NASA team showing Lebanese Charles al-Achi, director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

It’s a great honor to have a Lebanese at such a high position especially that this is the first time NASA has successfully put together a video of a landing on Mars.

NASA’s latest adventure to Mars has given the world more than just glimpses of a new alien landscape. It opened a window into the trip itself, from video footage of the landing to a photo of the rover hanging by a parachute to a shot of discarded spacecraft hardware strewn across the surface. And the best views — of Mars and the journey there — are yet to come. [Link]

[YouTube]
NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover descent

First Pictures from NASA’s Mars Curiosity over [Link]

Throughout all of this, I kept wondering: Where are the flight attendants? Aren’t they supposed to maintain order on the plane? Who will cater to my burnt flesh? Who will discipline the wild animals and explain to them that it’s sleepy time for normal, sane people?
Of course, they are all at the back of the plane chatting, laughing and ignoring all passenger requests . . . and possibly finishing the chilled wine, secretly. Customer service at its finest! [Link]

First thought that came to my mind when reading this: What the hell did I just read?

Second thought was a simple suggestion to the article’s author:
- Fly Business next time if possible, if not then get drunk before you hop on the plane or simply change airlines.

Third thought: Why is the article written under “La Wlooo!!!” category? How exactly is that relevant?

[YouTube]

From what I heard, they usually show small videos about Lebanon to promote tourism. This however is so weird and random.

Thank you Chahe

No wonder no one’s touching the fruit stand if there’s a bait station underneath it.

The deal is estimated at $1.0 billion.

“Middle East Airlines-Air Liban (MEA), the flag carrier of Lebanon, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for five A320neo and five A321neo aircraft plus eight options,” Airbus said in an official statement. [Link]

The neo refers to “new engine option” as the new planes have 15% less fuel consumption, 8% lower operation cost, less noise production and a reduction of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by at least 10% compared to the A320 series according to Airbus. [Wiki]

Lebanese Minister of Tourism

“Due to the unstable security situation in Lebanon, the foreign ministry warns its citizens against traveling to Lebanon to maintain their safety, until further notice,” an unidentified high-ranking official in the ministry told the news agency.

“The kingdom is keen on not jeopardizing the safety of its citizens,” Asiri told the news agency. [Link]

With the situation worsening and the ever-increasing cost of living, neither Arabs nor Lebanese expats are willing to come to Lebanon this summer.

Honestly speaking, the situation is bad but not that bad. I think the ministry should talk with hotels, resorts and local businesses and have them offer summer packages at discounted prices to encourage tourists to come. It is quick shocking that there are barely any ads on TV or on the roads encouraging tourists to come to Lebanon.

[YouTube]

Mark sent me this picture 3 days ago. I am not sure if this is still the same Lotus that was being displayed few weeks back at the Rafic Hariri Airport but the plate number is gone.

Back then, Beirut Duty Free provided a clarification on that matter which you can read [Here].

Picture from Al-Akhbar

This is what Lebanon is turning into. Read and rejoice.

Today, as I have done in the last 150 weeks, stepped into a car and headed towards the airport to take my weekly flight. I, however, had no idea that this ride would be different in every possible way than any other airport ride I have been on.

Traffic was fabulous; we made it from my house to Beirut in less than 20 minutes, a ride that normally takes over 30, and I was getting anxious at the idea of arriving sooner than planned. As we were approaching the exit to the airport (around 2 km) we started observing cars traveling in the opposite direction. Hoping to satisfy our curiosity, we kept going until we reached an ocean of red stoplights accompanied by angry men and women puffing on their cigarettes and swerving their hands in agony and disgust. In the background, we could observe a thick dark smoke killing the life out of the few remaining trees and eternally marking their territories on the 50+ year old buildings that were brave enough to survive an Iliad of wars and attacks.

Upon having waited for 10 minutes with absolutely no result, I built up my 20 seconds of courage, stepped out of the car and decided to follow the few Lebanese that refused to give up their flight.

As I was enduring this walk cladded in a dark black suit while dragging my 10 kg (the maximum allowable weight for the plane) carry-on behind me in one hand and my suit bag in the other I noticed how Lebanese people take advantage of any shitty situation for their own benefit. It seems that while a cluster of individuals found it appropriate to burn tires and block the road to the airport others took this opportunity to awaken their half dead, rusty scooters and offer the frustrated travelers transportation services to and fro the airport, all this for a humble and modest price of 10$. This offer seemed so appropriate to them that rejection was accompanied by a series of insults involving your parents, siblings and even family members that passed away so long ago that you never expected to be mentioned again!

I refused this service several times from different “patriots” (sorry great grandmother Alexandra, a certain guy called Alloush said he wants to do the nasty with you) and I am glad I did because I luckily understood why they called Lebanon a melting pot.

The cool ‘Frenchies’: This type of people are ones that enjoy these situations for one and only reason: to talk and brag about it. This girl, who was walking next to me for a couple hundred meters, found it appropriate to call as many people as possible to share her experience with them. Sample quote: “C’est tghooo dghooole, tu rateee ma Cherie!!!”

The frustrated ‘Frenchies’: They are the more down to Earth people that have a life which is too hectic that they refuse to loose time that way. Sample quote: “on vit dans un monde de merde. Les gens se demandent pourquoi on veut quitter ce pays et ne plus revenir. Ils sont fou !”

The ones coming from the south: These are probably travelling for the first time and do not understand the concept of packing lightly. They travel in groups of at least double digits with members ranging from a couple days old to dead in a couple days. Sample quote: “Abou Aliiiiiii, 7kee ma3 2ebnak Hassoun el 2ered wou 2ello ma yetsaraf mete el shi3a ba2a!”

Other conversations were going on at the same time but most of my brain power was dedicated to insulting the country and the people in it.

After having completed that 20 minute walk in the dreadful sun and mid-June heat, the airport staff found it in their heart to greet us with a warming, and useless, ‘hamdella 3al salame’ and eyes filled with so much pity that killing yourself with a plastic knife would be considered more humble.

I am writing this while sitting in the lounge at Rafic Hariri International Airport and wondering, as I take my last sip of whiskey, if I should be happy that my flight to Riyadh hasn’t been cancelled yet.

Thank you Andre

A woman looks down upon central Beirut from the top floor of the Four Seasons Hotel, Beirut. Picture by Cormac Walsh

The Middle East sees its ranking fall in Mercer’s 2012 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey due largely to a drop in rental prices.The survey found that Beirut is the most expensive city to live in this year within the Middle East, moving up eight notches to number 67.

Mercer’s survey factors in the cost of living for 214 cities globally. The consultancy compares the price of more than 200 factors in each location, including housing, transport, food and clothing costs. [Link]

Beirut has become so expensive that even expats no longer can afford it. Maybe we should stop building 1000 square meters apartments for Arabs to rent/buy and start building reasonable flats with rational prices for Lebanese and the average tourist.

[YouTube]
Nice Video taken From Joesbox.me

Joe from Joe’s Box was on his first MEA trip when he asked the pilot to enter the cabin and take pictures and videos from up above, and to his surprise he was let in.

That’s really nice but safety-wise, I’d rather they didn’t allow anyone in.

Read more about Joe’s experience [Here].

The Foreign Ministry will establish a hotline for the Lebanese expats across the world to enable them to contact the Lebanese authorities in case of emergencies, As Safir newspaper reported on Thursday. [Link]

NowLebanon’s Lousia Ajami believes this initiative to be useless as “the government does very little to help citizens within Lebanon“, but I beg to disagree here.

In fact, I am surprised that it took them so long to come up with a hotline with everything that’s been ongoing with Lebanese in the Arab world and elsewhere. Only yesterday Lebanese interpreter Helen Assaf was detained in Libya along with members of the International Criminal Court, due to an alleged threat to national security, which is probably not true and pure B.S.

Picture taken by myself (edited via Instagram: LeNajib)

Beirut is like no other city in the Middle East, juxtaposing designer boutiques with grand mosques, bullet-scarred buildings with a boisterous nightlife. Though it has suffered hugely from decades of civil war, it is now one of the region’s safest places to visit. [BBC]

BBC are featuring on their main page a mini guide to Beirut, listing restaurants, hotels and main attractions to go to. Le Chef in Gemmayze is surprisingly still on the list of restaurants to visit.

Read the full article [Here].

[Source]

Cheapflights.com (www.cheapflights.com) has come up with a list of top 10 places to celebrate Easter, with Lebanon ranked 3rd. Here’s what they say about Lebanon:

Visitors will notice the ornately decorated streets, shops and restaurants filled with all things Easter from bunnies to chocolate, painted eggs and even live baby chicks in some places. Good Friday is marked by mass. Easter Sunday is a huge celebration where absolutely everyone goes to church. After taking communion, the 40-day fast comprising a strictly vegan diet, is broken with a feast featuring lamb and lots of egg breaking. Get your hands on the delicious Easter sweets called Maamoul. These are little cookies made with a mixture of semolina and butter then stuffed with either dates or ground sugared nuts and dusted with icing sugar. [Source]

They sure are right about Maamoul. If you are interested in knowing how to make Maamoul, check out this awesome post at the Food Blog.

Full rankings are a follows:
1 – Argentina
2 – Greece
3 – Lebanon
4 – Scotland
5 – Spain
6 – Sweden
7 – France
8 – Germany
9 – United States
10 – Canada

Via A Separate State of Mind

I have no idea what the fight was about and looks like it just happened tonight. [YouTube]

via +961