Had some work to do in Lebanon that came up suddenly so I took up tuesday afternoon to finish it up quickly. I honestly wanted to be in Kuwait and didn’t feel like traveling. We landed in Kuwait on tuesday and hit the ground running, didn’t finish up the work until late in the evening and we went out to dinner with our friend. Wednesday was the same thing but instead we stayed at his place and relaxed after 8 pm and he had some dogs that I enjoyed their company.
We had shawarma from Al Farooq which really hit the spot, amazing beef shawarma. The best part about Lebanon is that they are never lasting in good tasting restaurants. Thursday morning we were running around finishing up as much as possible and took off to the airport at 5 pm for a 6:40 pm. The weather was very nice in Lebanon but there was too much traffic compared to the last time I was there. These days Wataniya has some very convenient flight times and their flights have always been on time with me. As soon as we landed in Kuwait at 9:00 pm we took off to the beach house because we kept hearing how nice the weather was for the beach house, I just went home long enough to pick up some clothes and some equipment for the home theater system.
This was probably the most interesting restaurant that I have been to in Singapore. Everyone told me to check out the seafood while in Singapore and this was the most recommend restaurant from the hotel concierge. There was so much to choose from, you get your food fresh from the tanks.
We were recommended to get the Alaskan King Crab since they had a deal for it. We had it cut for Chili Crab and Black Pepper Crab, and we had some light appetizers. They had an amazing lobster for the appetizers and it really hit the spot, and within minutes we had our orders on the table. When I first saw the Alaskan King Crab it was still moving and it was huge, I mean it looked like it could eat a small dog, so there was a lot of meat to be cooked.
The black pepper crab tasted better then the chili crab, but both were amazing. After that amazing meal we had this interesting dessert which has this smoke coming out from under the cup. I remember sleeping a good nights sleep after that meal.
I always have this craving every once in a while for some really good steak and this time around we had it. As soon as we were done walking around we went to have lunch at Meat Company in Midenat Jumeriah. I had the ribeye steak in mind, and those succulent beef ribs that I couldn’t wait to taste. It was pretty damn humid in Dubai, and I wanted a nice cold coca cola as soon as I sit down.
I ordered about 7 orders of Beef Ribs for the whole table and some beverages were ordered right away because Meat Co is a bit slow with the food so to get those out of the way while people deliberate about their choice of steak. As soon as we were done with the steak orders those amazing beef ribs came out, I didn’t even bother using my hands, things got very messy very quickly, and I just loved those ribs. 15 minutes later the steaks show up most of them were cooked to medium or medium rare and I was very happy with the Wagyu Ribeye, it was tasty and extremely fulfilling then we were off to the movies.
This was one hell of a quick trip, we were going to have some fun and enjoy the premiere of Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. We flew out on Wataniya round 9 am, 10 guys, carrying very little, just a few back packs and I had my camera. Landed headed out to the bus we had booked which turned out to be a school bus and a disaster, so we canceled the bus and were laughing our heads off, this is the beginning of a funny day trip.
Lunch at Meat Company with the best Rib Eye I have had in a little while, Meat Co never disappoints. After our meal we headed straight to Mall of the Emirates to walk around before going to the movie theater. We had 10 Gold Class seats booked and it is honestly one of the most comfortable seats in any movie theater I have been to and many can agree to that. 2 hours and 30 minutes later I was still excited from the movie, and we are keeping to a schedule.
We head to Dubai mall and decided to split up and go in different directions, to meet up at the main entrance an hour and half later to head to the airport and check in. We walked past the aquarium and I spent a good hour at Kinokuniya bookstore and I bought some very odd books this time around, some were comic books, some were anime illustration books, and some were just plain different.
We took off to the airport around 10:15 pm to check in and we made it relatively quickly. We checked into Wataniya Airlines and they were a bit in shock to find so many energetic guys all together and want to be seated together. One note, never take the exit seats or Row 8 on any of Wataniyas Airbus A320s because those seats can’t move and the arm rests are solid pieces so they annoy your legs. By 1am we were home and about to pass out, what a ridiculously fun trip and booking well ahead you can get the ticket for 45 KD.
I have never seen this before, but I was curious to why there was a flag of Kuwait at the entrance of the Ritz Carlton in Singapore. I was told that the Kuwait Embassy has occupied half of the 31st floor for the past 14 months now. I was shocked, they have half a floor with only four Kuwaiti employees and three Singaporian secretaries and two drivers. And they have special parking in front of them which is reserved for the staff of the Embassy.
From my understanding they have bought a building and are slowly renovating, but also from a Kuwaiti living in Singapore that they are so comfortable that they aren’t in any hurry to finish the supposedly new embassy, they are enjoying the services of the Ritz Carlton. I always speak to the door men since they know almost everything about the hotel, and I was asking about the embassy. They were telling me that they are very nice, and the staff at the hotel likes Kuwaitis. I asked him what time do they come in, he told me they have relaxed hours, Monday to Thursday from 9-10 am to 3-4 pm with a two hour lunch in between, and on Friday they come in for one hour then leave for Friday prayer and don’t come back, then they have Saturday and Sunday off. For a country that is suffering from a financial crisis the staff seems to be enjoying all the eminities of the Ritz Carlton.
Out of the last 24 hours I have pretty much spent it on the move finishing up a few things and then flying. Because of the time difference in Kuwait all the flight times and lay over it has added up to about 22 hours and we didn’t really get much sleep in Singapore because of meetings, trying out restaurants, and exploring the city. 51 hours in Singapore is not enough to check out everything but we discovered an amazing people and city, the cleanliness never stops amazing me. So after all this flying I think I’m going to completely crash for the first day just to catch up with rest.
- 5:30 am – Woke Up to Pack and Eat Breakfast (12:30 am Kuwait Time)
- 7:30 am – Head to Airport, Get Tax Refund, Check In Bags (2:30 am Kuwait Time)
- 9:45 am Take-Off (4:45 am Kuwait Time)
- Landed at 12:30 pm Dubai Time (11:30am Kuwait Time)
- Stayed in Lounge for a few hours
- 3:40 pm Boarding (2:40 pm Kuwait Time)
- 4:15 pm Take Off (3:15 pm Kuwait Time)
- 5:15 pm Landed in Kuwait
- 5:40 pm I got home
- 8:30 pm Until that time my brain was in a daze since getting home
- 8:35 pm Dinner
- 10:45 pm Passed out cold
This is my first time to visit Singapore and it won’t be my last, I have never seen a city such as this. Every person I spoke to was helpful, they are a mix of peoples, and I was impressed by the system and the attitude. It seems there is a level of bureaucracy which makes things a little difficult for people, but corruption seems to be kept in check. I didn’t know it was this small, I always thought that Singapore was a big country, but turns out its tiny.
The best part about it was that the whole country has a rigorous ban on smoking, the rule is simple no smoking is allowed in any air conditioned location. I had a coworker with me who couldn’t smoke anywhere, he was only smoking in designated areas and they were far and few, and it was pretty humid outside. Everywhere just felt so fresh without the smell of cigarette smoke, I wonder how this type of application would work with us, we have the rules but its not really applied. Even in the airport they had a smoking location which was outdoors but setup very nicely with a very tropical feel to it. But most everywhere else had little to no smoking areas, that even includes hotels very few rooms were allocated for smoking and because of the Expo the hotel was at full capacity so no smoking rooms were available. I was enjoying how my friend was being affected by the rule, and not having to deal with the smoke.
So as we were heading to the airport we got swamped by a Mummy like Sandstorm or what was previously referred to as a Desert Fubuki. All flight were stopped coming in and out of Kuwait, this all took place over a matter of hours. We went and checked in, had dinner at Pizza Express, the crowds were huge and there was dust inside the Airport.
We decided to head in and wait in the lounge. As soon you walk in, Pearl lounge was so packed that people were standing by the door. The only few seats left was in the smoking lounge, I really think that Pearl lounge needs to be refurbished and some new life brought into it.
Originally our flight was supposed to take off at 9:30 pm to arrive at 12:00 am for a 3:00am connection. Instead we were delayed about 4 hours and we didn’t take off until 1:30 am Kuwait time, so missing our connection and we were rescheduled for a 9:35 am flight from Dubai to Singapore. We were messed up, not the right amount of sleep, a lot of annoyed people, and its not really the airlines fault but we still went to complain. Luckily we were the first to complain at the Dubai transfer desk and so they gave us a room at the Meridian Hotel right next door and we only slept about two hours but thats something at least before heading to the airport which was a 2 minute drive. We head breakfast in the lounge, lunch on the plane, and as soon as it was off I watched 1.5 movies and passed out. All this huge adventure just to get to Singapore and all the meetings, we were supposed to land at 2:55 pm but instead we landed at 9:20 pm so we lost most of the first day, but to say that Singapore is amazing is a complete understatement.
I will be spending 72 hours in Singapore meeting two companies and going to a technology expo for my field. Its one way to meet my suppliers as well as see what else is out there. We are taking Emirates Airlines since they have the best scheduling and suprisingly the cheapest prices out of all the prices we took a look at.
I have been hearing lots of things about Singapore for years, about the rules, the beautiful city, amazing places to go, resutaurants, and people. This came up pretty quick, so I don’t have a clue where to go eat but thats what I keep wondering about.
How cool is that, the Japanese have taken the step in the right direction. They have built a life size Gundam in Odaiba, I can’t believe they have finally completed it. This is the Gundam from the Original Series, the RX-78 Gundam. The detail of this Gundam is amazing, I wish I could see it, it will be taken down at the end of August but I hope they keep it up somehwere because that is really a work of art and such an attraction. Check out the link for a lot more details.
Link: Punynari
