Search: “kuwait”

If you were wondering why you have been unable to access the internet, its due to the SMW4 (South East Asia-Middle East-West Europe 4) SEG-4 link between Alexandria and Marseille has being cut (not good). Calls to the helpdesk won’t resolve much, as this is something beyond the repair of our local ISPs (it is affecting the whole region).

Status:
January 30th – 2.30pm : There is no Estimated Time of Repair.
January 30th – 10:00pm:  A cable-ship has been dispatched from Italy; repair may take up to two weeks.

More about the SMW4 Link: Wikipedia / Official Website

-Posted by K
(Psst M.O.C .. It might be time to re-evaluate our backbone links.)

Yesterday during my lunch break I passed by the Bosch Power Tools dealer in Shuwaikh to buy a drill. I originally wanted to get the 14.4v cordless drill but ended up going with the 12v because it looked and felt more balanced in my hands. The manager was there which was cool because he was able to give me a good deal on the drill and some drill bits.

While browsing the store I found out they were also the dealers for Dremel. I had only seen Dremel tools at Ace Hardware before so I had assumed Ace was the dealer but turns out that wasn’t the case.

The prices of the products at the dealer here in Kuwait are either cheaper or slightly more expensive then Amazon. I got the Bosch 12v drill (Swiss made not Malaysia) for KD42 while the same drill on Amazon is being sold for KD37 without shipping. The Dremel tool I was interested in sells for KD16 in Kuwait but for KD17 on Amazon without shipping.

Finding the place is easy, if you take the road where City Center, KFH and Mercedes dealer is in Shuwaikh, just take the right hand turn after the KFH branch and head straight down. You should find the Bosch Service Center (for cars) on your left, thats where the Power Tools store is also located.

I think l’Entrecote in Fanar have the loudest waitresses ever. I think the reason for this problem is they have too many waitresses for the amount of people that go to the place. Because the place is quiet and there are a lot of waitresses with little to do all you hear is yip yapping non stop. From the minute you go into the place you hear them talking out loudly up until you leave. The last time I was there I actually asked them if they could keep their voice down but yesterday I just ignored them and decided never to go back. I couldn’t even get a hold of a waitress when I needed one because they were all gathered in the back talking.

Today me and some friends including Stallion headed to Abdally with our 4×4’s to do some offroading. It took us over an hour of driving but when we finally got there it was worth the trip. I took a lot of pictures which you can check out by clicking on continue below (yes thats a Camry stuck in the sand). I also have a video of me doing a hill climb in my Wrangler which I uploaded onto YouTube. You can watch that by clicking [Here]

I think I just found the funkiest designed clothing store in Kuwait and sadly its only for woman. I was leaving Platform and on my way out back to the main road when I saw this extremely trendy looking storefront right across the street from the BMW showroom. I didn’t know what it was and I wasn’t sure if it was open or not so I started driving really slow and then I noticed some girls walked into the place. I couldn’t tell what the place was because the windows were sand blasted so I parked my car and hoped for the best. As long as it wasn’t a lingerie store or someones house I figured I would be ok.

I opened the door and walked in and to my surprise it was a clothing store and it looked really trendy. The clothing racks were lined up on the side of the store and there were two pinball machines right in the center and in the rear there was a huge pink seating area. I walked around a bit and then left and will definitely go back with Nataly. The place is called 4 and it wouldn’t look out of place in Soho.

Note: Notice how I have 3 posts today on 3 different new stores?

Platform the hardware store has opened up and I just saw the picture above (taken by MeHRAJA) and its made me want to pass by right after work. I love hardware stores and I need a cordless drill anyways so I can’t wait to check it out. Tip for the woman readers, if you can’t figure out what to get a guy for valentines there are two things which you can never go wrong with, radio controlled cars and power tools. Here is a link to Platform’s website with a map of their location and some more info. [Link]

Thanks MeHRAJA

Could someone please bring back my three favorite franchises to Kuwait. A&W originally opened up in the 80’s and then shut down only to open up again in the 90’s and to be shut down once more. Arby’s opened up in the late 80’s and then shutdown once the owner got the Burger King Franchise. Wendy’s opened up in the early 90’s to be shutdown for some unknown reason.

With Kuwait being the 8th fattest country in the world you would think that every imaginable franchise would fight for the opportunity to open here. How come my three favorite franchises no longer exist in Kuwait?

I saw the BeoSound 6 MP3 player at the B&O showroom in Fanar yesterday and it looked pretty slick until I picked it up and realized how light it was. I was expecting the BeoSound 6 to be a bit heavy but instead it was really light which made it feel flimsy and cheap. The player costs KD157 after discount so flimsy and cheap are two things you don’t want describing it. It costs KD164 on Amazon which makes it cheaper in Kuwait but I would still get an iPod.

Tagine is the new Moroccan restaurant that opened up at The Palms. I haven’t gone to it yet but after reading Desert Girl’s review I am not as excited to try it out. [Link]

Today’s newspapers had a story about a innocent KTV2 reporter getting beatup by a gang of Harley Davidson Bikers. While the storyline was far more interesting then most of KTV2’s current content; I found it to be a bit unbelievable (and biased). Which leads us to ask why would a group of Bikers pull the guy aside and beat him up? (other than watching Wild Hogs a few too many times).

Doing the job that the newspapers should have done .. We decided to speak to the Safety Officer of H.O.G-Kuwait (Harley-Davidson Organization Group), Khalid Abu Jabieen.

The other side of the story (as described by Khalid and 30 odd members of H.O.G), Is that the KTV2 reporter was invited to film them on their weekly drive, and do a story about bikers in Kuwait. The reporter, who showed up by himself, decided to take up the various jobs of full TV crew (cameraman, Driver, Producer) on his own. Between juggling driving the car and recording video, he managed to cause several traffic jams and piss off a few of the drivers and bikers on the road. One thing led to another and one of the drivers (not a member of H.O.G) pulled him over, which then led to a fight. The Harley Davidson Bikers, trying to recover whats left of a ruined day, broke up the fight and continued on their way.

Link to original DailyStar article [Link]
Link to Harley Davidson in Kuwait [Link]
Picture from H.O.G Kuwait Chapter [Link]

-Posted by K

I’ve had the car for a day now and so far its been surprising. Before I picked up the car I thought the thing I would like the most in the car would be the interior. I had checked the CTS website and I was really looking forward to the “Ambient Interior Lighting”. A lot of cars have it but the CTS has a unique version that uses LED’s that go along the dash from one end to the other. But, I quickly found out the version of the car I was reviewing didn’t have the ambient lighting, I don’t know if its not available as an option in Kuwait or if it just wasn’t an option in my car but I wasn’t able to experience it.

With one of the things I was looking forward to not available I had to find something else to take my interest and I quickly found it as soon as I hit the 5th Ring Road. The CTS has over 300hp and as soon as I slammed on the gas the engine let out a brutal grunt and took off. At high RPM’s the engine gets really loud and aggressive which is surprising because the car gives a civilized impression. Another thing that surprised me was the “Driver Shift Control” which allows me to manually change gears. Unlike most of the ones I have tried before the Cadillac’s transmission was pretty fast and responsive. I’ve been recently trying to cut down on my speeding and the CTS wasn’t helping.

Everything isn’t perfect and I do have my problems with the car. For one thing I found the audio and navigation system sluggish. Firstly the car I am driving only has the European map installed. I don’t know if a local map isn’t offered yet but without one the navigation system is useless. Going from menu to menu and raising and lowering the volume is also a hit and miss affair. Sometimes the system doesn’t respond to my commands or responds after a few seconds delay. After experiencing this issue a number of times I am convinced its a software issue and the system problem needs an update or a reboot. Another thing that I didn’t like was the location of the fire extinguisher, its located in the middle of the passenger side foot area. Nat didn’t know if she should put her feet on top of the extinguisher or stretch them out over it but it was really annoying and uncomfortable.

Those were the only negatives I could find in the car although I would also have liked a reverse cam since its become like a standard but other then that the car is fully loaded. There is a USB socket where you can plug in the iPod and the navigation system turns into a TV although I couldn’t catch any channels but thats a good thing since KTV sucks. The sunroof is amazing because the whole roof is a large glass panel which really brightens up the interior.

I have the car till tomorrow evening so I will still be driving it some more. The price of the car if anyone is interested is KD13,000 with the all wheel drive version costing slightly more.

I was flipping through a book on the history of Kuwait called “The voice of the Oud” when I found a photo of a kid who looked exactly like me. The book is full of amazing old photos of Kuwait and here I was in one of the pictures. I checked the date of the photo and it was 1983 and taken in Mubarakieh outside the carpet souk where I used to tag a long with my dad every Friday morning.

I scanned the photo and emailed it to my mum just to be sure that the picture was of me when i was a kid and she called me to confirm that it was. I think its pretty cool especially since the book has a ton of cool shots of old Kuwait. The girl in the picture was my neighbor who is no longer in Kuwait and I am also no longer chubby although I am still very white.

Over a year ago I posted “Elect me as mayor of Salmiya” because I was pissed at how the old shopping street in Salmiya was getting torn a part bit by bit and all my childhood memories were disappearing with it. Well since then things haven’t changed, I wasn’t elected as mayor and Salmiya is still losing its history.

The building that has Hardees, Tikka, KFC, Waleed Toys, Alamiah and The Family Bookshop is going to be demolished soon. Already Hardees, Tikka, KFC and Baskin Robbins have vacated the building and I am sure the rest will follow soon. What I heard is that whole block with the land behind it and to its sides plus the old souk in front of Marina Mall (Kaysariyah) will be demolished and turned into one giant super mall, as if we don’t have enough of those already.

I got my first computer, the Sakhr MSX2 from Alamiah, I had my first roast beef sandwich from that Hardees and I bought all my Peter and Jane books from The Family Bookshop. This really sucks.

The logo on the left is for a Kuwaiti student political group that was elected to run the National Union of Kuwaiti Students [Link]. The logo on the right is for the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. [Link]

Of course it could be just a big coincidence..

Thanks S A

The Emir Sheikh Jabir passed away two years ago on this day and a reader emailed me suggesting I share this song with everyone. The song is called “The prince of our hearts” and here is some information on it by its creators:

This song is dedicated to the late Prince Jabber. Also to Prince Saad, Prince Sabah, and Prince Nawaf. A mix of Arabic,R&B and Rap.

Although, Prince Jaber passed away on January 15 2006 “May He Rest in Peace”, he still remains firm in the hearts of Kuwaitis, arabs, and foreigners. This song was written, produced,and was sang by Luqman Sherriff A.K.A MiracaLz, Hany Baker A.K.A The_Kuwaiti_Don, and Salman A.K.A Morice. Combining R&B, Smooth Rap, and a new style of Arabic R&B.

I didn’t like the song but I don’t listen to this style of music anyway, you can download the mp3 and watch the video [Here]

The video embedded in the post above is a different song by Ahmad Al-Hajri which I just found on YouTube.

Thanks Zaid