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Business Insider published an article a few days ago on the worst airports in the world and the Kuwait International Airport topped the list again. The data is compiled by the website AirHelp who score airports based on on-time performance, quality of service and passenger sentiment. The best airport in the world on the other hand was Qatar’s Hamad International Airport.

With the new Jazeera Terminal just opening and the new Kuwait Airways terminal opening up soon, this might be the last year Kuwait’s Airport comes out the worst.

Check out the AirHelp scores [Here]
Check out the Business Insider article [Here]

Thanks Musaed

A few days ago I was dropping some stuff at my frame guy to get framed when I spotted an interesting looking store down the street from him. Turns out it was an air guns store that also sold some outdoor gear. So I decided to drop by and check it out when I realized the store had a small shooting range in the back that was open to the public. Air guns is another name for pellet guns and they are guns that use compressed air to fire out little metal pellets. Pellet guns don’t have the same restrictions and costs involved as real guns and so, this shooting range is also far cheaper than the Mayadeen shooting range.

The shooting range at this store is priced by the half hour. 30 minutes of shooting a pellet rifle will cost you KD7.5 while an hour is KD15. The cost includes the rifle and an unlimited amount of ammo. In comparison, firing a real ammo rifle at Mayadeen costs KD8 for just 10 bullets. I did half an hour with a friend and it was pretty fun and therapeutic. We both found it therapeutic because you spend a lot of time focusing on the target and so you zone out of everything else.

If you’re looking for a fun activity to do, you should try this out. It’s not as intimidating as firing a real weapon and it’s also not as loud so it’s very accessible to everyone. The place is located in Shuwaikh and is called Gannas Al-Rheeb [Google Maps]. During Ramadan they’re open from 12PM to 5PM and then from 8PM to 12AM. During regular days they’re open from 11AM to 9PM. You can find them on instagram @airguns.q8

A friend shared the commercial above with me yesterday and my first reaction was wtf? In the commercial, a husband walks into a kitchen and starts screaming and hitting his wife for buying the wrong honey. The wife looks terrified and is being apologetic while the husband continues to shout at her before leaving the kitchen angrily.

The commercial got a lot of negative reactions for normalizing domestic violence so I assumed the brand removed the video from their Instagram account, except they didn’t.

Last week another friend of mine shared the screenshot above on her instastory which she took from a show on KTV called “Block” where they had a blackface character.

I don’t think I’m a very PC or an over sensitive person but, I do find it disturbing how the majority of people seem to be OK with this. I’m assuming the majority are ok with it or else the commercial would have been removed and the show would have apologized or been canceled for blackfacing. Yet neither has happened but oddly enough, the commercial below for Mug Coffee House was supposedly suspended by the Ministry because they found it Masonic. So bizarre.

Since you’re ignoring me on twitter figured I’d ask here. Why are you guys blocking my section Kuwestions?

Update: Got a call from Ooredoo and they’re fixing this

I’ve had a few friends ask me about places to store their cars and I didn’t have any I could recommend until I found out about The Vault, a hidden underground parking that provides vehicle management and storage solutions.

Parking in Kuwait is a mess, majority of homes and apartment buildings have outdoor streetside parking that’s usually overcrowded and messy. Unless you live in a pretty fancy area, you usually don’t want to park your nice car out on the streets. Kuwait’s weather is also pretty harsh so you also don’t want to leave your car parked outside all summer long especially if its an older classic car. That’s when a service like The Vault comes handy.

Accessing The Vault is an experience by itself since to get down to the basement you’ll have to take your car via one of the two car lifts. When I arrived at the complex someone was waiting for me outside and helped me take my car down. Once the doors of the lift opened up in the basement, I drove into The Vault to find a bunch of interesting looking Porsches parked on one side, and then a line of Ferraris parked on the other. I instantly knew I was in for a treat. I love cars so it’s always exciting to check out other peoples special cars, no matter what they are. Special cars don’t have to be expensive, they just have to be interesting or unique. Since The Vault can only hold 45 cars, the owner is being choosy with what cars he accepts, think of it as being a boutique parking lot. And like I said, it isn’t about how expensive the cars are. Inside The Vault I spotted the super cute Nissan Figaro and a 1975 Land Rover Defender, both of which aren’t that expensive. But then you also had a like-new-condition classic Ferrari 348 and Zaid Ashkanani’s championship-winning Porsche GT3 Cup car parked nearby.

The Vault stores both cars and bikes and their “promotional” prices right now are as follows:

Cars
1 Month: KD75
3 Months: KD213
6 Months: KD408
12 Months: KD720

Bikes
1 Month: KD38
3 Months: KD108
6 Months: KD204
12 Months: KD380

They offer trickle charging for your car so the battery doesn’t die, they also offer car washes and they’ll check your car routinely and notify you in case your car develops a leak or something. Anytime you want to take your car out you can come to the facility, park your current car and drive off with the stored one. Really practical especially since The Vault is located near three major roads, the 6th Ring Road, Highway 30 and Gulf Road. If this is a service you’re interested in you can contact them on 94083166 or send them a DM @vmskw

Update: Their promotion is over and the prices have now changed.

When the all-new Lincoln Navigator concept car was previewed two years ago with its butterfly doors and futuristic looking seats, Lincoln brought the Navigator back into the spotlight. The Navigator was a pretty popular car for Lincoln when it had originally been released, but over time, it started looking dull and outdated (along with the rest of the Lincoln line up). The concept car was a way for Lincoln to show the market they were still relevant and it worked. A year later they released the all-new Lincoln Navigator and although it didn’t have the butterfly doors or the cool looking 3 piece fold out steps of the concept car, it pretty much retained everything else including the cool looking seats.

I’m generally not into large sized family SUV’s, but when I was asked if I was interested in reviewing the new Navigator I had two questions, did the test drive car have the cool seats and, did it have the cool car unlock light show? When I was told it did, I decided to borrow the car for the weekend.

First impressions, I was extremely impressed with the interior. The dashboard was pretty sleek with a large digital display that had super minimal but premium looking graphics. The buttons were all nicely laid out in the center console along with another large information screen. Even the gear change buttons were beautifully laid out in the center console. The interior oozed luxury and I wasn’t even in their top of the line “Presidential” model that used a more premium quality leather.

One of the things I was looking forward to were the seats because of how customizable and comfortable they supposedly were and I wasn’t disappointed. The seats had 11 different parts I could individually adjust as well as a built in massage feature and cold air ventilation. It had 30-way seat positioning so finding the most comfortable setup was super easy to achieve. Shorter people are also going to love the fact that the foot pedals are electronically adjustable and so can be brought in closer to the driver. The car I drove had a large panoramic roof which brought in daylight that lit up the incredibly large interior. Large is an understatement actually, the car is huge! The second row passengers have more legroom than most people do in the front seats of their cars, and then you have the third row seats to hold more people and you still had room behind those seats for your luggage. There is loads of storage space all over the car for your stuff as well as a huge storage compartment under the armrest and below the center console. The car also had multiple USB ports everywhere and even a wireless charging area.

The model I drove had a bunch of driver assist technologies including a lane keeping system, parking assist, brake assist, 360-degree cameras and adaptive cruise control. The combination of all these technologies made driving the humongous Navigator a lot easier and made driving, in general, a lot more comfortable. The adaptive cruise control works like cruise control on regular cars where you set a speed and the car would stick to it, with the Lincoln it also applied the brakes and slowed down for you when the car ahead would slow down or stop. Combined with a lane keeping system that can control the cars steering to keep you in your lane, you basically end up with a fairly autonomous vehicle when on the highway. The parking assist also made parking super easy. The car can perpendicular or parallel park for you and based on my short experience with the car, it worked pretty well all although it still scares the crap out of me everytime I let a car park for me. As you can see in the video above which I shot, the car takes full control of the steering and acceleration and all you need to do is apply the brakes to stop.

After spending a long weekend with the car I had to give it back and I was fine with that. The car was just too big for me and is clearly meant for large families. For a single guy like me the car felt overwhelming although I do miss the comfort and the serene interior. I had the car on the first day of Ramadan and even with all the traffic, I wasn’t bothered with the chaos that was taking place outside the car. It felt like I was sitting in my living room which is anice feeling to have while stuck in traffic. I do have some issues with the new Navigator though, none major but still worth mentioning. I really dislike the rear of the car, although I think the front of the car looked good, the back just looked super boxy and not in a cool way boxy, but more like the 90s outdated way. Then the stereo, even though the sound system in the car was pretty good, my issue with it was how the dashboard and doors rattled with the bass, and I’m not talking about rattles when I’m blasting the music really loud, I was hearing rattles at low volume as well. Not something I would expect from a premium car. Finally, I thought the suspension was too soft, it made the ride comfier obviously, but the car also tended to bounce a lot after going over a speed bump or hitting a pothole.

The price of the all-new Navigator starts at KD27,000 but the model I drove was the “Reserve” edition and that retails for KD29,000. For more information you can check out the Lincoln Alghanim webiste [Here] or their instagram account @lincolnalghanim

If you grew up with Swatches in the 80s then you’ll most likely recognize the X-Rated Swatch that was released in 1987, the GB406. I never had one, instead around that time I had the more colorful Swatch Navigator, the GB707. A couple of days back I was on eBay looking for a clean, but well-priced GB707 when I noticed someone selling a boxed X-Rated watch for around $120 which seemed weird. Usually, the original black X-Rated watch sells for around $500, and one in this condition would be even more. I realized something was up and quickly googled the X-Rated Swatch to find out Swatch had re-released the model last month!

It was around 11PM but since its Ramadan, I knew shops were still open. I called up one of the Swatch stores and asked if they had the watch in stock and I was told that the black ones had been pulled from the stores, but the red one was still available. I knew I could order the watch online but figured I’d head over to the store and try the red one out to see how it looked on my wrist, but also to get clarification on the “pulled” aspect of the black ones. I’ve had situations similar in the past with Swatch where a highly desirable model is usually put aside for their good customers/collectors.

I get to the Swatch store and start talking to the salesperson who turned out knew their vintage Swatches. She actually pulled out the store’s copy of the highly desirable and difficult to find “Swatch-Clopedia” and we started going through it. After reminiscing over classic Swatches from the 80s and early 90s, and then showing me some stock of old Swatch Guards they still had in store, I was about to leave when she told me to hold on. She picked up the phone and called her brand manager and told him there was a customer in the store who wanted the black X-Rated Swatch. She hung up the phone, went away for a minute and came back with a black X-Rated watch. She told me her brand manager told her it was ok to sell me one and I ended up paying the KD21 price and leaving with it.

The watch is pretty great looking and practically resembles the original 1987 version with very minor differences. Old Swatches tend to have small diameters but the new X-Rated is 41mm which is similar to most modern watches, I think it looks really good when worn. If you’re interested in this watch and can’t get it in Kuwait, there are a ton of people on eBay selling it for around $120 which is still reasonable. But of course, nothing beats walking into a store and paying retail price for one.

If you’re not fasting during Ramadan and want to order food before Iftar, then below are some restaurants that will deliver early. It’s not a big list but it’s still better than nothing.

China Garden
Chinese / 11AM
Telephone: 1805080

China Kitchen
Chinese / 12PM
Telephone: 25738754

Domino’s
Pizza / 10AM
Telephone: 1800800

Noodles
Chinese / 12PM
Telephone: 25749933

Osaka
Japanese / 2:30PM
Telephone: 22637331

Pastamania
Pasta / 12PM
Telephone: 1828585

Q at the Yard
Various / 1PM
Telephone: 22495067/8

Rock Chipsy
Japanese / 12PM
Telephone: 22218844

Rustic Thai Kitchen
Thai / 3PM
Telephone: 22204758

Sushi Club
Japanese / 2:30PM
Telephone: 25712144

Sushi N Roll
Japanese / 12PM
Telephone: 51168689

Top Dawg
Hotdogs / 3PM
Telephone: ‭67770062‬

The Untitled Deli
Sandwiches / 1PM
Telephone: ‭22273354‬

Upper Crust
Pizza / 1PM
Telephone: 22943200

I’ll be updating the list above as I find out about more places, if you know of a place that delivers before Iftar (like 3PM or earlier) let me know.

One thing that has always annoyed me with local online shopping services is that you couldn’t save your payment details like you do on Amazon for example. Looks like Knet are finally allowing your payment details to be saved because with the latest Carriage app update, you now have the option to save your payment information. This means when you place an order, all you need to do is enter your pin code instead of having to enter all your numbers and expiry date every time you place an order.

All I can say is finally! This is going to make online shopping in Kuwait a lot more convenient for everyone.

Update: So I got a phone call from Carriage awhile ago on this subject and they clarified to me one important point. Customer data related to bank details are saved on the user’s device, not on Carriage’s servers. The information is encrypted and then stored in your iOS or Android keychain, and you still need to input your pin on every transaction.

Ramadan starts tomorrow and for those you who’ve never spent Ramadan in Kuwait, here are some things you need to know:

– If you are caught eating or drinking in public during fasting hours, you can be fined up to KD100 and/or jailed for 1 month.

– Restaurants can’t serve food during fasting hours. That includes dine-in, delivery, and takeaway. But, over the past few years, some restaurants have started operating and serving food during fasting hours but not dine-in. I usually put together a list of these restaurants every year, so stay tuned to one again this year.

– Carriage starts delivery 5PM onwards during Ramadan.

– The law states that during Ramadan, the maximum working hours is 36 a week.

– Shops and malls change their working hours during Ramadan. Everything tends to open later and then stay open a lot later. I’ll be sharing a list of Ramadan timings next week.

– Nothing tends to get done during Ramadan since everything moves at a much slower pace. So you need patience.

I think those are the most important things to note. For more details on the above you can check out these two Ramadan Law posts [Here] and [Here]

Around a year ago I posted about the Dual Bowls project by Kuwaiti artist Kawther Al Saffar. The bowls were one of a kind, handcrafted pieces made in Kuwait by pouring two different metals together in a mold to form a rough bowl. I fell in love with the bowls right away and the first thing I did was grab one for myself before posting about it on the blog.

Kawther had launched the project on Kickstarter and when Kickstarter saw what she was doing, they also fell in love with her project. Kickstarter decided to partner up with Kawther giving her a big push resulting in over 600 people buying into the project and pledging over £100,000.

Randomly a few days ago, while checking a friend’s story, I noticed the Dual Bowls were being exhibited in London. Turns out the Victoria and Albert Museum, the world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design, had invited Kickstarter to share with the museum four of their favorite projects from last year. V&A were putting together an exhibition called “The Future Starts Here” and wanted to display Kickstarter projects since it fit with the theme of the exhibit. Out of the four projects Kickstarter decided to share with the museum, the Dual Bowls project was one of them. How insanely cool is that?

The exhibition will be running until November, so if you’re in London make sure you pass by and check it out. Also if you’re in San Fransisco for Maker Faire this weekend, Kickstarter will also be displaying the bowls there.

If you’re interested in getting a bowl for yourself you can get in touch with Kawther via instagram @kalsaff

Pictures by Aisha

There are a lot of companies or brands I don’t like, and only a very few I really really dislike or hate. To get me to really hate you would take a lot of effort (suing me is one way *cough* Benihana *cough*), and somehow beIN have managed to really piss me off. I’m not going to spend a lot of time dwelling on this but to summarize, I only use them to stream Formula 1 races, and when I’ve run into problems, they had extremely horrible customer service. But, I finally found another way to legally (kinda) watch the F1 races… F1 TV.

Before I continue, yes I am aware there are multiple ways to stream the F1 races illegally. Personally, I always try to go the as legal way possible route, unless I hit a wall and then I resort to piracy.

If you’re a Formula 1 fan and you follow the news, you might be aware that Formula 1 just launched F1 TV. Depending on where you reside, you’ll be able to subscribe to F1 TV and have access to their full archive of races as well as being able to stream their current races live via their website.

F1 TV in Kuwait
Kuwait sadly isn’t one of the countries where F1 TV will work. I think that has to do with the agreement F1 have with beIN but since beIN is so buggy, I had to find a way to get F1 TV working in Kuwait and I managed to do just that. To get F1 TV working in Kuwait you need two things:

– VPN with an American server
– Credit card issued by an American bank

The first is easy to get, there are hundreds of options available online and my guess is that pretty soon you’ll also be able to use smartDNS to access F1 TV like we do to get access to US Netflix and Hulu. The credit card on the other hand is much harder to get. I got mine while vacationing in the States but I think there are ways of getting one online although I haven’t tried them. Once you’ve got these two things you can just subscribe to F1 TV and get access.

What’s F1 TV Like?
There are two F1 TV packages, F1 TV Access, and F1 TV Pro. Access doesn’t allow you to stream the races live but with the Pro package you can. If you pay month by month, Access is $3 a month while Pro is $12. If you sign up for a year then the prices drop down considerably with Pro coming to $8 a month, the same price beIN charge for one day access.

This past race was the first time F1 TV went live and it was super buggy. It was so bad that F1 TV sent out an apology and a refund because they weren’t able to cope with the load this past weekend. But, thats fine, it was their first weekend live and nobody was expecting them to be perfect.

When it did work though the service was spectacular, more than anything beIN could offer or any other channel for the matter.

– During practice, qualifications and the race you get access to the cameras inside every single car. So if you’re a Verstappen fan, you can choose to view the camera in his car, and then watch him race until he crashes into something.

– During practice, qualifications and the race you get access to different audio channels. When watching the main stream you can choose to listen to commentary in different languages, or you can choose not to have any commentary at all and just have car sounds. While watching the race from inside the car of your favorite driver, you get an additional option of being able to listen to the team radio.

– With F1 TV you get access to 68 seasons of races! SIXTY EIGHT seasons of Formula 1 racing, that’s just insane. Last night I was rewatching the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix when half the cars crashed at turn one of the race. I then watched a documentary on one of my favorite drivers of all time, Mika Häkkinen. Even if F1 TV didn’t include the archive, I would have easily forked out $8 a month just to stream the races live. The fact that they’ve included so much content with this $8 is an incredible bonus.

As you can tell, I’m very excited about F1 TV. If you’re an F1 fan and have any questions about the service let me know. There are some negatives right now with F1 TV including the lack of an Apple TV app being one. Currently I’m using the browser on my iPad to watch F1 TV which is annoying, but they only properly launched a few days ago so they’re still super busy working out all the kinks and I’m expecting them to launch an app soon. Things will only keep getting better from this point onwards.

It’s kinda crazy how overnight we basically doubled the number of airport terminals in Kuwait. Since its starting to get a bit complicated with the different namings, I figured I’d share the list below to help clear things up along with pictures.

Terminal 1
This is our current main terminal. It was opened in 1979 and was designed by one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, Kenzō Tange. The British architect and critic Stephen Gardiner wrote in 1985 that it was “the most beautiful airport in the world” because of its “breathtaking simplicity of color and shape.” It is “white sculptured space as cool as an ice-cube, as enormous as a vat intake of pure air, as light as a tent, as canvas hung from cables and sails.” The airport today no longer resembles the original one due to the amount of refurbishment it went through. There are no plans to demolish this airport, but once Terminal 2 opens up I hope someone decides to take it back to its original state. For more pictures of the airport, click [Here]

Terminal 2
This is the new and huge terminal that was designed by the British architecture studio Foster + Partners. It’s currently under construction and is expected to be completed in 2021. This is going to be a world-class terminal that will be able to compete with the likes of Hamad International Airport in Qatar and the Emirates Airline Terminal 3 in Dubai. For more pictures, click [Here]

Terminal 3
The Sheikh Saad terminal originally started off as a private planes terminal but later became the Wataniya Airways terminal. After Wataniya Airways shutdown, FlyDubai took it over. Until recently, flying with FlyDubai was the only way to avoid our horrible main terminal. But, now that the Jazeera Airways and Kuwait Airways terminals are opening up, Sheikh Saad terminal will no longer have an edge.

Terminal 4
This is the new Kuwait Airways terminal and is expected to be operational in June. The new terminal is located near the cargo terminal. Here is the location on [Google Maps]. This terminal will help ease congestion at the main terminal until Terminal 2 opens up in 2021. For more pictures, click [Here]

Terminal 5
Finally, Terminal 5 is the Jazeera Airways terminal I posted about last week. This terminal is now basically complete and will be open at the end of this month. Right now the terminal will cater only to Jazeera Airways flights but there are talks about possibly hosting another airline as well, possibly Emirates. For a complete walkthrough and pictures of this terminal, click [Here]

Future Terminal Expansion
In case needed, there are plans in place that can expand Terminal 2 to double the size. My guess if that happens, either the terminal will still be called Terminal 2, or they might be renamed to Terminal 2a and Terminal 2b. After expansion the terminal will be able to handle 50 million passengers a year. In comparisson, our current main terminal handles 6.8 million a year.

Over the weekend, VOX Cinemas officially opened its screens to the public. They’re now the fourth cinema chain operating in Kuwait and their first location is in the fourth phase of The Avenues. You can book tickets and get more information by clicking [Here]

Their THEATRE by Rhodes section with the reclining cinema chairs and waiters service is still coming soon. For a tour of the VOX cinema, check out my previous post [Here]