so easy to do. The image above is NOT the 360 panorama, it’s just the flattened out panorama.

I just saw a post on Confashions about an art auction that was held in the still under construction Phase III of the Avenues. The place looks great and the artwork looked amazing but sadly the public exhibition of the work was on February 8th and the auction was last night. Luckily Confashions took some pictures which you can check [Here]

I’ve updated the navigation bar on top and added two new sections, Events and Activities. The events page basically will contain things to do in Kuwait but things that are time sensitive like exhibitions, movie screenings etc.. Activities on the other hand will include things to do in Kuwait through out the year like scuba diving, karting etc..

Whatever gets posted under these two sections will continue to get posted on the main page as well but since items move down and off the main page pretty quickly, these two links will make it easier to find things.

Awhile back my MacBook was starting to feel sluggish and I was really tempted to buy a newer model but since I was just using the laptop to get online from the couch or for when I travel, I didn’t think it was worth buying a new laptop. Instead, I decided to upgrade my MacBook from a 2.5inch 5400rpm 250GB hard drive to a 64GB SSD.

What is SSD? SSD stands for solid-state drive and to keep it simple its just a hard drive with no moving parts and is around 5 times faster than regular notebook hard drives. I ordered the ADATA 64GB drive from Amazon since based on my research I found it had the best bang for the buck. I also looked at two other brands before deciding on ADATA which were OCZ Technology and Crucial Technology, both of which have extremely fast performance drives but at a slightly more expensive cost.

I could easily review the drive in just 7 words: “It makes all other computers feel slow”. It cut down the boot time of my MacBook to less than half and it also sped up the launch time of all the applications. For example it now takes 1 second to launch Photoshop while other applications like Safari and Microsoft Word launch practically instantly. No waiting or spinning colored wheel just click and they’re open. The SSD drive not only brought new life to my aging MacBook but for day to day use it made it feel a lot faster than all my other computers including my already very fast iMac and Mac Pro.

I got the 64GB SSD and not something larger because the prices became tooooo expensive with the larger drives. For example a 256GB SSD would cost you around $500 which is nearly half the price of a brand new MacBook! The 64GB drive on the other hand cost me around KD35 with shipping to Kuwait and after installing the OS and ALL my software I still had 40GB of free space left. That’s more than I need since I just use my MacBook to surf the web, edit some pictures and for traveling. If you’re planning on storing media like your photo or music library than I highly doubt 64GB would be enough.

I would definitely recommend everyone pick up an SSD drive if you can, it really makes a HUGE difference. But, if you need a large drive and are not in a rush, the longer you wait the cheaper the prices will get. Here is the Amazon link to the hard drive I got [Link]

After dropping off the Vespa over the weekend I picked up the Italian made Piaggio MP3 and looking at the picture you will straight away notice that this bike is in fact a trike since it has two wheels in the front and one in the back. It’s a strange and futuristic looking scooter that to me could have been perfect if it wasn’t for two annoyances which I will discuss later.

The MP3 has a few features I liked which the Vespa didn’t, first of all it shows me the outside temperature on the digital display. This was actually important the past few days since I wanted to know how much I was freezing my ass off. Secondly it had a large front windscreen which helped block the wind from my upper body which played a crucial role in keeping me warm during the cold mornings. Finally and most importantly it had three wheels! The three wheels were a bit strange to get used to at first but they quickly grew on me. They offer better grip on the road specially when it’s wet and the MP3 felt a lot more stable at high speeds and when running over potholes. It also brakes a lot better than a regular two wheeled bike. In one incident I was riding in the left lane on the Gulf Road when the car in front of me decided to slam the brakes and make an illegal u-turn (seriously wtf?!) I quickly slammed the brakes and swerved into the middle lane and managed to avoid him. Later I realized if I was on a two wheeled bike I would very probably have slid the bike doing that. The scooter can also hit highways speeds easily so you can take this onto the ring roads and not worry about being too slow. As you can see in the video above it also has a lot of storage space.

Now that I got all the good stuff out of the way here are the negatives. There are three issues I found, 2 being major. The first minor problem is the fact that the scooter isn’t as nimble as the Vespa in parked traffic. The MP3 is a heavy scooter and a big one so weaving around parked cars in traffic is a lot more difficult. But that’s a minor issue. The two major issues I have with the MP3 relate to comfort. I found the MP3’s seat uncomfortable. I’m 6’1 and so I found the seat a bit low for my height and it also felt like it was tilted forward. The Vespa on the other hand was extremely comfortable and made me want to spend more time on the bike while the seat on the MP3 was giving me a wedgie the whole time. The second comfort related problem I faced was with the foot rest. The right footrest of the MP3 had a foot brake that activates all three brakes of the bike at once. I didn’t feel comfortable using the foot pedal so I had to place my big feet behind it which resulted in very little and cramped leg room.

So although I was really impressed with the MP3, the two comfort issues were a major let down specially since this is a scooter I would easily have considered for long trips. The Piaggio MP3 I rode was a 400cc and costs around KD2,800. They have a 250cc version for cheaper as well. If you’re interested here is the link to the Bike World website [Link]

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Note: If you are a company and have an interesting product you want me to review (bikes, cars, gadgets, whatever) then email me. Reviews are for free. I get content to post while you get publicity, here is the [Contact Form]. I must be allowed to post a positive or negative review!

As part of the National Day celebrations there will be an illusion show held at the ice skating rink. The show is called Abracadabra and according to the poster it’s the first illusion show to ever be held in Kuwait and it’s coming all the way from Las Vegas. There will be three magicians performing and they are Jay Mattioli who was a finalist on America’s Got Talent show, Peter Marvey a world champion illusionist and Vitor Voitko, the worlds greatest illusionist.

Date: February 22nd to February 24th
Time: 4:30pm to 6:00pm and 7:30pm to 9:00pm
Location: Ice Skating Rink, Kuwait City

For more information on tickets and the magicians visit the event website by following this [Link]