Yesterday night, I got energetic after the gym and decided to pass by Jounieh around 9h30 pm since it is closer to my house. So I decided to join my friends at Baly (Pub in Jounieh) and it turned out to be a karaoke night. Around 10h30, the karaoke started and the place was almost full “Again: Tuesday night in Jounieh”. The karaoke wasn’t bad at all, There were really talented people in the place, it seems they come every Tuesday to practice. Baly was the busiest place around the area that night!

In the future, there will be no more shawerma guys, there will be shawerma robots. [YouTube]

I youtubed Lebanon and I found a song called “The Lebanon” by the Human League. Apparently “in May, 1984 the band released the politically charged single “The Lebanon.” The single peaked at #11 in the UK” (Wikipedia)

Click here for video

The lyrics capture the reality of the war:

She dreams of nineteen sixty-nine
Before the soldiers came
The life was cheap on bread and wine
And sharing meant no shame
She is awakened by the screams
Of rockets flying from nearby
And scared she clings onto her dreams
To beat the fear that she might die
And who will have won
When the soldiers have gone
From the Lebanon
The Lebanon
Before he leaves the camp he stops
He scans the world outside
And where there used to be some shops
Is where the snipers sometimes hide
He left his home the week before
He thought he’d be like the police
But now he finds he is at war
Weren’t we supposed to keep the peace
And who will have won
When the soldiers have gone
From the Lebanon
The Lebanon
The Lebanon
From the Lebanon
I must be dreaming
It can’t be true
I must be dreaming
It can’t be true
And who will have won
When the soldiers have gone?
From the Lebanon
The Lebanon
The Lebanon
From the Lebanon

I took this picture on my way to work today. The Jeep was practically blocking the right lane yet seemed indifferent. I remember this sidewalk was adjusted and heightened few weeks ago so that no cars park that way, but once again Lebanese drivers took it upon themselves to challenge those measures taken by the municipality and got out their 4×4 vehicles.

Funny thing is that he put his “flasher” on as if that makes his stop legal.

PS: I got the title from the jeep forum. It is one of their many slogans.

I went to Gemayze last Friday night, it was around 11pm. While I was walking from Byblos bank to Myu, I noticed the military was spread everywhere forbidding people to drive their cars on the main street. At first glance, I thought it was one of these security measures taken nowadays but I was wrong… it seems that Gemmayze inhabitants are really fed up of this chaos and traffic jam that is encountering the street during the past few years and decided to raise their concerns by closing the street and protesting against the traffic, the noise and the music coming out of the bars.

Rumors say that this strike is about making gemmayze’s street for pedestrians only and probably bringing back this old law about “closing the bars at 2am.”

A debate regarding the issue of the people living in gemmayze will be raised on “Kalam el Nass show” this week on LBC.

On the other hand, I heard from some friends that Hamra is booming with the opening of 3 new pubs last week and the same applies to Jounieh where it’s very busy during the weekend and sometimes during the week even. A cool pub called “Agafe (i think this is the right spelling) “ opened last week and was very crowded during the weekend. With the crisis that is hitting Gemmayze lately, rumors say that people will tend to move to Jounieh and Hamra where no rules came across yet.

Wow, I need to start watching this show… [YouTube]

Update: False alarm, turns out she’s Italian and her name is Cristina del Basso. She was on the Italian version of Big Brother. Someone was just pretending this video is of the Lebanese Star Academy. Here are some pictures of her (NSFW!) [Link]

I read this today on hummusnation, hilarious !!

One detail i forgot to mention in my Visit to Ksara post was the stop on my way back at Badiha Massabni shop to buy Labneh and Jebneh Baladiyye. This place has become a traditional mandatory stop for all tourists or Lebanese passing by Chtaura.

In fact, this place is so famous that Lebanese diva Fayrouz visited it and took a picture with its owners, and it is not that common that Fayrouz takes pictures. Mansour Rahbani also shows in the picture and Badiha Massabni as well.

I got myself a Labneh Sandwich (in Mar2ou2 Bread) and bought home 1kg of Labneh, Halloum cheese and Chanklish. Labneh was very yummy but i must say a bit too salty. Nevertheless, i recommend this place to anyone who likes a good Labneh sandwich.

Here are some pictures of the place.

An incredible game my friends were playing last Thursday “God Of war 3”, I was so amazed to see its options and features as well as the interaction of the player in this game. It’s like you’re in a real movie fighting a deadly quest through several stages.

It’s all about you (son of Zeus, Kratos) who got beaten and thrown into the underground by your father (Zeus) and betrayed by other Gods and the entire Ancient Greek world. Armed with deadly blades, you will solve complicated puzzles in your merciless mission to destroy Olympos and you mighty God (Zeus).

This game is the hit of the season… Most of my friends bought it lately. I will open an account on my friend’s PS3 next week so I can start a whole new mission from scratch.
http://www.godofwar.com/Index/#Home

I’ve been cruising around for 2 days now looking for THE car I would like to buy…i’ve drove around all car dealers in Halat and Jbeil yesterday and today passed by the ones in Dbayeh. Believe it or not, for some reason, the prices of the cars in Dbayeh are 2k$ and 3k$ higher than the ones in jbeil and I guess it will be even higher when you go down to Beirut. I heard that it’s only because the rents of a land in dbayeh and beirut is more expensive than a land in jbeil, halat and even Tripoli, therefore they cover the costs by adding it to all cars.

The most ironic part during my journey was to listen to a car dealer talking to a lady (which in that case, was ME) and see him throwing numbers and prices on every car as if he was selling cucumbers. I asked one guy about the prices of 3 FJ cruisers and he said:
They all have the same mileage and perfect condition
- Blue and yellow= 31k $
- Silver = 33,5K $

And I wondered why this difference in prices then. So I hopped in the yellow one and I noticed no subwoofer, i thought this might be the reason of the 2.5k$ difference (although it is too much and I know that a subwoofer costs around 200$). Then, I checked the silver FJ and I saw again no subwoofer so I asked him about the price difference, so he looked at me and he was like : Menzabbeta , menzabbeta , don’t worry, I’ll give you the silver one for 33k$ instead of 33.5k$ (without giving any explanation)!!

Then I realized that it will be the last time I go by myself to look for a car because these car dealers consider girls automatically “brainless”. The same thing happened to me while also asking about a BMW serie 3 , 2006 and I have received deals from 25k to 31k from different car dealers…the cars were almost in same condition and had the same options!!

I spotted this billboard in Sin el Fil today.

The message as I understood it: drink a lot, get wasted, pass out, wake up late for work, blame the traffic for being late.

Live your way ya man…

The video above is of a off-road competition that was held in Lebanon a couple of years back. With tenket il banzeen hovering around LL30,000, I’m sure this guy doesn’t use the jeep to drive to work every morning. It’s one great performing jeep though… [YouTube]

The ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi recently split from the main network and became Quantum. Now they’ve just relaunched again but this time as M&C Saatchi. Good move. You no longer have to say it twice. [YouTube]

Update: Video was down but now its back up

Ever noticed how no one really knows the full legal procedure of what is required to drive a car with foreign license plates in Lebanon? These are typical conversations I hear every couple of days:

“Iza bteshtriya men barra, fik ma tedfa3 el gumruk (Import tax), bas baddak etdahhera 3al 7doud elsouriyye kel 6 months 3ala fatret 2 years”

“La2 man, inta gheltan, ghayyaro el2anoun. Sar lezem etrajje3 el siyyara 3al source. Iza sheriya men Dubai, lezem etrajje3a 3a Dubai. W kamen el siyyara lezem etkoun bi esm wa7ad 3ando residency permit. W saret 3 years, mesh 2 years”

“Tayyeb iza sheriya men California? Baddi 7etta 3al bekhra marra kel 6 months w redda 3a LA? Aslan min khabbarak hal khabriyye?”

“Fi wa7ad ba3rfo, bya3ref wa7ad 3ammo byeshteghel 3and wa7ad bel gamerek”

Typical…

I stopped by the Audi dealership in Mar Mikhael a couple of weeks ago to check out the Audi A3 ($45,000). After talking to the salesman for a couple of minutes, he asked me if I travel often. I told him I travel every other week for work. He informed that they had just started a program whereby you can buy a car in Lebanon with Lebanese license plates (with the letter “M”) without paying the gumruk.

Here are the conditions:
- Valid passport
- Travel at least twice a year
- Have the full amount of the vehicle including the gumruk ($45,000)
- Pay $27,000 for the car and freeze $18,000 in the bank for 3 years
- Go to the dealership every 6 months to renew the “deal” (I’m guessing it involves bribing people left and right as well)
- After three years either pay the amortized gumruk (~30% of $18,000) or sell the vehicle
- Validity: 3 years

The salesman did not seem very confident about the “rules”. Apparently, they started the program last summer and one entire cycle hasn’t been completed to see what problems people might face at the end of the 3rd year. I asked him how much do I have to pay every 6 months and to whom, his answer was “ma ba3ref, shi 400-500$ la wa7ad mna3rfo bi zabbet mou3emalet.” When a salesman tells you “ma ba3ref”, would you buy a car from him? 400-500$? It could easily be $1,000

How much easier would it be if there was a government website with all the rules and regulations concerning this subject? It doesn’t need to be something complex, just simple rules that a normal citizen can follow without having to bribe people.

I’ve been looking forward to visiting Lebanon’s most famous wine caves (Ksara, Kefraya, Massaya, Domaine des Tourelles) for a while now and i started off by visiting Chateau Ksara, the oldest Lebanese wine (Since 1857) and one of its tastiest ones as well.

The road to Ksara was truly exhausting, specially going through Dahr el Baydar road, one of Lebanon’s most dangerous and packed roads. I recommend whomever is planning on going there to leave in the early morning, before 9 am.

Once we got to Zahle’s entrance, Ksara was on our right. I always imagined it as an isolated place inside the Beqaa valley, i never thought i’d find it that easily and in a relatively crowded and poor area, which is kind of dissapointing. it turns out Kefraya and Massaya are the distant ones inside the Beqaa valley.

We were welcomed by Ksara hostesses and invited to join the tour that includes a 10 minutes documentary film about Ksara, then a visit to the caves before doing some wine tasting.

The documentary was informative and short. The caves were very old and nice, they consist of ruins found by the Jesuite Fathers in the 19th century and are well maintained as you can see in the pics below.

Finally, we were invited to taste some of Ksara’s various wines ( Vin Blanc (Chardonnay), Vin Rose (Gris de Gris) and Vin Rouge (Reserve du couvent)). If interested, we could buy some bottles from the Ksara shop at prices much cheaper than the market.

Overall, it was a nice trip and a new experience but a very short one, you don’t need to plan a whole day for it. The whole visit (documentary + caves visit + wine tasting + wine shopping) barely lasted two hours. There are no other activities to do up there nor a restaurant, just some snacks and a bar.

I am looking forward to visiting Kefraya and Massaya and see if they are any better and more entertaining.