I was reading an article on Arabian Business the other day about ghost brands which is a term being used for franchises that come to the Gulf and do really well here while end up failing and closing down in their original home country. One of the brands hit by the recession was the UK lingerie chain La Senza. But, I just found out that Alshaya got involved and purchased 60 La Senza stores in the UK and helped save 1,100 jobs. That’s pretty cool. [Link]
Three Kuwaitis killed a crocodile which had apparently sneaked out of a farm and strayed at night before it came face to face with them.
The two brothers and their friend were sitting near a camp just outside the capital Kuwait City when the two-metre reptile crawled slowly towards them.
“One of them who had a hunting rifle shot the crocodile as they were afraid it might attack them…the crocodile had apparently managed to sneak out of a nearby farm in Bar Al Abdali area,” Alanba daily said.
If someone makes a movie about a crocodile that goes on a rampage in Kuwait City I’d watch it. [Source]
Ok, the title is not true but more than once I’ve mislead Kuwait new comers into believing we were about to take the subway when walking down towards the Darwaza Abdul Razaq Tunnel in Kuwait City (pictured above). Even once you’re inside the tunnel and you realize it’s just a pedestrian tunnel, it’s still not hard to imagine a pair of escalators located in a corner that can take you further down below towards the trains. That’s why I always found that tunnel interesting and I don’t think there is anything else like it in Kuwait.
The Architecture of Kuwait blog has a bunch of pictures of this underground pedestrian tunnel and you can see them [Here]
Photography Exhibition and a Competition Announcement Date: Tuesday, 10th January 2012 Time: 7:00pm Location: Sultan Gallery, Sabhan
@SSHDesignClub and @Archofkuwait have organized a photography exhibition called Kuwait – Early 50 Years where they will be exhibiting old photos of Kuwait with some that might never have been seen before. At the photography exhibition they will also be announcing a competition called Kuwait 2061 which will be open to everyone to participate in.
The competition will be about how Kuwait might look like 50 years from now and you will be able to share your vision by any means possible as long as it fits onto a 50×50 board. The full details of the competition will be made clear on Tuesday at the event.
For now you can check out their Facebook page for more information [Link]
Back in 2009 Bait 7 closed down because of a fire and then stayed closed since the 1st Ring Road construction was taking place right in front of them. Now that the construction in front of them has been completed the place got fixed up and is now open again. The place also has a new owner but according to the manager they’ve kept the same feel and look with just a few adjustment to the menu. I don’t have their contact number or website link but they’re located in Kuwait City behind the church and if you’re planning to go there you need to park in the Starbucks lot and then follow the “7” sign.
The Quadrantid meteors to be seen today and tomorrow night in Kuwaiti skies, Astronomer Adel Al-Saadoon said on Wednesday.
The Quadrantids are a major shower, Al-Saadoon told KUNA, adding that they come from a comet that broke into fragments when it was nearing the sun 500 years ago.
He added that Quadrantids meteors are a combination of many meteors in space throughout the years, producing more than 100 meteors per hour from a radiant near the North Star, noting that the first phase of the meteors in 2012 has already peaked and it is possibly visible around 10:00 PM at North Pole direction, and, specifically, south of the Big Dipper. [Source]
I found out about Al-Sabih Marine from my twitter followers and I’m glad I did since I was planning to order a Pelican case from Amzon and it turned out to be cheaper to just buy it locally. .
Al-Sabih Marine is located behind Tilal Complex in Shuwaikh and as soon I walked into the place I spotted their Pelican collection. I was looking for the 1200 model in black but spotted a yellow one on display for KD23. The same case costs around KD10 on Amazon so I asked the salesman if they had any discounts and he told me they did and that the final price would be KD19.5. It also turned out they had it in black which was great. KD19.5 isn’t cheaper than Amazon but it was going to cost me at least KD10 to ship it with Aramex so even though I was paying double the price of Amazon I was still saving money. While I was there I also noted down the prices of the other sized cases just for reference. These prices below are without the discount which I am assuming is a standard 15%:
If you’re interested in getting a Pelican case I’m not aware of any other place in Kuwait that sells them for cheaper. Here is a link to their website [Link]
If you don’t know what Pelican cases are just watch the video below.
Prime Cuts revamped their website recently and I think it looks a lot better than their older one. In case you didn’t know, they’re a supplier of various gourmet products with their main focus on high quality beef cuts from around the world. They have a physical store in Salmiya which I have yet to check out but you can order from their website and they’ll deliver. Here is the [Link]
Last week while coming home from the airport, I tried to exit the 50th to the 5th Ring Road but I missed the exit. It didn’t make sense how I missed it but I somehow did. A few days later I picked up Nat from the airport and was again trying to take the 5th Ring Road exit and I ended up missing it for a second time.
Turns out they’ve closed the original exit and created a new one around 2KM earlier than before. There are no signs pointing to the new exit but whats more confusing is why does the current exit start so early and consist of 3 lanes that run parallel to the 4 lane highway. Weird. [YouTube]
Update: According to a reader this newly created exit has actually helped lessen the morning traffic. Previously it used to take him 45-60 minutes to get to work and now it takes 25 tops.
A short documentary about the current conditions of Kuwait’s marine ecosystem and the work that the Kuwait Society for the Protection of Animals and Their Habitat (K’S PATH) is doing to make a difference.
In summary, we’ve got a major pollution problem in Kuwait but we also have an organization like K’S PATH that’s taking action and trying to fix these issues. If you are an individual or social group you can join them in their clean up activities or if you represent a company you can also sponsor K’S PATH. Send an email to [email protected] for inquiries.
You’ve probably passed by this building a number of times but not really known what it was or what’s inside. It’s currently getting demolished which is why I thought I would share some pictures I took back in 2003. Back then the building was still open and me and my friend decided to explore it and take some pictures. Most of the shots I had taken were abstract (it was a phase I went through) but I did find some shots that actually showed some of the interior which I posted below. We found a room full of files that contained dates and times of ships passing through some dating back to the 70s and I’m sure there might have been some even older. I kinda regret not taking more photos and flipping through more files but this is still better than nothing.
I finally got around to putting together this video I shot last week when I was in Lebanon. I rented a snowmobile up in Mzaar (Faraya) near the ski slopes from a company called Highland Club. It costs $100 for an hour but they have better deals on longer journeys. For example they can take you from Faraya to the Cedars and back for around $400. That’s a 3 hour trip each way and comes to around $65 an hour.
If you’re ever in Lebanon and are interested in taking out a snowmobile you can call them on +9613860867 for reservation and directions or just go up to Mzaar near the slopes and ask for snowmobile rental places. [Vimeo]
Interior Ministry announced on Monday that it has asked the Ministry of Communications to suspend all anonymous accounts on the social networking site (Twitter).
The ministry said in a press statement that such measure comes in order to preserve the rights of citizens and residents of people who were used to slander them and their families under fake names, saying that such is a crime punishable by law.
It confirmed that all public have the freedom of expression guaranteed to them by the Constitution as long as those practices are going according to the law, especially with regard to using the (Twitter) site.
It explained that this step comes within the context of the ministry’s keenness to preserve community values and respect for the law. [Source]
That’s technically not possible. Kuwait’s Ministry of Communication can’t suspend twitter accounts. Sounds like a request from a department that doesn’t understand how twitter (and possibly the internet) works. I’m sure the MOC know that’s not possible and probably just replied to them with “enshallah”.