So after work a couple of days a go me and K were hungry and we wanted to get something to eat. We wanted to meet half way so we decided to go to Johnny Rockets Marina, and the weather was nothing short of amazing. It was a cool breeze and an hour before the sun sets, there were just a few families sitting there. A friend of hours joined us as we were finishing up the appetizers, then we go the main course right away.

Food:

• Chilli Cheese Fries
• Buffalo Wings
• Smoke House Burger
• Rocket Double Burger

We had a good meal then we headed home, this was on Monday and we both had things to do.

Later in the night K call’s to ask if I have his iPod Touch or if its in my car, I decided to check Tuesday after work and I didn’t find anything. After searching everywhere we didn’t find it. So K called the Johnny Rockets Marina and asked for a lady that we remember, her name was Jim or Jm. She said yes they have an Apple iPod and he reclaimed his iPod Touch later on Wednesday afternoon. I am honestly impressed that they kept it for him, they have good burgers and good people.

It was just one of those days where I didn’t have anything planned, and I just wanted to enjoy myself and relax. The day started off early and there was a lot to do.

• Woke up : 730 am
• Met up with Monichum to go riding.
• After riding our route we stopped for Breakfast at Johnny Rockets at 10:30 am, I had a Strawberry Milkshake and Chilli Cheese Fries.
• We continued our ride until around 1:00 pm where we headed home and decided to meet up for Lunch around 3:00 pm.
• Got Home and started organizing some media files on the computer around 1:15 pm.
• Then the guys started trickling in around 3:00 pm just as lunch was on the table.
• A few people were coming in back and forth while we were watching The Unit from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm, I have finished up until season two and I haven’t gotten bored of this amazing show.
• For a change of pace we decided to changes shows and from 7:00 pm to 9:45 pm we started watching Dexter Season 2, and its a damn good show.
• We wanted to start a movie but we decided to go get some food from Villa Fayrouz Express in Salmiya, and luckily there wasn’t too much traffic.
• Then watched a movie until 1:00 am on the dot, I went to sleep around 2:30 am but it was a very nice relaxing day.

So we had the marathon day in Dubai last week, we were all exhausted after our meal at Meat Co. We had a schedule to follow and the next movie was “In The Name of The King” which was a disastor. We went to the Cinestar Gold Class at Mall of the Emirates. We were supposed to go to Cloverfield but we decided to go to this movie because of the Gold Class.

All Six of us went in and we ordered some green tea and some blankets. All six of us agree that the VIP Gold Class in Mall of the Emirates is much more comfortable then the new one by Cinescape at the Avenues, you can really lie down, there is room to change how your seating, and the couch is very soft unlike the electronic couchs at the Avenues.

After recieving the blankets the movie started, 3 people were asleep right away and that was probably the best thing to do. 20 minutes in, only 2 of us were left awake watching the movie. It just went from bad to worse, we had hopes but every time Burt Reynolds was on screen it just got worse. Then I fell asleep for about an hour, and woke up for the last half of the movie. The best part of the movie was that one hour worth of sleep.

K said “That was the best 100 Dirhams I have spent on this trip”

We had to postpone our Lunch due to the delay to see the movie. We call The Meat Company and they were very easy about the delay since we wanted to be seated outside on the deck. The only problem is getting through to them, their line was busy over the one hour period we were trying to call them to delay our lunch.

We got there around 3:30 pm and we were ready to devour everything in front of us. We had a hearty meal ahead of us and each one just wanted to eat since we were hungry. The weather was amazing, but the funny part was the amount of Kuwaitis at the restaurant. Every 20 – 30 minutes we would get up to say hello to people we knew, it was funny how many people vacated Kuwait and yet you always see them out of town.

When we got to Dubai we were out very quickly since we had a schedule to follow. I got out the fastest due to having the E-Gate Card. I flew through and went straight for the car rentals, to our luck they were out of the pink Honda Jazz Vans. After asking all 12 car rental places we decided to go with the 2008 Chevy Tahoe for 49 KD a day.

We were renting it from Budget, and the guy was a complete dick to us. He thought we were kids or something just because we were laughing. Most of us a well above the limit, then he asked to keep my passport and I told him I’m not carrying one, then he told me he wants to keep my civil ID. Then I realized its illegal to do that and I was pissed, why is he being a dick towards us. At this point me and K were pissed at him so we gave him our humbled opinion. I thought to file a complaint about this idiot, but we had other things to do.

We got in the car and took off, two of the guys know Dubai relatively well and we took the exit I took last week. It seems within a week they changed the road so we got screwed and had to find another way around which delayed our first movie an hour for the next showing. We managed to keep things on schedule throughout the day, and the Tahoe is a fun SUV to drive but Budget seemed to have tampered with the car, it was very oddly slow. We were laughing throughout the day and going from point to point, good music and cool wind. It was a big car in the parking lots, always had to empty the car before parking. I had some fun over the bumps which the people in the back seats of the Tahoe weren’t too happy about. It was a fun car to drive but in Dubai you can’t speed because there is a camer every 20 meters.

Continue Reading…

It isn’t as bad as it sounds but it was as bad as it looked. We were riding last Friday as posted earlier, and after breakfast we wanted to continue down the Gulfroad to KPC then to our friend. There were a few nut cases on the road, but this woman topped it off. After Al Seef Palace we saw this black Honda Civic driving a little fast, after the round about monichum went ahead and I was right after him when she swerved in my way, I back off a bit and K was behind me in his car.

When there was an opening, the road was empty except for the black Honda Civic, I took off to catch up with Monichum and K right behind us as usual, but she was driving like a maniac or rally car driver we couldn’t figure it out. We were going at a fast pace but we slow down for the red light, we were taking it easy after the last curve before the light. I saw K behind me and Monichum already at the light in the left lane, I stopped in the right and K in the middle.

After stopping at that light for at least 8 seconds I heard this loud braking screech. Only to see the black Honda Accord stuff herself between K and Monichum, K moved his car into my lane to avoid getting hit and I saw that Monichum managed to move and was still standing. All four of her tires were still in smoke, when the light turned green we moved and wanted to stop up ahead but Monichum didn’t move, I could see him in my side view mirror something was wrong. We both stopped to go back, and we wanted to check on him.

Turns out she didn’t miss Monichum, her side view mirror was hanging off her car, she broke her side view mirror on Monichum’s elbow. He was pissed but very calm, the women was about to cry but he told her to leave. He kept calm even though he wanted to blow up, she was driving like an idiot and to my “surprise” (I’m being sarcastic) she turned out to be muhajabah. Why is it always that case, do muhajabaat really hate bikers to the point they want to take them out. Lucky for Monichum the jacket took a majority of the impact at the elbow protection point, but still. We were stopped at a light and she almost took him out.

That was one hell of a trip! By around 10:00 pm Kuwait time we were reaching our limits. We got in at 4:30 am Kuwait time. 6 guys and two guys per car all headed to their respective homes. We were dead, it was one of the funnest trips we have had, and this will be done again, from this we learned our time table and what can be done, next time we take the earlier flight since we were burnt out completely by 11 pm Kuwait time and dragging our feet to get on our plane home. But we enjoyed every moment of it, more to follow up.

I slept like a brick and woke up at 1 pm, I think everyone kept waking up around that time or maybe I was the last one to wake up.

 

At the airport things changed so we had to make decisions, and make them quick. People were shouting while we were planning!

We decided to go Monday since our schedule is open that day, but the return flight has changed so we are going to stay a little longer then just 8 hours, it extended to 13 hours so our plans have also extended with that.  

Marzouq: Hey you guys want to come? We are going Monday

Zahed, Shoomy: We are coming!

So now we have increased from 4 people to 6 people, not including those in Dubai who are aware of our ridiculous plan.

• 0600 – 0700: Call Jazeera and make sure their planes aren’t breaking down and are on time so we don’t have to go to the airport at 6 in the morning (after sleeping late) only to find a parking spot, wait in line, go through security checks and then be told that our flight is delayed for fours hours leaving us with only 3 hours in Dubai if we would have went.
• 0700 – 0725: Kuwait Airport
• 0825 – 1100: Flight | KWI – DXB (If Jazeera doesn’t mess up)
• 1100 – 1200: Rent-A-Car (Pink Honda Jazz) | DXB – Mall of Emirates
• 1200 – 13.30: Cinema | Cloverfield
• 1430 – 1445: Car | Mall of Emirates to Madinat Jumeirah
• 1500 – 1700: Lunch | Meat Co
  • Appetizer
    • Beef Ribs
    • Beef Carpaccio
    • Salt & Pepper Calamari
    • Red Chilli Prawns
  • Main:
    • Wagyu Striploin
    • Prime Rib
    • Black Angus – Fillet
    • Marinated Lamb Skewer
    • Lamb Cutlets
  • Side:
    • Steak-cut Chips
    • Shaved Biltong
    • Baked Potato
    • Onion Rings
  • Desert:
    • Chocolate and Pistachio Fondante
    • Traditional South African Malva Pudding
• 1715 – 1730: Car | Madinat Jumeirah to Mall of Emirates
• 1745 – 1930: Cinema | Jumper
• 1930 – 2115: Shopping / Skiing
• 2115 – 2200: Car | Mall of Emirates to Grosvenor House
• 2200 – 0100: Dinner| Buddha Bar
• 0100 – 0200: Car | Grosvenor House to DXB
• 0320 – 0415: Flight | DXB – KWI (If Jazeera doesn’t mess up)

 

We did a lot all day long, but after being out we just wanted to relax. After an eventful day we relaxed having a good lunch while watching The Unit. I really do enjoy this show, we kept watching episode after episode and it just keeps getting better. Dennis Haybert is a great actor and he really fits the lead as team leader, he makes this show what it is.

Then we headed over to Hawally to pick up some hardware, and I found some interesting items. I picked up a 3com unmanaged gigabit switch for 24 KD, and a Gigabyte X38 Motherboard for the HTPC at 96 KD. I was very happy to get some part of my network handled with the with gigabit switch. I just need a few network cables to get everything running through my gigabit switch. I also need to get rid of the crappy routers the ISPs gave me and get a couple of Cisco Soho routers which do a better job .

So we went in the morning all hyped up and ready to go. Most of the guys were carrying nothing, I was carrying my back pack:

• Canon Rebel XT
• 2 Lenses
• iRiver Clix2
• Nokia N800
• Cough Medicine
• Cash
• GPS Unit

That is the simple list of things, we were all revved up and ready to go.

We got to the airport ready to check in, there were lots of people at the airport. When we were checking it they told us our 8:25 am flight was delayed until 12:30 pm. That pretty much ruined our day schedule in Dubai. We were completely easy going compared to a lot of people at the counter. It was technical difficulties which were unforeseen. We were calm and collected about it, we made some decisions, some plans are being made, this is now considered Contingency Plan B.

We will execute on Contingency Plan B when details are finalized which I will be posting up. This is turning out to be a lot funnier then expected.