Search: “ur”

The other day while at work some people said they saw a blimp in the sky. I tried looking for it but supposedly it had disappeared behind some buildings. No one believed them of course including me, that is until today. On my way to the north I spotted a huge blimp in what looks like a US military base. Its to the left of the 6th Ring Road past highway 80. I quickly pulled out my camera and took the picture above. I wonder what its used for and what was it doing in Kuwait City the other day?

It’s riding season again for me. I haven’t ridden for nearly 3 weeks now since the weather got super cold and it started to rain. Now that the weather has gotten better its time to ride again. I cleaned my bike today and started it up to make sure everything is in order. I should start riding to work starting Sunday and I can’t wait.

Someone posted a link to Q8showroom.com in the forum the other day and since then I have been seeing their web banners everywhere. The site is still not up but it looks like its going to be competing head to head with Q8car.com. I like Q8car but their website interface is a disaster and all these flashing banners on the main page are bound to give me epilepsy one day.

I called up the phone number on the Q8 Showroom website to ask when they were planning to launch and they told me within 2 to 3 weeks (they weren’t sure). If it was me I would have only started advertising once the site was actually up because I don’t think anyone wants to keep checking their site to see if its up yet or not. [Link]

I think I just found the funkiest designed clothing store in Kuwait and sadly its only for woman. I was leaving Platform and on my way out back to the main road when I saw this extremely trendy looking storefront right across the street from the BMW showroom. I didn’t know what it was and I wasn’t sure if it was open or not so I started driving really slow and then I noticed some girls walked into the place. I couldn’t tell what the place was because the windows were sand blasted so I parked my car and hoped for the best. As long as it wasn’t a lingerie store or someones house I figured I would be ok.

I opened the door and walked in and to my surprise it was a clothing store and it looked really trendy. The clothing racks were lined up on the side of the store and there were two pinball machines right in the center and in the rear there was a huge pink seating area. I walked around a bit and then left and will definitely go back with Nataly. The place is called 4 and it wouldn’t look out of place in Soho.

Note: Notice how I have 3 posts today on 3 different new stores?

Platform the hardware store has opened up and I just saw the picture above (taken by MeHRAJA) and its made me want to pass by right after work. I love hardware stores and I need a cordless drill anyways so I can’t wait to check it out. Tip for the woman readers, if you can’t figure out what to get a guy for valentines there are two things which you can never go wrong with, radio controlled cars and power tools. Here is a link to Platform’s website with a map of their location and some more info. [Link]

Thanks MeHRAJA

I just found out about this shop called We Love Kuwait from blogger Armani Exchange. According to Kuwait they are NOT a bookshop, they are a place where you can find carefully hand-picked books for your children, arts and crafts materials for your quality time with your children and they also arrange gift baskets for your kids filled with fun goodies that would keep them busy for days. Looks like and interesting place. They are located in the mezzanine floor of Muthana Complex in Kuwait but they also have a website full of details and even a blog. [Link]

Could someone please bring back my three favorite franchises to Kuwait. A&W originally opened up in the 80’s and then shut down only to open up again in the 90’s and to be shut down once more. Arby’s opened up in the late 80’s and then shutdown once the owner got the Burger King Franchise. Wendy’s opened up in the early 90’s to be shutdown for some unknown reason.

With Kuwait being the 8th fattest country in the world you would think that every imaginable franchise would fight for the opportunity to open here. How come my three favorite franchises no longer exist in Kuwait?

TriStar in collaboration with Lothan Youth Achievement Center (LoYac) have put together an open day for everyone including children and families. The open day is going to be this coming Friday 25th of January and will be held at the Alahmad Track next to the airport (map below).

TriStar will have a bunch of KTM’s there in different sizes (50sx mini, 85sx, 125sx and 450sx) for everyone to try out including the children. I have been REALLY craving a dirt bike for awhile now so I really want to try out the KTM 450sx (pictured above).

The event will start at 1PM and end at 4PM. TV channels, newspapers and magazines will be covering the event. Red Bull will be serving free beverages and there will also be free snacks for everyone.

The whole event will be free including trying out all the dirt bikes. Only the mini-quad rentals (atv’s) will not be free. If you are interested in coming to the event send an email to Salem with your contact details and how many people will be coming with you. His email is [email protected]

Here is the map to the track. [Map]

I just found out about this incident (yes 20 years late) but I still found it very disturbing. In 1988 an American warship stationed in the Gulf shot down an Iranian airliner carrying 290 civilians killing everyone on board. The Americans thought it was an attacking F-14 Tomcat fighter. Whats even more fucked up is the Americans never admitted wrongdoing, accepted responsibility, nor apologized for the incident! I am not a big fan of Iran but this is sickening. [Link]

I first heard about this from Marzouqs blog and today a friend of mine sent me this video from YouTube. The e-gate smart card basically allows you to go through the immigration process at the Dubai airport A LOT quicker. Once I watched the YouTube video on how practical the e-Gate card can be I was instantly convinced to get one. I travel to Dubai on average 5 times a year and this could save me a lot of time. It supposedly take 10 minutes and costs KD15 to get card which makes it even more enticing.

Here is the video showing the e-Gate (skip to 2 minutes). [YouTube]
Here is some more info on the e-Gate [Link 1] [Link 2]

Picture from Airport International

Has anyone seen this dog? His name is Ozzy and was lost in Jabriya late Friday early Saturday morning. If found please call 7766122. More pictures available [Here]

Update: Ozzy ended up getting sold at the Friday Market and when the guys who purchased it saw the lost dog ads they called the number up. He is now back home!

Today’s newspapers had a story about a innocent KTV2 reporter getting beatup by a gang of Harley Davidson Bikers. While the storyline was far more interesting then most of KTV2’s current content; I found it to be a bit unbelievable (and biased). Which leads us to ask why would a group of Bikers pull the guy aside and beat him up? (other than watching Wild Hogs a few too many times).

Doing the job that the newspapers should have done .. We decided to speak to the Safety Officer of H.O.G-Kuwait (Harley-Davidson Organization Group), Khalid Abu Jabieen.

The other side of the story (as described by Khalid and 30 odd members of H.O.G), Is that the KTV2 reporter was invited to film them on their weekly drive, and do a story about bikers in Kuwait. The reporter, who showed up by himself, decided to take up the various jobs of full TV crew (cameraman, Driver, Producer) on his own. Between juggling driving the car and recording video, he managed to cause several traffic jams and piss off a few of the drivers and bikers on the road. One thing led to another and one of the drivers (not a member of H.O.G) pulled him over, which then led to a fight. The Harley Davidson Bikers, trying to recover whats left of a ruined day, broke up the fight and continued on their way.

Link to original DailyStar article [Link]
Link to Harley Davidson in Kuwait [Link]
Picture from H.O.G Kuwait Chapter [Link]

-Posted by K

I’ve had the car for a day now and so far its been surprising. Before I picked up the car I thought the thing I would like the most in the car would be the interior. I had checked the CTS website and I was really looking forward to the “Ambient Interior Lighting”. A lot of cars have it but the CTS has a unique version that uses LED’s that go along the dash from one end to the other. But, I quickly found out the version of the car I was reviewing didn’t have the ambient lighting, I don’t know if its not available as an option in Kuwait or if it just wasn’t an option in my car but I wasn’t able to experience it.

With one of the things I was looking forward to not available I had to find something else to take my interest and I quickly found it as soon as I hit the 5th Ring Road. The CTS has over 300hp and as soon as I slammed on the gas the engine let out a brutal grunt and took off. At high RPM’s the engine gets really loud and aggressive which is surprising because the car gives a civilized impression. Another thing that surprised me was the “Driver Shift Control” which allows me to manually change gears. Unlike most of the ones I have tried before the Cadillac’s transmission was pretty fast and responsive. I’ve been recently trying to cut down on my speeding and the CTS wasn’t helping.

Everything isn’t perfect and I do have my problems with the car. For one thing I found the audio and navigation system sluggish. Firstly the car I am driving only has the European map installed. I don’t know if a local map isn’t offered yet but without one the navigation system is useless. Going from menu to menu and raising and lowering the volume is also a hit and miss affair. Sometimes the system doesn’t respond to my commands or responds after a few seconds delay. After experiencing this issue a number of times I am convinced its a software issue and the system problem needs an update or a reboot. Another thing that I didn’t like was the location of the fire extinguisher, its located in the middle of the passenger side foot area. Nat didn’t know if she should put her feet on top of the extinguisher or stretch them out over it but it was really annoying and uncomfortable.

Those were the only negatives I could find in the car although I would also have liked a reverse cam since its become like a standard but other then that the car is fully loaded. There is a USB socket where you can plug in the iPod and the navigation system turns into a TV although I couldn’t catch any channels but thats a good thing since KTV sucks. The sunroof is amazing because the whole roof is a large glass panel which really brightens up the interior.

I have the car till tomorrow evening so I will still be driving it some more. The price of the car if anyone is interested is KD13,000 with the all wheel drive version costing slightly more.

These photos were taken during the construction and commissioning of the Shuwaikh Water and Power Station. The pictures are from the 1950’s and much of what’s documented is still there and in use.

You can view all the pictures on flickr by clicking [Here]

Thanks Hriday!

Over a year ago I posted “Elect me as mayor of Salmiya” because I was pissed at how the old shopping street in Salmiya was getting torn a part bit by bit and all my childhood memories were disappearing with it. Well since then things haven’t changed, I wasn’t elected as mayor and Salmiya is still losing its history.

The building that has Hardees, Tikka, KFC, Waleed Toys, Alamiah and The Family Bookshop is going to be demolished soon. Already Hardees, Tikka, KFC and Baskin Robbins have vacated the building and I am sure the rest will follow soon. What I heard is that whole block with the land behind it and to its sides plus the old souk in front of Marina Mall (Kaysariyah) will be demolished and turned into one giant super mall, as if we don’t have enough of those already.

I got my first computer, the Sakhr MSX2 from Alamiah, I had my first roast beef sandwich from that Hardees and I bought all my Peter and Jane books from The Family Bookshop. This really sucks.