White Smoke in the Plane

I was sitting quietly in my small seat on the plane, fiddling with my iPod trying to find a song I liked. Slowly a white mist starts filling the planes, I could smell propane in the air. My thoughts where this is it. Airplane fire, what good would our life-vests serve us, I need a bloody parachute!






Turns out the plane has not flown yet, and being in humid Bahrain, the humidity came in through the open door and filled the plane with a thick white mist. Scary but harmless.

What does Google think of your city?

Google has a variant of its search engine, that gives suggestion after you type a few words listing out the most popular search terms. You can find it as Google Suggest.

I tried, just for fun, a few cities and see what people where looking for in these cities. Here are a few results.

Starting with Kuwait:



Five air travel related sites, seems like a lot of people want to leave and / or come to Kuwait.



Riyadh has a lot of people looking for the latest news followed by banks and commerce.



Dubai is really becoming a second home with people looking up properties and holidays there.



Baghdad is not very appealing with Baghdad burning one of the top searches, with green zone and curfew coming close.



Paris, well known as the City of Love, has got paris je t'aime as one of the most popular searches. Other results include museums and Paris by night.



San Francisco with silicon valley right next door, has its state university listed, and the public library also. Lots of smart people there.

Here are a few other search results, or try your own on Google Suggest to see what google thinks.

Airplane Adventure

The airplane left the runway flying towards Kuwait. I was squeezed in the coach class seat and it was a full flight. I tried to make the time pass by looking at the landscape from the airplane window. I picked up the in-flight magazine and skimmed through the glossy pages. I took the flimsy headset, tore off the plastic protective covering and started flipping through the channels, not watching anything but watching everything on the tiny screen.
Thirty minutes into the flight, I could not feel my legs but that was alright, they where bent under the seat in front of me in such a way, a circus contortionist would be proud.

The speakers announced that we are approaching Kuwait and the “fasten your seatbelts” sign lit. I did not need to do anything; my seatbelt was fastened throughout the flight.

Babies started crying as the changed air pressure starting popping their sensitive ears. It was a constant whine with little gaps of silence. Above the babies’ cries and the increased jet engine’s thrust I could hear a man arguing loudly. He had a Bedouin accent and he was shouting that he will not quiet down to an unknown person. The man was sitting in the first row of coach class just before the curtain that separates the proletariat from the bourgeoisie. The man was in his mid thirties and was dressed in the traditional dishdasha and red ghutra. His complaints and voice got louder, his arms flailing, and his complaints punctuated by obscenities.

The troublemaker stood up, and stood in the passage between the seats looking around with dark bug eyes addressing no one in particular. He continued with his stream of obscenities. He moved towards the toilet cabinets and tried to open them but the doors where locked. The man unhooked one of the hidden wall cabinets and looked inside, maybe thinking it was one the toilets. As the airplane pitched down to land at Kuwait Airport, the movements of the plane made him sit down and all was quiet.

The airplane hit the runway smoothly and as the airplane was taxiing towards the airport entrance bridge, the announcer spoke. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have landed safely in Kuwait; please remain seated until the airplane reaches a complete stop. Also we have a minor security issue and will inform you when you can leave the airplane”.

The airplane stopped shortly after. The troublemaker jumped out of his seat and dashed towards the business class area. Slowly the passengers rose, took their belongings from the overhead compartments and walked towards the exit with their numb legs. As I walked through business class, I could see the troublemaker in handcuffs sitting near the window with a huge Kuwaiti airport policeman sitting right next to him.
I thought to myself, tonight he will enjoy Kuwaiti hospitality as he sleeps on a hard concrete floor and eats lentil soup courtesy of the local jail.

Sweet Dreams

You are stuck in the airport waiting for your next flight after a few hours. You want to catch a few zees but there is nowhere to sleep. Some people don't mind sleeping on the floor but you don't know how clean the floor is. The waiting chairs are too small to lie on, except if you are innovative and know how to curl in one like this guy.

Biman flight that closed Dubai Airport

Here is the actual Biman flight that closed Dubai Airport yesterday.

Dubai Airport Closed

Fadibou's post about a crash landing at Dubai airport, made me do a quick search and I found out that:

Dubai airport, a major international hub, will be closed for at least eight hours on Monday after a Biman Bangladesh Airlines aircraft was involved in an accident while trying to take off, officials said.

more here from scotsman.com and from Gulfnews and chron.com

UPDATE

DCA Statement on Biman BG 006 Accident
DCA Statement on Biman BG 006 Accident - March 12, 2007



Biman, Bangladesh Airlines Flight BG 006 from Dubai to Dhaka had an accident during departure and failed to take off around 0630am today. All 236 passengers, including crew, are safe, and were immediately evacuated from the aircraft. Fourteen passengers sustained minor injuries.









Dubai Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has announced an 8-hour closure for Dubai International Airport starting 0630 hrs, March 12, 2007. The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and DCA are investigating the cause of the accident.

Travelling to Malaysia

I have been away for a few days because I was hopping different airplanes to reach Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is my first day here. The time difference is 5 hours more than Kuwait, so right now it is 8pm in Malaysia and in Kuwait it is 3 pm. After yesterday's long 8 hour flight and 1 hour drive from the airport to the hotel, I finally checked in the hotel and collapsed in bed to sleep. After waking up I noticed that the hotel room is huge, and the bathroom had both a shower stall with glass doors and a tub. They even added a nice little touch to the tub.




I woke up at an unknown time and needed strong black coffee. I do not know what the Malaysian's drink for their caffeine kick so I headed off to the Megamall which is a huge mall that has got all the different shops and coffee houses you would expect from the newer malls. I found a Starbucks, but had my coffee at Coffee Bean and Tea Leave.

I took a few pictures at the mall for your viewing pleasure. My pictures are not your usual sightseeing generic pictures, you can find these pictures all over the Internet with better views and better cameras, the shots I took was stuff that caught my attention.

After having my coffee and able to open my eyes, I walked around the mall and found Tower Records.


I went in and checked out the new music, but in this age of iPods, bittorent and other p2p software, I don't know if they where selling that well.

They had an interesting sign over the displayed merchandise, saying:





I walked by a place that looked like an exclusive high fashion hair salon, behind a glass front they had a reception area and elegant doors leading you inside. I looked closer and the sign inside said "Lazik & Cataract Operation Theatre".



Eye surgery has gone mainstream, now you can do your hair, fix your nails, and zap your eyes to perfection and throw away those cumbersome glasses.

There was a menu shown from a computer display, showing the updated prices just like the trendy French Cafes.





Tissot Watches had a promotion going on with kids playing against each other Moto GP on networked xboxes.



I found a shop with an interesting name, it sells casual clothes.





I don't know if that will catch on elsewhere.

That’s all for now. Enjoy the pictures.

Lie Detector to Be Used in Russian Airport

A lie detector will be used in Rusian Airport to detect drug smugglers and assorted criminals.

It will also be useful in Kuwait, imagine the following scenarios:

Official: Put your hand on the lie detector.
Egyptian Man (puts hand on lie detector)
Lie Detector: BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP, explodes in a ball of smoke.

Official: Next
Official: Put your hand on the lie detector.
Indian Man: Atcha
Official: You are here as a bus driver, have you ever driven a bus before?
Indian Man: Yes
Lie Detector: BEEP BEEP BEEP

Official: Next
Official: Put your hand on the lie detector.
Kuwaiti Man: Inzen
Official: Have you ever told a lie?
Kuwaiti Man: Yes
Lie Detector: silent
Ofifcial: What is your occupation?
Kuwaiti Man: Goverment Employee
Lie Detector: 1/2 BEEP
Official: Do you come to work on time?
Kuwaiti Man: Yes
Lie Detector: BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEEeeee... (battery runs out), gaweeya gaweeeya.

British Airways flight to Tehran - Joke

A British Airways flight was going to Tehran from London.
When it gets close to Tehran it starts having some kind of trouble.
The pilot contacts the air tower at Tehran airport and asks for help:
"Tehran, this Captain Smith, British Airways flight 000, do you read me?"

"Felight 000, dis iz Tehran felight contorol, go ahead"

"Tehran, this is flight 000, we have a problem"

"Dis iz Tehran, vat kind of peroblem?"

"This is flight 000, we have lost power to our engines, please advice"

"Dis iz Tehran, I reed you, peleez check some sings for me, ok?"

"This is flight 000, go ahead"

"Dis iz Tehran, can you get emerzency pover to your enzines?"

"This is flight 000, negative, no power is available"

"Dis iz Tehran, can you peleez bering your altitutde to 20,000 feet?"

"This is flight 000, negative, our wing controls do not respond"

"Dis iz Tehran, can you peleez see if you can lover your veels?"

"This is flight 000, negative, landing gears are stuck"

"Dis iz Tehran, vould you peleez repeet theez vords after me"

"This is flight 000, go ahead"

"Dis iz Tehran, repeet theez words peleez:

ASH'HADO ANNA LA ILAHA ELLALLAH VA ASH'HADO ANNA MOHAMMADAN RASUL ALLAH"

Some Close Up Kuwait Satellite Pictures

I was playing around with google maps and here are some places in Kuwait you might recognize:

The Busy Sooq Sharq

The Grand Impressive Amiri Diwan

The unmistakeable Kuwait Towers

The airplane shaped Kuwait Airport

The sky high Liberation Tower

Failaka Island, our own little Hawaii

Enjoy, try finding your house.

Doha's New International Airport - Amazing Pictures

Dubai - City of Today and Tommorow

To-scale models of space crafts can be found in Dubailand. Dubailand will contain 45 mega projects and over 200 tourism, leisure and entertainment sub projects making it the most ambitious tourist destination ever created. Dubai land is being created to appeal to the widest audience of tourists, covering all age groups, nationalities and activities.
On completion.



Dubailand themepark will be twice the size of Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

Phase 1 of the Dubailand project will extend from 2007 to 2010 and the final phase of the Dubailand will be completed between 2015 and 2018.

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Dubai International Airport, the most active in the world, can now accomodate 22 million travellers annually. After completing its enlargement project scheduled 2008 whose second phase has already started, 70 million passengers will pass through this airport each year.
The Dubai government has committed to a major expansion plan of the Dubai International Airport and its affiliated divisions. The new expansion programme of the Dubai International Airport (Phase 2) is due to cost $2.5 billion and was begun by the Department of Civil Aviation in 2002. It includes the construction of Terminal 3, concourse 2 and concourse 3, and a Mega Cargo Terminal. Construction work for Terminal 3, concourse 2 and concourse 3 is scheduled for completion by 2006. The Cargo Mega Terminal will be constructed in phases and is due to be completed by 2018. By 2006, Dubai International Airport will have the ability to cater for nearly 60 million passengers a year; its present capacity is 22 million.

The expansion program has been divided into five major elements. The first element is the expansion of passenger facilities, including Terminal 3, Concourse 2 and Concourse 3. The second element incorporates the expansion of cargo facilities, including the Mega Terminal, and the third element is the expansion of airfield facilities, such as new aprons, taxiways, roads, tunnels, runway extension, etc.

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These are not a futurist's imagination, these are real projects happening right now. I personally saw the Palm project while flying to Dubai. All that time I thought it was some clever computer art / company logo. I was amazed to see that it was real. The world is being built right now.
Amazing projects being built right into the sea by reclaiming land. The World and Palm and others. It is claimed that Rod Stewart bought the British Isles from the world project.

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You may soon be able to sleep with the fishes in the Middle East - and in luxury, which you might well expect when you're paying as much as US$5,500 for a day's lodging.
The project is nothing if not ambitious. Constructed from a combination of concrete, steel and clear Plexiglas, Hydropolis will be the world's first underwater luxury hotel. It will offer 220 suites, all sitting on the Persian Gulf floor 66 feet (20 meters) below the surface.

Covering 27 acres (10.8 hectares), the project will feature architecture that's nothing if not attention-grabbing. The design includes three linked elements: a wave-shaped 333,333-sq.-ft. (30,000-sq.-m) above-ground "land station" and the jellyfish-shaped 833,333-sq.-ft. (75,000-sq.-m.) underwater hotel, linked by a submerged transparent train tunnel that's 1,700 feet (515 meters) long.

Among the project's other unusual architectural details are the hotel's two translucent domes, which will house a concert auditorium and a ballroom that break the water's surface, with the ballroom featuring a retractable roof. And that's not to mention the hotel's bubble-shaped suites, with clear glass comprising both the sleeping areas' walls and each room's bathtub.

Hotel guests will have a retractable-roof view of the skyline of Dubai (pictured), regarded by many as the Middle East's most progressive city.

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Burj Al Arab is part of The Jumeirah Beach Resort, situated 17km south of the city of Dubai. Soaring 321 metres, Burj Al Arab towers above the renowned Jumeirah Beach Hotel and Wild Wadi Water Park. This unique billowing sail-shaped building stands proudly on a man-made island some 280 metres offshore, linked to the mainland by a slender, gently curving causeway.

Burj Al Arab comprises 202 deluxe suites: a highly personalized service for every traveler, enhanced by private reception desks on every floor, in-suite check-in and a brigade of exclusive butlers. All the suites are equipped with the latest technology, laptop computers and Internet access. Reaching new heights of luxury and service levels.

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