I was on my way back home from Antelias last night when I decided to take photos of the Christmas decorations I encounter on the road, so I got you these photos while passing by Zalka, Bourj Hammoud, and Downtown Beirut.
On my to-shoot list, I still have Jdeideh street, the Ice creche at ABC, the other decorations at downtown and whatever I may encounter in the coming days!
Zalka:
Bourj Hammoud:
Downtown Beirut:
P.S: Sorry for the low quality, photos were taken with my phone.
What’s the real use of a drainage system if it is unable to remove water when it heavily rains? Or is it designed in Lebanon to just accommodate the water that comes out of Im Salim’s house lama toshtof bayta?
To my bad luck I was on the road in Tarik El-Jadida when it was heavily raining in Beirut today, I’ll just leave the photos to speak about how bad the situation was there.
Parking meters around Beirut all allow free parking after 5 or 6 PM except in Solidere! As you can see in the below photo, free parking is only allowed after 11 PM (Monday to Saturday).
In addition, as shown in the below photo a flat rate of 3,000L.L applies between 8 & 11 PM (Monday to Saturday), and to my knowledge it doesn’t exist anywhere else, even in the busy Hamra street.
So what’s so special about Solidere to set the parking meters in it that way?!
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What Rami says:
What I liked:
What I disliked:
The student body election at the Saint Joseph University ended YESTERDAY, however until now I still have no idea about the real winner in this election!
Is it the Lebanese Forces? Is it March 14 coalition? Is it the Free Patriotic Movement? Is it March 8 coalition? Is it the “الزحف الشيعي على جامعة بشير الجميّل” (also known as Hizbullah)? Mickey Mouse maybe!
If you check both of the FPM & Lebanese Forces websites (Tayyar.org & Lebanese-Forces.com) you notice that both parties claim they won the election, and to my amazement none of them tell it was a close competition! They both claim they wiped their rivals!
And to amaze us ever more, the FPM people went to Michael Aoun’s place in Rabieh late last night to celebrate their victory, and the Lebanese Forces people did the same thing at Samir Geagea’s place in Maarab!!
I recall the same thing happened last year in USJ, so I think it’s becoming a ritual there. Few thousands students casting their votes, and it takes forever to come out with an accurate final result. Fuck whoever is responsible for that.
Here’s how the Tayyar.org website looked today morning:
… and here’s how the Lebanese Forces website looked like at the same time.
Amusing eh?
Here’s your second chance in case you missed the first book signing of Maya’s Amalgam! This Wednesday October 28th at 6PM, Maya Zankoul will be signing her book at the Ceramic Lounge in Saifi Village Beirut. In addition, you can also get special edition comics that Maya has illustrated exclusively for Ceramic Lounge on ceramic items.
And while you’re their, you can get to enjoy homemade cookies by the COOKI3MAN who has been creating a buzz around the Lebanese twitterverse with his delicious choc chip, M&M, and Kinder cookies!
Nike Human Race is a worldwide sport event that is going to take place in 35 cities around the globe, including Beirut, on October 24th 2009. It’s basically a multi-city event for celebrating the report of running by giving runners everywhere the opportunity to run together.
In Beirut it is going to take the form of a fund raising event. Those who sign up and upon paying the registration fees ($10) will have to mention under which association name are they going to race, and at the end of the event Nike will be donating registration fees to the Association which will gather the biggest number of runners.
It’s just a 10K fun run event with no ranking or winners, however all participants who will reach the finish line will get their Nike Human Race Beirut Medal souvenir.
Registration forms are available at all Nike stores – ABC Ahrafieh, ABC Dbayeh, Verdun, Kaslik, Tripoli and Downtown Beiru. Don’t forget to write the name of the Association you will be running for.
Click here for more details on Facebook.
I just came across a news that made it for me! Our minister of interior affairs Ziad Baroud issued a statement banning motorcycles between 6:00PM and 5:00AM as of October 15th 2009. In addition to making it clear that motorcyclists gatherings are forbidden.
بارود يصدر قرارا بضبط سير الدراجات النارية ابتداء من 15 الجاري
أصدر وزير الداخلية زياد بارود قرارا ً بضبط سير الدراجات النارية في الأراضي اللبنانية المختلفة اعتباراً من تاريخ 15/10/2009، وطلب الى المديرية العامة لقوى الأمن الداخلي التشدّد في تطبيق القرار.
وسمح القرار بسير الدراجات النارية المسجلة أصولاً لدى هيئة إدارة السير والآليات والمركبات والمستوفية لجميع الشروط القانونية، اعتباراً من الساعة الخامسة صباحاً وحتى الساعة الثامنة عشرة، ويمنع سير جميع الدراجات بين الساعة 18.00 والساعة الخامسة من صباح اليوم التالي.
By the way, every time I see a motorcyclist performing stunts on the highway, I get the urge to hit him and watch him rolling on the asphalt! Yes that’s how much I hate you Lebanese motorbike owners!
Photo via flickr
Today’s episode of “Freeze I will shoot you” is brought to you from a nice village called “Balaa” in Tannourine, located around 70 kilometers from Beirut. I went there 10 days ago with some friends under the guidance of Mireille (from Life Geeked), who showed us a lot of nice places in both of Batroun, Tannourine, and Laklouk. So Balaa was actually just a stop on a one day road trip.
Balaa is very famous for its 250 meters deep natural sink hole that has been carved by water 160 million years ago! According to Mireille, a magnificent waterfall can be observed during winter and spring with water vapors rising up to the surface, so I’m definitely going to revisit Balaa again.
Moving to the photos…
There’s a distance of around 300 meters separating the sinkhole from the main road, and yes you have to walk to get to it.
And we’re gettig closer..
And here we are! The photos actually do no justice to the location. What appears like a shade in the middle is actually is small waterfall.
As you can see, the place IS dangerous, the edges are a bit slippery and you really don’t want to risk falling down.
The bridge in the middle is reachable, and the below photo is taken from its top.
Yep, 250 meters deep!
The location is suitable for a picnic by the way, but camping is forbidden as per the ministry of environment.
My next destination will hopefully be ammiq.
According to this news article, chief Achraf Rifi issued an “unusual” order to his force calling on them to vote in favor of Jeita Grotto for the seven natural wonders of the world.
“I gave orders to 23,500 police officers to cast their ballot in favor of Jeita Grotto so that they do their part as citizens and our entry comes out the winner,” General Achraf Rifi told AFP, in commenting on his written order.
Next week’s “unusual” order will be calling them to either join the Internal Security Forces group on Facebook, or become fans of his Facebook page.
Mr. Rifi, teach your officers how to respect us and behave well in the streets before giving them orders to do online voting!
