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There is this app called FaceApp which allows you to change your age, hair color, hairstyle and other features, but unlike other apps that do similar effects, this one is actually incredibly realistic. Like scary realistic. Been having fun with it all morning so if you haven’t tried it out yet it’s available on both iOS and Android devices. Link

Last week I posted about a pet cat called Winston that got lost and later died at the airport after it was taken from its owner to be sent to the cargo terminal.

The cat owner has now set up a gofundme page to pay for her legal fees in suing NAS, the company that the airport uses to transport the pets from the main terminal to the cargo terminal and the ones who lost her cat. She also wants to try and change the procedures for arriving pets at the airport. From some of the comments I’ve read by other people who’ve traveled with their pets, the procedure at the Kuwait airport is inconsistent and in most cases unnecessary.

If you want to support her fight then here is the link to her gofundme.

Virgin Megastore which originally opened up in Marina Mall back in 2002 and then closed down in 2012 is now reopening again, but this time at The Avenues. Their new location is where the clothing store Express used to be located in Phase 1 and should (theoretically at least) prove to be a better location for them this time around.

Very few people know this but back in 2006 Virgin Kuwait bullied me and threatened to sue me over one of my posts. It’s a long story and made me dislike the brand and the company Azadea (who own the brand in the Middle East) for a very long time, but, I’m pretty glad they’re opening again since their Dubai store actually sells interesting things albeit overpriced.

No idea on when the opening will be.

So this is a funny story that recently happened that made me appreciate car detailing a lot more than I already did.

One of the guys in my WhatsApp group has an old 1995 Acura Integra which he’s turned into a track car. He’s upgraded the engine and brakes on it, stripped out the interior to reduce weight and he has a ton of fun with it on the race track. Since the end of last year though he’s had the car parked in a dirt lot outside another friends place gathering dust. Not that it was in good condition before he parked it, half the car was covered in ducktape while the rest of the car really needed a paint job.

Last week the guy whose house the car is parked outside of took the picture above and shared it on our whatsapp group. Right away we started teasing the car’s owner with jokes about how he should scrap the car and other silly stuff. As a joke I suggested he should get the car detailed which he replied to saying he was waiting for a sponsor. Within seconds one of the guys captured a screenshot of the conversation and sent it to another friend of ours who owns Al Falah Car Wash. Al Falah have a detailing service called Showshine which I’ve posted about on the blog before and after seeing the screenshot of the conversation, they responded with “bring it on” in full confidence not really knowing how bad the condition of the car was.

A week later they got to see the car in person after it was dropped off to them and I wish I was there to see their faces. They knew it was going to be a challenge, but they didn’t think the car was in this bad of a condition. They started posting pictures on their instagram account and started calling it the “Disaster Car Detail”.

One of my friends even joked that he would give them a trophy if they can get it just decent looking. I dropped by to take some before pictures of the car and when I saw it in person I thought it was a hopeless case. The car had no shine whatsoever, the paint was completely flat and patchy, it was truly a disaster car.

Over the next two days, Showshine worked hard on the car, they started off with a regular wash before moving it into their detailing department to start the difficult process. Finally, when they were done and pictures of the car started leaking into our group we couldn’t believe it. The car looked new and shiny! When I passed by and saw the car in person I couldn’t believe it was the same one. They did such an incredible job detailing the car and somehow managed to bring the color and shine back to life.

My friend who joked that he would give them a 🏆 also kept his word.

For the past couple of weeks, I had been thinking about giving my Datsun 240z which I recently purchased a paint job. But now after seeing what they could do with a disaster car, I’ve actually decided to get the car detailed instead. If they could bring back so much color and shine to my friend’s car, then it should be fairly easy with mine which is in so much better shape.

Thank you Al Falah for going along with this. If you want to get your car detailed their prices start from KD30 (depends on the size of the car). Al Falah are my favorite car wash and they’re on instagram @showshinealfalah.

The Commercial Control and Consumer Protection Sector has issued a citation against a shop for displaying the ‘homosexual’ logo, reports Al-Rai daily quoting sources.

The daily added, this happened when a number of shoppers complained about the sign and the concerned commercial control department sent officers to run a check and the signboard was removed and the person responsible has been referred to the concerned authority.

The sources stressed the need to abide by the laws in force and its responsibility in applying the law in its context that does not allow any irregularities that conflict with the laws and regulations. Source

You guys have probably already come across this article that was published last week since it went viral on social media. It was pretty vague with no mention of the shop and what was actually removed. After doing a bit of research it turns out the shop in question was Louis Vuitton. I thought they might have had a special display to celebrate the LGBT+ community but I did a bit of googling and couldn’t find any information or photos on a special display LV was using in their stores for this.

So I decided to ask around locally and turns out the display that was deemed offensive was actually not related to the LGBT+ community at all. LV have a window display called the dream catcher which features colorful dream catchers and someone must have complained to consumer protection that LV was displaying the gay pride flag in their display and LV was forced to remove it. The picture above isn’t of the actual dream catcher window display that was removed but one similar I found online and as you can see the colors don’t even match the pride flag or the correct order of the colors. Yet, they were still asked to remove it. So weird.

I haven’t posted a shawarma review here in nearly a decade but that’s mostly because no new shawerma place has really interested me until now. Recently a new shawarma place opened up in Al Rai called Shakir and there has been a lot of hype surrounding it which is why I wanted to pass by and try it out. I think what grabbed my attention the most about the place was the fact they used freshly baked breadrolls for the shawarma, and after trying it out yesterday, I think that’s my favorite thing about the place.

Shakir is located pretty much walking distance from The Avenues, on the same street as Party Land and True Value. It’s a super busy area all day long so by the time you walk into the place you’re already stressed out from traffic. Your stress level will only get worse once you’re inside since there will most likely be a really long queue to order food. I stood in line at 5:47PM and got back to my car with the food by 6:22PM. That’s over 30 minutes just to pick up shawarma!

The place doesn’t have chicken shawarma, just meat with two sauces, either the regular tahina or the spicy tahina sauce. Other than that the menu only has fries, juices and laban. Pretty simple which I like although as a chicken shawerma guy, I would rather they have chicken instead of meat or the option to choose between either. While waiting for my food I spent most of my time watching them bake the breadrolls and I think that’s just the smartest idea and I don’t know why no other place does it. Plain fresh bread tastes good as is, so imagine how much better it would taste stuffed with juicy meat and tahina.

I ordered the regular shawerma as well as the spicy one along with fries and juice to go on the side. I think the regular shawerma tasted just ok with the spicy one tasting a lot better because of the more interesting spicy sauce. The best part about the shawerma was the bread as expected, and that’s what would probably make me go back, BUT, only after the hype dies down. It was definitly not worth waiting 30 minutes and I went at an irregular hour, so I can’t imagine how long the line would be during regular lunch or dinner timings. At 650 fils per shawerma I’d also expect the breadroll to be stuffed with a lot more meat which they weren’t. They’re pretty stingy with the shawerma which is a turnoff.

Shakir is on instagram @shawarmashakir and here is their location on Google Maps.

My brother sent me this yesterday and it’s such a sad story. Laila who is a cat owner came back to Kuwait from the States with her cat and at the airport was told the cat would need to be seen by the airport vet. So they took the cat from her and three hours later tell her that the cat ran away when they were on the way to see the vet and the couldn’t find it. You can check out her instagram post on this below:

Im fucking crying my ass off while i type this. Winston is missing. When we arrived Kuwait the officer stopped us at the airport and told us we needed to get a paper signed to get winston in kuwait (even though i showed him all the correct paperwork specifying winston is healthy and up to date in all his shots, ect). Since they are too lazy to accept the documents they made me sign a paper. As i picked up winston’s bag they stopped me and told me that he needs to go see a doctor at the airport to make sure hes not carrying any diseases and apparently thats what happens to all animals that arrive the country. I fought with them and begged them not to take him but the officers said those were the rules.

I waited for 3 hours and in the end they told me that he fucking ran away in the cargo on the way to the doctor. He ran away out in the open where all the planes and trucks are. Ive been crying screaming and hysterical ever since and im not authorized to go search for him. We begged the guards to let us in and we were able to scout the area but i wasnt allowed to leave the car. It’s currently 95 degrees and will continue to get hotter to 114 degrees . I am so devastated and destroyed. I dont know what else to say. I am charging my phone and will be back at the airport in a few hours. If you are in kuwait and can help please let me know. .

They wont even let me SEARCH FOR MY OWN CAT please if anyone has authority and can help please let me know this cat is my entire life please help me

I think the worst part for me is the fact it took them three hours to tell her they lost her cat and then wouldn’t let her in to help them look for him. I understand there are security procedures since it’s an airport but there must be ways around that like by having airport security accompany her. Pets generally will panic in an environment like an airport and there would be a much higher chance of finding the cat if the owner was involved in the search. Cats especially aren’t like dogs and won’t just come to a stranger when been called for.

Laila is constantly posting updates on her pets Instagram account so if you want to know more about what’s happening, check @leya_and_winston

Update: Sadly, the cat was found dead at the airport earlier today. The National Aviation Services (NAS) who were responsible for transporting the cat to the vet posted the following statement on their instagram account:

We regret the unfortunate turn of events with Winston.

We extend our deepest condolences to Ms. Laila and her family during this difficult time.

We are very sorry for their loss.

We are conducting an in-depth internal investigation into the matter.

People will be held accountable.

We will also be putting in place more stringent procedures under “FOSTER” rules to ensure this does not happen again.

To ensure higher safety standards for each animal in our care, we are creating a $100,000 fund – “Foster” towards improvement of animal care facilities at the airport.

We carefully handled over 700 household pets last year without incident. We understand that each animal is unique and precious.

I’ve used the US mail forwarding company MyUS on and off since 2001. Originally they were the only option available, then Shop&Ship by Aramex came about so started using them, and it’s been a back and forth relationship with them ever since. I usually jump ship whenever I find a better deal since I ship a lot of items and the savings do add up. For the past few years, I’ve been using the MyBox service from PostaPlus since they were the most affordable offering but then last week I remembered one reader had previously told me MyUS had reduced their prices and were now cheaper than PostaPlus.

A couple of weeks ago I had ordered and shipped a bunch of parts for my Datsun 240z to my PostaPlus account and the total package weighed around 40lb. When I had originally checked the rate calculator on PostaPlus it told me I would pay around KD75 which I figured was ok. After I shipped the items, I decided to check the rate calculator on the MyUS website and was surprised to get KD45. That’s a pretty huge difference which is why I’m now thinking of moving back to MyUS.

But I have a few questions for those of you who currently are using them:

– Other than the shipping cost, what are usually the custom clearance fees you pay, for example with PostaPlus it’s KD1 for custom clearance and then 5% of the total shipment value for customs.

– Can you pay the customs fees online or is it cash on delivery?

– Are there any issues you’ve had with MyUS?

On a side note (and coincidentally), MyUS recently published an article about the top influencers in Kuwait and yours truly made the list. You can check that post out here.

Update: I tried them out and they’re more expensive than MyBox. Click here for details.

Cinescape recently launched what they’re calling their “first ever boutique cinema”. 1954 Film House is a retro-looking cinema that reflects the history of cinema in the golden era when theaters were much more glamorous.

The cinema is decorated with posters of old films and contains three different theaters with distinctive looks, each representing a different story on the history of cinema. I haven’t visited this new theater yet because of the fact that it’s located in Al Kout Mall which is pretty far from where I live, but it’s definitely an interesting idea although it would have made more sense if it also played older films and not just the current commercial ones.

If you want to find out more you can check out their Instagram account @1954filmhouse

I recently found out that it’s the British School of Kuwait’s 40 year anniversary. What not everyone knows is the little fun fact the school used to be called Sunshine School when it first opened in the late 70s up until 1990. I was in Sunshine School from 1980 to 1990 and I was part of the last class to graduate from it before the Iraqi invasion, after that, things got a bit messy and I ended up bouncing a lot from school to school and country to country until I finally graduated high school.

Because of the 40th anniversary, the school is publishing a small book and asked me if I had any photos to contribute since I’ve previously shared photos on the blog. I did of course and so had my sister mail me all the Sunshine School photos we had stored in our family home in Lebanon so I could scan them.

What’s cool is I posted some of my karate club photos taken in the early 80s and one of my followers recognized the karate instructor and sent me a link to his Facebook account. Turns out up until recently, he was still teaching karate in Kuwait.

There are 58 pictures and you can check them out after the link below. If you want the hi-res scan they’re also available to download on Flickr.

If you recognize yourself in any of the photos let me know!

Back in February Zain hooked me up with Zain Beam to test out. Previously I had been using B Wirless (WiMD) but my direct line of sight with their tower had been blocked and so my connection was no longer stable. A regular LTE connection in my area was also unstable with speeds varying between 2Mbps to 4Mbps, maybe a bit more sometimes. After trying out Zain Beam in February for a couple of weeks, I loved it so much I decided to commit for 2 years and subscribe to it. This is now my follow-up review around 4 months later.

If you want to read my previous post on Zain Beam including details on the installation process, click here.

Since I installed Zain Beam the internet connection has been pretty flawless. I subscribed to their 20Mbps service but I rarely get speeds less than 27Mbps, in fact, it’s usually always around 30Mbps. For those of you with LTE connections in fancier less congested areas, you’re probably not impressed with my internet speed, and that’s understandable. I find it frustrating that my phone’s speed can reach 120Mbps in some areas, but yet my Zain Beam connection at home gets me only 30Mbps. It’s even more frustrating now to see my friends get upwards of 600Mbps with 5G as well. But, 30Mbps is the fastest connection I’ve ever been able to get in my apartment.

That’s the thing you need to be aware of when comparing Zain Beam to other internet services in Kuwait. Not everyone has fiber optics or fast LTE in their areas. Zain Beam is meant for people like me living in heavily congested areas with no fiber, no decent 4G connection, and no 5G either. So 30Mbps is super fast for me, it’s three times faster than my previous 10Mbps connection I had with B Wireless, and the only other connection that I can get which is faster than mine… is the 40Mbps Zain Beam package.

Another thing I want to point out is that Zain also limits the amount of Beam users in an area, I guess to keep the experience consistent. A friend of mine wanted to get Beam in my area but Zain told him all the slots had already been filled.

In the 4 months I’ve had Beam I did run into one issue. Around a week or two after signing up I woke up one morning and found my internet down. No biggie, I called up Zain to talk to support and this is where I ran into a problem. With B Wireless, if I had a problem I’d call support and someone would pick up right away. The support guy would then try and solve my problem over the phone and if the problem was more complicated, he’d either tell me he’d call me back or that a technician would be sent over. Fairly simple and the whole process of solving my issue would take less than 5 minutes. With Zain, on the other hand, you don’t talk to a support persona, instead, you have to call up the regular Zain call center and leave a complaint and then someone gets back to you. Wouldn’t be that big of a deal but the process to leave a complaint takes forever! It took the call center guy over 10 minutes (not exaggerating) just to file my complaint. Their process for taking complaints is excruciatingly long, that’s over 10 minutes just to tell them my internet is down and for them to tell me someone will call me back. Other than that I didn’t really have any issues and that day it turned out my connection was down because they were doing maintenance.

With the launch of 5G last week the only thing that I’m bothered with right now is the price vs speed ratio compared to 5G. Viva, for example, offers 5G at KD25 a month (although with a 250GB limit) which is how much I’m paying, so I now feel like my connection is starting to feel overpriced. If 5G in my area can get me speeds over 100Mbps I’d be super upset that I’m committed to two years of Zain Beam and just getting 30Mbps. What I’m hoping is that Zain will eventually upgrade the speed of their two Beam packages in the coming months from the current 20Mbps and 40Mbps options right now, to maybe 40Mbps and 80Mbps instead. That would make things more palatable when compared to 5G.

If you have any specific questions on Zain Beam you can ask me in the comments below. If you’re interested in signing up to Zain Beam, here is a link to their product page.

Back in February, the Ministry of Interior decided to cancel the use of residency stickers inside passports. Instead, you need to have a valid Civil ID card when traveling as a means of verifying your residency.

The name on the Civil ID card has to match your name in your passport or you’ll risk being denied travel in or out of Kuwait. But, having your name misspelled on the Civil ID is a pretty common issue and my previous post on how to fix your name constantly gets comments from people with similar issues.

But now the Ministry has issued a statement that they will no longer correct spellings at PACI but instead, all requests must now be made online. They even have a dedicated section now for misspellings.

So if you need to fix the spelling of your name on your Civil ID, click here.

Not many events taking place this weekend but still more than what’s been going on the past few weekends. If I missed anything let me know.

Thursday
Al3ab Village

Friday
Al3ab Village
Fête De La Musique

Saturday
Al3ab Village
Book Club: Lolita Novel by Vladimir Nabokov
Global Wellness Day

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so always double-check with the organizers.

This is a long shot but does anyone have a copy of the book “State of Excitement” by James Bond creator Ian Fleming?

The Kuwait Oil Company commissioned Fleming to write this short book about Kuwait. However, the Kuwaiti Goverment disapproved of the final manuscript, which they found condescending, and the book was never published, despite repeated overtures to the Kuwaiti Goverment over the years.

The frontispiece to Fleming`s copy of the book reads: This is the only bound copy of a short book I wrote on Kuwait in December 1960. It was a condition of my obtaining facilities to visit Kuwait and write the book that the text should have the approval of the Kuwait Oil Company, whose guest I was.

The Oil Company expressed approval of the book but felt it their duty to submit the typescript to members of the Kuwait Government for their approval. The Sheiks concerned found unpalatable certain mild comments and criticism and particularly the passages referring to the adventurous past of the country which now wishes to be “civilised” in every respect and forget its romantic origins.

Accordingly, the book was stillborn. [source]

Here is a review of the book as well where they highlight some reasons the book might have been banned including this one:

A second rather humorous story the author relates revolve around an invitation he received to dine at one of the Sheikh’s numerous palaces. It seems that this palace located somewhere along the Persian Gulf coast had a very long dock which extended out far from land and at its end was a beautiful building where the Sheihk invited Fleming and other guests. In grand fashion the guests were carried from the shore in a stretch limousine out along the dock to the mini-palace. He noticed that after the guests had been dropped off, the driver had to back up the entire length of the dock, turn around and then back up the entire length of the dock once again. Fleming surmised that the driver was instructed to do this so that when the dinner was finished, the Sheikh and his guests could get back into the car on the ‘correct’ side and drive “forward” back to the shore. Fleming, almost snidely relates that even with all that money at his disposal the Sheikh couldn’t design and build a dock with a wide enough turn around. In other words, in this little vignette Fleming is mocking his host’s design and thereby his intelligence.

If you have a copy can you please accidentally leak it to me from an anonymous email address? Thank you!

This huge mirrored concert hall was built in the middle of the Saudi desert for the “Winter at Tantoura” festival which ran from December 2018 to February of this year. It hosted a range of activities, including a celebration of the winter planting season, weekly cultural events, and musical performances from some of the world’s greatest musicians.

I’m kinda worried that Kuwait isn’t moving forward at a very fast pace.

Whenever I travel to smaller neighboring countries like Bahrain and Qatar I’m always impressed with what I see from everything like their infrastructure and skyscrapers to the cleanliness and organization. I was in Qatar last weekend and walking outside in a street wondering how the weather is so much cooler than Kuwait, turns out they had AC blasting from the floor. Crazy but it worked. And then, of course, you have UAE which is miles ahead of all of us.

But, no matter what, we always had comfort in knowing that at least we were better than Saudi. Now I feel we’re losing that as well. Not because of just one concert hall, but because of similar small and large scale projects. The country is also starting to loosen up. The WHITE “halal” nightclub in Jeddah turned out to be too much for them, but at least they tried. We’re all here looking forward to the new airport but I don’t think that’s going to be enough.

Just to be clear, this isn’t a rant so don’t start with the GTFO comments, I’m just thinking out loud here.