Search: “kuwait”

I arrived to Lebanon I think around 1:30PM Lebanon time, left the airport and came straight to the hotel where I just lazed it out. Today is the only day where I can relax and do nothing so I am taking advantage of it. In a bit my brother is coming to pick me up and I will probably go have a drink and a bite to eat with him somewhere.

My rooms view is pretty sweet, I got the sea view this time around which is great. One thing I forgot to pack is a swimsuit, the hotel here has a roof top pool which overlooks Beirut, its an incredible view which makes swimming very tempting. Oh yeah, the weather here is like Kuwait… winter is over.

Best thing about this hotel is the location, its near the American University of Beirut which means there are a lot of things to do here when I have free time. By a lot of things I mostly mean food.

The Forbes list is out and its interesting to see Kuwait and Lebanon both on the list although to be honest I was expecting more Kuwaitis on the list:

Rank 52
Nasser Al-Kharafi & family (Kuwait)
Worth 11.5 billion Dollars

Rank 407
Najib Mikati (Lebanon)
Worth 2.3 billion Dollars

Rank 407
Taha Mikati (Lebanon)
Worth 2.3 billion Dollars

Rank 618
Bassam Alghanim (Kuwait)
Worth 1.6 billion Dollars

Rank 618
Kutayba Alghanim (Kuwait)
Worth 1.6 billion Dollars

Rank 618
Fahd Hariri (Lebanon)
Worth 1.6 billion Dollars

Rank 717
Mohamed Al-Bahar (Kuwait)
Worth 1.4 billion Dollars

Rank 891
Nazek Hariri (Lebanon)
Worth 1 billion Dollars

For the full list of billionaires click [Here]

Thanks cajie

Today morning I got 24 cup cakes from Little Treats. The delivery guy came early in the morning to my office, I paid him and then hurried back to my desk so I could dig in. I spent the first 5 minutes just staring at the cupcakes, they were just so beautifully decorated I didn’t know if I should eat them or just look at them. Finally I opened up the package and tried the cupcakes.

The Little Treat cupcakes are much better then Juju’s. Everyone at my office who tried them gave the same comment “these are better then yesterdays”. Yesterday being Juju’s cupcakes. Other then the fact that the cupcakes are bigger and better decorated then Juju’s, they also taste better.

My biggest issue with Little Treats is the packaging. Its difficult to take out one cupcake without damaging the decoration on it or on the cupcakes adjacent to it. Other then that after trying both Juju’s and Little Treats cupcakes I have realized I prefer muffins over cupcakes and cookies over muffins.

If you are interested in Little Treats check out their website by clicking [Here]

I just found this old article from TIME Magazine that was written after alcohol was banned in Kuwait:

A month ago the oil-rich sheikdom of Kuwait banned all liquor within its borders, and since then many of its thirsty citizens have been drinking everything in sight from perfume and eau de cologne to rubbing alcohol and Sterno — with predictably disastrous results. By last week, an estimated 150 Kuwaiti had died from alcohol poisoning, several hundred more had been blinded, and Kuwait’s hospitals were filled to overflowing. Bathtub gin is flourishing, and bootlegging the real thing has become Kuwait’s fastest growing business. A fifth of Dewar’s White Label Scotch now commands a sheik’s ransom of $50 on the black market.

Prohibition came to Kuwait as deviously as an Arab horse trade. In theory only Christian residents of the predominantly Moslem nation could drink, using ration cards to obtain whisky through London’s Gray Mackenzie & Co. Ltd., which has had an import monopoly on Kuwait’s liquor flow for decades. In fact, Moslems imbibed increasingly, and drunken-driving fatalities mounted apace. The nation’s stricter religious leaders then teamed up with local merchants who resented Gray Mackenzie’s lucrative monopoly to introduce a prohibition bill in the Kuwaiti Assembly. With voting a matter of public record in the tiny Moslem land, the bill passed easily, despite its manifest unpopularity and whatever the legislators’ private lapses from the temperance of Mohammed’s grace might be.

Gray Mackenzie padlocked its doors, and the poisoning cases began to stagger in as sales of after-shave lotions and cologne soared tenfold. Several dozen British and American petroleum engineers served notice that they would not renew their employment contracts if Kuwait stayed dry. Several influential Kuwaitis have applied to remote countries for posts as honorary consuls, hoping thereby to qualify for diplomatic liquor privileges. Many of the thirsty began flocking to Basra in Iraq, 100 miles from Kuwait City. Their pilgrimage has also produced agitation for repeal of the law from their weekend widows left behind. They fear that the forced-draft drinking by the boys and the wiles of the women of Basra may prove a dangerously combustible mix.

TIME Magazine – Friday, Jan. 22, 1965

Yesterday night Tristar came and picked up my bike so they could install my new slip-ons. While the bike was being put on the truck I realized I still haven’t come up with a name for the bike. So after some thinking I have decided to call my bike Starscream.

A friend of mine called me up yesterday after reading my post on Juju and recommended I try Little Treats if I was looking for the best cup cakes in Kuwait. I found out about Little Treats a week ago since someone emailed me the link to their website but I hadn’t tried them yet. According to my friend he ordered cupcakes from both Juju’s and Little Treats and he found Little Treats much better. Only problem is Little Treats don’t deliver. I will give them a call today and I think I will order a mixture of Oreo and Fudge It cupcakes, the combination sounds pretty cool. [Little Treats]

I was waiting for Marzouq to post about this but he hasn’t still so I am going to post about it first… although it is HIS story.

Today I got an email from Marzouq and he sounded really pissed and depressed. He was vague in his email but it was something about losing a really important bid. I was like fuck, what was he bidding for? I figured something related to work, maybe he was trying to get the rights to Google Kuwait or some fast food chain or something. Anyway a few hours later he gives me a call.

We are talking and he tells me about this charity auction that took place in the US and how they were auctioning off a variety of items like electronics, snowmobiles etc.. I was thinking he probably tried bidding on a limited edition motorbike and he lost. Then he tells me that one of the items they were auctioning off was the chance to appear on an episode of 24 next season! Whoever won the auction would have a role on the show in season 7 and would also get to meet the whole cast and then leave with the episode script autographed by everyone. So I was like ok what happened??

Turns out he had a friend at the auction who was bidding in his place. He told his friend to bid max up to $10,000. Turns out though he had a tough competitor, some wife of a millionaire who according to Marzouqs friend came up to him and told him she wanted to have Jack Bauers babies. She kept bidding against him until past his $10,000 limit. In the end he increased his max bid till he hit around $16,000 but she kept bidding until in the end she won the auction for $21,000.

Its such an insane thing, imagine, a blogger from Kuwait would have been on 24. I would have been really jealous if he had won, but it sucks he didn’t. I know how much it would have meant to him being on the show. Anyway I think he is going to be pissed now because I posted about HIS experience before he did!

This reminds me of when King Abdullah appeared on Startrek.

update: Here is a link to Marzouqs post with more details! [Link]

Just read about how this girl nearly got kidnapped in Surra on Diigmaa’s blog. Pretty scary, you can read her post [Here]

Also just found out about the Six-K Club from what I have figured is a running club here in Kuwait. Seems pretty cool and you can find their website [Here]

Over a year ago I got the Sennheiser PX100 headphones to replace my Shure E2s canal phones. The Shure’s although really great weren’t very practical for office use since putting them on was a hassle and at work I am always being interrupted which meant I had to keep taking them on and off. Thats when I decided to go with the PX100 headphones and the sound was really great but, I ran into problems. The PX100 were open air meaning they let sound in and they also let sound out. People around me could easily hear what I was listening to and I could hear them. This is why I researched for new closed headphones.

I found a nice bunch of headphones including the amazing the Beyerdynamic DT 990 which I was ready to get until I found out they had an impedance of 250ohms which meant I needed one heck of an amp to power them.. not very iPod friendly. After days of research on Headfi.org I realized the headphones for me were the Austrian designed AKG K81 headphones. They were closed air, had a good amount of bass and a very decent sound stage. They were also 32ohms which meant would run off my iPod very nicely and they were very affordable at $95.

I have been using the AKG’s for a few months now and I love them. They are very comfortable and the sound is superb. For the price I paid I don’t think I could have gotten anything better. I think they are the best headphones you could get for under $100. But, its not perfect. The headphones just barely fit me. I don’t have a large head but I am guessing Austrians have a small one because I have the headphones expanded to the max and they just barely fit. So if you have a big head I wouldn’t recommend the AKG. Final score is a 4 out of 5.

Link for the above video. [Link]

Here is another link to a Kuwaiti cop raving, a girl dressed in a Kuwaiti cop uniform dancing and some more Iraqi cops dancing. [Link]

As most of you probably know by now there have been a number of Bird Flu cases reported in Kuwait. The big question of course is are we in any danger? How can we contract the Avian flu? Well I did some research and from what I understood the only way you can contract bird flu is through their saliva, nasal secretions, and feces. Meaning unless you are planning on making out with a bird you should be pretty safe. [Source]

Our own car was rocked by a group of about 10 hoodlums trying to get in. We didn’t have foam. We didn’t even make eye contact. They kicked the doors, they scratched the paint, they shouted obscenities. The police had no way of controlling the crowds; most looked on with disgusted expressions; many of the older guys shaking their heads in disappointment.

Desert Girl has a really good post on how the National Day and Liberation Day celebrations keep getting worse and worse every year. Its really sad how these kids have turned 2 days of celebration into 2 days of terror. Next year I hope they ban the sale of foam cans in stores. Here is a link to her post. [Link]

Kuwait is the 8th fattest country in the world, even ahead of the US! [Link]

1. Nauru
2. Micronesia
3. Cook Islands
4. Tonga
5. Niue
6. Samoa
7. Palau
8. Kuwait
9. United States
10. Kiribati

Hungry Bunny is a local creation that opened up in the early 80s in Kuwait. It was inspired by a Australian franchise called Hungry Jack which was what Burger King was called in Australia back then.

In 1997 Al Homaizi Foodstuff Co. who owned Hungry Bunny got the rights to Burger King. Since they couldn’t have two competing franchises they decided to close down all the Hungry Bunnys and open up Burger Kings in the same locations.

Since then there have been copycats the most popular being “Hungry Bunny World” and “Super Bunny” which was named after the famous Hungry Bunny burger. Hungry Bunny World actually opened up a branch on the 4th Ring Road back in 2005 and called it just “Hungry Bunny”. This led to a lot of speculation and rumors that Hungry Bunny was relaunching but they weren’t true. Al Homaizi sued (or threatened to sue) so they added the word “World” on their signage.

I heard awhile back from a friend that Al Homaizi was actually thinking of relaunching Hungry Bunny but I don’t know if thats true or not. For now the only way you can enjoy Hungry Bunny is to drive down to Saudi Arabia where the franchise still exists there. Here is the link to their website: www.hungry-bunny.com

note: the above information is based on my knowledge. If there are any mistakes in dates or events I will fix them but as far as I know the above is accurate.

update: A reader by the name of HaMooR wrote the following:

Dear Mark,

Al Homaizi has the BK franchize since the first hungry bunny openned in Kuwait. and I believe it was Kaifan branch, in order for Al Homaizi to sake BK prudects at that time in kuwait. they have to change the name of BK, because BK was consider in the taboo list (boycott Isreal).

There was a big sign in kaifan branch that says all the meat prudects are BK. So when BK was removed from the list back in 97 .. and there is no reason to for them to hide the name, they switched to BK.

Unlike Kuwaitism, I don’t have work today.