Categories
Sneak Peek Travel

Sneak Peek: Kuwait Airways new First and Business Class

firstclass

A few hours ago Kuwait Airways posted photos on their instagram account of how their new business and first class cabins will look like and frankly, it’s a bit disappointing. Although it’s a MAJOR improvement over their current planes, the first class seats (pictured above) look more like business class seats on other airlines, while their business class (pictured below) is more like premium economy.

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They haven’t posted any photos of the economy class seats but anything really is better than what they have now. The first new plane arrives this coming December. Here is a link to their [Instagram]




Categories
Apple

Repairing an iPhone screen for cheap

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After dropping my iPhone a million times I finally managed to shatter the screen a few days ago. Originally I was going to have FixAid repair the screen since they quoted me KD25 which I thought was reasonable but I was in Hawalli this morning and the first repair shop I found quoted me KD16. When did it become so cheap to replace an iPhone 5 screen? Yesterday I was considering getting an iPhone cover but now I’m like it’s just cheaper to swap the screen if it breaks again.

The shop I went to is called I Pro Company and they’re located in the building right after Blink (keep Blink on your left). Their phone number is 22648118 if you need to get an estimate and here they are on [Google Maps]




Categories
50s to 90s Interesting

Escape from Kuwait

escapefromkuwait

Escape from Kuwait is an interesting short story about a guy who managed to escape Kuwait through the desert during the 1990 Iraq invasion. Below is an excerpt from the story:

As time wore on it was becoming obvious the Iraqis wouldn’t leave. And, one by one, the families I was providing with sustenance were “discovered” (informants were rampant) and arrested. I also ran out of Dinars. I did what everyone was doing to stay alive: I used to drive up to Basrah (the Iraqi city neighbouring Kuwait) to sell my electronics one by one; first the VCR, then another, then my Boom Box, my mini Hi-Fi, then the big stereo, the small TV etc… The only thing nobody wanted was my Amiga 1000. When these had gone I started disposing of the white goods: the dishwasher, the dryer, the fridge (we had practically doubles of everything). Iraqis were eager to buy since such goods were not widely available in their land, but the money they paid was peanuts. Still, no choice. The situation gradually became desperate, and I realised that I had to leave. I gave to our Philippina maid 3 months’ salaries and told her that she should go to her embassy (Asian and African officials were organising mass evacuations). The poor thing was crying so hard. I exchanged my wife’s car, a Chevrolet Caprice Classic, to a Daihatsu Rocky a Palestinian colleague had. This would normally be a dumb deal, as the Chevy was worth 4 times the Daihatsu. But I needed a 4X4 vehicle to escape through the desert. With most of my last Dinars I bought essential spare parts, two cans of motor oil and a tank of gasoline at the black market. I bid farewell and good luck to the families that remained hidden, and one early dawn in early October I headed a convoy of 6 trucks south to Saudi Arabia. I had gotten a makeshift “map” from a Swedish photographer who used to race in desert rallies a few years back and now pieced together escape convoys (an aside: why wouldn’t he himself leave?… He was in love with an Indian girl who had not left the country yet… ah, the power of love).

The story is not too long (around 3 pages) and interesting all the way through.
Check it out [Here]

Photo above from Kuwait Invasion: The Evidence.




Categories
50s to 90s Photography

Old photos of Radisson Blu (SAS)

sasopening

I have a friend who recently started working at the Radisson Blu Hotel and he found a bunch of old photo albums so he asked me if I would be interested in flipping through them since he knows I like old photos related to Kuwait. There were maybe 20 large albums with a lot of random stuff but I picked out photos that I thought were the most interesting or at least ones that I could relate to.

The photo on top is of the hotel on opening day. I had chosen other photos from that day for them to scan but I didn’t get them for some reason.

Second group of photos I found interesting is the installation of the Kugel. The Kugel is a large 4 ton marble sphere that floats on water and before the hotels recent refurbishment used to located in the lobby. Originally I thought the Kugel had been there ever since the hotel opened but turns out it was installed after the 1990 invasion. The Kugel now is no longer located in the lobby but instead outside near the Viking Club entrance.

The second batch of photos that caught my eye was the damage done to The Peacock Chinese restaurant during the 1990 invasion. I had seen photos of the hotel after the invasion but hadn’t seen photos of Peacock before. If you’ve never been to Peacock, here’s my review.

clock

Finally does anyone remember Clock? I couldn’t find a photo in their archives of the restaurant when it was open just the one above taken after the invasion. I was young when it first opened in the 80s but I think it was the first restaurant to offer drive through in Kuwait. I used to see the Clock sign when going down the Gulf Road near Bid’aa and as a kid I found the concept of drive through fascinating.




Categories
Complaints Information Personal

Getting paperwork done in Kuwait

passport

Getting government related paperwork done can be such an emotional roller coaster. I got a new passport yesterday and all I had to do was move my residency from the old passport to the new one and the processes was just so exhausting. I originally went to the Hawalli Immigration office who then told me to go the Kuwait City office who then told me to go back to the Hawalli office. I was like no way, I just came from there and they said I needed to get the transfer done here. I was then sent from one person to another, to another, to another and had to do lots of pointless waiting around before I finally ended up in a room by myself with all hope lost of getting my stuff done before I travel in a few days. Then suddenly out of the blue, a guy randomly walked in, looked at my papers, signed them, called someone in another department and then sent me to him to get the papers processed. Just like that by mere coincidence I was done.

It’s insane, you literally have to walk on egg shells every time you get sent to someone to get a signature or a stamp. You have to hope they’re in a good mood, you need to make sure you don’t do anything that might aggravate them like stand too close to the desk or interrupt them while they’re whatsapping. It feels like you need a favor from every person you need a signature or stamp from. I hate it.

egov

On the bright side, not sure if many of you know about this but there is a half decent government website with information and forms you need to get various jobs done. It’s the Kuwait Government Online website and the section I’m talking about is called Citizens & Residents. Check it out [Here]




Categories
News

Six Flags opening in Dubai

sixflags

Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, the world’s largest regional theme park company, and Meraas Leisure and Entertainment, have announced plans to bring a theme park to Dubai.

In a joint statement, the companies said a new strategic partnership will bring a Six Flags-branded theme park to the emirate. The project is planned to open in late 2017 and will be located within the multi-themed park project in Jebel Ali launched by Meraas.

I’m jealous. [Link]




Categories
50s to 90s Videos

Kuwait in 1975

A friend of mine gave me a video his parents shot back when they first arrived to Kuwait in the mid 70s. The video was shot with Super 8 film which was converted years later to VHS format and then recently digitized. The video contains a lot of different footage of Kuwait but edited down to 13 minutes so it’s not very long. Here is a breakdown of what you’ll see in the video, please note there is no sound:

0:00 Kuwait Towers still under construction. There were rumors circulating that the tower spheres were going to be in gold and when they first started adding the blue tiles people were generally disappointed it wasn’t in gold.
2:25 A drive down Fahad al Salem street
3:16 Naif palace, you can see the execution gallows through the open gate at 3:24
3:28 The old National Assembly
3:30 The Arab Planning Institute, currently where the Liberation Tower stands
3:39 Heading towards the Gulf Road
4:15 American Mission Hospital
5:05 The ice cream guy, probably the only thing that hasn’t changed in Kuwait
5:09 Seef Palace
5:14 The Gulf Road near the Dixons House. Nearly all of those old Kuwaiti houses have now been demolished.
5:48 A gas station on the Gulf Road on the beach side. This was demolished after the failed assassination attempt of Sheikh Jaber Al-Sabah, who was the emir of Kuwait at the time. The car explosion had taken place near the station.
5:53 The British Embassy, the main entrance was on the Gulf Road.
6:45 The Behbahani Compound where Casper & Gambini, Starbucks and Dar al Funoon are currently located.
6:56 Almagsab Gate
7:05 Old secondary school now part of the Kuwait University campus.
7:14 Shanty towns. This is where non-Kuwaitis were staying while their paperwork to become Kuwaitis were being processed. This specific town was located in the north near where Entertainment City is currently.
8:13 Dhow building yard near the Port of Doha
10:00 A drive through Shamiya
10:34 Back to Fahad al Salem Srteet
10:50 The old KNPC building
11:23 Souk Al-Mubarakiya
12:54 The gold souk

The video above was shot by Jo and Jeff de Lange. They were also nice enough to take me through the video frame by frame and explain what I was seeing so I could share it with you. [YouTube]




Categories
Fashion

Fashion Weekly Roundup

Weekly roundup from 248AM Fashion:

Nike X Roundel by London Underground
Rad Hourani Unisex Couture Collection #11
The Fashion Dose
When I Wore Sacoor Brothers
White Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver
All that is Balenciaga
Ann Demeulemeester In Book Deal With Rizzoli

For more fashion related news check out 248AM Fashion




Categories
Events Things to do

Things to do this weekend in Kuwait

Thursday
Remal Sand Sculpting Festival
TOMORROW’S PAST / Mohammed AlKouh
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

Friday
Remal Sand Sculpting Festival
TOMORROW’S PAST / Mohammed AlKouh
7Market – Rooftop Garden Event
2014 KMX Motorcross Championship

Saturday
Remal Sand Sculpting Festival
TOMORROW’S PAST / Mohammed AlKouh
All Day Outing: Failaka Island Tour
Artists for K’S PATH 2014
Cinemagics Rooftop Movie: Playtime
7Market – Rooftop Garden Event
2014 KMX Motorcross Championship




Categories
News Travel

Kuwait Airways will have WiFi and GSM on flights soon

kuwait-airways

According to an article published on Interactive Travel, the new Kuwait Airways planes that will start arriving at the end of the year will allow you to use your mobile phone during flight as well as connect online via WiFi.

The airline has ordered five A330s and seven A320s, all of which will be line fitted with Mobile OnAir and Internet OnAir. The first A320 and first A330 will be delivered in December 2014 and May 2015.

If this actually happens I might start flying Kuwait Airways again. [Link]




Categories
Sports

American Football: Kuwait vs Korea

football

The Kuwait National American Football team is currently in Korea to play against the Korean American Football team in a Asian qualifier game for the IFAF Seniors World Championship Sweden 2015.

The Kuwait Gridiron Football Federation was founded in 2010, has no official league and has minimal international experience. On the other hand, the Korean American Football Association was founded in 1946, has a 21 college team league, and was ranked 5th in the IFAF World Championships Japan 2007.

The match is taking place on April 12th and to keep up to date with the Kuwait team news follow them on Facebook [Here]




Categories
Events

KREATE 03

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KREATE is an exhibition currently taking place at Bayt Lothan where local artists are showcasing their work in ways that are both interactive and engaging. I passed by last night and thought there was some interesting work.

kreate2

The event is going to be on today and tomorrow as well so if you’re looking for something to do pass by and check it out. Here are the details [Link]




Categories
Design Kuwait

Saving Kuwait’s Heritage #hadam

hadam

I just got back from the protest outside the original Chamber of Commerce and Industry building and I have to say, I’m a bit disappointed. There were only around 30 people there mostly consisting of young Kuwaiti architects which makes me wonder, where was everyone else? I know a lot more than just 30 people care about saving Kuwait’s architectural heritage but they just weren’t there.

I was kinda joking around with a friend that maybe if there was valet more people would show up but I’m starting to think that it might have actually attracted more people. In any case the owner of the building was there and he actually wants to preserve the building but the baladiya only gave approval on demolishing and not refurbishing. Too much politics, but hopefully this is going to get solved and the building will be saved. But even if this building is saved today, there will still be more that need saving tomorrow.

Photo on top by @jassamino




Categories
Kuwait

Original Chamber of Commerce and Industry building getting demolished

Back in 2011 I posted the picture above of the original Chamber of Commerce and Industry building. I loved the old architecture in the building and I wrote about how I hope it was not going to get demolished. Sadly last night they started demolishing the building.

The building is an important emblem of Kuwait’s modern heritage and the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters was even trying to list it along with some of the surrounding buildings onto UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

This is why there will be a protest against this destruction this afternoon at 4:30PM beside the building. If it’s something you care about then pass by and show your support. Here is the location on [Google Maps]

Below is a shot of the building taken in the early 70s.




Categories
News

Kuwait Airways to cut 1,000 jobs this year

kuwaitairways

The airline’s first female CEO, who took control in December, said eventually she would like to reduce staff numbers even further.
“My target is 4,500 but I can’t do that this year,” she said.

The airline is undergoing a major restructure after two decades of being burdened with old, inefficient aircraft, staff protectionism and a bloated workforce of 6,000.

I want to be optimistic but I find it hard to believe they’ll fire 1,000 government employees. [Link]

Update: Nevermind, I missed the line that said all the employees they are going to fire are foreigners. Now it makes sense.