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Yesterday me and some friends headed to the Kuwait Camel Race Club in Kabd. I had never been to a camel race before and when my friend proposed it I figured it would be something exciting to do on a quiet Saturday afternoon. My friend got in contact with a person at the track so when we got there we had a guide waiting for us.

[YouTube]

The guide got into the car with us and took us past the security gate into the center of the race track where the camel owners drive alongside their camels during the race. The Kuwait Camel Club no longer use human jockeys but instead use robotic ones due to the controversial child jockey problems faced in the past. During the race the camel owners drive down the track alongside their camels controlling their robot jockeys with wireless controllers. The guide made me tune into 93.1mhz on the FM radio because there was a live broadcast of the actual race so we could follow it that way. You could watch the short video above to get a feel of the view from inside the car. During the start of every race all the cars drive to the starting line where the owners make last checks on their camels. The camels don’t start in front of the spectators stand but 3KM away from the finish line. Once the camels are ready they are lined up and the race begins. The cars drive alongside the camels all the way to the finish line and then the cars drive back to the starting line to check on the other set of camels. We did this maybe five or six times until all the races had been finished and then we drove back to the spectator stands.

There was a black tent near the track where the winner was given his prize. Afterwards we were invited to some dates with camel butter and camel milk. The butter was absolutely delicious and even the milk didn’t taste bad at all, kinda like something between buttermilk and laban.

If you’re interested in visiting the tracks to watch a race it’s very easy to find and do. Take the 6th Ring Road and if 360 Mall is on your right keep heading straight past the Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium. Keep driving until you pass the new Kuwait University campus on your left (currently just hills and hills of sand surrounded by hoarding) and then after that in a bit you’ll see a sign for the 604 exit. Once you take the exit stop at the traffic light and then take a left and pass under the bridge. Then keep driving straight until you get to a roundabout, drive straight past that roundabout and keep driving until you get to a second roundabout. Once again pass that roundabout and keep driving until you hit the third roundabout. At the third roundabout go left and then head all the way till the end of the road. Once your read the end go right until you get to the end of the road again and you’ll spot the Kuwait Camel Club on your left. The whole ride shouldn’t take you more than 30 minutes. There is no entrance fee and races are held every Saturday from 2:30pm between October and April. Here is the location on [Google Maps]

UPDATE: I posted an updated guide, 2021 edition which you can check here.

Lidia al-Qattan explaining the Big Bang Room

I’ve being thinking about this post for the past few days trying to figure out what I was going to write exactly. The place turned out to be such a cool and surreal experience that I just couldn’t figure out where to start or how to say what I wanted to say. In the end I decided that I’ll be brief and not go into details so that you go there with no expectations other than having a good time.

Me posing outside the house with @kuzmoz

Last week a friend asked me if I wanted to join them on a tour of the House of Mirrors and since I had never been I decided to join them. The House of Mirrors belongs to Lidia al-Qattan, the widow of Khalifa al-Qattan, a renowned Kuwaiti artist. She started decorating one small wall with mirrors and through time more and more walls were decorated until the whole house inside and out was covered with mirrors.

The reception area with munchies

As I said, I’m not going to go into details because I don’t want to ruin the experience for you but simply put Lidia is such an amazing person. We were expecting the tour of the house to take around 30 minutes but it took us 3 hours and the 3 hours literally flew by. She was such an incredible host full of stories and the whole experience was seriously pretty trippy.

If you’ve never been to the House of Mirrors you should and when you do make sure you go with a bunch of friends since its an experience that should be shared. The cost of the tour is KD2 per person on weekdays and KD3 on weekends. The location of the house Street 94 Qadisiya, House 17 Block 9. You need to call ahead and make an appointed on this number 22518522.

A few weeks back the local photography store AAB World provided me with the new Sigma 35mm f/1.4 full frame lens to try out. My current collection of lenses that I use with my Nikon D800 are the Nikon 24mm f/2.8, the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 and the Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8. So at 35mm, the Sigma fit snugly between the 24mm and 50mm lens. Actually a bit too snugly because I stopped using both those lenses while I had the Sigma with me.

The first thing that caught my attention with the Sigma lens was the build quality. The lens is a lot larger than both my prime lenses and due to its all metal casing it felt more durable and a lot more solid. The reason I love prime lenses is because they’re so bright and with an open aperture of f/1.4, this Sigma lens is really bright.

I used the lens frequently during the period I had it with me and the 35mm range proved to be very versatile. The physical size of the lens didn’t bother me much and I actually found the larger lens easier to grip and balance the camera with while shooting. Nikon also have their own 35mm f/1.4 lens but costs around KD470 on Amazon. The Sigma on the other hand is selling for KD240 locally (cheaper than Amazon). That’s nearly half the price for what is basically a very similar lens. The lens is also available for Canon cameras.

If you own a full frame Canon or Nikon camera then you’re in for a treat because AAB World want to give away one of these lenses to my readers. The only requirement needed to win this lens is for you to own a full frame Nikon or Canon camera. To get a chance to win this lens just post the model of your camera in the comments below and I will randomly choose a winner tomorrow night using random.org.

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 within 24 hours another winner will be randomly chosen. When collecting the prize you NEED to have your full frame camera with you.

If your camera isn’t one of the following you don’t qualify
Canon – 6D, 1D X, 5D Mark III, 5D Mark II, 5D, 1Ds Mk III, 1Ds Mk II, 1Ds
Nikon – D3, D3X, D3S, D4, D600, D700, D800

Update: I’ve closed the post for commenting and will be conducting the random draw this weekend.

Twitter updated their 2012 user information request page and it turns out Kuwait did not request any data about any local users from Twitter last year. Actually the only Arab country to request user information was surprisingly Qatar. Check out the full list [Here]

via @Nibaq

With all the problems with the Kuwait Zoo we sometimes forget it still can be a nice place to visit. A friend of mine passed by last week and she wrote about it in a much more positive way than I could ever do.

Did you know that the entrance fee is [500 filss] ONLY?! And now that the weather is still breezy & the sun isn’t eating our heads, half a KD will grant you scenery, active animals, great open space, clear skies, and best of all- an adventure to remember.

Her pictures are also really great so check out her post [Here]

If you’ve got an iPhone 5 and are using Zain then you’re lucky because they just activated the service for your phones.

Thanks Essa

Note: Make sure you update to the latest iOS software

Elmnet in collaboration with Qualitynet are currently giving away 2Mbps internet for free at InfoConnect. Sounds too good to be true? Well it kinda is. Here are some things you need to know:

Pros
– It’s for everyone, expats and Kuwaitis
– It’s free and it’s 2Mbps

Cons
– You can only use their software to browse the internet
– You can only browse the internet and do nothing else internet related (no torrents, no online gaming etc.)
– You will have three ad banners on the screen the whole time framing the browser, one on the left, one on the right and one below
– You can only use it on a computer. You can’t use it on your smart phone or any other device like your gaming system or tablet
–

The salesman wasn’t sure if it would work with Macs or Linux operating systems

works on Macs but not Linux

Update: According to a spokesperson from Elmnet the connection isn’t limited to just browsing. You can use the connection for other internet activities like downloading torrents and streaming music from apps like Spotify etc.

Last week I posted about how a tall metal fence was being constructed around Kuwait’s Constitution Monument. Well a reader who I presume is somehow connected to the project left a comment explaining why the decision to erect a fence was made:

Initially the monument and the garden hosting it were supposed to be opened to the public, as the garden was designed to tell a story, the story of the state of Kuwait before and after the constitution. The side of the garden as you enter it from the Tijaria tower represents the past, you`ll see only desert plants arranged in randomly and in groups, planted in sand, representing the tribes scattered over the deserted area of the country. Once you pass trough the monument, which represents the Kuwait Constitution (and which is actually built from titanium plates electroplated with bronze and the bronze blocks you see on the monument are representing the articles of the constitution, one block for each article) you enter the garden representing the present, on the right, and the future on the left. The fountain to the right has few vertical sprinklers representing the oil-wells. The flowers are representing the people of Kuwait (diversity of flowers for diversity of people) and a stream of water that goes to the roots of the monument is the symbol of the will of the people feeding/changing the constitution according to the modern needs. The left side has a mirror fountain, still water, beautiful flowers; is the future of Kuwait.

This is how the park was designed/imagined by the architect.

All those olive trees were brought from Italy and carefully selected to look almost the same in shape and height. Flowers have been brought from outside most of them. The marble used for pathways is also from Italy.

A lot of work/expensive materials/money have been invested in this project. It was supposed to be a place for leisure/ relaxation.

Few days after it was inaugurated flowers/plants were uprooted, stones and plants thrown in the water olive trees with broken branches and the disaster continued. Two times the plants/flowers were replanted with the same effect on people (uneducated / unsupervised kids mostly).

As so.. the decision to place a fence around this area has been taken very easy. This fence will be in place until the second phase of the project (rehabilitation of the entire park) will start/finish.
In conclusion, THAT fence is there because of the people (not drawing a conclusion that all people are the same so don`t jump with lame comments, who wants to understand what i mean will understand; see Mark`s article related to the Zoo) not because someone wanted to stop access of the people to the park. Hopefully one day will be open for everyone to see and admire.

This past weekend I traveled to Dubai to take part in the Dubai Marathon that was held there early Friday morning. Me and my running partner took part in the 10KM run and it was so much fun. I hadn’t taken part in a marathon before and the furthest I had ever run previously was around 6 or 7KM so it was such a rush to actually finish the race. Not only that but I had set a personal target of completing the 10KM run in under an hour and I managed to do it in 00:57:31 and with just 3 hours of sleep that night.

There were close to 20,000 people competing in the marathon and it was really like nothing else I had done before. The run started near Dubai Mall and when we got there around 6:30AM it was super packed everywhere with loud music playing. Even though it was pretty cold and foggy I don’t think anyone cared.

If you’ve never taken part in a marathon before you need to add it to your bucket list. The experience of running with thousands of people is like nothing else. Here is the link to the Dubai Marathon website [Link]

Spotted the above pack at Sultan Center and couldn’t resist picking it up. After Sultan stopped getting Count Chocula, Cocoa Puffs became my favorite Friday morning cereal so when I saw this muffin mix I decided to grab a box to try out.

Making these muffins was super easy. There are two packs inside the box, one for the muffin mix the other for the Cocoa Puffs toppings. You take the muffin mix and empty it into a bowl. You then add an egg and some vegetable oil and mix it all up and that’s basically it. You then just pour the mix into muffin cups, add the Cocoa Puffs toppings on top and bake the muffins for a few minutes in the oven.

The result wasn’t that great. I thought the muffin tasted pretty good but the Cocoa Puffs toppings didn’t actually taste like the Cocoa Puffs cereal. I actually would have preferred the muffin without the Cocoa Puffs toppings. What I would do next time is make a proper home made muffin (not the ready made stuff) and just add Cocoa Puffs on top from a cereal box.

With all the gun control talk that’s currently taking place in the States right now I thought this little bit of information was interesting. According to gunpolicy.org, the rate of private gun ownership in Kuwait is 24.82 firearms per 100 people. When I first heard that figure it sounded like a lot until I realized the rate in the US in comparison is 88.8 firearms per 100 people. But, confusingly, the rate of private gun ownership in Lebanon is just 21 per 100 people.

You can get a lot more information on gun numbers in Kuwait along with more facts and figures by checking the following [Link]

Creepstreams is a website that streams footage from certain models of Trendnet home security cameras from around the world that are known to have a security vulnerability. I just checked the website and noticed there is one camera in Kuwait that is currently streaming footage online without the owners knowledge. Sadly for us peeping toms the camera is located in what looks to be a paint shop. You can check it out [Here]

via The Verge

Update: Google has disabled the website

Back in November a Golden Jubilee monument of Kuwait’s Constitution was revealed in Martyr’s Park in Kuwait City. The monument looked really cool surrounded by a beautiful garden and a water fountain. Fast forward a few months and the design of the monument and surround garden is being finalized and two things caught my attention.

The first is they’ve now erected a high metal fence around the monument and monument garden. There is literally another park inside the Martyr’s Park and one that is going to be closed off to the public.

The second issue is they’ve basically cut the Martyr’s Park in half by building the Golden Jubilee monument park across the Martyrs Park from one side to the other. The oval running track which people used for exercising now ends in the middle as roughly demonstrated by the yellow box in the image above.

These two issues kinda seem like poor planning to me. I understand they probably erected the high metal fence to stop barbequers from barbequing inside the monument park but I think they could have created some sort of path way that would still allow people to at least walk up close to the monument but keep them outside the monument garden. Right now there is a hole in the metal fence which is how I got in a took my picture but once the hole is closed you won’t be able to stand in front of the monument or even get near it. It also sucks that the running track has been sliced in half since they could have shrunk the Golden Jubilee monument space slightly and built the whole thing inside the oval instead of over it. Oh well…

[YouTube]

The company Parente Fireworks who were part of the Kuwait Fireworks Guinness World Record have uploaded two “making of” videos onto YouTube. The first video on top contains some behind the scene shots including ones from the control room during the event. The video below on the other hand summarizes that actual fireworks event down to around 5 minutes.

[YouTube]

Strange subject I know but the bathrooms at The Prestige section of Avenues Phase III are probably the nicest bathrooms I’ve ever seen in any mall. Every stall is a bathroom by itself with its own sink, bidet, large mirror and of course the toilet. They’re clean and I don’t think get much foot traffic unlike all the other bathrooms in Avenues which are generally horrible (but still way better than Souk Sharq and Marina Mall). So if you’re ever at The Avenues and want to use the bathroom, head to The Prestige ones.