Categories
Kuwait Personal

In the middle of the night

the plan

For the past two days I have been waking up in the middle of the night to young men singing in the street. I live in Salmiya high street (thats what it used to be called in the old days) and my apartment is located on top of a shopping mall which is located right on main road. The guys park their cars in-front of the mall, turn up the radio loud and start singing. The first night this happened at 4:30AM, yesterday it happened at 3AM. On the first night they were singing a sad Arabic song which was kinda eerie waking up to but yesterday night they seemed to be in a better mood since the music seemed “happier” and they sounded like they were dancing to it while singing.

They are FUCKING ANNOYING! I mean what the hell is wrong with these people. If we had alcohol in Kuwait you would think they were drunk or something but what the fuck is wrong with these guys? Don’t they have jobs they have to wake up early for? I think tonight if they wake me up I am just going to start randomly throwing eggs in their direction and hopefully hit some fucker. I did that once when I was in high-school, we went up to the tall building in front of ASK and once the students started coming out of the main gate me and some friends started throwing eggs down at them. Really funny stuff..

Update: I added a picture above to show why I chose eggs as my weapon of choice and not a paintball gun or a bucket of hot boiling oil. I basically don’t have direct line of sight because of the way my building is shaped. My only options were either water balloons or eggs since you don’t need a direct line of sight for those. In the end I decided to go with eggs since I could throw them further. Anyone remember the old Dos Basic game where you had 2 gorillas, one on each side of the screen with buildings in between and you had to throw something in a calculated arc to try and hit the other gorilla? Well this is going to work the same way.




Categories
Animals & Wildlife Geo Kuwait Reviews

International Veterinary Hospital

International Veterinary Hospital

Thursday afternoon I drove all the way to Ahmadi so that I could take Geo our pet dog to the International Veterinary Hospital. I read from peoples comments on my site that IVH was the best veterinary hospital in Kuwait and I now believe that to be true.

I used to take our previous family dog to the vet in Shuwaikh near the Friday Market. That place was really dirty and I never felt comfortable there neither did my dog. But then again my dog never felt comfortable leaving the house and he “hated” strangers. Still, when my dog got sick that hospital really didn’t do anything and we finally had to put our dog to sleep. Since I didn’t want the same thing to happen to Geo I decided to take him to the best vet in Kuwait and all signs pointed to IVH.

Driving out to Ahmadi from my home in Salmiya took 30 minutes. The map on their website was very easy to follow and we never got lost. When we arrived to the hospital it was like arriving to a ranch in Arizona or somewhere in the Australian outback, it didn’t look anything like your usual Kuwait. To get to the hospital you have to drive off the main road down a paved path surrounded by desert bushes on the side and very little if any buildings around. You then come in through a large gate where you find two signs, one pointing to the emergency entrance and the other towards the visitors parking. We parked in the very clean and very spaced out parking lot and walked towards the main hospital building. I couldn’t believe how gorgeous the place was, there was green grass everywhere, large palm trees, no trash and everything looked really good, better then our hospitals!

We walked into the hospital and told the employees that we had an appointment and then we took a seat while we waited for our turn. The waiting room was very cozy, the benches had cushions on them and their were tons of magazines to read. Their were 4 other dogs in the waiting room with us, 3 labrador puppies and one Japanese breed. Geo spent most of his time playing with the Japanese dog which was very cute. When Geo finally got bored we took him back outside to play on the grass where he met another dog and started to play with him. Finally around 15 minutes later it was our turn to go in.

The vet was a very nice friendly guy and Geo ended up liking him a lot. When the vet asked us what we were feeding the dog, we told him raw meat… to our surprise the vet didn’t try to convince us it was not good for him like most vets would do. Instead, he turned out to know about the raw meat diet and how its the best diet for Geo. He started asking us if Geo was getting all his vitamins and proteins and what else we were feeding him. We told him we were also giving Geo raw eggs twice a week, One large yogurt spoon twice a week and brown toast with honey once a week. We also told him Geo wasn’t getting any Vitamin A or B since he wasn’t eating any of his vegetables, so he gave us some vitamins to give to Geo once a day until he started eating his vegetables. The vet then started asking us questions about how we were treating him and how the toilet training was going and he started giving us advice and tips which we already new about. And thats what I liked about the vet, he was telling me stuff I already knew, but the thing is I had to research my ass off to find out and learn all this stuff from various websites, breeders and people with different opinions. Its not stuff you learn at vet school but stuff you learn with experience after years of raising dogs yourself and this vet knew all the best methods and techniques and that gave me a lot of confidence in him. My previous dogs vet never asked me any thing and never gave me any kind of tips. This vet on the other hand was giving me a lot of tips and telling me all the right stuff. He’s amazing, he knows what he is talking about and I could have a decent conversation with him about my dog. We told the vet we wanted to start Geo on worming and he agreed and gave him the medicine. Finally we were done and we walked out thanking the vet. Our bill? KD12.500 and that included KD7 for the visit, KD1 for the worming medicine and KD4.5 for the vitamins. Not bad at all. I scanned the full price list and I have it linked at the end of this post for those of you that are interested.

Once we left the vets office we decided to walk around outside and discover the hospital more. We past by their pet shop which was pretty cool and had a ton of stuff. We also past by the agility course which looked like something Geo would really enjoy once he grows up. Finally we let Geo run around a bit on the grass before we decided to head back home.

I was really impressed with the hospital and I feel a lot more better knowing something like that exists in Kuwait. The only downside to the place is the location but I couldn’t find anything else and thats why I am going to give this hospital a 4.5 out of 5.

Click here to view pictures of the hospital
Click here to view the prices at the hospital
Click here for the IVH website




Categories
Kuwait Personal

My Trip to the MOC

I passed by the Ministry of Communications branch in Salmiya today morning to solve my phone problem. When I got there I spotted 3 MOC vans which I guessed were the technician vans, so I waited in my car hoping to catch one leaving so I could bribe him to fix my phone line. Around 10 minutes passed when I saw another MOC van arriving and about to park. I got out of my car and ran towards the technician who was coming out of the van. I call out and he stops and asks me what I wanted, I asked him if he was a technician and replied telling me he was in charge of installation. Now the problem is while running towards the guy I thought he was Egyptian but after I started talking to him I realized he was a local. At first I wasn’t sure if I should offer him a bribe or not but he seemed annoyed by me and so I decided not to even try. He told me if I needed a technician to go inside the building. So I went in looking for the technicians walking around not know where to go when the guy I had spoken to outside came up to me and pointed me to a building outside, he told me to go in it, take a left and then take the last door on the right. So I do that except the door on the far right had an employees only sticker on it. I figured whatever and just walked in.

I walked in a huge ass room with a really high ceiling and a couple of rows of racks with tons of cables running around them. I figured this was the main switchboard room but it looked like technology from the 70’s and 80’s. I found a woman sitting at an old wooden desk and told her I was looking for a technician. She asked me why and I explained to her my problem. She brought over a small basket full of what I realized were complaint cards and started flipping through them looking for mine. Suddenly an old Indian guy walked in and asked the woman for the complaint basket and she told him to wait a bit because she was looking for something. So I turn around and asked the guy if he was a technician, he told me yes. I told him my line had a problem, he asked me which area and I told him. He told me the whole block there has a major problem and that over 1400 lines were not working. He told me they are trying to work as fast as possible but it was a fault in the major cable and they still need around 4 days to fix it. I told him if it was only 4 days I don’t have a problem with its just that I know people who’s phone lines haven’t been working for over 2 months. He told me not to worry and they are trying their best to fix the problem. So I thanked him and the woman and left.

Now I will wait and see what happens. I believe they are working to fix the problem so I guess its just a matter of time and I get my phone line and Internet back.




Categories

Reviews

Recommended

Burger Challenge
Applebee’s
Bredz
Burger Boutique
Eighty 6 Bistro
Fauchon
Fuddruckers
Hashi
Gaucho Gril
Gourmet Burger Kitchen
Johnny Rockets
Munch
Napket
Nino
Papa John’s Burgers
Prime & Toast
Ruby Tuesday
Slider Station
Sheraton Hotel
Smoke House
The Burger Hub
The Butcher Shop
The Little Oven
The Meat Co.
Wimpy

Food
Cafe: Poshcafe
Chilidog: Nathans Vs Hardees
Chilidog: Johnny Rockets
Chilidog: Fuddruckers
Chinese: Caesars
Chinese: Wildfire
Chinese: Wok Master
Fast Food: Burger King Hammour Royale
Fast Food: Burger King Spicy Chicken Royal w/ Cheese
Fast Food: Hardees Chili Lava
Fast Food: Hardees Turkey & Swiss Sandwich
Fast Food: KFC Fish Zinger
Fast Food: LoFat
Fast Food: Malak Sajj
Fast Food: Marrybrown
Fast Food: McDonalds Best Breakfast in Town
Fast Food: McDonalds Italiano Burger
Fast Food: McDonalds Spring Rolls
Fast Food: Naif’s Puri Fillet
Fast Food: The Pizza Company
Fast Food: Sbarro Sausage & Pepperoni Stromboli
Microwave Meal: Chicken Masala
Microwave Meal: Beef with Classic BBQ Sauce
Microwave Meal: Beef Patty Sandwich Builder
Microwave Meal: Manicotti
Microwave Meal: El Charrito Grande
Microwave Meal: Fried Chicken Meal
Microwave Meal: Chicken Fingers
Other: Baskin Robbins Crunchy Shake
Other: Blenz Coffee
Other: Choowy Goowy Cookies
Other: D*lush
Other: Go Nuts Donuts
Other: Kobe Burger by Auskobe
Other: Lorenzos Chocolate Cheese Cake
Other: Orange Drinks
Restaurant: Al Mayass
Restaurant: Al-Muhallab Seafood
Restaurant: Baba Taher
Restaurant: Burger Bar
Restaurant: Cheeburger Cheeburger
Restaurant: Fauchon Café
Restaurant: IKEA’s Chicken Masala
Restaurant: Le Relais de l’Entrecote
Restaurant: Ricardo – Sheraton
Restaurant: Shatea Al Watyia (Oum Habib)
Restaurant: Slider Station
Shawerma: Al-Ghader
Shawerma: Badar Al Badoor
Shawerma: Burgan
Shawerma: Dodo
Shawerma: Happy Duck
Shawerma: IKEA
Shawerma: Kabab Al Hajat
Shawerma: Mishref Coop Restaurant
Shawerma: Mr Subs
Shawerma: Ranoush Juice – London
Shawerma: Salmiya’s Jewels
Shawerma: Sajj House
Shawerma: Shawermer
Shawerma: Shoo? Shawerma
Shawerma: Villa Fayrouz Express
Shawerma: Weekend
Sushi: Kei, Maki & Kamikaze
Sushi: Maki Restaurant

Movies
Dragon Wars D-War
I Am Legend
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
Transformers
Die Hard 4.0
Smokin’ Aces
Big Nothing
The Prestige
Dirty Sanchez – The Movie
Feast
Long Way Round (mini series)
The Sentinel
Hard Candy
American Gun
Stay
Waiting…
Walk the Line
Munich
The Island
Band of Brothers (mini series)
Serenity
Broken Flowers
Lord of War
Saw II
Oliver Twist
The Brothers Grimm
City of God
Jarhead
The Matador
Fucking Åmål
Ichi the Killer
Shutter
Revolver
Straight into Darkness
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Wedding Crashers
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Simple Lies
Dark Water
Constantine
Elf
Creep
Heights
Kill Bill 2
Mysterious Skin
Hot Shots
Hostage
Ocean’s Twelve
Hellboy
Kingdom of Heaven
The Big White
Ôdishon
Inside Deep Throat
The Skeleton Key
The Business
Waterworld
A History of Violence
Born Into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids
Happy Endings
The Bourne Supremacy
The Village
Kicking & Screaming
Unleashed (Danny the Dog)
Be Cool
Ladder 49
Green Street Hooligans
Swordfish
Oldboy
The Devil’s Rejects
Team America
Soul Plane

Automotive
Mercedes E200 [Day 1] [Day 2]
Toyota Corolla
Mercedes SLK [Day 1] [Day 2]
Infiniti M45 [Day 1] [Day 2]
Infiniti G35 [Day 1] [Day 3]
Cadillac BLS
Cadillac CTS
Cadillac Escalade

Other
The Ultimate Water Review Part 2
The Ultimate Water Review Part 1
Zegna iJacket
Canon G11
Archos 7
Apple iPhone
A-Z Maps
N-Bar
AKG K81 DJ
Crest White Strips
Motorola V3x
WD Passport Drive
Philips BodyGroom
Mac & More (Marina Mall)
IPEVO free.1 Skype Phone
Denon AVR-2106
International Veterinary Hospital
Harmony 880 Remote
Jazeera Airways – My Experience
Logitech X-230 Speakers
Sennheiser PX100 Headphones
Kensington Orbit Optical Trackball
The PSP Review
The Sultan Center Website
iPod shuffle




Categories
Food & Drinks Information Kuwait

Dunkin Donuts City Center

Dunkin Donuts Salmiya

Dunkin Donuts is opening a branch in Souk Salmiya near City Center. This the second branch I know of thats opening. The first is the main Salmiya branch. Any others?




Categories
Kuwait

Shops are Open

Someone told me that ALL stores are not allowed to be open in these 3 days of mourning. I heard that any store that is caught open would be fined KD1000. Supermarkets and grocery stores are an exception. So why is it when on my way to City Center in Salmiya yesterday did I find a bunch of shops open along the way? One of the stores for example was the laundromat “5 ASEC” (or something like that). I also heard that Costa and Columbus cafe were open on the first day. Yesterday Johnny Rockets, Texas Chicken and Subway were open in Salmiya.

What is allowed to open and what isn’t? I think nothing should be allowed to open just supermarkets and grocery stores. If I was in charge I would have gone around yesterday smacking people with fines and shutting down their stores.




Categories
Kuwait Personal Travel

Whats on my back

eastpak little beaver

I got a new Eastpak backpack called the Little Beaver. Its from the Breakaway series made specially for traveling. Its made for people who go on short business trips because there is room to put clothes in it. I currently don’t have any clothes in my backpack but I do have the following:

– iPod Video
– Sony PSP
– Shure E2 earphones
– Sennheiser PX100 headphones
– Parker black pen
– Nikon D70
– Holga
– 4 rolls of film
– My eastpak camera bag (yes bag in a bag)
– Power adapters and cables for the ipod and psp
– passports, cash and other documents
– Wired Issue 13.12

For pictures of the bag [click here]
The bag cost me KD32 and I purchased it from Eastpak in Salmiya opposite Marina Mall.
With all the stuff above there is still a ton of room left!




Categories
Apple Kuwait

Solize Moved

apple

The Mac store Solize has moved from Muthana Complex to Dana Complex in Salmiya (same building as Lime Light). They are located on the 4th floor, apartment 403 and you can contact them on 7215943 or 7215949. I heard from a friend though that they are selling refurbished Mac’s under the pretense they are brand new. I haven’t been able to confirm this though.

In other news, Al Ghanim Electronics are now selling iPod Videos. They are priced similar to Virgin I believe (meaning expensive like $700 for the 60GB) but at least you can get it in installments if you can’t afford the cash price. Currently only white is available but they are getting black ones in a few days.




Categories
Information Kuwait

Directions to Aramex in Aardiyah

Aramex

Now that Aramex closed their Kuwait City office you need to go pick up your packages from Aardiyah (if you don’t have them delivered to you). Here are the directions to their Aardiyah branch.

When you are coming on the 5th ring road from Salmiya towards Jahra, you will reach Ragii Area (which will be on your right hand), and on your left side you will notice a large Panasonic sign.

Right in front of you there will be a bridge; make a U-turn under the bridge as if you are going back to Salmiya. When you make the U-turn and before you get back on the 5th ring road, you will find an entrance on your right side. Take it and drive 200 meters in and you will find ARAMEX on your left hand. You may turn behind the fire station if you do not wish to pass the sandy area in front of our office.

View Map

Telephone: 4345444




Categories
Information Kuwait

Aramex Closing Down Kuwait City Branch

TivoGuy was telling me that Aramex was closing down their Kuwait City branch and moving everything to Ardiyah. I quickly sent an email to Rabih who is always kind enough to answer my questions. Turns out its true, Aramex is shutting down the Kuwait City office, this is the email I received from him:

Dear valued customer,

Yes it is true we are moving our operations to Aardiyah since our main location is there and all our operations start from there. An email was sent to all our customers today morning. Another email in Arabic will also be sent by tomorrow.

Trust us that the move is for the best of all our customers: Delivery will be much faster and security and control on non-delivered packages will be much better. Most of all, Management will have more direct control on service level provided to our customers.

We will also open a new location for customer service and opening new accounts in Al-Bustan Mall in Salmiyah before year end inshallah.

Always at your service.

Personally I am going to find it a hassel to drive to Ardiyah everytime a package arrives but I guess I don’t have any other option.




Categories
Kuwait Personal

You Want to Talk About Traffic?

I know everyone recently has been complaining about the traffic and I want to add something here. Today the traffic was the worst I had EVER seen in Kuwait EVER. Not even the great winter floods or the Thursday night Salmiya traffic could even come close to todays traffic. Everywhere I went, all my little traffic escape routes, every corner, intersection, road, everywhere was just packed with cars. There was traffic in places I couldn’t imagine their ever being traffic in! I got to the office nearly 30 minutes late so I hope this isn’t going to be like this everyday now…




Categories
Food & Drinks Kuwait

Subways Taste

subway

Had lunch at Subway Salmiya yesterday. It was very disappointing. I ordered the Subway Melt and the Italian BMT and both of them the ingredients they used looked a lot different then the usual. The two sandwiches also didn’t taste like usual. Hopefully this isn’t the begining of the end for Subway in Kuwait. I have seen this happen before in Lebanon, everything was going perfect then suddenly the owner in Lebanon decided to use local ingredients, suddenly everything started to taste drastically different and then later he was shutdown by Subway International.

On the bright side they are accepting Sub Club cards once again, this time they are using different colored and sized stickers.




Categories
Events Kuwait

Lebanese in Kuwait Open Day

Feel the “voile bleue”, “edde sands” & “oceana” atmosphere…this Friday the 22nd at Shiik Flamingo resort in Salmiya. The event will include beach volley ball, street ball and mini football tournaments in addition to water activities, open air barbecue, kids playgrouds, beach party and other entertaining activities. [Link]




Categories
Information Interesting Kuwait

Satellite Map of Kuwait

Was playing around with Google maps when I decided to check out Kuwait. It’s amazing! I didn’t think they would have Kuwait but they do. Now for some reason half of Salmiya is NOT available on Google and that half includes my house but a lot of other landmarks are available to spy on from above. Check out the Kuwait Towers and the Amirs house! [Link]

Update: Here is the link for an overhead shot of the airport. [Link]




Categories
Funny Kuwait

Only in Kuwait

I was checking out Missundaztoood’s website and saw his her Only in Kuwait list. I found the list funny and it reminded me of an incident I witnessed recently. Me and Nat were walking in Salmiya around 2 weeks ago when we spotted this car with a lady in it outside a shoestore. She honked the horn and the salesman came out. She told him something and he went back into the shop and came out 2 mintues later with 2 pairs of shoes. She tried them on in the car and then gave them back to the guy and drove down a few meters to another shop and honked again.

The lady was drive by shoe shopping, I had never seen that before!