Search: “kuwait”

Can we have normal looking trees in Kuwait? Please.

360Dewan posted this messed up video that was shot here in Kuwait of a pickup truck dragging a car behind it. When I first watched the video I thought the car in the back was pushing the truck but then I realized the car in the back had the brakes held down most of the time. By the end of the video it turns out the pickup truck somehow crashed into the car (probably reversed into it) and then tried escaping but the car got attached to the truck and was being dragged alone. In the end a woman comes out of the car screaming asking people to help her out. [YouTube]

via 360Dewan

I passed by 360 today and this is what I thought:

The Good
– The interior of the mall is probably the nicest in Kuwait. Looks very fancy with a mixture of wood, marble and carpet.
– Finally there is a proper Nike and Puma store
– Geant Hypermarket is huge
– Toys R Us!
– A lot of new brands launching at the 360
– Food court looks pretty

The Bad
– I would say only 20-30% of the shops and restaurants are open, everything else is still closed
– I was expecting a larger Toys R Us
– I compared one item at Geant which turned out to be more expensive than Carrefour. The WD HD TV player costs KD35 at Geant and KD31 at Carrefour. This of course isn’t an accurate assessment but it still gave me the impression that Carrefour is cheaper.

The Ugly
– Parking or should I say the complete lack of any parking. I was there during the day, the mall wasn’t packed and I couldn’t find parking. Its bad enough the parking isn’t shaded but the fact that there wasn’t enough parking during the middle of the week at 1PM is just ridiculous. I had to park illegally like a lot of people and I was lucky I even found an illegal spot. A friend passed by last night and told me he had to wait in a car jam for 20 minutes around a kilometer away from the mall and in the end he left because the line into 360 wasn’t moving.
– There were nice looking fountains outside but when I got closer they stank of sewage and were murky green and dirty.

A friend sent me this link to a post from a classifieds website which I thought was too funny:

From: [email protected]
Date: Friday, May 15, 2009
Category: Seeking Bride
Region: Kuwait City (Rabiya Near Farwaniy)
Description: Dear indian girls,

Any indian slim under 25 years of age girl available only on friday from 3:00 to 7:00 evening to be my wife in this time only i am ready to pay 25KD per hour for his services in this time being my wife.

Only serious indian girls please send their pics to my email address along with contact numbers and place of residence. I have my own house here in Rabiya.

regards,
George

[Source]

Around two months back I got diagnosed with Acid Reflux. The doctor gave me a months supply of some purple pills called Nexium which really helped me out a lot. But, I didn’t want to live on pills for the rest of my life so I decided to eat healthier and not take any pills. I haven’t had McDonalds, Hardees, Burger King or KFC for 2 months now, the longest ever. I’ve had burgers at Slider Station maybe twice in this period and once at Burger Hub (not a good experience at all). I haven’t really experienced any major acid reflux since except for this one occasion when I over ate at Caesers but that was sooo worth it.

Anyway one thing a ton of people online recommended I try for my acid reflux is organic apple cider vinegar. Supposedly a table spoon or two mixed with water can fix my acid reflux and a ton of other health issues. I didn’t believe it but figured I would try it since a bottle of organic apple vinegar at Sultan cost only KD1.800. Well I’ve been using it for a while now and it actually works. Now supposedly you are supposed to take it every morning and every evening but honestly it tastes like crap. I only have it if I feel a bit uncomfortable and then I fill up a table spoon of vinegar with a bit of water and drink it quickly like a shot. I actually tried drinking a shot of vinegar without water but it was a killer.

Surprisingly this does work for me. One drink right after dinner and I don’t have any kind of discomfort when I go to sleep. I figured I would share this easy remedy since it worked for me. I won’t link to any one article regarding this but if you just do a search in google for the phrase acid reflux organic apple cider vinegar you should find a TON of information.

Update: Actually here is one link with some info. [Link]

The IMAX theater at 360 Mall will be opening on July 5th and it will be playing Transformers 2. I tried to purchase tickets from the KNCC website but it seems you can’t at the moment. [Link]

via 360Dewan

It seems some old pictures I scanned of my mum back when she was a flight attendant with Kuwait Airways in the 70s are being forwarded around by email as Kuwait Airways in the 70s with no credit to their original source (me!). Sucks but hey that’s the Internet. Here is the link to my original post with more information and pictures. [Link]

I just got an email from Q80 Boy telling me that 360 Mall will be opening this Thursday. Should be interesting, here is a link to their website. [Link]

Update: The stores that will most likely be open on Thursday are Geant, Toys R Us, Lush, Nike, Intersport, Marks & Spencer, A Pea in the Pod, Bebe and a handful of others. (Thanks AndyQ8)

Update2: 360 Mall just contacted me, they are no longer opening tomorrow it’s changed to the 5th of July.

Update2: Kuwait Black Market has pictures of the inside of the mall which you can check [Here]

Just found this picture of an NBK camel bank but it must be super old as in 1970s or very early 80s old since the camel bank I had in the 80s looked different than this. I don’t think NBK had a logo when this camel bank was released since there isn’t even a logo on it.

Here is a link to the original photo plus some other pictures of Kuwait from the 80s like the one below of Salwa in 1984 after a rain shower all taken by a former KES teacher. [Link]

I have two issues with gas stations in Kuwait. First is that there are only five stations (at least it feels that way) and the second is that they lack mini-marts. Maybe sometime in the future these issues will get fixed but for now it seems the priority was to face lift the oil change section.

The picture above is of the new Khidma oil change at the Kortaba station. Looks pretty but I would think if they were going to face lift something it would be the actual gas station and not the small oil change area.

[source]

I found a video online of photos of Kuwait taken right after the Gulf War so I emailed the owner of the video asking him if he could send me the pictures to post and he did. This is the description that was attached to the video:

We were sent to Kuwait in May 1991 to rebuild the Kuwait International Hotel for an upcoming conference. The project was canceled soon after we got to Kuwait due to security concerns. Kuwait City at this time, just a few months after the first gulf war, was in shambles. Almost nothing worked and there were vast amounts of arms still lying around. The fires were still going strong. So much so that flying into Kuwait was like entering an outer circle of hell.

All 74 photos below are credited to B. Dietrich, AIA

I ordered the Pocket Retro Game Emulator from ThinkGeek 10 days ago after reading about it on a few websites. Its a small portable game system that comes with built in emulators that would play games from the Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, NeoGeo and a few other systems. Since I am a huge fan of retro gaming and since it would be a great addition to my collection, I ordered the device for $99.

The device has a built in 4GB drive so I quickly copied all my favorite games onto it and realized I still had nearly 4GB free so I copied ALL my Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo games onto it which amount to around 2000 games. I also copied a few NeoGeo games including SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos.

The device played everything I threw at it even SVC Chaos which was a huge shock. Not only that but the device also came with the appropriate cables to connect it to my TV so I could play the games there if I wanted to. Some SNES games weren’t running that perfectly for example NBA Jam was running slightly faster than it should and the sound in Donkey Kong Country was a bit strange but the device plays NHL ’94 perfectly which alone would make the game system worth $99. The build quality isn’t that great, it feels cheap and its pretty light. I am not sure how much abuse it would take but I doubt its as durable as a Nintendo DS or PSP.

Now one thing that kinda pissed me off is the fact that ThinkGeek is marketing this device with the name “Pocket Retro Game Emulator”. In reality the system turned out to be called the Dingoo Digital A320. A quick search on eBay for the Dingoo would result in a ton of results with the device priced at around $75. So if you want to buy one that’s where I would look. Will post a more thorough review at a later date.

Note: The device also plays movies and music. Also has a built in FM tuner and an eBook reader. The battery is built in and lasts over 5 hours. In case 4GB isn’t enough the device takes SD cards.

I’ve posted a ton of times about Animal Friends and how they’re doing a fantastic job rescuing all these animals in Kuwait. The last time I posted about them was when they rescued the bear and it seems with that rescue they’ve gone and restructured and created a new organization. Animal Friends is now a subsidiary of Kuwait Society for the Protection of Animals and Their Habitat or in short, K’S PATH.

Animal Friends have been doing a lot more than they had originally set out to do which was rescuing dogs and cats so they’ve decided to clarify their programs and goals. Animal Friends League of Kuwait will continue as normal, rescuing animals, providing shelter, and making adoptions. All other issues, like farm animals, exotic animals, marine life and more will be handled by K’S PATH.

The video above is their introductory video of their previous activities. They’ve also set up a new website at kspath.org. They are still a non-profit organization that runs on donations so please help them out by clicking [Here]

Ahmad Al-Bader, the owner of Burger Hub and Prime & Toast will be launching a new restaurant at the Avenues this summer called 86 Bistro. Twice a week he will be at the restaurant himself cooking at the Chef’s Table while interacting with the special diners. To promote the Chef’s Table and 86 Bistro, Ahmad will be releasing a cooking video every week, the first one being the video linked here. [YouTube]

Two days ago during the brief freak storm we had, the wooden paneling covering up the ESPRIT store at Avenues got blown away. A reader was there and took pictures which you can see above and below. The ESPRIT store is the one that burned down a few months back.

Thanks Sp4rkster