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It’s a project by Google, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NASA and TIME. If you click the link at the end of this post you’ll be taken to an animation showing how Kuwait has progressed from 1984 up until 2012. You’ll mostly notice how more and more buildings got built but the roads basically stayed the same which is why we have so much traffic problems. Here is the [Link]

When I picked up the B&O Beolit 12 last month I also ended up picking up the Bang & Olufsen A9. I wasn’t planning to originally but it was so hard to resist. I first spotted the A9 when I was at the B&O store in Prague and it was love at first sight. It’s an AirPlay compatible speaker that will allow you to stream music onto it wirelessly and in case you don’t have Wifi you can connect your iPhone/iPod using a USB cable. The speaker has a very minimal design being just a circle with no buttons on the front and even in the back other than the power button there isn’t anything else. To increase and decrease the volume you just caress the speaker on the top from the left to right, to decrease the volume you swipe your hand right to left and to mute it you just hold the speaker on the top. The touch controls are very practical to use.

Sound wise the speaker is pretty loud and bassy for it’s size. That’s what actually sold me since I was not expecting the sound to be that big. I mostly listen to indie and electronic music on it and so far there isn’t anything really that it had difficultly playing. If we go back to the looks I should mention the speaker can be customized when it comes to colors. The front fabric cover by default comes in white but you can purchase different colors as well to match your environment like black, red, green etc.. Same with the wooden legs, you can get them in 3 different colors. In case you want to mount the speaker on the wall you can do that too.

Setting up the device was as easy as setting up the Beolit 12 and I didn’t have any trouble although a lot of people do get stuck and frustrated but that’s because they don’t follow instructions. I actually love the iPhone App since it allows me to control the settings on both my B&O devices with great ease.

My only gripe about the A9 and one many of you will remark on is the price, it’s KD890 (including the legs). At that price point it’s pretty much competing with full fledged sound systems that would deliver a lot more bang for the buck. But obviously none would look as good as the A9 or come in as simple a setup. The only other speaker system that I imagine could compete with the A9 is the Parrot Design Zikmu by Philippe Starck. But that isn’t affordable either costing around KD600 and the A9 is nearly 5 times more powerful (100w vs 480w RMS). It’s a luxury product that’s for sure but that’s the case with everything B&O produce. I love it and don’t regret getting it.

It’s been a while since my last post and since then I’ve gotten a lot of questions and rent was one of the most popular topics. That’s why I decided to put together a small FAQ on rent which you can take a look at below.

(All questions were answered according to rent law 35 for year 1978)

I have been living in my apartment for 3 years; can my landlord increase my rent?

No your landlord cannot increase rent. A landlord can only increase rent in the following situations:
1) If the tenant agrees to the proposed increase
2) Its been 5 years and the contract has ended (rule is once every 5 years)
3) The rent is 50% less than the market price

My landlord says he wants to increase the rent because he wants to do maintenance work? Does he have the right to do that?

No since the landlord is responsible for any maintenance and not the tenants.

I have a rental contract for 1 year but I’ve been living in the apartment for 18 months and the contract was never renewed. Now the landlord wants to kick me out. I know I have overstayed but do I have to leave immediately?

No in this situation he cannot kick you out but he can inform you to leave while giving you a grace period.
By law, if your rent contract ends and you continue living there then it renews by default for the same time of rent pay. Huh? What? Lawyers and there confusing terms… Simply put, if you pay rent on a monthly basis (which is how the majority of people pay rent in Kuwait) then your contract will renew automatically for a month at a time. If you paid rent every three months, then it will renew for 3 months, if you paid rent every 6 months your rent will renew every 6 months and so on.

What is the grace period?

Grace periods are only for when contracts renew by default (as explained above) and they depend on how often you pay your rent.

When can you really get kicked out? (with no grace period)

Reasons a landlord can kick you out are (for residencies and not commercial contracts)
1) If tenant hasn’t paid rent
2) If the tenant rents out the residency to a third person without permission
3) If the residence is being used for illegal activities
4) If the building is no longer structurally safe
5) If the landlord wants to rebuild the building or reconstruct it. There are a lot of variables for this one which I won’t get into.

My American friends can rent an apartment without a marriage certificate but I can’t seem to do the same? Do different citizens get treated differently in Kuwait by law?

Nationalities are not mentioned in the law so the law doesn’t talk about one nationality being treated differently than another (unless its Kuwaiti but that’s not in the rent laws), and therefore it is very disappointing to see that this kind of discrimination is being implemented in Kuwait.

Marriage certificates are also not mentioned in the law and my guess and only guess is that they ask for marriage certificates because unmarried couples might possibly engage in illegal sexual activities. The law restricts apartments from being used for illegal activities and sexual activity between two unmarried couples is considered illegal by law.

Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
Have a Kuwait law related question? Email me at [email protected]

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.

I’m not a fan of Dubai but it’s really getting difficult not to appreciate what they’re doing there. This weekend I ended up going to the Jumeirah public beach and was left extremely impressed. The beach was huge, super clean and the water was crystal clear. There were a ton of sailboats, kite surfers and everyone was just minding their own business. I loved it.

The long term parking at the airport is so small that on weekends it’s usually closed with a sign saying that it’s full and you’re basically forced to park in the short term parking and pay an exuberant price or park outside the cargo terminal for free but have to take the long walk back to the airport. Since I’ve been traveling a lot I kinda developed a routine which was working pretty well for me until this past weekend.

What I do now is get to the airport early like I usually do but I park in the short term parking. I then checkin to my flight and once I get the boarding pass I get back to my car and just park it outside the long term parking entrance and I sit and wait for someone to leave so that security will let me in. Usually it takes 15 to 30 minutes and it’s became a routine that works for me.

So this past Thursday, 30 minutes had passed and no one had left but since I had already checked in and still had around an hour for boarding I was doing ok. Then a car pulled up behind me and a Kuwaiti guy got out and came up to my window. I rolled it down and told him parking was full and I was waiting. The guy then goes to the security office and a few minutes later comes back with a Kuwaiti security guy who comes up to me and is like I am going to let the guy in because he wants to try his luck and look for a spot. I told the security guy I had been waiting here for 30 minutes now why can’t I go in to “try my luck”? Then the Kuwaiti guy came and told me to move my car so he could go in. I was like no, I was here first and I have been here for 30 minutes and I am not moving. The security told the guy in Arabic that I was a westerner and you know how stubborn they can be. The Kuwaiti guy kept trying to get me to move and telling the security he had his whole family in the car and his flight would be taking off soon etc.. etc..

Finally around 10 minutes later a passenger comes into the long term parking and was leaving. I tell the security guard I should be let in first to park and then you can let the other guy go in and try his luck. Of course he didn’t listen and let both of us in. I ended up driving the wrong way to get to the parking spot first to park.

So much drama just for parking. We definitely need more long term parking spots. My temporary fix would be to combine both the short and long term parking spots into one and then develop a pricing plan that would work for both. Until then it’s going to be like this every weekend.

Early in the month I was sent to Basel World, the largest watch expo in the world by Trafalgar so that I could cover the event for my blog. I was there for 3 days and I think by the last day I had managed to check out the whole expo since it was just so ridiculously huge. I managed to get access to a few brands I wanted to see except for two which were Rolex and Breitling. Rolex had the new anniversary edition Daytona I wanted to check out while Breitling had the new Emergency. If you don’t have access to a brand you basically only get to check out their displays outside their booth. With access you get taken inside the booth where you get to see the watches in person. Below are my favorite watches from the expo.

Last weekend I went to Milan and stayed at a trendy little hotel called Nu. It was actually my second choice since I had originally set my eyes on Hotel Straf, but Nu Hotel ended up coming in at half the price which made it the obvious choice.

The hotel is not located in the city center and is not walking distance to Duomo which is actually a good thing. Duomo is in the city center where all the cathedrals, department stores, franchises, luxury brands and ALL the tourist are. Many people actually want to be in Duomo which is fine by me but I would rather shop and stay in places with more locals than tourists. The hotel is located 5 minutes away from the Metro anyway which means a ride to any part of Milan will mostly take just under 20 minutes.

My room was pretty spacious for European standards but what probably helped the room look even more spacious was the super large window that occupied most of one wall. It brought in a lot of soft natural light into the room even on an overcast day. The room had all the regular amenities like free interent, mini bar, a safe and breakfast in bed should you choose. The customer service was fantastic, I was having minor issues with my AC since in typical person from Kuwait style I wanted it on all the time and at the coldest possible temperature and they were extremely helpful with sorting that issue out for me.

There wasn’t much going on around the hotel other than a happening bar across the street. Other than that everything on the street was usually closed by nightfall. If I ever go back to Milan I wouldn’t hesitate staying at Nu Hotel. Here is the link to their [Website]

A friend spotted the Fisker Karma hybrid electric vehicle in Kuwait. Not sure why anyone would want one here since gas is so cheap but my guess is it’s because it would be a very unique car to have in Kuwait.

There was one being sold on Q8showroom for around KD43,000 but not sure if its the same one.

Back in 2011 I posted about how a team of students from Kuwait came second place in the GCC Microsoft Imagine Cup. The idea that got them there was the creation of an App that would use crowd sourcing to inform the authorities of various problems around Kuwait. Using your phone you could snap a picture of overflowing garbage, large pot holes, accidents etc.. and then send the photos to the proper authorities with a GeoTag of the location.

Fast forward a couple of years and the Riyadh municipality just launched an iPhone App that does all of that. The screenshots above are in Arabic but the App also has English. Another example of a great local idea that gets implemented by another GCC country. [Link]

via @ahmed

After being in operation for around a decade now, Q8books, the small used bookstore in Kuwait City is sadly closing down. They started with just 50 books but now have over 10,000. They’ll be closing by the end of June so if you’ve never been to the store before or you’re interested in getting some used books at bargain prices then you should pass by before it’s too late.

The store is located on the mezzanine floor of the shopping center behind Johnny Rockets Salhiya. For store opening hours and to check out their collection of books you can visit their website www.q8books.com

BBC have an article on how the lack of sleep affects children’s performance at school and they also included the chart above which shows Kuwait in 4th place when it comes to sleep deprivation for children aged 9-10. The blame is mostly on kids being on mobile phones and computers in bedrooms late at night. I can’t really relate since when I was in school we didn’t have smartphones. But, I can imagine if I did have one I’d probably be up late as well browsing the internet from under the sheets. Not sure though why Kuwait is that high on the list, I’m sure this must be the same with kids all over the world. [Link]

Thanks BuYousef and Matt

The Contemporary Art Platform will be screening the film The Silence of the Angel by Paul Klee next week. Below are the details. The screening is free.

Artist: Paul Klee
Film: The Silence of the Angel
Duration: 52 minutes
Director: Michael Gaumnitz
Date: Wednesday, 15/5/2013
Time: 7:00pm
Location: CAP exhibition space

About the film:
Paul Klee is a German artist that was born in Munchenbuchsee in December 18, 1897. He studied in the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. The Silence of the Angel is a visual journey into the work of a major painter of the 20th century by Michael Gaumnitz, an award-winning documentarian of artists and sculptors. Like Kandinsky and Delaunay, Klee revolutionized the traditional concepts of composition and color. By listening to the heartbeat of nature, exploring the science of his time, and studying music and poetry, Klee created his own artistic language, which questioned the nature of form, line, and color. He moved beyond figurative abstraction to capture the very essence of movement in his painting. Using the writings of Paul Klee, as well as the events of his life and career, Gaumnitz presents the pictorial universe of a visionary artist. Klee died in June 29, 1940, Muralto.

So they now have a rare Aston Martin One-77, a Bentley Continental GT, a Mercedes SLS, a Ferrari FF and a Lamborghini Aventador. According to the police chief, the police received an amazing reaction from the public when the Lamborghini police cars hit the roads in Downtown Dubai so they decided to add more luxury sports cars to their fleet. “These sports cars will not be roaring and chasing speeding motorists,” he explained. “They will be used for road security in different areas of Dubai,” he said.

That’s just insane although the amount of publicity their police force is getting because of these cars is also ridiculous. Dubai really know how to market themselves. [Link]

I just read on Zawya that the parliament might soon scrap the coeducation ban. That would mean both genders will continue to attend school and university together but I am also guessing this means the walls that currently divide the guys and girls in some university classes will also be removed. This is one proposal I’m hoping will get passed. [Link]

Rio is a new Brazilian steakhouse that has been open for around a month and last night I decided to pass by and try it out. Unlike regular restaurants, the way the Rio menu works is slightly different since there is just one fixed price of KD15.5. For that price you get to choose one starter from a list of about eight, you get to choose an unlimited amount of side orders and then it’s all you can eat beef, fish and chicken. It’s similar to a buffet except you never have to get out of your seat.

Rio is located on the ground floor of Jawhara Tower in Kuwait City. It’s the same building that has Ubon and a few other restaurant. But from the restaurants that are currently located there, Rio has to be the biggest, probably double the size of the others. I was actually pretty surprised at how spacious Rio was compared to the other restaurants next door. The interior was also very trendy and nicely lit with large windows on two sides creating a very open and spacious look. You could easily forget the fact that you’re not in Kuwait once you’re inside. Once we sat down the waitress proceeded to explain to us how the menu works and then provided us with two coasters, one side had a red circle the other side a green circle. You put the coasters on the table with the green side up when you want your plate refilled and the red side up when you want to stop.

I was with my brother so we got to order two starters, the Carpaccio and the rocket salad. Between the two dishes I surprisingly favored the rocket salad but that’s probably because the balsamic dressing was so ridiculously good. One thing I found a bit annoying was the fact the starters came out so quickly after we ordered and then before we were completely done with the dishes they wanted to clear the plates so they could bring in the main course. I felt a bit rushed but that’s probably due to the lack of experience since they just opened. We ordered a whole bunch of sides to go with our main course, I ordered healthy sides like mushrooms, broccoli and carrots while my brother ordered potato wedges, onion rings and fried banana. We also had 6 or 8 sauces to choose from and we decided to order all of them so we could try them out.

They serve around 14 different kinds of meats and I would say 12 of them are served on skewers that they bring to your table and slice onto your plate. One after the other a waiter would come with a different skewer for us to try like various kinds of steaks, grilled shrimps, grilled chicken and sausages and even grilled pineapple. As they would fill our plate and walk away another skewer would come which meant we didn’t have enough time to start eating. Then I remembered the colored coasters the waitress told us about so we flipped ours to “red” and the food stopped coming. Since there are so many different kinds of skewers there are bound to be some you won’t favor and in my case I didn’t favor a few but the ones I did end up liking, I liked a lot (the sliced chicken and the chicken sausage being my favorites).

I do have a few gripes about the place and it mostly has to do with the service. The whole experience just felt very rushed. Right as soon as we sat down and the waitress explained to us the concept she wanted to take our order right then on the spot even though we didn’t have time to take a look at the menu. Then as I mentioned, the starters came out very quickly after the order was taken and before the starters were completely finished the plates were being cleared for the main course. Then the way you get bombarded with one grill after the other is also a bit overwhelming. Another issue I had is when we had gone through maybe 8 or 10 grills they started coming back with grills that we had already tried. When I asked the waiter if we were done trying all the grills he said yes. Since we were pretty full we decided to ask for the bill. When the bill arrived a waiter came with chicken sausages which we hadn’t been served before. So we each took one. Then I paid the bill and another skewer came this time with beef sausages, again we hadn’t tried those before. So I asked the waiter why he would tell us we were done trying out all the grills when we hadn’t and I don’t think he understood us. I think it must have been just a language issue but it’s kinda awkward to ask for the bill and pay for it while food is still arriving. I also have an issue with the price. At KD15.5 I would have appreciated if soft drinks were included or at the very least have free refills. If you want dessert that is also an additional cost. I think dessert should be included in the price since when you go to a buffet or order a set menu, generally all the food is included.

Rio is an interesting concept and a great looking place in a good location with a ton of parking spaces all around. It’s also probably the closest thing you’re going to get to an all you can eat steak buffet in Kuwait. As a matter of fact, this is probably the closest thing you’re also going to get to a healthy buffet since the menu is mostly made up of grilled protein. My issues mostly revolve around the service but they should easily be fixable by just slowing things down a notch. If you’re interested in trying Rio here is a [Map] to the location and their phone number is 22260788.

Update: I forgot to add they’re currently in a soft launch stage and so are only open from 7PM to 11PM