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I know it sounds bad but this is actually great news. If you remember back in 2007 I posted about how Kuwait was ranked the 8th fattest country in the world and actually ranked 1st if you only counted the industrialized nations. Well according to the latest statistics by the World Health Organization, Kuwait now ranks back down in 13th place. That actually means Kuwait’s lost weight!

World’s Fattest Countries
1- Nauru
2- American Samoa
3- Tokelau
4- Tonga
5- Kiribati
6- French Polynesia
7- Saudi Arabia
8- Panama
9- United States of America
10- United Arab Emirates
11- Egypt
12- Bahrain
13- Kuwait

I believe this has to do with the increased awareness on obesity and the fact that people today are more informed on what causes it. Restaurants are also adding more healthy items on their menu and more and more people are on diets recently. Hopefully Kuwait will keep dropping down the list. Speaking of the list, cick here to download the full list [Link]

Taken from WHO

Thanks lowlael2ml

Abdulaziz is a 15 year old Kuwaiti kid that I believe has a lot of potential to become a great film maker one day. He’s currently got three videos up on his YouTube channel but my favorite is the one above. He’s still young but I already really like some of his framing and the way he pans his shots plus his choice in music really sets the proper mood. You can check out his YouTube channel over [Here]

I just found out about this new activity from a forum user. Flight Experience is a company that allows you to experience flying in the cockpit of a Boeing 737. The cockpit is very realistic and provides you with a 180° view of the outside world. You can choose to fly in out of 24,000 airports and you can even fly around famous landmarks like London Bridge or the Sydney Opera House. The sessions vary in length and are either 30mins, 45mins, 60mins or 90mins and each session is led by a trained flight simulator instructor (most of whom are actual pilots).

The sessions start from KD39 and they are currently in the soft launch phase and are preparing for their full opening sometime by the end of the month. You can also get a video of your flight plus a picture of you in the cockpit (at an extra cost). The picture on top of this post is of the actual flight simulator cockpit.

Flight Experience is located on the last floor of 360 right on top of TGIF. Here is a link to their website [Link]

Thanks Burhan

A few days back I posted about the fact that the architects Foster+Partners will be designing the new Kuwait Airport terminal. Some of you had questions which I didn’t have any answers to but an architect working on the airport project at the Ministry of Public Works emailed me with some more information regarding the project. This is hot off the grill since she had just come out of a meeting with Foster+Partners, the last meeting in the design development phase.

– The new airport terminal is a completely new construction and is designed fully by Foster+Partners while Gulf Consultants are only the local sub-consultant for the project

– The completion of the design stage is scheduled to be completed by the end of March 2012 and the construction completion of the terminal and the soft opening by Mid 2016

They promised to send me renderings of the new terminal building as soon as the design phase ends but for now… below is a passenger that had just arrived to the new terminal (scale 1:5000 1:200 model) and below that is the A380 he boarded.

I just read that the incredibly fantastic architects Foster+Partners will be designing the new Kuwait Airport terminal. That’s basically amazing news because I was just recently starting to wonder when we would go back to awarding great designers with large landmark projects. I can’t wait to see a rendering of the new terminal and I can’t wait for it to be built. [Link]

Note: Picture above is of the Beijing airport which was designed by F+P

Update: In case you’ve missed my older post, the current airport (before all the ugly updates made to it) was designed by the legendary Japanese architect Kenzo Tange. Here is a link with some pictures of the airport in it’s original state. [Link]

On my trip to Dubai I decided to stay at EasyHotel. I had a good experience with them on my last trip to London so was interested to see how the hotel was in Dubai. What attracted me to the hotel was the fact rooms start at just KD7.5 a day (99dhms). Yes KD7.5 a day! I thought that was ridiculously cheap and specially for a hotel in Dubai. I looked for reviews online but couldn’t find anything and the only pictures I found were the PR shots. I was a bit worried to book a room but figured what the hell its only for 3 days so worse comes to worse it would be over quickly.

The hotel is located in the Jabel Ali free zone which is around 40 minutes from the airport and 30 minutes from Dubai Mall. I rented a car from the airport and headed with my GPS towards Easy Hotel. Even though the software on my GPS is the 2010 map it seems since the map got released the roads in Dubai changed because the GPS made me take the wrong exit and I spent 40 minutes trying to get back to the main Sheikh Zayed road. Once you find the hotel though its pretty easy to get there.

My first impression with the hotel was positive. The building was very clean and simple on the outside with ample parking underneath. The reception was also very clean with a few vending machines on one side and some computers connected to the internet on the other. I should mention this in case you didn’t know already but Easy Hotel is a no frills hotel in the same way how Jazeera and Fly Dubai are budget airlines. The rooms are cheap but that’s because you get just the basics and you pay for extra stuff. The Easy Hotel I previously tried in London was also extremely tiny (see review here) but if all you care about is a place to sleep at night then you really won’t mind it all.

The rooms at Easy Hotel Dubai are pretty big compared to the London branch. There was ample space around the bed , a flat screen tv (with just 4 channels), a small open closet with shelves and hangers. There was even a little desk next to the window and a small safe to put your items in. The bathroom wasn’t that bad as well, the sink was kinda small but the shower area was pretty big.

As I mentioned with Easy Hotel you pay for extras. For example the fact I wanted a room with a window.. thats an extra cost. If you don’t care about a window then you pay less for the room. TV remote? You pay for that as well (although we were given one for free), extra towels? you pay, Internet? you pay, you want your room cleaned? you pay, water? you pay, room service? its a vending machine in the lobby. Surprisingly I didn’t have to pay to park my car at the hotel!

But with all that I loved staying there and in the end my room with extras came out to just KD10 a night which is still incredibly cheap and this is DUBAI!!. The hotel was super clean, the Internet was fast and the staff were very friendly. From now on that’s the hotel I will be staying in when I fly there.

Things to keep in mind though, you need to rent a car since the hotel is 30 minutes away from places like Dubai Mall. There are no cabs outside or near the hotel so you would have to order one and I don’t know how long that would take. There is a metro nearby but not walking distance. There is also nothing around the hotel, nothing you can walk to. But, because the hotel is so cheap you can splurge on a rental, my Toyota Yaris from Budget cost me just KD15 a day with all the insurance, gas and crossing 4 electronic toll systems a day. Would I recommend EasyHotel? Yes I would.

I tried FlyDubai for the first time on my recent trip to Dubai. I booked everything the last minute and FlyDubai had the cheapest prices so I decided to try them out.

My experience with FlyDubai itself didn’t turn out bad. We started off on the wrong foot since when I tried to check in at the airport I had to wait around 20 minutes because the ticket staff lost the list that contains all the job occupations that can get a visa on entry to Dubai. That was extremely annoying and frustrating. Then once we boarded the plane I thought the interior was gloomy. I think its the color of the seats (brownish orange with a dark blue) made the interior look old. But I thought the uniforms of the flight attendants were cool and trendy plus they were also very friendly and polite. On my way there the seats didn’t have a TV screen but on the return flight there was a screen with a credit card slit. You could use your card to purchase movies or tv shows to watch (movie is 25dhm tv show is 5dhm). You could also order duty free and food items using the screen including alcohol.

Actually my only issue with FlyDubai is the airport they fly in and out from in Dubai. FlyDubai uses Terminal 2 which is one of the saddest airports I’ve been to (and I’ve been to quite a few). After falling in love with Dubai on this trip (mostly because of Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa) I found the airport a step in the opposite direction. It was old, small, dark and had no source of entertainment whatever. The Duty Free looked very poor and the only restaurants available were McDonalds, a Kebab place and Costa. On the bright side there was free wifi at the terminal but after spending time in a very futuristic and modern city to end the trip in that depressing airport was an extreme let down. The airport sadly is a deal breaker for me which is a shame since everything else wasn’t bad at all.

I’m going to be in Dubai for the next couple of days and I won’t be taking my laptop so posting will be slow. Lets call it a small break. Will be back to Kuwait on the 2nd.

My brother has a thing for taking pictures of old and broken down buildings and I’ve posted the last two of his photo-sets on the blog before (here and here). He recently went and shot another building and uploaded a new photo-set on his flickr account. One picture grabbed my attention since it had an old poster advertising a wrestling event. I told him to send me a close up of that poster which he did and which you can see above and below. The poster was on a building that’s soon to be demolished on Fahad Al Salem street.

I don’t know how old the poster is since there isn’t any date on it, my brother thinks it’s the 80s but my rough guess based on a bit of online research would put this sometime in the early 60s. I think it’s very cool and someone needs to preserve stuff like this. Maybe the part of the wall that has these posters can be broken off or maybe just these pictures are enough?

Here is the link to the full set of pictures my brother took [Link]

Update: A reader was able to calculate what year the poster is from based on the day, date and my rough estimation. The best guess to when this poster dates back to is now 1965.

re:kuwait posted an updated map of the yet to be built Kuwait Metro. It seems there were some major changes done to it but nothing that effects me. According to the new map I still have a metro stop 5 minutes from my house in Salmiya and one across the street from my office building in Kuwait City. Should be super convenient except it currently takes me around 15-20 minutes from my house to work every morning and back every evening so I doubt I would use the metro for my daily commute. What I would use the metro for is Avenues on a weekend. Should be more convenient than trying to find a parking spot. [Link]

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Update: I got the following email from a reader, I can’t verify if its accurate or not

Hi Mark,

In relation to the latest post about Kuwait Metro Project, and since your blog gets a lot of hits, i just want to bring to your attention that the information provided by re:kuwait which they got from KOTU is totally not true.

There is a new governmental entity in Kuwait called the Partnerships Technical Bureau established sometime in 08/09 if my memory serves me right to execute a very ambitious development program namely the first IWPP power plan in Kuwait operated by the private sector, the metro project and Failaka Island development.
The below links are proof of what actually is happening now with regard to the metro. There is no map deveopled or finalized everything is still under study and they should finalize it very soon.

1. E&Y kicks off work on ‘Kuwait Metro’

2. Kuwait Metropolitan Rapid Transit System Project in Kuwait: Consulting Services for Transaction Advisor

Anyways just wanted to clear this misunderstanding in Kuwait i know alot of people read your blog.

Anyway great job keep up the great posts.

In honor of Kuwait’s National Day, Emirates is going to fly an A380 into Kuwait on the 26th of February. The A380 is the humongous double decker plane that has nearly 400 economy seats, 76 business class and 14 first class. I’ve never been on one before but a friend of mine did and told me it’s incredibly huge, they even have showers on board. Emirates won’t be adding the A380 on their Kuwait Dubai route anytime soon but it’s still a nice gesture from them. The Kuwait Airport has been A380 ready since the end of last year. [Link]

Whoever started this car window sticker trend in Kuwait is a genius. I think I first started noticing them at Marina Mall but now other malls in Kuwait are using it and even universities. Basically how it works is if you park in a place you shouldn’t park (handicap spot, over the curb, black and yellow etc..) you get a sticker stuck on your window telling you not to do it again. Doesn’t sound too dramatic but you can’t really just peel those stickers off your car since they tear apart and look horrible. Because it’s actually pretty difficult to get removed is why this is so smart.

Many people would rather get a ticket than get a sticker which is why I think cops should start using these. Anyone caught speeding? Give them a ticket AND stick this on their window. Car illegally parked? Give them a ticket AND stick this on their window. I think it would work.

The Al Salasil bookstore is now open at The Avenues. I was expecting the bookstore to be huge since according to their teaser it was going to be the biggest bookstore in Kuwait but from what I saw it didn’t look like it. I guess I was expecting us to finally get a bookstore as big as Kinokuniya in Dubai. Anyway you can pass by and check it out yourself, they’re located in phase 2 of The Avenues right next to Soccer Scene.

Update: Danderma just posted a review with pictures [Here]
Update2: 965 Malls have some more pictures as well [Here]

Around a week ago the local blog His & Hers posted about a price discrepancy they spotted at River Island and they were very upset because they felt cheated. River Island responded to their post by inviting them over for a meeting so they could explain to them why things are priced the way they are. They didn’t have to do this but they took the extra effort to make things right. You can check that post [Here]

Yesterday on the Dubai Eye radio station during the show Techno Tuesday (Listen here 2nd file starting at 3:30) they brought up the issue I am having with Benihana and one of the hosts mentioned Aramex as a company that handles criticism really well which I have to say is absolutely true. Those of you who have been reading my blog know how much and how often I’ve criticized Aramex in the past and it never got personal. I’ve actually been with them for over 10 years now and I was one of their first 200 customers and they’ve always taken criticism from me and their customers and used it to try and improve their service. Not once did I receive a warning from them or have a package of mine “accidentally” get sent to China. In fact they even wanted me to post asking my readers what issues they also had with them, which I ended up doing.

Now that’s good customer care.

I just found out there is a website dedicated to the golden jubilee of the independence of the State of Kuwait. The website has a downloadable PDF of ALL the events that are taking place this month, for example did you know that tomorrow the 2nd Kuwait National Arabian Horse Championship will be held under the Patronage of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait or that tomorrow in Mubarek Al Kabeer there will be a Sports Day and Entertainment Festival? I didn’t.

Here is the link to the PDF [Link]
Here is the link to the website [Link]

Thanks Franklin