Search: “kuwait”

Mobile phone prices are like the same price as Kuwait. Rent is wayyyyy more expensive. They don’t build one building, they build them in large clusters all at once. Drivers are worst then Kuwait. Girls are all like half naked. Kuwait is greener. Emirates mall is like Marina Mall times ten. They have larger variety of restaurants. Finally, consumers are not treated like idiots, they are valued.

Introducing: International Direct by Amazon!
International Direct offers Amazon customers a unique service: providing duty and tax estimation during checkout and customs clearance by the courier on your behalf. Your order arrives at your door without surprise duty charges. International Direct is also a great way to send gifts overseas. International Direct currently provides service to the following countries: Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and United Arab Emirates.

Currently Kuwait isn’t on the list but since UAE and Saudi Arabia are then Kuwait could be next. [Link]

I was in Hawalli yesterday when I decided to pass by the store Best Buy Kuwait (not official Best Buy just a copy). Turns out they had the Sony UMPC on display. I had only seen it before online so it was cool seeing it in person. Its super tiny and I really wish Apple would come up with something like it. They were selling it for KD699. [Link]

Got to work today morning to find the building next to my office on fire. What was a sad site though were the low wage workers who were living on the roof of the building. They were all gathered downstairs with whatever possession they had. Most had their belongings wrapped in bed mats while others had those small carryon travel bags and were just sitting on them. Last time the building caught fire it was back in April.

I just got back from Razzi Hospital. Turned out Mubarek Hospital messed up my hand cast and my fingers ended up swelling. The doctor today also told me I didn’t have a fracture which is very good news. He had yesterdays cast removed and they put me another better one instead. He told me to come back next week to have it removed. Now I just need to find out when my bike will be ready. Thanks to all the well wishers. My First Crash post didn’t get more comments then the Shark of Kuwait post but never the less it was close enough.

Oh and they finally gave me some pain killers!

Last year I posted pictures of the old Apple Store in Kuwait City. Their were three banners in the display from Apple’s old ad campaign called Think Different which I really wanted. I tried my best to get them and even offered to buy them but the Apple dealer (AlSane Group) refused. Finally I gave up and forgot about them.

A few days ago I was at Starbucks with the Mac&More store owner, I had met him a few years back when I had purchased his Twentieth Anniversary Mac. We were talking about Macs in the pre-ipod days and I told him about the posters I had wanted from the other Apple Dealer. He told me he would check and see if he had any left in their warehouse and would call me. Well turns out he found 3 banners and the 3 banners he found are exactly the same 3 banners I had wanted from the other dealer!

The posters are dusty but other then that they are in excellent shape. I can’t wait to put them up and once I do will take more pictures.

On a side note, I just noticed if you do a google search for Apple Kuwait the first few links are all related to me. Can’t get any cooler then that…

At 4PM today I met up with Marzouq in front of Galleria 2000. I was talking to him online at around 3:30 and he asked me if I wanted to go riding and I was like fine. I hadn’t really been out on the roads yet, only twice around my block but that was it. I was nervous but excited at the same time. I quickly got dressed and took my bike and rode down to Galleria 2000.

Once I got to Galleria Marzouq was already there waiting for me, he told me to follow him and off we went out onto the Gulf Road. Originally I was hoping my first time out on the Gulf Road would be when it was empty, like a Friday morning or something. At 4PM today the Gulf Road wasn’t empty as I was hoping instead it was kinda packed. We rode on the Gulf Road from Salmiya all the way to Shuwaikh. At first I was a really nervous but once we hit TGIF I had gotten the hang of driving in traffic and was weaving through it with no problems. After we passed Kuwait Towers I started to feel even more comfortable on the road. The road also had less cars by then and we were zooming by really fast.

When we got to the end of the Gulf Road in Shuwaikh, we parked our bikes and started taking pictures when another blogger, iDip happened to be passing by. He parked his car and we had a little bloggers meetup before he took off again. Marzouq and I finished taking pictures and then headed back to Salmiya. The ride back was pretty cool. There was a lot of traffic but I wasn’t nervous anymore. Its not that bad riding in traffic, as long as you don’t get an asshole on your tail blinking and honking wanting you to get out of the way. I think the max speed I hit was 130km/h. I know Marzouq hit like 160 with his bike.

It was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to go back out tomorrow. There shouldn’t be any traffic in the morning so the ride should be even more fun.

I am sure at one time or another you tried purchasing an item using your K-Net or Visa card and the merchant asked from you an extra fee because you are using one of these cards. They would give you the excuse that Visa or K-Net charge them a certain amount for every transaction using these cards and that you need to pay it. Well here is what you the consumer needs to know.

First lets start with K-Net. K-Net is owned by the local banks in Kuwait. They do NOT charge the merchant any transaction fee. So if an item costs KD10 and you pay using your K-Net card, the merchant will get KD10. They will not be charged a single fils by K-Net. This is a fact and you can contact 2431280 if you need any further information on this. If a store tells you that they will have to charge you extra because you are paying with K-Net then you need to report that store to K-Net using the number above.

Now Visa is a different story. Visa DOES charge the merchant 4% for every transaction. This means if you buy an item for KD10, the merchant receives KD9.600. Although the merchant pays 4% for every transaction they do NOT have the right to pass on that 4% to you. According to Visa the merchant should not charge the customer for a Visa transaction and neither are they allowed to set a minimum amount in which you could use your Visa card with. So even if the item you are buying costs 100fils, you can pay with you Visa card. In case a store does try to make you pay the 4% transaction fee, report them to your local bank and they will take care of it. If you would like more information regarding Visa, you will also need to contact your local bank.

Hope this information was helpful.

I was at Marina Mall yesterday meeting up with a friend when I noticed Alghanim Automotive (my sponsors) had the Escalade EXT on display right outside Virgin. The EXT was my favorite version of the old Escalade and I didn’t know the new one was out yet in Kuwait. So I emailed my contact at Alghanim and asked him about the price and this is what I found out. The Escalade EXT costs KD18,500 and if you trade in your car you get 500KD back. Also the regular Escalade (ie: not pickup) which I previously took out for a drive now costs KD19,500 and according to my contact the price is negotiable. Thats around KD1,500 cheaper then when I reviewed it which is pretty cool but still way out of my league.

I passed by TriStar today again since a friend of mine wanted to buy a jacket from them. Nat was with us and I wanted to show her “my dream bike” which I posted about yesterday but turns out it got sold on Thursday night right after I left the place. It was originally parked between the red and yellow Ducati’s in the picture above.

I just updated my Baba Taher Restaurant review. I was there over the weekend and I managed to catch the place when it was empty so I took a picture of the inside plus a picture of my dish. If you haven’t checked out the review yet now would be the best time. [Link]

For those of you who didn’t know this already but there are a ton of other Kuwait based blogs out there. One way you can check them out is by using 248PM.com. Its based on Safat except its got a cleaner and simpler layout. Using 248PM you can stay up to date on the latest posts by other bloggers in Kuwait who cover a lot of interesting topics. So check it out. [Link]

This is very sad news, Alan Fletcher an incredibly talented Graphic Designer passed away on the 21st of September. I can’t believe this news wasn’t more publicized. Alan Fletcher was a founding member of the design agency Pentagram and is among the most influential figures in British graphic design history. I posted about him previously when I wrote about the Commercial Bank of Kuwait logo. This is really really sad news. If you never read my post on the CBK logo then you should since there is a very nice piece written by Alan Fletcher where he talks about his experience coming to Kuwait and the idea behind the logo. I can’t believe he is dead! [Link]

The new 80GB iPod and the new 4GB and 8GB nanos are now available at zMacShop. The 80GB iPod is selling for KD120 while the 4GB nano is selling for KD77 and the 8GB for KD88. These prices are CHEAP compared to the older ipods currently selling in the local market. Also as of this post no other Apple store in Kuwait has the new iPods.

Anyway check out their newspaper ad. [Advert]
And here is a link to their website. [Link]