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I was at Sultan Center Shaab last night and spotted a pile of Valentine apples. The apple have “I Love You” written on them which is achieved during the growing process by wrapping the apples in a special bag.

Unlike the heart shaped watermelons Sultan was selling last year, these apples are actually affordable at just KD1.5 per KG.

Last week I ended up going to Bahrain for the GulfRun event but also because I was taking refresher riding lessons with Harley Davidson. Harley have a few of riding events every year that take place in different countries where they invite the press on road trips to check out their bikes. I’ve had to pass on the last two rides since I hadn’t ridden a bike in years (Vespa not included). So they decided to give me refresher lessons and since they have a training center in Bahrain I decided to do it there during GulfRun weekend. I ended up being put up at The Domain Hotel and since I was fairly impressed with the hotel I figured I’d write about.

The hotel is located around 12 minutes from the airport and in a skyscraper, one of the tallest in the area. The hotel reception area is located on the 16th floor and honestly didn’t look so great. The ceiling was low, the furniture a bit tacky and overall it just didn’t look impressive. Once I checked in though I headed up to my floor which was the 30th and thats when things started looking a lot better.

Since the hotel wasn’t very busy I got upgraded to “The Corporate” room which was a corner suite. The room was spacious with a living area, a guest bathroom and an insane view. The main bathroom was also humongous with it’s own large window near the shower which is pretty convenient for exhibitionist.

My favorite part about the room was the fact I could control various aspects of it using a tablet including the lights, the air conditioning and the curtains. I liked waking up in the morning and clicking a button on the tablet to have all the curtains in the room open up automatically.

During my previous trips to Bahrain I stayed at the Ritz Carlton which I loved. Although I prefer the room at The Domain (the Ritz rooms feel outdated), the rest of the hotel can’t really compete in anything else… except the price. While rooms at the Ritz start at around KD120 a night, at The Domain the prices start at around KD40 which is a big difference. So if you’re looking for an affordable place to stay while in Bahrain The Domain might be a good option. [Link]

[YouTube]

Last month Kuwait Airways started receiving their first batch of leased planes and alongside these planes, Kuwait Airways have also gone ahead and given their premium class checking area a facelift as well as the Dasman Lounge.

[YouTube]

In the first video on top we get to the see the business class and economy class of the new planes as well as a tour of the new media system. In the second video we get taken on a tour of the new check in area followed by a tour of the lounge. Both the plane interiors and the lounge look outdated to me but I guess its better than what we had.

Hungry Bunny is a popular burger franchise that used to be open back in Kuwait during the 80s pre Burger King and McDonalds days. When Al Homaizi got the Burger King franchise, they shutdown all the Hungry Bunny locations and killed the brand. But the original creator of Hungry Bunny ended up launching the brand in Saudi Arabia and then a few years ago brought the brand back to Kuwait. Al Homaizi Group sued them and it now seems Hungry Bunny has been told to stop using the bunny logo until a verdict is reached in the court case.

I passed by Hungry Bunny for a quick bite yesterday and the majority of the items had the Hungry Bunny logo without the bunny (like in the placemats pictured above). But, some items like the burger wrapper still had the bunny on them. According to the shop manager this is just a temporary issue and the bunny will be coming back soon. They’ve even removed the bunny from the shop signage as well so it’s a pretty awkward mess right now.

Update: Al Homaizi have commented with the following:

Dear Mark and Loyal Hungry Bunny Customers,

It is great to see Hungry Bunny still having that nostalgic feeling within Kuwait and we thank you for your post which we appreciate and are proud of as the founders of the Hungry Bunny brand.

With regards to your post, we would like to mention that Hungry Bunny was developed in 1982 by Al Homaizi Foodstuff Co. in Kuwait and is 100% Kuwaiti.

As the first local franchise in Kuwait, Hungry Bunny led the way and opened the doors to decades of innovative local concepts within Kuwait which we are very proud to see are still growing today.

The Hungry Bunny restaurants that launched in and outside of Kuwait following 1997 were not the original Hungry Bunny developed by Al Homaizi Foodstuff Co.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our loyal Hungry Bunny customers! We would love to hear more about your experiences and memories that you, your family and your friends had in the 80’s and 90’s at the much-loved Hungry Bunny.

Please share your memories with us by sending us an email to [email protected]

Best Wishes,

Al Homaizi Foodstuff Co.
Member of Kout Food Group, Kuwait

Super busy weekend again but the biggest thing going on is the Kuwait Rising Music Festival which shouldn’t be missed. Other than that if you haven’t watched the movie The Americans, you should and you’re lucky because it’s playing this Saturday at the Cinemagic rooftop. Check out the full list of events below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Al-Seef
Exhibition: The Replacement by Mahmoud Obaidi
Exhibition: Van Leo – Master Cairo Portrait Photographer
InfoConnect 2015
Nuqat: Workshop with Karim Jabbari
Rooftop Movie: The Past

Friday
InfoConnect 2015
Nuqat: Workshop with Karim Jabbari
Musical: Poptastic
Book Club Meeting
Music Festival: Kuwait Rising
Concert: Prayaan
Extreme Powerboat Run

Saturday
InfoConnect 2015
Nuqat: Workshop with Karim Jabbari
Musical: Poptastic
Generation Z Winter Bazaar
Madeenah Tour: Baghdad Street Salmiya
Rooftop Movie: The Americans

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]

Five Guys are opening in Dubai Mall soon which means they’ll most likely be opening up in Kuwait as well. Also according to The Avenues instagram account another burger joint opened up there yesterday called BGR so that’s two franchise burger places that have opened up this week. I think the only place left to open that I’d be excited for is Arby’s. Where you at Arby’s??

Thanks David

There’s an estimated 600,000 domestic workers in Kuwait and it’s no secret locally and internationally on how some domestic workers are being treated like slaves in Kuwait (and in the region). I don’t know if the majority of house help in Kuwait have access to internet, but I get a fair amount of emails asking for urgent help. From being kicked to being burnt to working 20 hours a day with no medical access and obviously they’re held as prisoners. In some ways it is modern day slavery.

What makes it worse is that there are no concrete laws designed to protect domestic workers in Kuwait. Domestic workers do not fall under Kuwait Labor Law for the private sector, I don’t want to get into the legality of it as it is complicated and really not useful. Do we really need laws to act human? (I don’t know, maybe the philosopher Kant was right)

I am going to write it out, even though it should be common sense

1) 8 hours a day, within reasonable timings. They are humans, they require rest.
2) No physical abuse! No emotional abuse! If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
3) Give them their passports, you cannot legally keep them.
4) Give them a day or maybe two a week off. Yes off, and off means they can leave the house if they want to. If they want to go to the movies at Cinemagic then they can.
5) They aren’t slaves, don’t lock them in.
6) They aren’t your 14 year old daughters, if they want to date guess what? They can.
7) Give them reasonable pay. 50KD a month is not reasonable, just cause its reasonable in India (where they might be from) it is not reasonable here. They work and live here.

I am sure there are much more things you can do to make their lives better, if you live in a house and your house help are being abused feel free to email me. (I won’t tell your mum, strictly confidential). If you are a domestic worker, also, feel free to email me as well [email protected].

I am also happy to announce that I am working with the Social Work Society of Kuwait. The society does advocacy work and provides social and legal services for the vulnerable population in Kuwait. Currently most of its efforts are focused in providing advocacy and protection for migrant workers. Kindly note, that your emails will be confidential but will be forwarded to them, so I will not be the only person handling your case.

Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.

Photo from GulfNews

I passed by InfoConnect earlier today to check out the internet prices and I’m not sure why but the prices have started increasing instead of decreasing. For example two years ago 10Mbps would have cost you KD140 while this year it’s going to cost you KD165. Check out the prices for the annual subscriptions below. Most of the providers were offering some sort of gift be it scratch and win cards or free speed upgrades etc..

InfoConnect is taking place at the Kuwait International Fairground until February 1st. For more information on the event click [Here]

Last week while heading to Masaha 13 I drove by a place that looked interesting. I didn’t know what they sold but it was evening and the place was nicely lit up so after having drinks with a friend at Masaha, I drove back to the place to find out what it was. Turned out it was a new flower shop that had opened around a month back called Orchidaceae. It’s definitely the coolest looking and trendiest flower shop I’ve ever been to with concrete floors and a black mesh ceiling. It was hard to leave without getting anything so I ended up picking up an Oncidium orchid for myself.

If you’re interested they’re located in Shuwaikh near the Bulthaup kitchens dealer. Here is their location on [Google Maps] and here is a link to their instagram @orchidaceaekw

Kuwait Rising is an alternative Arab music festival which is going to be held in Kuwait this coming weekend (Jan 30) and feature artists from around the world including Bei Ru, Omar Offendum, Zeid Hamdan, Maii Waleed, Z The People, El Jehaz and Hasan Hujairi. The event is hosted by Zahed Sultan at the new DAI in Yarmouk with limited tickets costing KD20 each each.

248AM has teamed up with Zahed Sultan to giveaway two festival tickets to one lucky winner. All you need to do to enter the draw is leave a comment below mentioning the brand of the energy drink in the flyer above.

I will stop accepting entries in the comments section by Tuesday at midnight and then randomly choose one winner and notify them via email.

Rules: Only one entry per person and please make sure you use a working email since the winner will be contacted by email. If winner doesn’t respond, another winner will be randomly chosen.

Update: I closed the post for entries and using random.org the winner was #38 which is Nour AlKawass. I won’t be drawing a second back up number since I actually know the winner and have already contacted her.

A bunch of things to do this weekend but I’m not going to be in Kuwait. This means I’ll be missing the very interesting sounding A Tour with Taste: The Flavor of the Coastline that is going to be held on Friday. Check out the full list of events taking place this weekend below:

Thursday
Exhibition: Al-Seef
Exhibition: The Replacement by Mahmoud Obaidi
Exhibition: Van Leo – Master Cairo Portrait Photographer
Auto Moto 15 – The Kuwait Motor Show
Marina Market
Traditional Kuwaiti Food and Dishdasha Night & Book Presentation
Rooftop Movie: Insomnia

Friday
Auto Moto 15 – The Kuwait Motor Show
Marina Market
Street Fest
A Tour with Taste: The Flavor of the Coastline

Saturday
Auto Moto 15 – The Kuwait Motor Show
Marina Market
Street Fest
Guided Tour: Old Kuwait City
Rooftop Movie: Lars and The Real Girl

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]

After being closed to the public for nearly three years, the Kuwait Towers is set to reopen its doors next month according to Al Rai TV talk show presenter Abdullah Boftain. I’m really curious to see what and how much they’ve changed the inside especially since it’s being considered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Kuwaiti artist Zahed Sultan is hosting a pretty cool music festival at the end of this month featuring a bunch of international musicians including one of my favorites, Bei Ru. Bei Ru is a very talented Lebanese Armenian musician based out of LA and I’ve been listening to his music ever since his debut album “Little Armenia“.

I’ll be posting more on this event next week but for now if you’re interested in booking tickets (there is a limited quantity) here is the [Link]

The Time isn’t a new place, it’s actually been open for just over a year now but I just found out about it two days ago. I don’t drink coffee and there aren’t that many places that make good tea so I when discovered The Time was located in KIPCO Tower which is down the street from my office, I went there the following day.

The Time is an elegant looking but cozy place with a large variety of teas to choose from. They also have food but I had already eaten and was just there with a friend for some tea. The place was quiet, nicely lit with natural daylight and since they’re located on M2, the view was fairly decent while sitting by the window. The tea prices are very reasonable at KD1.5 and I loved their chinaware. Naf Noof’s Blog has a ton of beautiful shots of the place so if you want to find out more about the The Time click [Here]

Photo by Naf Noof

Anytime I need to get any paperwork from the government I cringe. In the past month I had two papers I needed to get sorted and in both cases things didn’t go so smoothly. I hate how I have to approach all the employees in a way where it’s like I am asking them for a favor.

The first paper is related to a business I’m launching. To setup a company I need a paper from my sponsor giving me permission to start a company. I got that paper from him and went to Government Mall (located under the Liberation Tower) to get it notarized. When I presented the document the government employee took a look at it and told me the format was all wrong, he wrote down the proper format, I went downstairs got it typed and came back to show him. He told me it was fine and I now needed to get it signed by my sponsor. So I left and came back two weeks later with the document signed. I went back to the same employee and handed him the signed document, he looked at it and was like what is this? I explained to him what it was and he once again told me it was in the wrong format. I was like what do you mean its the wrong format? You wrote it for me, I got it typed and approved by you and all you said I needed to do was get it signed which I did! He was like no this is the wrong format. I asked him if he could write down what I needed to change, he told me he won’t write anything and then shooed me away. I’m now getting someone to get this document sorted for me since I can’t deal with that crap again.

The second paper I needed to get was permission from the police to replace my damaged bumper. I headed to the Salmiya police station and walked up to the information desk and told them what paper I needed. They instructed me to go into the first office on the left. I went to the first office on the left and the police officer there told me to go upstairs. I went upstairs and there were three rooms but only one was occupied. So I walked in and waited until the two police there finished their conversation before I asked the cop seated at a desk about the paper. The cop told me to go to the office next door. I told him I did but there was nobody there. He then got agitated and told me obviously there isn’t anybody there since its his office and he can’t be in two places at once. As if I was somehow supposed to have know that was his office. So I go wait in his office for a few minutes and then he walks in. He’s like I need you to get me a photocopy of your license, car registration booklet and your civil ID. I thought to myself why couldn’t you have told me that earlier instead of making me wait here. So I leave the police station and drive to the nearest photocopy shop and then come back with the copies. I go upstairs again and this time the same cop is sitting at a desk in the third room. In my head I thought that was hilarious because it felt like the police station had only one employee who changes offices and pretends to be a different person every time. He ends up filling up the papers and then sends me down to the Salmiya area commander for one last signature.

How I hate this. I know a lot of people (mostly Kuwaitis) would disagree with me on this but I would rather they replaced all the ministry employees with expats. When was the last time you walked into McDonalds and was greeted by a grumpy employee who made you feel like he was doing you a favor?