As you might have heard, the venerable 2ahwet el 2zez will be definitely closing its doors in a few days.
We want to give it the proper final goodbye it deserves.

Save Beirut Heritage invites you to share one last cup of coffee with the locals at Café Gemmayzé on January 5, 2011 at 7:30 pm.
Come tell us your stories…

This will be Followed at 8:30 by a farewell concert with great live performances by:

ZEID AND THE WINGS, ADONIS AND TINA YAMOUT
Prince Giorgio will also be playing music from Lebanon’s golden days.

Tickets are on sale at Café Gemmayzé for 20 000 L.L.and at the tequila pub gemmayze including one beer.
For more info or reservations , call 71 319 167

For those of you who don’t know, the building was purchased by Bank Audi and shall be demolished. Ahwet el e2zez has opened in a new location in Antelias.

Found a bunch of these in monot street.

Lebanon “revealed” the world’s largest flag today (65,000 squared meters).

I read this piece of information and thought… “yeah? so what?”

What does the world’s largest flag do for me? Represent national unity? What unity?!

People are so casually talking about the “inevitable” civil war that’s about to hit us as if they’re watching the weather forecast and checking on the hurricane that’s coming in.

The difference is, you can’t stop a hurricane. You can hide or you can run. Meanwhile, we’re discussing a civil war.

We’re sending forwards and jokes about how the war is just around the bend. Is this emotional preparation for what’s about to happen?

While we are on that topic, what is about to happen? And why??

There is so much going on right now, but to get armed and prepare for a civil war? Really?? Like seriously… is that what we’re going to do? Seriously people?

Is it because the civil war worked out for us the first two times, let’s do it again? (Please DO note the sarcasm)

It truly hurts and stuns me to see how people seem to take it so casually, like “yeah… it’s just another war”

It’s a shame…

(Vent out session over)

I attended the Fairuz concert on Friday. I haven’t been able to post about it earlier because it is quite difficult for me to describe in words because I believe there are no words that would do Fairouz any justice.

I flew in to Beirut from Kuwait on Thursday and you would be surprised to know that the majority of the people on the plane were flying to Beirut specifically for the concert.

As most of you know, it was RAINING on the night of the event. The concert was at 8:30pm, and when I got off the highway, down towards the port, there was sooooo much traffic. We knew that if were to stay in traffic we would never get to Biel on time. We managed to leave the area, go round and come from the other side. We parked near Plum and walked towards Biel in the rain.

We got to the venue, of course cameras and mobile phones were not allowed in. We found our seats ourselves (without the assistance of ushers who seemed to be MIA). The concert started at 9:20. Fairuz walked on stage and that’s when it hit me…. I was seeing Fairouz live!! THEN my view was blocked for the first 3 songs!!! They were allowing people to come in when Fairouz was singing!! The ticket specifically stated that if you were late you were going to have to wait for a break before you were allowed in. Not only was there the matter of having your view blocked, but ushers and people were talking all around us trying to find peoples’ seats and because they were initially MIA there were many people sitting at the wrong seats so they had to figure this out which lasted an additional song or two. This lack of organization was totally frustrating!

Once everything calmed down, Fairouz received my full attention and the feelings that overcame me are indescribable. Her presence on stage captures any audience and her voice… my goodness her voice! At first I was worried that I would not hear the Fairouz we know, with the voice we know, because of her age but she proved me wrong. Her voice is just as magical and captivating as ever, if not more. I was extremely pleased with the selection of songs chosen, and I loved the new songs that she sung. I did not want the concert to end. I wanted more… I thought to myself, if there only was a way that I can save my ears, my emotions, my thoughts from any pollution and just be able to save what I just experienced.

People started walking out of the concert during the last 15 minutes, when Fairouz was still on stage performing! I assume they wanted to leave early so they don’t get stuck in the crowd and traffic while exiting but I found that utterly disrespectful towards the people who were still there enjoying, and of course to Fairouz.

I am so glad that I finally got to watch the great Fairouz live in concert and it is an event that I will cherish for as long as I live, I however, pity the lack of organization that did occur at the event. Fairouz does deserve a whole lot more than this.

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 ;)

Thanks Ray!

I just received this video in my email. It apparently is a year old but I just saw it and thought it’s interesting to share.

What do you guys think? Does it portray Lebanese women properly? Does it portray the society properly? [YouTube]

I received the following table in my email this morning. Some of the radars will be moved. This table was taken from the ISF website, from a bid document. Keep your eyes open!

[HiRes]

Bassma is organizing its Annual Gala Dinner at Sursock Palace Gardens on Wednesday 5th May.  Click on the above invite for the details.

Bassma is a non-profit organization whose goal is to improve the life of the poorest families, regardless of their political or religious backgrounds.

My friend once took me to one of their many activities.  They have a little place next to Gemmayze where they feed the poor.  They have several of these locations available in Lebanon.  I found it completely heart warming to see the ladies support the poor people who did show up.  It is nice to see that support is being provided to them.

They have several other social activities such as clothing assistance, welfare, and employment assistance.

Check out Bassma’s website for more details.  Also note, that Bassma is continuously looking for more volunteers.

Sara’s bag just launched the Sabah Forever collection.

For those of you who are not familiar with Sara’s Bags you can read more about the brand and the designer, Sara Beydoun, here.

Unfortunately there is no option to order online but the bags are available in various countries in the region.  In Beirut they are located in Achrafieh.

Sara’s Bags are inspired by Middle Eastern culture while adhering to the latest trends.

I find some of their bags really funky and would love to get, whilst some are just nice to look at and smile (caused by the nostalgic feeling the bag creates).

Check it out and share your opinions :)