Posted By Yousef

I was looking around for hotel rooms in Dubai in the range of $300 a night. and it seemed as though I’ve asked for something out of the ordinary! Even when I called the travel agency the guy almost didn’t take me seriously. I checked expedia for hotels’ rates and got shocked! Rooms are going for $500 and $850 a night?! regular rooms not suites! This means If I stayed for the 5 days, I would’ve spent 2 Macbooks worth of money!

I lived in this country for so long and asked for rates so many times for friends and relatives, but never really thought about the prices. Prices are very real when I’m the one on the spending end! lol

Anyway, finally the travel agency found me this nice new hotel. Copthorne Hotel, Located near Deira City Center, over looking Dubai’s Creek. the hotel is part of Millennium Hotels group.

This is My room (Booked a junior suite coz all the rooms were gone)

This is the sitting area (not allowed to sit in the bedroom.. gotta follow the rules)

The pool area

Overall, and up to now, For 80Kd per night, I think it was an excellent choice and (Father’s) money well spent. The staff are friendly and attentive. Spacious rooms. Big Plasma screens and free high-speed internet.

I give them 4/5. I would’ve given them a better rating if it wasn’t for the Hotel’s ugly exterior and lobby.

Posted By Mishary.

i just found a new site brought by VISA that will locate ATM cash machines in more than 170 locations.
All you have to do is type in your address and ATM locator will show you a map, just like this one, of where the nearest bank machines are. Zoom in or out for a closer view, and scroll over the numbers for detailed bank info and services. How great is that?! Use on your web-enabled cell phone as well!

Here are the result after i do search for Mishref.

Click HERE for the site.

Posted By Yousef

igoloon laiw9alat libyoot mala7… GAMAT isa3aa!

Mugs with writable surfaces, you can now write and play with your mug while enjoying your favorite drink. yes thats right.. the mugs comes ready with 2 pieces of chalk for a quick start!

Tea

Tic Tac Toe ( X O )

Sudoku

Here is the Site if you’re interested.

PS. Mishary & INM, you remember the place where we bought the mugs (blue and orange mugs) that 2001 summer? its the same place!

Posted By Yousef

It was one interesting ride from Dubai to Kuwait! it took us 11.5 hours to enter the Kuwaiti borders. my friend INM and me got up yesterday at around 5:50am, we both took quick showers and headed out. we were on the highway on our way to abu dhabi by 7:15.

we reached UAE-Saudi borders by 11 o’clock. the guys at the border were very nice and friendly, we passed with no problems whatsoever.. we were very happy and relieved, and then the saudi border appeared…. I hate them! the way they talk, the way they look at you and the way they went through our bags. we were told to get the bags out and lay them on the bench. he looked in the car, opened every drawer and looked under everything, then took a look inside each one of our bags and then said something..

INM: here is the passport, you go, i’ll wait in the car.
Me: where? what did he say?
INM: he said he wants you to take a look at your laptop.
Me: Reallly? when? I didn’t hear him say that?
INM: no he did, he wants to take a look at your laptop.

I went there with my laptop and entered his office. 2 guys were in there, one sitting at a computer checking the passports and stuff and the other guy is sleeping. I said my Salam’s but nobody responded, so I said SALAM ALAIKOM! i woke up the sleeping beauty.. he took one look at me and left the room.. another guy came and started asking me questions:

Officer: open up the laptop & go to search….. (he was gazing at my screen like he’s never seen one before in his life)
Me: ok…
(1 minute went by and he’s just gazing with no expression on his face)
Me: you know this isn’t windows *pointing to the screen*.. this is Macintosh..
Officer: yes yes i know.. this is not windows.. this is VISTA! i know..
(STUPID STUPID!!)
Me: no this is something else.. not windows… not Vista…..
Officer:……………….. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Officer: ok now tell me, what do you have in there?
Me: music, movies, some college projects…
Officer: no no lets be honest here, just tell me whats in there..
Me: as I said, i have music, lots of music files and some college related…
Officer: i want you to be honest
Me: I am being honest.. you won’t find what you’re looking for in my laptop
(he gave an awkward smile)
Officer: yakhoy latwakhethna a7na ma6loob minnnah ina infatesh.. bla bla bla
Me: no its ok, you’re doing your job.
Officer: you know what, just stay here for a while and then leave, lets pretend that I went through your laptop, but just don’t tell anybody.
Me: ok, sure, i won’t….. (we’ll see about that )

We entered Saudi Arabia and INM took over the wheel. we were expecting to get bored and exhausted but that didn’t happen (we slept like dead people when we got home ) but when were on the highway we were mostly happy.

INM didn’t want to eat anywhere (he is a bit picky… just a tiny bit), and i wanted to experience the cheap food.. you know the kind of food you eat when you’re with traveling with your friends.. the grilled chicken and saltless rice? those kind of nice cheap food? I wasn’t about to give up this part of the adventure! so we stopped at one of the restaurant that had “stomach ache” plastered all over it… 15 minutes later we were back on the highway and this time i’m back on the wheel.

2 hours later we were here

30 minutes later we were here

we reached kuwait just as the sun disappeared.. it was a very nice trip. thanks INM

I’m currently having problems keeping up with my study plan. The finals are here! 3 down and 3 more to go.. Fun is not an option for me until the end of the next week. Inshallah I’m going to be done with the exams by the 5th of january.

My friend INM is coming over on the 6th to help me out with some stuff, and we’re going to head back to Kuwait Via land transportation for a change we’re going to drive back to Kuwait! this should be interesting! 2 guys with not so many things in common, locked in a car for 12 hours… I can’t wait!

We went, me and loco, to an egyptian restaurant, Grand Abu Shaqra. its my first time in Dubai’s branch, I went many times with my family and friends to Egypt’s branch. I liked it back then and I was curious as to how good its gonna be in Dubai. I remember loving their béchamel sauce.

We ordered many things.. loco ordered lentil soup (he always order soup for starters.. i7ib i7is inahwa birmothan). we shared makarona bil béchamel (which was amazing!). and then we ordered the main dishes 2 white rice (shown above) and 2 tajins, molokhiya and bamya.

We liked it there (loco not so much). I liked the atmosphere (we sat out) and I liked the service. I would definitely go back there again

we were still in sheikh zayed’s road at 7:25, so obviously we weren’t going to catch the check-in’s dead line (7:30). I told my sister in law to call the airport just to check if there were any delays on their plane’s schedule.. we were desperate! and my brother prayed for their flight to get delayed by 1 hour. and what do you know!! his prayers got answered! their flight was indeed delayed until 9:30! which means their check-in’s dead line was also pushed an hour to 8:30!

We called the airport again to check if the check-in too was open for an extra hour, just in case, and they said YES. so, now that we can finally breath better and take our time, we thought of using the extra time to go for a quick dinner at The Noodle House in the emirates towers. that plan was immediately shot down by my brother, “we don’t have much time!” he said.. saj wallah! lol *i don’t know what we were thinking, I guess we were just so happy with the delay*

at 8 o’clock we were at the airport saying our goodbyes. I called loco on my way back and told him all about the deadlines and how it all worked out at the end. 20 minutes later I was very close to my apartment and then.. BANG! I got this sms from my brother “we missed the plane”. I immediately called him and it turned that although the plane’s departure time was pushed back for an hour, the checkin time stayed the same!! it stayed at 7:30! the guy in the Jazeeraairways said that they should’ve checked in by 7:30 no matter how many hours the plane gets delayed…. can you believe this? I mean what if it got pushed for 4 hours?? why on earth would I want to check in and then wait in the duty free for HOURS to board the plane? jazeera airways suck. BOYCOTT anyone?

anyway, I turned back and picked them up. we wanted to waste some time until their 2am flight (on emirates airways this time) so we ended up having dinner in The Noodle House afterall! 3ala ra’ey ilmasal, “God works in mysterious ways”

My brother and his wife are here for the weekend. I went out with them and we had dinner in Segreto, an italian restaurant in souk madinat jumeirah. the food was great! the service was nice but they were slow with the courses. they had to offer free “courtesy of the Chef” samples just to keep us from eating their heads off.

today my brother called me and told that he forgot his credit card in the restaurant! and the state of emergency began! I called the the restaurant many times and they assured me that they haven’t received any lost credit card. I even talked to our waiter and he too said that he’s sure there were no credit cards in the lost and found and that we took the card for sure.

the calls were non stop between me, my brother and the restaurant.. but when my brother called me the last time, he started talking about how he never really put the card back in his wallet after paying.. and that he called the NBK and deactivated the card…. I was tracing back my thoughts as he was talking and thinking about the things we were doing while he was signing the bill..

i remember looking at his signature.. I was standing… we were ready to go.. but he was looking at the bill… i was looking at the credit card….. I picked up the card… the card is in my hands… i slipped the card in my pocket….

. . . YALALHAAWL!!!

Instinctively I rammed my hand in the pocket.. and there it was.. the card was in my pocket the whole time!

Since the day before yesterday I haven’t been able to post anything, the 1st reason being I had many school-duties to attend to like exams and homeworks.. and stuff of that nature.. and 2ndly because my internet connection decided to stop working! just like that!

Notice the the connections lights aren’t working

I called my ISP many times and they couldn’t find out the cause of the problem. they kept telling me that they’re running some sort of an update to their software and that their computers can’t detect what was going wrong. (turned out that they had to cut me off coz I didn’t pay the DSL bill for 3 consecutive months )

Dubai Airport

The airport wasn’t as busy as I’ve expected. the airport was fully decorated with christmas trees, red & white wallpapers and some other nice christmas related decorations. I loved the atmosphere. I’ve always loved Dubai’s airport, its BIG and has everything you need, yet you don’t get tired walking and looking around in it.

Kuwait SWEET Kuwait!

INM picked me up from the airport and NOT Mishary! can you believe it?? he goes on here writing posts about me coming back to Kuwait and then he doesn’t show up at the airport! and instead he went to some other fancy dinner and neglected his duties as a friend! SHAME ON YOU MISHARY!!

PS dear readers, feel free to bash Mishary (HEE HEE HEE)

Tomorrow inshalla Yousef gonna come to Kuwait at night and he’s going to stay only around 5 days, So me or INM are going to pick him up from the airport .. Welcome Yousef “Mogadaman”

Posted By: Yousef

We started a bit late. My cousin was going to meet our friends (they’re here in Dubai for the weekend) they were going to the shooting range. the last time we went there we had so much fun, but I didn’t feel like going this time. I’m not sure why… so me and loco went to city center, just to waste sometime until its time to have dinner with all the rest. BUT before that, we knew we could not wait without something in our stomachs so we had a little TASBEERA from Arby’s.

I found Mario Galaxy for Nintendo Wii in Virgin megastore. I was so tempted to buy it, but I don’t have my Wii with me.. I left it in Kuwait..

And then after some surfing around the shops there, we went to Gap, it was fully stocked! better than Kuwait’s branch! aside from the Mens and Women sections it had kids section, baby’s section and infant’s section (not sure whats the difference between baby and infant). I liked it there, I found many things I could use this winter. but since its still autumn/summer in here, I decided not to buy anything.

We finally met with our friends, we were 9 in total and went to The Market Cafe. its a buffet restaurant located in Grand Hyatt hotel in dubai. we go there often, we especially like it when its friday, they have the friday special.. (all you can eat and drink for 120 Dhs LOL!). its a very very good place with VERY good food.

The Salad section. there was a giant wooden bowl where they put the lettuce and whatever else you want in and add the sauces and what not so they can finally mix it and give it to you.

there are different sections for each type of food. there is the pasta section, indian section, Salads, Pizza, Grills, Arabic AND the dessert section. oh and I forgot the drinks section, they have plenty of drinks there, and they make it infront of you and you pick it up yourself.

you can choose what kind of sauce and meats you want and they’ll cook it for you.

The Dessert section. their cheese cake was one of the best (not yesterday’s)

Every dish in there is made specially for YOU. the steak is grilled to your taste so is everything else.

We had a great time.

I pass by Qanat Al Qasba almost every day on my way to college. I think it was opened to the public in 2005, because I don’t remember seeing the big ferris wheel when I first came here (in late 2004). I’ve always wanted to take a look inside, something about the lighting and the way it looks from the outside made me curious to know what it’s like from the inside. I heard it was built as an oriental souk (but discovered later that it looks more like old oriental/european buildings). There is a little water canal splitting it in the middle. yeah and there were lots of cafes and restaurants on the sides of the canal.

I liked the place in general and especially liked the ferris wheel, it looked huge! it is said to be the biggest in the region. The place was calm with a very unusual atmosphere, it was quiet unlike anywhere else in Sharjah, And the people were mostly families.

My visit today wasn’t just for the sake of exploring something new. I was there so I can pick up my dinner from Nandos.

Nandos is a south african restaurant that specializes in… chicken. they’re famous for their spices and their extra hot recipes. The first time I got to eat at Nandos was around 2 years ago in Dubai and I hated it then. the second time was in Dubai too (same branch) and I didn’t like it much then either. But I’ve decided to give it another shot since everybody seems to praise it and have only good things to say about its food.

Unfortunately I hated it this time too But don’t take my word for it, you can try it out too, it opened it’s first branch in Kuwait, in the Avenues mall.

Sorry for the subpar pictures, I took many pictures but they were all ruined by the humidity!

For more information go to Qanat Al Qasba

They’re a stand up comediens group, they’re famous for making jokes about the whole Arab-American drama thats been going on since 9-11. they’re all from the middle east (egypt, Palestine and Iran).

Me and a few friends of mine from college are planning to attend their dubai show. Here are some of their up coming shows in the middle east.

Here is a clip of the Iranian guy, he’s part of the group ofcourse and in it he explains and stresses the difference between arabs and iranians!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIPJeLN16NI&rel=1]

Can’t wait!

Axis Of Evil

Today being a weekend, Me and my friend decided to go out (actually it was more like my friend threatening to eat my brain if I didn’t go out today). so we went out, we struggled to choose a restaurant.. we were thinking The Noodle House? Chillis? maybe fudds? I don’t know how we ended up eating at mcdonalds lol

don’t judge me! yes I love me some mayo.. yes I order the upsize meal and no I don’t like salad!

after that we went to get some stuff done. you know how the nice relatives always like to buy something in dubai, and make us go out and buy it for them… well today was my mother’s turn, she wanted some things from Harvey Nichols.. after going around in there for half an hour.. we found what she was looking for in the store next door, debenhams..

when we were in harvey nichols I thought I’d take some pictures of their Home section.

Ralph Lauren. this is my dream bedroom!

and here you’ll find versace having identity crisis, apparently they think they’re Armani or something.

and here you can see Calvin Klein.. yeah right! like I’d pay thousands of $$$ just to sleep on the floor like that!

Fendi, the bed was even uglier in reality!

Filler picture

Dubai’s Dragon Mart, its 1.2 km long which makes it the largest trading hub for products from China outside the Chinese main land has already attracted huge numbers of visitors since opening its doors on December 7th 2004.

You can find everything you want and need in there. the things you find in there can be used to literally build a house and fill it up with all sorts of furniture and electronics.

Anyway, we love going to Dragon Mart because we never know what to expect next! there are always new and interesting things to be seen! for example, the last time I went there, I went with my old roommate (HI flan!!) and we bought us some tiny helicopters. they’re addictive! my other friend (INM ) bought a bag, a tiny tree and some other things (I forgot what else, wila chan fetha7ta!)

the prices are very competitive and the quality is great! (considering the price you’re paying ) anyway, here are some pictures of some of the weird products that can be found there. thanks goes to loco for providing the photos.

iPhone knock off

ipod knock off

For more information Click Me!

Just got this offer via email

thinking of going somewhere? think faster!

Jazeera airways’ site

Do you think we’ll have delivery service in Kuwait any time soon?

Thank you loco for the picture.

My friend made it a habit to buy me a plant everytime he comes for a visit. I kinda grew to expect a plant everytime now.. the above picture is of plant #4.

I enjoyed his stay, I always do. this time in particular felt different, I didn’t spend as much time with him as I hoped for, I had to attend every class this week (well almost every class.. you know, too many absences, can’t risk getting an FA!).

we went to buddha bar yesterday, we didn’t have a reservation but we went there anyway just for a peek, to get an idea (bala’3at shaf). I can’t put down what I saw in words! it was amazing! the atmosphere was out of this world. dark, lounge music and great food! (we didn’t eat, but it looked and smelled GEWD!).

I just took him to the airport. I’m going to miss him. (hey INM if you’re reading this, where is the shampoo!!!!?)

Few mins. ago i got an email from Jazeera Airways stating that the two seats will cost u price of one so i think this offer is good for u guys who’s in Dubai.

You can make the reservation Here.

We went to Asha’s today for dinner me and my friend. Dubai’s Asha’s is much better than Kuwait’s. You’ve got to try it out whenever you’re in dubai.

The picture on top is of Wafi’s new hotel, Raffles. it is shaped like a pyramid to go with the whole Egyptian feel of the mall and spa.

Here are some more infos on the hotel:

-the regular double-bed room costs 2500Dhs.
-11 restaurants are about to open. 2 already did.
-within walking distance from the mall and the spa.
-looks phenomenal!