Spotted near Rimal Beach Resort in Jounieh. Anyone happens to know why is our sea red?

I say we have three plausible answers:
- A dolphin hunt like the one that occurs in Denmark every year. [Link]
- We are coloring our sea to make our own “red sea” and attract more tourists.
- This is a mixture of dead cows, oil and toxic liquid leaks, garbage and few dead bodies.

Thanks Choogz

In Day2 of my trip to Kobayat (See Day1), I drove around checking out few sites in the town, and visited the famous Mar Geryes monastery. Kobayat is 600 meters above the sea level and its nature is quite amazing as there are lots of forests and green fields. It reminded me a little bit of Jezzine.

As far as the roads and houses are concerned, there are some beautiful houses but a lot of ugly ones which I think the municipality should work on enhancing to make the town look nicer. The roads are in good shape even in distant parts of the town, except between few houses where you can barely fit your car ( like most old Lebanese towns & villages).

Last but not least, we went to visit some friends before going to the Mar Geryes monastery. They had prepared us a dozen of Kebbe Chmeliyye to eat even though it was only 10 am. We went afterwards to visit the Mar Geryes monastery and it was truly a beautiful place. After the visit was done, we ate Kebbe Chmeliyye and drank Laban with it. I usually hate Kebbe but it was nothing like the one we have in Beirut, as it was bigger and filled differently and tastier.

In all, it was an enjoyable and sort of adventurous weekend given how far the place is. The food was great, the town was beautiful but I don’t advise you to go there by yourself, as it’s very easy to get lost on the way and you will not enjoy it as much as you should.

Here are few pictures of the monastery

As I’ve posted two weeks ago [Link], I headed during Easter to Kobayat, one of the biggest villages in Akkar District North of Lebanon. The village has over 15,000 inhabitants, most of them being Christian Maronites.

I was told that the road to Kobayat is long, tricky and dangerous but the reality is the road from Tripoli to Halba is the only one worthy worrying about. The road is awful at night, there’s no lighting and apparently a lot of thefts and crimes occur over there. Also, that’s basically where the Lebanese army clashed with the Islamists of Fath el Islam few years back. Nevertheless, you just need to go there during day light and all will be fine. Moreover, once you reach Halba, the road from there is in great shape and well lit.

The only stop we made was at Kasr el Helo [Hallab] in Tripoli where we had the famous Sfee7a Baalbakiyye and Halawit el Jeben. It’s pretty amazing how every time I’ve been to
Al Hallab, the place despite being huge is crowded.

Once we’ve reached Kobayat around 8:30 pm, we headed to the chalets we had rented, rested for a bit and headed to a restaurant at the extremities of the town. On our way there, I thought I was passing by Gemmayze street on a Saturday night. Pubs, restaurants and cafes were full and there was traffic everywhere. The only difference was that not only young people were filling the places, but also grown men and old people sitting outside, drinking Arak or beer and playing backgammon or cards.

The restaurant we were going to was practically in the middle of nowhere, yet was crowded and fully booked. Added to that, the food (Arabic food) was surprisingly great, the atmosphere was fun, and people kept dancing until 3 am. Don’t ask me how to get to that restaurant because I have no clue how we got there. All I know its name was Tilal el Sahar or something like that. On our way back, people were still partying and having fun and there was an ongoing party in the resort we were staying in.

I am not sure if it was because everyone was on vacation, but Kobayat was alive and kicking just like Beirut on a Saturday night. That pretty much covers Day1 of my trip to Kobayat.

For those wishing to learn more about Kobayat, their website, despite its lousy design, has tons of information about the town. They even have pictures of every house in the town with the name of its owner [Houses from Kobayat], with the most impressive one being Dr.Ernest el Haj’s house. [Picture]

You get the below information when searching for Lebanon on TripAdvisor. I mean things are pretty safe in Lebanon but when you take all the incidents and put them down on paper it does sound a lot worse than it is…or maybe it’s because this is all normal for us.

…

The potential in Lebanon for a spontaneous upsurge in violence is real. Lebanese government authorities are not able to guarantee protection for citizens or visitors to the country should violence erupt suddenly. Access to borders, airports, and seaports can be interrupted with little or no warning. Public demonstrations occur frequently with little warning and have the potential to become violent. Family or neighborhood disputes often escalate quickly and can lead to gunfire or other violence with little or no warning. Under such circumstances, the ability of U.S. government personnel to reach travelers or provide emergency services may at times be severely limited.

…

U.S. citizens or other foreigners have sometimes been detained by militants for hours or longer. In September 2010, two Polish citizens were detained in the Bekaa Valley; they were freed only after Lebanese army intervention.

On March 23, 2011, seven Estonian bicyclists were kidnapped in Deir Zenoun, between Masnaa and Zahle in the Bekaa Valley. The kidnapping appears to have been pre-planned and well coordinated, according to Lebanese authorities. As of the date of this Travel Warning, the location of the Estonians was unknown.

…

Here is the link to the US Department of State [Link]

Thanks Alf

A friend of mine who had recently arrived from France asked me to take him out to lunch somewhere that had a sea view. Considering it was around 6pm (rush hour), we decided to stay in Beirut in order to avoid traffic and so headed towards Raouche to try out Petit Cafe.

The place looked really nice from the inside but also had an outdoors area that was right on the sea with a breath-taking view. Other than an unblocked view of the Mediterranean Sea you also had an amazing view of the Raouche rock since it was right under you.

However, sitting outside was also a bit scary. Petit Cafe is located right at the edge of the clif with the outside seating area hanging over the cliff with just some rusted metal bars for support. It could be very safe for all I know since I am not an engineer but seeing those rusted metal bars and the fact that we were hanging off a cliff wasn’t very comforting. There is a pink building in the picture above which is right next to Petit Cafe and that building looks like it could crumble any second even.

As far as the food is concerned, I ordered the basics like tabboule, hommos, shanklish, cheese Rolls, kafta & wings. They came in respectable portions and tasted fine. Nothing warranted any discussion.

Whenever I am in Lebanon I like going up towards Faraya and having lunch at Al Arzal. The past few times I’ve been there though the food wasn’t as good and the fact that they don’t have tabbouleh which I’ve suddenly fallen in love with after 30 years of hating it meant I needed to find a new place. I wanted to try Al Balad in Faqra but they close during the winter so we decided to find a new place. After asking some friends we were pointed towards a place called Jalsat in Mayrouba. When we got there it turned out to be a place that serves burgers and sandwiches, a place which actually would be cool to pass by after a day of skiing but not a place we felt like having our Sunday lunch. So we headed towards our “Plan B”, a place called Mat3am Al Mawasem. Supposedly the place had amazing food but when we got there we were turned off by the very plain and boring interior seating area. It was basically a large hall with white marble floor and cream colored walls filled with white plastic tables and chairs. They might have good food but with no view and a boring interior we decided to pass on this place. Finally we headed to another place that was also in Mayrouba called Cave Al Siwan.

The restaurant is located next to a small river stream and looked like a large stone hut. We spoke to the guy at the door and he told us they didn’t have any room inside but they had room in the “maghara” which was across the street on a ground floor of an apartment building. I figured since the place was very popular and since they couldn’t expand the restaurant due to the way its built and located, they just purchased the floor across the street and turned it into a disconnected extension. After a bit of “na7na jayeen awal mara oo 7abeen na3od jouwa” nagging the guy magically found us a free table to sit at.

Once I walked into the place I just loved it. The walls and ceiling were covered in stone with goat skin hung up randomly on the walls. It just looked very weird and I wanted something that was weird and out of the ordinary. Our table had a basic mezza laid out before we even sat down, thats because you pay per person and you eat everything they have. As soon as we sat down and started eating they started adding more and more items to the table like raw meat, hot french fries, tabbouleh, fattoosh, makanek, stomachs, pigeon eggs, shrimps and more and they kept adding stuff without removing any dishes so you ended up with plates piled up on top of other plates and you just ended up with a table literally covered with layers of delicious food. We gave our waiter a LL20,000 tip to hook us up and I ended up getting a bucket of ice filled with Almaza beer compared to the single bottle I was getting before the tip. It was just amazing, over-indulgence at its best.

[YouTube]

I am really not a fan of Arabic music, I actually hate it but the stuff they were playing was different from the usual and I found it actually pretty weird, I swear if you watch the video above which I recorded it sounds like an Arabized version of the Trololo song. People were really kicking it and it was like 2PM in the afternoon! That combination of darkness because there were no windows and the unlimited supply of Arak probably had something to do with that.

The food was pretty good. I thought the tabbouleh had too much na3na3 (mint) but that was actually my only complaint. Price wise it was around $30 per person. I am not sure if that’s a lot or normal since I don’t live in Lebanon but for the amount of food and the atmosphere I thought that was very reasonable. Finding the place isn’t that hard, if you’re on the road to Faraya, once you see the Mayrouba sign take a left and head into Mayrouba, you should then start spotting signs taking you to Cave Al Siwan. In the gallery below you should find a map that was on the back of their business card plus a phone number. I would highly recommend you reserve before you get there.

Would I go back again? Yes I would since I had a great time and I loved everything about the place. Keep in mind though that I was under the heavy influence of alcohol that day and so my judgement could have been affected.

An oil leakage was reported in the Midterranean sea off the costal down of Dora [Naharnet]. Its cause is a ship that was emptying its cargo.

LBC reported few minutes ago that the leakage is huge . [Kataeb Portal]

As if we needed more pollution to the sea after the 2006 war. I haven’t stepped in the sea since then and I will most definitly refrain from doing so this summer.

The television campaign sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism and entitled “Lebanon blues” has angered a lot of Lebanese women who claim they are being portrayed in an indecent manner and that the Ministry of Tourism and its minister Fadi Abboud are promoting Lebanon as a country for sex tourism. [Full Response] [Lebanon Blues Ad]

Here’s an excerpt of what came in that response:

“The truth is that we are not “free” women wearing bikinis and partying all night. The truth is that we are deprived, poor and oppressed. Our bodies which you say are free, are still subject to many social, domestic, legal and economic restraints. We, as injured and humiliated women, ask the Ministry of Tourism to recall this advert immediately and to apologize for this insult. Because out bodies aren’t delicious fruit to offer to consumers so they will visit the “homeland” to pick out what they desire.”

Is it acceptable for the Ministry of Tourism to promote Lebanon as the “cabaret of the Middle East” to tourists? Can’t it revive tourism without selling women’s bodies? Dear Ministry, how can either we or you accept our bodies becoming the goal and target of the lust of the arriving spenders? How are we supposed to understand that “Lebanon Blues” is connected to our naked bodies? How can the Ministry of Tourism promote a message to the whole world that Lebanon is a country which sells its women for the sake of the tourists?

I am not surprised that Fadi Abboud might come out with such ads, he is known to be filthy and vulgar and has reportedly hit a female worker at his ministry few months back. Moreover and to make things worse, he issued a statement today that he wants to go through the Miss Lebanon 2011 applicants this year in order to “ensure the competition’s high standards”. [Article]

I wonder how he plans on ensuring the competition’s high standards?

I must agree with Mustapha from BeirutSpring that “it’s very unfortunate that a person with such dubai-esque sensibilities is the one in charge of promoting a place as rich and diverse as Lebanon. What’s even more unfortunate is that he’s using Lebanese women as Lebanon’s unique selling point.” [BeirutSpring]

Beirut made it into Lonely Planets top 10 greatest comeback city which is pretty cool.

3. Beirut, Lebanon
Rallying from devastation is typical of Beirut, a city set back by two major conflicts in the last 30 years. Meze and macchiatos are still served up from its relaxed restaurants and cafes in a downtown rebuilt to its former grandeur. Hamra, a hotbed of Lebanon’s civil war, now has shops and clubs favoured by an international following of fashionistas and partygoers. Formerly on the front line, Beirut National Museum was torn apart by militia fighting, but renovation has seen the museum regain its status as a world-famous cultural centre. Much like the city as a whole, actually.

Where to stay: At the heart of downtown, Etoile Suites (www.etoilesuites.com) has individually-designed rooms and a rooftop terrace.

You can check the full article and list on BBC [Here]

As i posted earlier, i went to see the largest cross in the world that was inaugurated in Qanat Bekish in Lebanon. It took around one hour and a half from Jounieh to get to the Cross. There are two ways you can go:

1- From Bekfaya, head to Baskinta then Qanat Bekish
2- From Faraya head to Faqra and go to Qanat Bekish

I headed to a restaurant called Jar el Amar ( The Moon’s neighbor) with a group of friends. It was packed and needed reservation apparently and it only took the singer one hour to get everyone to dance dabke. After 3 hours of drinking Arak and eating and “Dabkeying”, we headed to the cross.

The cross was beautiful, but too wide in my opinion. Also the view from the site was impressive. I uploaded some pictures that you can see below.

1) ATV trip from Faraya to Arz
2) Paragliding from Harissa
3) Visit the Jeita caves for the first time (they’re 5 mins from my house)
4) Tour Lebanon in a small Cesna plane
5) Watch Lebanese men wrestling in Mayrouba (Abou 3adal was going to be there)
6) Ham & Cheese sandwich at Torinos in Gemmayze
7) Lunch and Arak with the bedouins in Hermil
8) Go to the beach
9) Have a cheeseburger at Road Runners in Bourj Hammoud
10) Check out the underground Lebanese nude female wrestling scene

I am leaving tonight for a 5 days training in St-Petersburg, Russia. I have never been to Russia nor Eastern Europe before so i am excited about this trip even if its short.

St Petersburg, ‘Venice of the North’ is one of the best places to visit in Russia from what i heard and read. Lots of attractions to visit and the night life is great. Unluckily though, it will be rainy all week long and it is relatively cold now.

Last but not least, everytime i mentioned to anyone here that i was leaving for Russia, he asked me to bring him back a girl from there (one girl requested a guy). So i thought i open myself a super night club if am bringing back that many girls lol!

I mean seriously, so what if we have a lot of Russian girls working in super night clubs here, does that mean they are all prostitutes?

I will have my laptop and the hotel i am staying in has internet, so i should be able to post from there.

До скорой встречи. ! (See you soon)

A friend of mine recently stayed at the Le Gray hotel in downtown Beirut and he posted up a review with pictures which you can check [Here]

I took a trip to Lebanon this past weekend and people… it was AMAZING! Lebanon is seriously booming… there was a zillion and one events and it felt depressing that I couldn’t go to all! It’s like taking a kid to a candy store and asking them to choose just ONE kind of candy. Anyways, that’s not the purpose of this post. I want to post about the airport (which I still refuse to call Rafic Harriri International Airport).

I arrived to Beirut on Wednesday night. Along with my plane, there were 2 other planes that arrived around the same time so it wasn’t busy. Passing through passport control was quite quick, so I was pleased. I got to baggage claim and to my surprise there weren’t any trolleys! I searched the entire baggage claim area and could not find trolleys. I asked one of the employees and he told me to check on the sides but that most probably they weren’t any left since there’s lots of incoming planes. I looked around and only saw that only passengers from one of the arrived planes were collecting their baggage.

What traffic?!

How can an airport that’s expecting over 2 million tourists in the next 2 months not have enough trolleys for more than 1 incoming plane?

I ended up paying someone to drag my bags for me which made me feel terrible! I don’t enjoy the fact of having someone dragging my 25+ kg bags around… especially since he was an old man.

While leaving last night, I stopped at Cafematik for a snack and to watch the Spain vs. Paraguay game. Unfortunately, they did not have the channel that airs the game. I then went to buy a wifi card so I can get online. The guy told me wifi connection has not been working at the airport for the past week.

Seriously?

I don’t mean to sound like a spoilt brat but I do not consider trolleys or wifi access at an airport, as busy as the Beirut Airport, to be optional items to add.

The following signage was found at near the ticketing section at Jeita Grotto. Click on the image to enlarge it and enjoy the read ;)