Search: “mis”

A few days ago someone in the forum mentioned that he passed by the animal section of the Friday market and found it closed. I figured that’s great news, they finally did something about the animal cruelty that was taking place there.

Turns out I was very wrong. Today I found out that what really happened was the municipality shutdown all the shops by force and not because of animal cruelty but because of rent issues. Not only that but since the shops were closed down 2 weeks ago they haven’t been allowed to reopen and all the animals were left inside to die!

…the business owners are helpless as the animals howl and cry for food, with every passing day the stench of death growing ever stronger…

…All the animals are inside the stalls, and most of them have died due to lack of water, food and air. These animals have been in cages within the stalls for 15 days and they have not seen any light, nor eaten anything…

Instead of making things better, they killed all the animals. Fantastic. Here is the link to the article on Al Watan Daily. [Link]

Update: A friend of mine passed by the Friday market with his wife today after reading the post to see what they could do. They spoke to a few owners and it turns out the Al Watan Daily’s story is not true. Here is the correct information:

– The municipality did shutdown the shops

– The shop owners ARE allowed to open the shop to clean, feed and air their animals

– Some shop owners were neglecting their animals and it’s NOT the municipality that’s stopping them. Some owners are just insensitive and are just leaving their animals to die

Basically unlike what Al Watan Daily reported, the municipality isn’t stopping any shop owner from taking care of the animals. I don’t know why a leading English newspaper would print misinformation like that. In any case animals are still being left to die by some shop owners who should be fined or prosecuted. For more details you can visit my friends blog where they have more information and pictures [Link]

Aramex and the Kuwaiti customs have come to an agreement. From now on all goods that are valued at $100 and up will be subjected to a 5% customs charge and a KD1 handling charge. No additional delays or charges.

Thats actually not a bad compromise at all. I would rather pay 5% than pay KD20 + 5% they were talking about last week.

Update: Some readers have brought up an interesting theory which is there never was any issue with customs and that Aramex created all this so they could just increase their prices. Some readers have also written that they had contacted USWS and DHL both of which had said they didn’t receive any letter from customs and that it was business as usual for them. This is just a conspiracy theory but an interesting one nevertheless.

Just got the following email from Aramex:

Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for choosing Aramex as your transportation partner.

The Kuwaiti Customs Authority has recently notified us that all courier shipments containing non-documents shall undergo customs inspection upon arrival at Kuwait airport. While Aramex shall continue providing its clearance services, we are unable to provide a specific time frame as to the duration of the clearance period, which may exceed five working days. Aramex therefore encourages all its customers who require speedy clearance to collect their shipments’ documents for self-clearance at the Aramex Ardiya office.

Should you need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us on + 965 1820011.

Best Regards,
Aramex Shop&Ship Team

I wonder if this applies to other carriers like U Shop We Ship and DHL?

Update: I just called Aramex to get more details. Basically everything is still exactly the same as before except now once the package arrives to Kuwait it will take a few days to get delivered to you. You don’t pay anything extra with this new rule, you just have to be more patient. But, like before, if customs decides to hold your package you would need to either clear it yourself or have them clear it for you for a fee.

Update2: I just called Aramex again and spoke to a person I know there. According to her I can expect ALL my packages to be held in customs from now on. Which means I will have to pay a fee to get my packages cleared. The fee is around KD15 (I think) which is just ridiculous!

Update3: Here is the breakdown of what you will have to pay from now on for EVERY single package you get via Aramex

a. 5% CIF.
b. 10 KD Kuwait airways.
c. 2 KD Bank Commission.
d. 1 KD Handling Charges.
e. 5 KD Clearance charges, if your good selves choose aramex to clear on your behalf, otherwise 2 KD only for self-clearance for customs declaration form.

That’s over KD20 per package! I still haven’t verified if USWS and DHL Easy Shop are effected by this since their offices were closed at the time of this posting.

Update4: Want to know how complicated it is to clear the stuff from customs yourself? Check my Kuwaiti Customs Clearance post with step by step directions and a map. [Link]

I love Kuwait with all its flaws except for one, the tree cutting for no reason habit. I can never understand why beautiful green trees get cut down in Kuwait. I am also not the only one who hates this because their is a group on Facebook called “Keep Kuwait Green! Stop the Izala from cutting our trees!” which is fighting to stop this. Here is information about the group:

After the government came and removed our 35 year old Rubber trees without any warning, it made me realize that there are many other houses being effected.

People started calling about the same thing happening to them, and told me stories of horrible murder like incidents of the trees they once planted.

The mission of this group is to report and post pictures of all wrong doing by our government and the removal of trees. Please post the address of the places that you see them removing trees that were not used as a personal garden. If possible post your pictures also.

We will be posting and sending the pictures to all newspapers and blogs and anyone willing to listen to us. Some of the trees in Kuwait are a part of our history.

They have been here long before we have.
Let’s unite and try to keep Kuwait greener!

I would like to add one more thing which is the trimming of the trees and bushes. The Gulf Road area near Burj Hamam was looking pretty green and natural for awhile now and then suddenly yesterday they started trimming all the trees and bushes into cubes. Can someone tell whoever is responsible for that to stop. Trees that look like cubes might look pretty at Disney Land but not on the Gulf Road and they definitely don’t give any shade or protection.

So if you think the government should stop cutting trees down then please join the facebook group and voice your support. Here is the [Link]

It’s been nearly a month since I got my Tamiya FJ and just a few moments ago I finished building it. It took some time because I had to paint the body and ended up messing up the job, I then had to wait for the motor and electronic speed controller to arrive from the States and finally tonight I just had to source one more small part locally and get some wires soldered onto the motor. I’m now done with it, I tidied up all the wiring and my FJ is finally ready for a crawling session. I missed out on one last Friday because my car wasn’t ready but this Friday I am going and will take some pictures once I do.

Update: Here is a picture I took this morning

I was at a place in Dajeej today and noticed the buttons outside the lift pointed left and right instead of the usual up or down. At first I thought it was just on that floor but it was the same on every floor. Reminded me of the picture below which I took outside the Kuwait airport a few years ago.

Just a recap for those of you who don’t know my “Healthier Lifestyle” series of posts. I used to have junk food every single day but then I found out I had acid reflux as a result. I then decided to permanently stop having fried or junk food and since then I’ve dropped around 5KG in weight and most importantly, I feel and am healthier. I don’t miss fried or junk food and have actually found great alternatives instead and this is why I decided to create these healthier lifestyle series of posts so I could share these alternatives with everyone.

In this post I will be talking about Napket which is located on the first floor of Avenues Phase II. They’ve got a pasta and salad station plus a ready made sandwiches section. I haven’t tried their salads or pastas just their sandwiches and my favorite is called “The NY Thing”. The sandwich contains bacon, chicken, turkey, eggs, tomato and lettuce. Since it’s ready made its perfect to have during my lunch break because it doesn’t take time to prepare. The bread used for the sandwich is really delicious. I don’t know what it is exactly but it’s got a slightly sweet flavor to it.

The sandwich isn’t cheap though, at KD3.750 its on the expensive side but the service is great and the location and restaurant atmosphere is amazing so it kinda makes up for it. The sandwich is also filling so you don’t need a side order with it. I highly recommend it.

Other options:
Nando’s
Macaroni Grill
Salad Creations

I previously posted the first episode of The Chef’s Table but it seems since then two more episodes have come out. The one above is episode 3 and it looks like it was shot at eight6 Bistro in the Avenues. I guess the restaurant has opened already although I didn’t notice it this past weekend. [YouTube]

Note: The chef in the video is Ahmed Al Bader, the owner of Burger Hub and Prime & Toast.

Update: Don’t know how I missed this but the YouTube video description says eight6 Bistro is opening on Thursday, October 1st in Phase Two of Avenues.

It’s finally over, everything goes back to normal now. In case you missed it below are the 14 days of giveaways that just ended:

Giveaway Day 1: Two tickets to Under the Sea 3D IMAX
Giveaway Day 2: Yummy package from Choowy Goowy
Giveaway Day 3: Saso Lounge Gift Certificate
Giveaway Day 4: Free City from Pink Moon
Giveaway Day 5: Full car detailing from Al Falah
Giveaway Day 6: Dinner for two at Slider Station
Giveaway Day 7: Invite for 4 to The Chocolate Bar
Giveaway Day 8: Wireless DJ Music System from Logitech
Giveaway Day 9: e-GO2GO from Zain
Giveaway Day 10: Two gifts from X-cite
Giveaway Day 11: Tamiya Nissan GT-R TT-01E from My Toy
Giveaway Day 12: Car tint from Hüper Optik
Giveaway Day 13: Mobie phone from X-cite
Giveaway Day 14: PS3 from Choowy Goowy

I haven’t posted about Hüper Optik before because I have yet to pass by and get my car tinted. I should have gone at the beginning of summer but I kept putting it off due to the fact I can be really lazy (and cheap) sometimes. The reason I wanted to tint the car is because Nat doesn’t have any shaded parking where she works so the car sits baking under the sun all day long. So Marzouq recommended I get a tint from Hüper Optik because they offer the best heat protection around.

Unlike most tints in Kuwait, Hüper Optik’s are ceramic based not metallic. I learned that it has a few advantages one being that it doesn’t interfere with mobile phones, bluetooth and GPS and the other is the fact that ceramic based film offers better heat rejection. Ceramic is an insulator while metals are great conductors of heat so ceramic based film makes a lot more sense here in Kuwait.

Here are the specs they emailed me:

100% dye and metal free
Does not interfere with mobile phones, GPS, bluetooth.
High Infra Red heat rejection of up to 96%
High Ultra Violet rejection exceeding 99%
Total Heat Rejection from 32% to 73%
Visible Light Transmission from 8% to 85%
10-year product warranty coverage

So this brings us to today’s giveaway. Hüper Optik are offering a free car tint to the winner worth up to KD250 which makes it the most expensive giveaway so far. In case you are wondering, you don’t need to darken your car windows to take advantage of the heat or UV protection. You can go for a clear film and still have some protection. All you need to do to win this giveaway is to leave a comment below and later on in the evening I will use random.org to select a winner.

Check out Marzouqs review of Hüper Optik [Here]
And here is their contact information which includes their website where you can find a map to their place.
Telephone: 2471 9999
www.huperoptik-kw.com and www.huperoptik.com

Rules: You need to put your proper email in the email field while commenting since the winner will be contacted by email. You also need to respond to my “You Won” email within 24 hours or I will have to make another draw and choose another winner. You can only comment once, anyone caught commenting more than once will get disqualified.

Note: All pictures taken by Marzouq.

Update: The post was closed for commenting at around 10PM.
The winner is…

[YouTube]

Comment #24, you’ve got mail!
Everyone else check back tomorrow for another giveaway.

Last week I posted about the under appreciated indoor vertical garden at 360 mall. Under appreciated because no one knew about it. Well I was checking a website (lost the link) and found an article talking about this glass artist and they had a picture of one of his works which looked similar to the blue glass sculpture at 360. So a quick google revealed the blue sculpture at 360 was actually done by the same artist in the article.

The artist is called Dale Chihuly and he was commissioned to do two pieces of work for 360 in the theme of the sun and moon. Again interesting but I only found out about it by chance. 360 need to find a way to inform people on this stuff.

Now the cool part is I found a gallery online showing the actual build process. I was always curious on how they put the sculpture together and now I know. Check out the pictures [Here]

Note: If you get an error trying to view the pictures tell me and I will try to host the pictures somewhere else.

Last week when I was in Beirut I was there for work shooting a commercial for Wataniya Airways. One of the cool things about the shoot was that we were using the Phantom HD camera. The Phantom HD is a digital camera that can shoot up to 1500 frames per second (fps) at 720p resolution or 1000fps at 1080p.

I think we were one of the first people in the region to use this camera if not the first. Anyway just to explain what shooting at high speed means or does. Generally video runs at around 24fps. So that means if you shoot 1 second of footage at the speed of 1000fps, when you play it back at regular speed of 24fps, that 1 second of footage will last around 40 seconds. What this does is allow you to capture a lot of detail in that 1 second. It’s similar to the camera used on the Discovery Show, Time Warp. If you shoot a bullet in front of a high speed camera you will be able to see it flying through the air when played back. The camera slows down time.

Since the commercial is going to get released soon I was able to get permission to post one of my favorite takes. It’s a scene of a guy dressed in a dishdasha falling back onto the bed. What I liked about this shot is the way the dishdasha moves while in the air and also how the bed ripples when the guy lands. This scene is going to be in the final commercial except we will only be using around 2 seconds of this 47 second clip. [YouTube]

Note: I am trying to get my hands on a higher resolution footage, once I get that will update this post with it.

Update: I’ve updated the video with the higher quality version. Also added the picture below of the camera on set.

The Hummingbird Bakery is one of my favorite dessert places in London so when I heard they released a cookbook I ordered one right away from Amazon. Since I have a lot of free time during Ramadan I will be baking a lot more and today I started off with an Apple Pie.

I passed by Sultan Center to pick up my ingredients around 3PM but it was a huge mistake. The supermarket was packed and everyone there was shopping in large quantities. My favorite line I overheard today was a daughter telling her dad “but that’s a lot, we don’t need that much” and then the dad replying “it’s Ramadan so it’s fine”. That’s why the 10 items or less line was practically empty and why I was able to leave so quickly without waiting in the humongous lines with people who had carts filled to the brim with food.

Anyway back to baking. The cookbook has a lot of pretty pictures and instructions for baking but they really don’t take you in great detail through the process. Since I hadn’t baked an Apple Pie before I used a Betty Crocker cookbook from the 70’s that had step by step pictures which helped out a bit specially when it came to putting the bottom crust in the pan without ripping it (you fold it twice so its a triangle and then you put it in the pan and unfold back into a circle).

According to the cookbook you’re supposed to bake the pie at 170degrees celcius for 30-40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. It took me 1 hour and 30 minutes to get the crust golden brown! Next time I will be increasing the temp up to 180 to try and speed things up a bit. The result though was an extremely delicious tasting pie. I had only one minor issue and that was with the bottom crust and top crust separate while baking on one side of the pie but its a minor quibble which I should be able to solve next time.

So far the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook looks to be working. If you want to order it, it’s available on Amazon for around KD5. [Amazon Link]

Previously: My favorite cookie recipe

[YouTube]

Thats pretty messed up. Back in 2005 I shot pictures of the cops shoot out with some terrorists in Salmiya and you can see those [Here]

Thanks Kent

The Kuwait Bookshop has been around for a pretty long time and although its not a Barnes & Noble it does have a pretty decent collection of books and magazines. If I am not mistaken I think it actually has the largest collection of books and magazines in Kuwait. Because its an old bookshop they have a lot of older books that sometimes can be pretty interesting. The bookshop is located in the basement of Muthana Complex and its a very quiet and cozy place with friendly and informed staff. There is a lot of parking which is a plus. Their phone number is 22423876 in case you need to ask about a book.