A friend of mine who works for Bank Audi invited me to a free concert they were holding at Music Hall where two of the bank’s music bands, “Band Audi” & “Audiyyat”, were performing to promote conscientious driving along with Kunhadi.
It was impressive to see these musical among Bank Audi’s staff, they were really good! Check the 2 videos I recorded, the girl in the first video has a striking voice.
2010 is parting in a few days and it seems like it is taking away one of Gemmayze’s landmarks with it!
According to this article from The Daily Star, Ahwet El Ezez will soon shut its doors after losing a legal battle with the building owners regarding the continuation of pre-civil war rents.
The premises will now return to the building owners, who have been embroiled in legal disputes with the café for years over the continuation of pre-Civil War rents.
What will become of it now remains unknown. Building owners have assured conservationists that the site will not be demolished but speculation is rife over what will become of one of central Beirut’s last traditional cafés, with rumors circulating it will be turned into a new snazzy bar, maybe even a Starbucks or a bank branch.
Do you think it is time for us to finally accept that those small pieces of Beirut’s heritage are not meant to last forever or at least survive the real estate boom in the city?
I don’t know for how long this announcement has been there, but I didn’t see it until yesterday. Lord of the Wings will soon open in Ibrahim Abd El Aal street, near “3a Zaw2ak” cafe.
I think Hamra is very close to becoming the ultimate destination in Beirut for food lovers since it almost has all kinds of restaurants now. What is still missing there?
Everyone seems to be on the quest for the best burger in Lebanon nowadays! Especially with the rise of several new burger places, like Classic Burger Joint, Brgr Co., and few others.
Until last week, my favorite burgers were the ones I usually have at Roadster Diner and Classic Burger Joint. But that totally changed as soon as I got introduced to Smokey O’z! And I bet you’ve seen their ads on Facebook a lot lately.
I decided to give it a try after I saw the extensive talks about the “Big Bad Wolf” burger on their Facebook page. The place is located at Sassine Square Achrafiyeh, and to my surprise it turned out to be so small! It only has a bar with 6 seats where you get to see the chefs preparing your burgers and sandwiches, no tables, and it mainly relies on take out and delivery orders.
Anyway enough talking, let me show you what I had!
They first start with charbroiling a drooling half pound patty…
Ketchup, mustard, and swiss cheese…
Crispy onion straws, aged cheddar cheese, and the juicy patty, waiting for tomatoes and iceberg lettuce to complete it.
… making up the Big Bad Wolf! Accompanied by just good enough french fries.
It was a treat! I had the burger for dinner after skipping lunch that day, so I leave you to imagine how delightful it was! The overall taste was really good, juicy patty, soft fresh bun, good cheese and fresh tomatoes.
Oh and it is easily eatable regardless of how oversized it looks! I mean you will not suffer from the patty (or any other ingredient) suddenly slipping out of the bun. A definite winner for me, and totally recommended. The burger is priced at 15,000L.L, and you get fries and a soft drink for an additional 4,000L.L.
Finally, the two chefs behind satisfying my hunger that night!
So.. are you drooling already? 😛
It finally happened! The exchange party took place at “The Warehouse” Zalka, formerly known as “Galerie Vivre”, and it was nothing less than a blast!
I reached there at around 10PM, two Thai girls greeted us at the entrance before we made our way inside where almost everyone was fascinated by the the red lanterns that created a nice ambiance.
An hour later the place was all packed while people were still pouring in! The warm music ended at around 11:30PM I think, and a traditional Thai dance was performed by two girls, which marked that the party has officially began!
… and DJ Madjam quickly got the people in the mood.
By 12:30AM, everyone was wearing these Thai flower necklaces.
Definitely looking for the next party if there will be a second nightlife exchange! And now I leave with this video that I recorded while Madjam was performing. (I actually recorded several videos but my phone was behaving weirdly and for some reason I ended up with this one only!! Quite frustrating!)
Thanks to global warming, the weather on the independence day in Beirut was just awesome! Warm temperature and -almost- clear blue skies made it perfect for a walk at Ain El Mrayseh.
Fortunately the corniche was not congested with joggers and bikers, but fishers were just everywhere, and standing at the most bizarre places!
… the guys above were actually standing right where sewage water is dumped into the sea!
How can they still eat the fish they get from the sewage water is beyond my understanding, unless they sell them to other people like the man below was doing.
However, I seem to have missed a cool initiative by the Lebanese army and Leo Burnett! At around 3:30PM, a military helicopter flew at low altitude over the Manara corniche, releasing thousands of red roses attached to miniature white parachutes, carrying a message “Bihimayat Al Jonoud, Tanmou Al Wouroud”, or “Roses flourish under the protection of our soldiers”. The operation was called “Roses from the Sky” (you can watch a video about it here)
@chaftari from Leo was kind enough to share these photos with me.
I personally had mixed feeling about this operation… what do you think?
I couldn’t resist taking a photo of today’s sunset when I saw how colorful it was, and wishing I was out of the office somewhere near the sea with my DSLR.
November usually carries the best times to shoot sunsets in Lebanon, but unfortunately the sun sets so early at 4:30PM nowadays, leaving too few opportunities for employees like me who like shooting photos.
Eid El-Adha is the time for Muslims to recall prophet Abraham’s obedience to god in his willingness to sacrifice his own son Ismail, before god intervened and gave him a ram to sacrifice instead. And so the act of sacrificing an animal later became a ritual for Muslims.
That’s when it becomes normal to see sheep stored at very unusual places in Beirut, like rooftops for example.
… and when it also becomes very normal to see butchers slaughtering sheep in the streets.
If this device is too expensive for you, you may want to consider signing up for an account at Trapster, a mobile application that can alert you about nearby radars!
How Does It Work?
Users submit speed traps, enforcement cameras, and road hazards, that then alert all Trapster users in the area. A high-tech version of flashing your headlights to alert drivers of potential road hazards.
I think it’ll be helpful if enough Lebanese users registered, don’t you think?
Thanks to @jadhamdan for pointing me to the application via twitter.
I was listening to the radio on my way to work today when I heard that the internal security forces issued a total of 5,000 tickets after 24 hours of activating the speeding radars.
Given that each ticket costs 50,000 L.L, a quick calculation shows that we now owe the Lebanese government a total of 250,000,000 L.L (~$166,000) in just one day! And at this rate, the government will be generating $5,000,000 a month from these radars!
Assuming that the cost of the radars + installing them is $10,000,000, it will take 2 months to cover this amount and start generating profit! Now that’s a business I wish I can invest in!
Still, I have some question marks about collecting these fines from violators. In a country like Lebanon where people can drive a car with defected number plates on their cars and still get away with it when going through the yearly car inspection, how will the police identify the car number in such case? And what about all these foreign cars with Khaliji number plates? Is there some mechanism to force their owners to pay the fines before leaving Lebanon?