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One of my favorite workout supplements at the moment is Jack3d. It was recommended by Fahad since after a 10 hour work day I usually arrive at the gym drowsy and tired. Jack3d is a pre-workout supplement which you’re supposed to take 20-30 minutes before you hit the gym. It’s incredible, usually with most supplements you don’t feel any results until you look at the long term picture but with Jack3d you feel the difference from the first session.

Basically what Jack3d does is give you a lot of energy and one that lasts the full workout. I usually take two scoops but today I decided to take three since I had around only 5 hours of sleep and a really exhausting long flight and needed whatever energy I could get. The result? I kicked ass at the gym today, I lifted all my weights, didn’t feel sleepy or tired and also was barely resting between sets. I was giving it 110% for the full hour which is incredible considering how exhausted I was all day and I had even forgotten to take my asthma medication.

If you’re looking for a pre-workout boost I highly recommend Jack3d. I got mine from Results in Souk Sharq for KD22. You can read more about Jack3d [Here]

I finally understand why people say Geneva is a boring place. There doesn’t seem to be much to do here and everything closes early. But, right now that’s exactly the place where I want to be, somewhere really chilled out where I can relax. It’s so peaceful over here with no traffic or crowds. While walking in the supposedly “busy” Geneva shopping district it really wasn’t busy at all, kinda like Avenues in the middle of the week.

The sky is so blue and full of fluffy clouds. I’ve got a slight neck pain right now and it’s probably because I spent most of the day walking while looking up.

Today was mostly a free day with just a dinner that was arranged for us in the evening at Le Lion d’Or. Tomorrow on the other hand is going to be a full day, we’re going to be waking up at 7:30 for breakfast and then heading to Vallée de Joux to visit the Audemars Piguet museum followed by the main Audemars Piguet building where they make all the watches.

I’m posting a lot of pictures on Instagram all day long so make sure you keep checking instagrid.me/mark248am

I just checked in to my room awhile ago at the Beau Rivage. The view is amazing (pictured above) and the weather is fantastic. I’ve got a ton of emails which I need to catch up on but since I only have 4 hours before we’re all off to dinner, I’m going to use this time to try and do some shopping instead.

In a few hours I’m heading to Geneva courtesy of the watchmaker Audemars Piguet. The local dealer is sending some of their customers to the main Audemars Piguet headquarters in Switzerland and I was lucky enough to be invited as well. I’m a huge AP fan and I’ve always wanted to visit the Vallée de Joux area (pictured above) where all the prestigious watchmakers are located so this trip should turn out to be amazing.

Once I get there I’ll be getting a local sim card so I could continue to post pictures on Instagram whenever I find anything interesting. As usual you could follow me by adding me on instagram, my username is mark248am or you can check out my pictures with your web browser by clicking [Here]

According to Abo Flan, a second Hungry Bunny branch is opening soon and this time in Egaila. I still haven’t been to their Jahra branch because I thought it was far but Egaila is even further. [Link]

I’ve posted about Photolenders before, a local website that rents out cameras and lenses but it seems they now also rent studio space. Prices seem reasonable, it starts at KD25 for 2 hours and includes strobes and triggers. Could be useful if you’re interested in studio photography. [Link]

A blog reader contacted me around two weeks back asking me if I wanted to review his McLaren and of course I said yes. After spending the day with it this weekend I can easily review the car with 3 words… “I want one”. Seriously I want one. I can’t afford to buy it but that doesn’t change the fact I really really want it.

There are a lot of reviews of the McLaren online and Top Gear have a great one which you can watch on YouTube. So, not wanting to come about this review in the same way I decided to look at the car differently. It’s obviously a fast super car and everyone already knows that but I was curious to how the car would perform as a daily driver in Kuwait. I would hate to spend this much on a car and then only drive it on weekends. I’d want to drive the car to work, to the gym or even to the supermarket.

First thing I looked for after getting into the car was cup holders and I ended up finding two right behind the center console. Cup holders are great for holding your drinks but they’re also more useful for storing items like your phone or sunglasses. The McLaren not only has two easy to access cup holders but there is also a 12v socket inside one of them which means you can plug in your phone charger as well. That’s practical. Another practical feature is the AC, both the driver and passenger have separate control panels which is a feature you usually find in large cars but not super cars.

The seats are also fully electric and have 3 memory positions which is convenient if the car is being shared between say a couple or family members. The sound system is naturally located in the center console and is made by the high end audio guru’s Meridian. The sound system control panel is a large touch screen that is more than double the size of the iPhone and is 100% iPhone/iPod compatible. Once you connect your iPhone or iPod to the car you can then navigate your music by touch and even view album art beautifully all on the center console screen. I think it has the best iPod integrated system I’ve seen so far. The car boot is a lot bigger than I expected. I wouldn’t take the car to IKEA if I need to get a bookcase but it’s definitely supermarket friendly.

The McLaren is very comfortable to drive. I actually found it more comfortable and forgiving on worn out roads when compared to say my old Z4. I’m also pretty tall (6’1) and I didn’t feel claustrophobic or cramped in the car neither did I have problems finding my correct seating position (the seats are incredibly adjustable). Driving the car I was actually impressed by the fact I could cruise in it at 80km/h and not feel like I should be driving it a lot faster. Of course once you step on the gas the car is breathtakingly fast but as a daily driver you want to be able to drive on regular roads at regular speeds and the McLaren does that really well. Even the car’s gas mileage is pretty good at 15mpg which is similar to my FJ Cruiser. I did find the brake peddle a bit too stiff to press but it’s something you would get used to after a few hours in the car.

The only two things that hurt the car as a daily driver is the ride height and the doors. It’s a pretty low ride since it’s a sports car which means the majority of the speed bumps you’ll need to take sideways. The second issue is the doors, they swing open upwards which means you can’t park in very tight spots. If the parking spot is tight you won’t be able to open the doors so you always need to make sure you have ample room on the sides. But again if you’ve paid this much for the car, I doubt you’re going to be squeezing it anywhere.

I love the car but then again who wouldn’t? The thing is I don’t only love it because it’s a super car, I love it because it’s a super car you can actually use every day. I wasn’t kidding when I said I want one, I do I just can’t afford the starting price of around KD70,000. But if anyone from McLaren is reading this, give me a fat discount (like 75%) and you’ve got yourself another customer.

There was a dumpster fire near my building just awhile ago. It’s a common occurrence but what grabbed my attention this time is that their were a bunch of kids trying to put out the fire with water bottles and sand. Obviously that wasn’t helping but it was still nice to seem them try.

When the firefighters came I wanted to take pictures of them putting the fire out but the fireman in charge wouldn’t let me. That’s happened to me before but this was the first time I was told nicely not to shoot AND I was given an explanation to why. Turns out the firefighter putting out the fire wasn’t in full gear and I guess that’s against their regulations and he didn’t want his firefighter to get in trouble. I’m cool with that.

Just read an interesting post on the K’S PATH blog in which they’re recommending closed garbage bins (basically with lids) similar to the ones pictured above over the current open ones in helping to prevent strays.

I think that’s actually a pretty good idea and doesn’t require much work from the municipality other than some financial investment to purchase the new bins. Not only will it help prevent stray dogs and cats from munching and living off the garbage but it would also hide the garbage from plain sight and also reduce the foul smell. [Link]

While I was at the Violet Concept Store checking out the Wolf Designs watch winders (check previous post) I got to see something else that was very very cool. The Violet Concept Store have an “OriginTimes’ Big Block Winder” on display! The Big Block Winder was featured in Robb Report’s “21 Ultimate Gifts” back in 2010 and while the Wolf Designs watch winders are on the affordable side, this watch winder lies in the other end of the spectrum.

The Big Block Winder is a large watch winder that’s made from an actual Bugatti Veyron engine block. The watch winding mechanism are located in each of the 16 cylinder locations and the whole thing is controlled with a futuristic looking control panel. This thing is a beast! The price? KD35,000. Expensive I know but this wasn’t built for us. If you have 16 decent automatic watches which cost on average say KD7,000 and up then you probably already have an actual Veyron in your garage and this watch winder is just pocket change. It’s for the person who has everything. You can check out some more cool pictures below or on the Robb Report website [Here]

I watched Battleship earlier tonight at the movies and I thought it sucked. The movie was filled with every cliche you could imagine and it also felt like a Transformers movie mixed in with the movie Armageddon. Once you get near the end of the movie it goes from bad to worse with some of the most cheesiest scenes I’ve ever seen which is why I have no idea how it scored a 6.5 on IMDB (it’s too high a score).

On the bright side there isn’t anything to be cut from this movie, I don’t even recall a kissing scene so it’s Kuwait safe. Still, that shouldn’t be an excuse to go and watch it. It’s not worth it. [Movie Website]

Yesterday after dropping off my dog at the vet and heading to the airport I decided to pass by the old Ahmadi Drive-In Cinema. I’ve been wanting to pass by for ages and figured I’d quickly scout out the place to see where I could climb in from and then come back another day.

When I got there I drove up to the main entrance where cars in the old days would line up before driving in and noticed the main gate was closed. I decided I would drive around the complex to see if I could find some kind of hole or a low wall I could jump. But, as soon as I turned to the side of the building I noticed the side gate was left open. It caught me a bit by surprise and from where I was sitting in the car I could see the cinema screen inside. I had my camera with me and I still had time to get to the airport so I figured what the heck, took my camera and went inside.

The place is huge, I’ve never been to a drive-in theater before so I was a bit dumbfounded by the size. Once you’re inside you’re closed off from the rest of the world and it was around 6pm when I got there which was during sunset so the whole experience was pretty tranquil. I loved the place.

Although the place is not being taken care at least they haven’t demolished it. There are so many possibilities for this space, even though drive-in’s are long gone that doesn’t mean the place can’t be used for anything worthwhile. One thing I’d love to see take place inside there is car booth sales You’ve got a nice space that’s isolated from the surroundings as well as a place with history so events like that would fit perfectly. Even car meets and monthly flea markets could work really well in that space.

Whatever comes of the place I just hope they keep the structure standing.

Yesterday after my visit to MRC I decided to pass by the tire graveyard which was located around 5 minutes down the road from them. The road that takes you to the tire graveyard is unpaved and unmarked but with the help of Google Maps I didn’t have any trouble finding it. Once there I was awestruck with the amount of tires that were piled up on top of each other, literally millions and millions of them.

To get a better look at the tires I first had to climb a tall wall of tires but once I got to the top the sight was spectacular. I know it’s not a good thing because these tires are an environmental disaster but still you can’t deny it’s a scene like no other.

I didn’t know if I was allowed to be there of if I was allowed to take pictures so I quickly snapped a few shots and got out. I really need to go back since it’s full of photo opportunities. On the bright side I did end up with a cool desktop wallpaper (pictured above) so that was worth it. If you want to use the picture above as a wallpaper as well you can download the higher resolution version from [Here]

Yesterday I passed by MRC, a metal and recycling company to check out how everything works. It’s one of these things I’ve always been curious about which is why I emailed them to see if they’d give me a tour. Their recycling center is located in Amghara and it was segmented into two parts, plastics and metal.

Plastic
You can easily tell you’ve arrived at their plastic recycling facility since you’ll be met with huge piles of colorful empty plastic containers divided into different groups depending on the color. They export both the plastics and metals for recycling abroad but before they can send the products out they need to be prepped. With plastics that process involves a few stages. The first thing they do is shred the plastic into small pieces. They then wash these plastic pieces in a large pool and are left to dry. Once the plastic pieces dry they are placed into another machine that melts them into long plastic strings which get chopped up into very tiny pieces. Those pieces are filled into sacks and then exported to different countries where they are recycled (mostly China).

Metal
For metal the process is a lot simpler than plastic although it’s a much more larger and difficult process since it involves large metal objects such as cars. Like plastic the metal gets exported but before they can export it all the metal needs to be shredded into very tiny pieces. After a bit of safety prep I was actually allowed up onto the large claw crane that was picking up cars and tossing them into a pile. I sadly wasn’t allowed to control it but it was still cool being up there. The cars and other metal objects are then placed into a large shredder, the first part chops the metal object into big pieces and then the second part chops them into tinier pieces.

If you’re interested in recycling MRC have a program called NewAir which they’ve tailored for companies. They will collect and recycle your waste products which include paper, cartons, plastic, metals, PET bottles, cans, electronic items and more. To sign up to NewAir to get more details you can visit their website [Here]

There’s a new burger place called Hashtag that opened up next to Solo Pizza in Kuwait City and I got to try it out tonight. I don’t usually have burgers in the evening but since I had been eating super healthy and clear for nearly 3 weeks I kinda had a weak moment when Fahad posted about it on Instagram. Once I was done with the gym I headed to Hashtag to try it out. I was actually hoping the place would be packed since it would have given myself an excuse not to cheat and drive off but it wasn’t so I parked my car and went in and ordered a burger.

If I was to open a burger place it would be very similar to Hashtag. It’s a very tiny joint in the middle of no where with just 4 burgers on the menu (my place would probably have just one). I ordered a double Hashtag which is 2 beef patties, 2 slices of cheese, grilled onions and their special sauce. I also ordered water as my drink and no fries since I didn’t want to cheat too much.

The burger didn’t take long to make and I sat down and quickly dug in. First impression it looked messy, juicy and delicious. Taste wise it also didn’t disappoint. The bun was soft the patties very juicy and tender and the onions were grilled just the way I like them which is slightly raw. The sauce on the other hand wasn’t that great and I didn’t think it did the burger any justice. Next time I’d probably have it with just ketchup and mustard instead.

My biggest issue is that the place is fairly expensive. A double burger and a bottle of water came out to KD5.250 (4.5 for the burger, 750fils for the water). I think that’s pretty pricy for what should be a small casual burger joint. If you’re interested to try them out (you should), they’re located in Kuwait near Solo Pizza in the building behind Tatami. Here it is on Google Maps [Link]