Search: “sti”

A couple of days back ago I got back from a 10-day trip to London. Other than a day stopover in 2018 on my way from LA, it was my first time back in London since 2015. I flew Kuwait Airways which btw, is so much better than flying British Airways. Firstly the timings of the flights make a lot more sense (no late night flight so no need to sleep on the plane) but also the overall experience is better because of the Kuwait Airways airport and the less busy flight. Because I was staying for 10 days I needed a reasonably priced hotel that wasn’t a shoebox, was somewhat trendy looking and located in a great area. After doing a ton of research I decided to stay at the Kingsland Locke in Dalston.

I hadn’t heard of Dalston nor had I been to it up until this trip. It’s an area in East London, part of the Hackney borough. If you’ve been to Shoreditch before then it’s around a 30-minute walk up from there. Dalston turned out to be the best place I could imagine staying. I had the award-winning bakery The Dusty Knuckle like a 5-minute walk from my hotel so that sorted out my breakfast and coffee routine every morning. Instead of losing weight on this trip because of all the walking, I think I put on weight because of all the pastries I was having every morning. I was also within walking distance from the bar 🔶🟥🔵 which became my go-to spot for a nightcap and to chill at the end of the day.

I was also surrounded by loads of grocery stores including M&S and Amazon Fresh (post on that coming soon). There was also a Pret-A-Manger, a community garden and an amazing Indian restaurant called Attawa all a few minute’s walk.

The area is connected to the rest of London via Overground and there were two different stations next to the hotel, one that was a 2-minute walk and another a 5-minute walk. Both stations were on different lines so it made getting anywhere rather simple and quick. Shoreditch and Peckham were both reachable without swapping any trains while areas like Oxford Circus or Notting Hill would require swapping to the Underground line which was just 2-stops away.

The hotel itself was pretty cool. It gave off a slight hipster vibe but it was subtle. The interior was nicely designed, and the staff were friendly. The hotel works like a short stay apartment which it what helps keep the costs down. It’s like a tiny studio apartment so you get a fully functioning kitchen in the room and a laundry area in the basement if you need it. There isn’t a daily cleaning service, depending on how long you’re staying you might get a complimentary clean included or you can request it for an extra cost. If you want new towels, shampoos, toilet paper etc, you can just request those at the front desk.

I stayed in their City Studio room which was fairly small but larger than the room I stayed in last year at The Hoxton in Paris (which also cost twice as much). The bed and pillows were super comfy, and the whole room gave a very cozy vibe. Even though this hotel was one of the affordable ones I found, it still cost KD60 a night, so it’s attainable but wouldn’t call it cheap. You can obviously find cheaper rooms but don’t think you can find one that has as cool a personality and vibe that was located in a good area. I’d totally stay there again if I go back.

If you’re traveling to London this Eid and haven’t booked a place to stay in yet then check this place out. Here is a link to the hotel website Link

I found out about Smiths Boutique by mistake recently. Before I traveled on vacation I was in Dasman Complex picking up a burger from Top Bun when I noticed something going on in one of the shops nearby. Turns out it was a small event for a local watch boutique called Smiths. I’m a big fan of watches and so decided to check the event out. The owner was there, a watch guy himself (obviously) so he proceeded to explain to me and my friends his concept, the watch brands he had on display, and why he chose to bring those specific ones to Kuwait.

Smiths carries brands you might never have heard of like Laco, Roue, RZE and HVD but they all have interesting stories. Laco for example is a German watch brand that has been around since 1925 while Roue is a brand inspired by watches in the 60s and 70s. Smiths also carries modified and homage watches, a category that has exploded in popularity recently due to watches like the CasiOak, a mashup where people took an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak replica case and combined it with a Casio. Smiths carries some modified Seiko watches which are interesting, fun, and attainable, but that also pretty much describes all the watches Smiths carry.

If you like watches you’ll appreciate what Smiths is trying to do. With most of the watch stores sticking to popular and generic big names, it’s refreshing to see one thats trying to be a bit more unique and offer something more curated. The Smiths Instagram is pretty active and informative so make sure you check that out @smiths.oclock but their website is also mobile phone friendly with all their watches displayed along with their prices, you can check that out at smiths.boutique

For 2022, I decided to put together a Ramadan Desserts list with the aim to highlight the interesting desserts for the season. There are a lot of delicious-looking ones this year which is why I also included all the photos. In addition to listing them here on the blog, I also compiled them into a PDF which you can download [Here]

Check out the full list below.

In May 1960, an international competition was held for the architectural project for the Kuwait National Museum which would be located in the cultural district of the 1952 Master Plan of Kuwait. The competition was won by French architect Michel Écochard and the museum was finally opened in 1983 where it stayed open up until the 1990 invasion. The museum was badly damaged during the war and most of the buildings remained closed (some photos of the destruction here). There were talks at one point of demolishing the museum and building a new one but thankfully in 2014, it was decided to save the existing museum by restoring it.

The restoration project is now complete and the museum is currently in the process of getting ready to reopen. I got invited to a sneak peek of the museum, something that I’ve been wanting for years. I was lucky enough to visit the museum back in the 80s, and although I don’t remember much of it, I do appreciate the fact that they decided to restore the landmark building instead of demolishing it as is the case most of the time.

The Kuwait National Museum is part of the Qibla Cultural District (Google Maps) which includes the Sadu House, the National Library, and Al-Qibla School for Girls Education. The main museum complex comprises of four buildings each housing a different part of Kuwait’s history:

Building 1 – Archeology of Kuwait
Building 2 – Ethnographic History of Kuwait
Building 3 – Ancient East
Building 4 – Ancient East

Buildings 1 and 2 are already open while buildings 3 and 4 are the ones heavily damaged during the war and the ones I got to tour. Buildings 3 and 4 are the largest buildings and will cover art in the Ancient East starting in the 3rd millennium BC going through Arabia before Islam, then the beginning of Islam, followed by the full chronology of Islamic Art.

All four buildings are connected by closed bridges. This means once you enter a building you can navigate the whole museum without stepping outside making it very convenient during the hot summer months.

Minor changes were made to the structure of the buildings, large semi-opaque windows were installed to bring in more daylight, and some minor new stairs and walkways were added due to updated fire safety requirements. All the work looked very tasteful and well-executed although I do wish they had kept the original pink brick facade.

There is also a planetarium outside the museum which you’ve most likely seen driving by on the Gulf Road since it’s the building closest to the road and its round spherical shape is hard to miss.

The planetarium is also in the final stages of renovation and will be reopening soon.

As I mentioned early on in the post, buildings3 and 4 of the museum are currently in the process of getting ready to reopen. They’re expecting that would happen in two years’ time, around 2024. In the meantime, buildings 1 and 2 are open and you can visit those now, here is my previous post about them. Link

The Undertaker went on a PR tour recently ahead of his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame and during one of his interviews, he recalled the infamous incident he had on KTV with fellow wrestler Vader and Kuwait TV host Bassam Al Othman. WWE (previously WWF) was performing in Kuwait back then and both wrestlers went on KTV’s Good Morning show to be interviewed by Bassam. During the interview, Bassam asked Undertaker and Vader if wrestling was fake. In response, Vader flipped over the table they were sitting at and grabbed Bassam by the tie, asking him if it seemed fake while using foul language. If you haven’t watched that old interview before, I’ve embedded it below.

According to The Undertaker in his recent interview with SHAK Wrestling (video below at 14:50 minute mark), they actually ended up arresting Vader after the incident:

“I remember them whisking me out,” he said. “When everything broke down, I remember Jerry Brisco grabbing me and like, ‘let’s get in a car, we’re getting out of here.’ I look back and I see Leon like, ‘Take, what do I do?’ I was like, ‘I’ll see you at the hotel, brother.’ Because I am getting pulled, I am physically getting pulled to get into the car before everyone gets arrested. We just didn’t know. I knew that was going to be a bad decision right away and it was. He didn’t leave with us, he had to stay there for a week or so after we all left.”

I never knew Vader was arrested but I found another show on KTV that discussed the aftermath of the incident and supposedly, after the interview, the Good Morning show host ended up pressing charges on Vader at the police station. Two scrawny cops then went and arrested Vader who was put under house arrest for a couple of weeks until the WWE eventually managed to get him out.

The anniversary of this incident is actually in a few days since it took place on April 12th, 1997. Good times.

To celebrate the month of Ramadan, Off-White™ has released an exclusive capsule collection that will only be available at their stores in Kuwait, Dubai, and Riyadh. The 17-pieces take on various interpretations of relaxed silhouettes and modest dressing in honor of the holiday.

If you don’t live in Kuwait, Dubai, or Riyadh, the items can still be purchased from Off-White™ but only through their website. The Off-White™ store in Kuwait is located in the Prestige section of the Avenues. Their local Instagram account is @off___white___kuwait

Around 3:15 PM I was heading back to the office from Shuwaikh when I spotted a fire in the distance. As I got closer I realized it was in Souk Mubarakiya, so I parked my car behind the old Central Bank of Kuwait building and walked over to where the fire was. The scene was pretty unreal when I got there since it was mostly business as usual. Like you can see the HUGE smoke rising in the background a couple of alleyways down, but everyone was pretty casual going about their day like it wasn’t a big deal.

Once I got to the alley closer to the fire, things were completely different. The fire was pretty loud with lots of pops and bangs, and there was the sound of glass breaking everywhere. You can also feel the heat of the flames from where I was standing which was at the main entrance to the alleyway that has Shamam and the fish market on the right, the bukhour, and the fragrance market on the left. The left side was on fire at that point but the fire was creeping towards the Shamam side via the roof.

View from Shamam

The firefighters were still not on this side of the market and there was a huge amount of onlookers as well as regular folks who were trying to put the fire out themselves with water hoses and extinguishers. Lots of food shops had moved their gas cylinders into an open square along with wooden benches and seating that I guess were from one of the tea shops.

By the time I left around 6:30 PM, the police had shut down the area and had forced people out of the market. I don’t know why it took them so long to close the market, it might be because they were initially understaffed, but by 6:30 there were hundreds of police and firefighters on the scene and I even saw firetrucks from the National Guard arriving.

I was sharing everything live on my Instagram account so if you want to see the videos and photos I took, I’ve created a temporary highlight on @mark248am

This is the last weekend before Ramadan begins and it’s kinda slow but still a few things going on. Below is this weekend’s list of events, if I missed anything let me know:

Thursday
Exhibition: Seeking Refuge by Amira Behbehani
Exhibition: “Creatures Floating in Absurdity” by Mohamad Omran
Exhibition: Graduation Ceremony by Aseel AlYaqoub
Ramadan Food & Household Exhibition
Treasure Hunt at ASCC
SADI 2022 – Reviving our Roots
Q8 Comedy Club Stand Up (Arabic)
Kuwait Motor Show
Comic Festival Convention
Kuwait Motor Town Open Track Day
Sunset Paddling

Friday
Albohayra Farm
Ramadan Food & Household Exhibition
SADI 2022 – Reviving our Roots
Kuwait Motor Show
Comic Festival Convention

Saturday
Exhibition: Seeking Refuge by Amira Behbehani
Grand Mosque Tour
Albohayra Farm
Ramadan Food & Household Exhibition
SADI 2022 – Reviving our Roots

Back in 2019 I bought my first RIMOWA bag, a medium-sized check-in Original which is part of their aluminum series. Since then I’ve fallen more in love with the brand and ended up purchasing two more, a cabin version of the bag and a large check-in.

I bought the large bag recently, back in October when I was in Europe. I ended up shopping a lot more than I expected and so couldn’t fit all my stuff in my medium-sized bag and so decided to buy the large one to match my other two. I used the bag once on that trip to fly back to Kuwait, and then I used it again when I went to Istanbul last month.

When I got to Istanbul I removed the sticky luggage tag from the handle and noticed the paint peeled off the handle. I don’t mind my bag getting dented and scratched up, it’s part of the reason I got a metal suitcase to begin with, but paint peeling off the plastic handle just looked bad. It was also weird because it didn’t happen with my other two bags which I’ve owned for longer and traveled with a lot more. I figured it must be a production issue so once I got back to Kuwait I shot off an email to customer support on the main RIMOWA website to get the problem sorted under warranty.

In less than 24 hours I got a response back from RIMOWA asking for my bag’s serial number as well as asking me some questions and if I could share a photo. Then the next day I got a phone call from the RIMOWA dealer in Kuwait who were super nice and asked me to drop off the bag whenever I was free to their store in Avenues. When I did drop the bag off they even offered to fix the dents on my bag which I told them to not to. A day or two later I got a call back telling me the bag was ready to pick up, they had replaced the handle with a new one.

It was super easy, probably the easiest warranty fix experience I’ve ever had with any brand which is why I wanted to write about it. After living with the RIMOWA bags for a few years now, and after having dealt with the local dealer, I can’t recommend the brand enough. No competition, they’re the best travel luggage you can get.

Below is this weekend’s list of events. If I missed anything let me know!

Thursday
Exhibition: Seeking Refuge by Amira Behbehani
Exhibition: “Creatures Floating in Absurdity” by Mohamad Omran
Show: Arms & The Man
Ramadan Food & Household Exhibition
Matcha Matcha
Treasure Hunt at ASCC
Kids Workshop: World of Bugs
Alzay Fashion Design Exhibition
Kuwait Motor Show
IAME Karting Series – The Final Rounds

Friday
Albohayra Farm
DAI Story Time x Ahmadi Music Group Present Peter & the Wolf
Show: Arms & The Man
Ramadan Food & Household Exhibition
Matcha Matcha
Kuwait Motor Show
IAME Karting Series – The Final Rounds

Saturday
Exhibition: Seeking Refuge by Amira Behbehani
Grand Mosque Tour
Albohayra Farm
Be The Change. Sustainable Lifestyle Exhibit
Ramadan Food & Household Exhibition
Matcha Matcha
Miseen Scene: Ran
Bagels for Brunch
Spanish Night
Cycling at KMT
Kuwait Motor Show
IAME Karting Series – The Final Rounds

I’ve been wanting to drive to Bahrain for years now but never actually did because I needed to get a Saudi visa which was a hassle to get a few years ago. Not anymore though which is why I ended up driving to Bahrain for the first time a couple of days back. I had some work to do in Khobar so I decided I’d try driving there. Firstly, just to point out one thing, if you’re Kuwaiti or a GCC citizen the process is obviously much simpler and has always been easy since you don’t require a visa for Saudi or Bahrain. For expats on the other hand, there are a couple of extra steps that we need to take but with the new tourist-friendly Saudi Arabia, the process is super easy.

Here is everything you need to know in case you want to do the same.

Getting a Saudi Visa
So the first step if you’re an expat is getting a Saudi visa. I’ve got the Canadian passport so the process was very easy for me. I just visited the Saudi eVisa website and applied by uploading my photo and filling out a few details in a form. I applied on Saturday at 9:35PM and got my visa approved and issued by 9:38PM. Yeah, it’s super fast. My visa is valid for 1 year with multiple entry and the cost for it was 534.98 SAR including insurance (around 43KD).

Get Cash!
This is very important, before heading on your trip make sure you get Saudi Riyal. All the fuel stations I stopped at in Saudi did not accept our debit or credit cards. They will only accept cash. A friend told me to take cash with me and this was the best tip I got.

Driving to the Kuwait – Saudi Borders
I left my place (Salmiya) around 7:45AM on Monday and headed to the Saudi border down south (Nuwaisib Port). I filled up fuel at the gas station next to my house on the 4th Ring Road and then drove straight down there which took around 1 hour. My recommendation is to fill up gas one more time before the borders since the first fuel station I found after the borders was an hour drive later.

The Kuwaiti – Saudi Borders
When I arrived at the Kuwait border control it was empty with just a couple of other cars that were also heading to Saudi. You’ll find various booths and you just drive up to the one that’s available. He needed my passport, civil ID and car registration. The car is in my name, if the car isn’t in your name you probably need to get a power of attorney (tawkeel) or something (I’m not sure). In any case, there was no issue going through Kuwait border control, but I did have an extra step I needed to take once I got to the Saudi border control.

When I got to the passport control booths at the Saudi side of the border, the guy asked me for my visa so I gave him a printout of my e-visa. He then told me I needed to turn around and head to a building at the corner of the lot so I did. It was a small building that had 4 passport counters. It was just me and a few truckers so it was empty and the truckers looked like they were waiting for someone. They punched some data on the computer, took my photo, scanned my fingerprints, and then stamped my passport and wrote down a code in my passport. That code (I’m guessing my visa number) is what they then used for the rest of the trip when punching my data at the Saudi side of the border control. So I think I need to do this process whenever I get a new visa, so like once a year.

Once I got my passport stamped, I got back into my car and headed to the first booth again. I gave the guy my passport and he let me through. Customs was next (they just look in your car) and then I had to go through the car insurance booth before leaving the borders. You need to insure your car and I ended up paying 128 SAR (10KD) to do so.

Saudi Borders to Khobar
It was a semi-cloudy/gloomy day when I did the drive and it was very chill with just a few cars on the road. The journey from the Saudi borders to Khobar is around 3 hours and it flew by quickly. The highway was mostly new, there was some construction work taking place so I got to strips where the highway suddenly became one lane but it was mostly ok. I didn’t fill up fuel before the borders and the first bunch of fuel stations I did come across in Saudi were all closed and out of business. Around 1-1:30 hours after the border, I spotted a McDonald’s sign in the distance and that was the first fuel station that I came across that was open. My fuel gauge was at the halfway point by then so I filled the car up and paid in cash since they didn’t take cards. There is a good convenience store there, a 24/7 Mcdonald’s and there are bathrooms. So a good point to stop.

The rest of the trip was uneventful and a couple of hours later arrived at Khobar. There are lots of speed cameras on the way and they look different than ours. They’re beige-colored metal boxes on the left of the highway so keep an eye out for them. I got caught by one on my way to the Kuwait border but it still hasn’t shown up on the system. I heard the tickets are expensive so not looking forward to finding out how much I have to pay.

Khobar to Bahrain
I really didn’t have any solid plans just to be clear. I wasn’t sure if after I was done in Khobar I would drive back to Kuwait the same day, or if I’d sleep in Khobar for the night or go to Bahrain. I just got a small bag with a change of clothes with me and figured I’d wing it. Once I was done with my work in Khobar, and after exploring it for a bit I realized I didn’t want to spend the night there. So I decided I’d make my way to Bahrain. I didn’t have a visa since I usually get one on arrival, so wasn’t sure if the process would be the same or not if I drove into Bahrain. It was.

The Saudi – Bahrain Borders
This was a very interesting and impressive experience. So you probably know that Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are connected together by a bridge. It’s similar to our Sheikh Jaber Causway except much shorter. There is a toll booth at the start of the bridge which I paid 25 SAR (2 KD) to get on. Once you get on the bridge you drive for a short distance, maybe like 5 or 10 minutes before arriving to a small island that houses the Saudi and Bahrain border control as well as some tourist attractions. The border control here were super professional and it was very very efficient. Lots of lanes, booths and experienced employees. They get a lot of traffic going through here and they’re set up to process it very quickly.

I got my visa with no issues, didn’t have to leave my car or anything. The cost of the visa was 5BHD (4KD) and I paid for it by card. After that I needed to once again insure my car before crossing into Bahrain, the cost of that was 26BHD (21KD) 2.6BHD (2.1KD). This border experience was super easy and really impressive.

And that was it, the process of going from Khobar to Bahrain took around 20-30 minutes and that included the journey on the bridge and the whole border control experience.

The Drive Back – Bahrain to Kuwait
The next morning I left my hotel at around 7AM for the trip back to Kuwait. There were no issues along the way, it’s the same process as above just backward and I ended up at my office in the City by 12PM. I think Google sent me on a different road back to Kuwait but not really sure. There were also plenty of fuel stations on the way back but I always try and fill up before my fuel tank reaches the half way point.

The only thing worth pointing out happened once I got back to the Kuwait border control. When I got to the passport control booth the guy told me I needed to go to the passport control building instead. So I parked my car and went into the building but when I gave my passport to the guy and he punched my civil ID into the system he’s like why were you sent to me? I just shrugged my shoulder and told him no idea, he stamped my passport and gave it back to me and I was done. I don’t think they get a lot of expats through the Kuwait Saudi border so depending on the employee you get at the time you pass, your experience will vary. I then had to go through customs and the guy went through my car, looking through all my bags, asking me what the cat food I had in a container was, looked in my car compartments, etc.. I think he was either looking for alcohol or drugs or both. The cars ahead of me didn’t go through the same search, maybe I just looked dodgy.

But that was it, I then crossed the borders and was back in Kuwait.

The whole process was super simple and I’m definitely going to drive to Saudi and Bahrain more often. I love driving and this was a pretty chill ride. If you can travel in an SUV that would be optimal but a regular sedan will do just fine as well. One thing I’m not sure of is if women can enter Saudi easily or if guys and girls can be in the same car and not be related or married etc. I’m assuming it’s fine now that Saudi is super chill, but maybe if someone can confirm this in the comments. Also if you have any questions about the trip, let me know!

Correction: I originally stated the car insurance to enter Bahrain was 26BHD when in fact it was 2.6BHD.

Update: Added a snippet in the post regarding the speed cameras in Saudi

According to @Almajlliss, the baladiya will start fining people who plant greenery in front of their homes (on government property) 1,000 KD. Yup, if you want to make your neighborhood greener, expect to pay a hefty fine doing so.

I don’t know why stuff like this still shocks me and I really really don’t get this hatred towards trees here.

This is the busiest weekend of the season so far. Lots of events taking place from markets to concerts to pop-ups. Check the list out below and as usual if I missed anything let me know.

Thursday
Exhibition: Seeking Refuge by Amira Behbehani
Exhibition: Backpacking Through Yemen in Times of Peace
Exhibition: “Creatures Floating in Absurdity” by Mohamad Omran
Exhibition: Graduation Ceremony by Aseel AlYaqoub
Treasure Hunt at ASCC
Palastinian Culture Exhibition
Let’s Roll! Pop-Up by THRF
Kuwait Street Food Festival
AMG Concert: Vivaldi Night
Matcha Makes the World Go Round
FIA Middle East Rally Championship

Friday
Albohayra Farm
Return of the Improvengers!
Ali Alghanim & Sons – Padel Tournament
Gulf Bank Off Road Challenge
Kuwait Kites Team
Bazar Francophonie
Palastinian Culture Exhibition
Let’s Roll! Pop-Up by THRF
Kuwait Street Food Festival
AMG Concert: Vivaldi Night
FIA Middle East Rally Championship
Super Run at KMT

Saturday
Exhibition: Seeking Refuge by Amira Behbehani
Exhibition: Backpacking Through Yemen in Times of Peace
Grand Mosque Tour
Albohayra Farm
Private Tour with Amira Behbehani
Let’s Roll! Pop-Up by THRF
Kuwait Street Food Festival
Basta Mother – Child Volunteering Event
FIA Middle East Rally Championship
Curated Cars and Coffee
Trash Hero Desert Cleanup

Back in 2020, I purchased the 16-inch MacBook Pro. I’d never been a fan of large laptops and so not sure what got into me but decided I’d buy the largest one Apple sold and I regretted the minute I got it. I mentioned in my original review that a month into using the laptop I had gotten slightly more comfortable with it but it really didn’t progress much further than that. It definitely wasn’t a laptop to take on trips with, and I’m not even talking plane trips, I hated taking my laptop to the office or into the next room just because of how big and bulky it was.

I don’t tend to change laptops a lot, my average cycle is around once every 4 years so this is the quickest change I’ve done, 2 years after purchasing the 16-inch MacBook Pro I went ahead and purchased the latest 14-inch one.

The new 14-inch Macbook Pro might be the best laptop I’ve ever owned, even competing with all my favorite iBooks from the early 2000’s including the 12″ PowerBook.

Where do I begin? Let’s talk about the size first, although 14″ doesn’t sound much smaller than 16″, and even though in photos it doesn’t look that much smaller, in reality, the difference is huge. As I’ve been doing since 2001, the first thing I order when I buy a new laptop is a black Waterfield SleeveCase. The sleeve offers plenty of protection so I tend to throw around my laptops into the backseat of my car, on the car floor, or onto my desk. Throwing around the 14-inch feels so easy now that I’ve come from the larger 16-inch. I know how easy throwing around a laptop isn’t something you’d think of when buying a new laptop but it’s really something that we all do. The 14-inch is easier to carry around, shove into places, and is a much more portable machine than the 16-inch was.

Another issue I had with the 16-inch was the battery life. It wasn’t that great and lasted around 4-hours. The new 14-inch lasts so much longer that I’m going to compare it to my iPad. I don’t charge my iPad daily even though I use it daily. The new MacBook is the same, since I got my MacBook over a month ago if I really think about it I could probably tell you exactly how many times I’ve charged it. The battery easily lasts over 10 hours so I don’t charge it every night but more like every 3 or 4 days now. I usually keep the laptop on my couch in my living room when I go to sleep while with the 16-inch I’d take it back to my desk so I can charge it and have it ready for the next day. It feels freeing not having to charge the laptop every night.

The keyboard is another thing that is just amazing about the laptop, the best keyboard I’ve used to date on any laptop. Firstly the touch bar is gone which is good news. Although I was a huge fan of it when it first came out, Apple never really expanded its features or abilities so over time I just started wishing I had regular buttons.

Other things to mention, the laptop has a notch similar to how new iPhones do but they’re less noticeable on the MacBook. It doesn’t bother me at all and it makes me feel like I have more screen space because the menu bar has now moved up to where the camera is, instead of it feeling like the menu bar is eating up important screen real estate. That top menu bar strip feels like bonus space. Apple also brought back some ports including the SD card slot which I just got to use now for the first time to move photos from my camera to my laptop. Very practical but I won’t use it that much myself. I also need to mention how good the new MacBook feels to hold. Both my MacBook Air and my 16-inch MacBook Pro have sharp edges whole the new 14-inch has softer rounded edges and so feels really great in my hands. Finally, the new MacBook looks very hot, one of the best-looking laptops to date.

So like I mentioned at the start of this post, this new 14-inch MacBook Pro is one of the best laptops I’ve ever owned. I love it a lot and already feel so attached to it that I put up my 16-inch for sale without hesitation. I also got it for a pretty good deal, Amazon had a $200 off offer on the 14-inch so I ended up buying it for KD530. I just checked now and they actually have the laptop discounted right now at KD546, so not as good a deal as I got but still cheaper than retail. If you’re looking for a laptop I can’t recommend this one enough. Definitely get it.

The local band Galaxy Juice recently released a new music video for their track “Ya Salwa” from their latest album “Galaxy Juice and the Forty Thieves”. Playing this song live in Riyadh at the MDLBEAST Soundstorm Festival and seeing the crowd’s reaction was one of the main reasons they started to sing in Arabic. It’s a pretty fun track and music video so check it out.

The music video and animation was done by Agrentinian based Marina Di Milta (@marinadimilta).

If you want to listen to their full album, it’s available to stream on: Spotify, Anghami and Apple Music.

You can also follow Galaxy Juice on Instagram @galaxyjuiceband