Tag Archives | Lebanon

Nostalgic Highlights Video of a Lebanese Football Match From Early Nineties

By Rami on July 6, 2015 in Lebanon

This is one blast from the past! Nejmeh Sporting Club page on Facebook posted a nostalgic video from the early ninties of a football match between Nejmeh and Ansar on the club stadium in Manara.

The video shows the stadium in bad shape with no grass and a funny way to level it since the game took place shortly after the civil war has ended, moreover due to the limited role of the Lebanese security forces at that time you will notice that the Syrian army was in charge of keeping order.

The fans’ chantings sounded pretty amusing by the way and I wish the sport remained popular till our days since it really helped easing the struggle between the Sunna who in general used to cheer for Ansar and Shia who on the other hand cheered for Nejmeh. Back then there was really very little tension in the streets between the two sects and the implicit hatred towards each other used to be expressed in the stadiums only. Nowadays a simple disagreement between members of these sects threatens a new civil war. Time do change as they say…!

Anyway, make sure to watch the video as I’m sure it will bring you a lot of memories if you were born prior the mid eighties. Hussein Dokmak who joined Nejmeh in 1997 and later died in 2007 by the car bomb that targeted Walid Eido also appears in this video at the 1m10s mark, he’s the kid on the left holding the Nejmeh flag.

If the video doesn’t load then you can watch it here on Facebook.

Video of The Jounieh Fireworks Show Last Night

By Rami on July 3, 2015 in Lebanon

Jounieh International Festival took off last night with a 7 minute synchronized fireworks show along the coast. Not much people have yet shared the videos they took so here’s one from MTV Lebanon.

I don’t want to sound like a party pooper as I know many people found the show to be pretty cool, but I personally can’t but say it was no more than a repetition from the last two years. I mean I totally salute the municipality of Jounieh for their efforts, but I don’t think they’re being super creative with the awesome bay they have. I bet much more can be done along the coast especially that Dubai always manages to amaze the world with their yearly show and they only use one Burj Khalifa to do it.

Photo via @naylayared

Things to Do This Week in Lebanon – July 1st 2015

By Rami on July 1, 2015 in Lebanon

It’s time again for my selection of things to do from Lebtivity. There’s no doubt that the most anticipated event this week is the opening ceremony for Jounieh International Festival featuring a synchronized fireworks show along the bay of Jounieh.

Moreover, if you would like to have an Iftar out during Ramadan, make sure to check the list that Lebtivity has put together for restaurants offering Iftar formulas.

The Sweet Treat You Should Try This Ramadan

By Rami on June 30, 2015 in Lebanon

daoukiyeh

If there’s an under-rated Arabic sweet shop around Beirut then it must be Al-Daouk in the Cola area.

The owner of the shop created back in the 80’s this really awesome dessert and named it after his family, hence the name “Daoukieh”. It’s made of Ashta (think cream) mixed with cashew nuts and fixed between two layers of ground pistachio puree. What makes all the difference with this dessert is the use of quality ingredients, be it the fresh Ashta or the premium pistachio. The result are the above little green appealing pieces of heaven that explode with rich flavor in your mouth.

The reason I’m writing about the Daoukieh is that I still encounter a lot of people who have never heard of it. So if you want to treat yourself to some really good Arabic dessert this Ramadan make sure it is the Daoukieh. Al-Daouk Sweets is located very close to the Beirut Arab University in Cola, anybody in the region will be able to provide you with directions to it, and the non-stop traffic jam near the shop is totally worth it. It sells for 24,000L.L/Kg.

I’m aware by the way of the other alternatives to Daoukieh such as Bohsalino and Safsoufieh, but trust me on this, Daoukieh is the real deal.

Le Gray Swimming Pool Among the Most Incredible Pools on Earth

By Rami on June 29, 2015 in Lebanon

I just stumbled upon this list of incredible swimming pools in the world by The Huffington Post and was surprised to find the swimming pool at Le Gray Hotel featured in it.

The swimming pool is truly stunning and has a cool view over the Mediterranean and Beirut downtown. It’s also worth noting that the spa at Le Gray was earlier also ranked among the top 10 spas in the middle east.

Al Rifai Angel Drones is More Like a Stunt Than a Campaign

By Rami on June 29, 2015 in Lebanon

The Angel Drones is an initiative by Al Rifai that aims to donate packages of clothes, food, and other essential items to needy families in Lebanon using drones that are labeled as “Angel Drones”. The whole campaign sounds pretty nice as it goes with the spirit of Ramadan in term of helping poor people and feeling with them. Moreover, technically speaking the video is well executed and kudos to whoever made the filming.

However, with the budget that seem to have been allocated for this campaign I really think Al Rifai could have done a lot better.

Even though the video started good and felt very touching, at the end of watching it I was only left thinking about drones and how much weight they can carry around… I bet I was not the only one who thought about that and I really doubt this was Al Rifai’s goal from “The Angel Drones”.

In addition, I really didn’t like the way they displayed the stories of the families they are helping on their website. I mean this is the kind of things that Tony Khalife and Joe Maalouf would do to score with the public… If you want to help poor people then either do it discretely or simply don’t reveal their identities, publicizing it actually goes against the values of Ramadan.

Giving the video a second thought will probably qualify the campaign more as a stunt than a socially responsible campaign. Social responsibility in our case lies in actually donating to the people instead of over-thinking a sophisticated and expensive way to deliver these donations.

In my humble opinion, what Al Rifai could have done instead is producing a video that motivates people to help each other. Take for example the videos that Pepsi Masr produces every year, they touch you really deep and inspire to do good to others or at least be good to them.

The idea is that you do not necessarily have to prove that you are socially responsible in order to score with the public. I think being an inspiration to them can promote your brand much better.

Cool Aerial Video of Byblos Bay

By Rami on June 26, 2015 in Lebanon

Although realtively short, this video shot by Marc Howayek using a DJI Phantom 3 shows some great scenery from the coast of Byblos.

I have also seen a sneak peak of other video he took in different regions of Lebanon and they look really awesome. I hope he uploads them sometime soon so that I can share them as well.

Things to Do This Week in Lebanon – June 24th 2015

By Rami on June 24, 2015 in Lebanon

Here are my picks of things to do this week from Lebtivity. Make sure not to miss the 4-day Ramadaniyat Beirutiya Festival which aims to revive the old traditions of Ramadan in the ancient city of Beirut.

Fro more options you can always check Lebtivity.com.

Lebanon Is Finally Getting The Much Needed Internet Infrastructure Upgrade

By Rami on June 23, 2015 in Lebanon

lebanon internet speed june 2015

I just stumbled upon this really good news about the Ministry of Telecommunications’ plan to upgrade the internet infrastructure by using fiber-optic cables to connect Ogero switching centers to residential and business premises.

The current infrastructures utilizes a fiber-optic network to connect centers together but relies on old copper wires to carry out internet data to the subscribers. The problem with these old wires is that they can handle transferring a maximum of 8Mbps depending on how close to the switching center you live. That’s why 1/3 of internet users in Lebanon cannot get more than 2Mbps to their homes since they simply live too far away from a central office!

The upgrade project will take 5 years to finish as per minister Harb and should allow internet speed to reach 100Mbps. So until that time, expect to encounter a lot of digging around the streets and just pray for the whole thing to finish on time without any major interruption.

Anthony Bourdain’s Episode on Beirut Was Disappointing

By Rami on June 23, 2015 in Lebanon

anthony bourdain beirut

So I finally managed to watch Parts Unknown season five finale on Beirut (via torrent download) and was quite disappointed.

The show is actually about food and travel, so I was expecting Bourdain to explore some of Beirut’s hidden gems but instead he went to Burj Al Barajneh refugee camp in the first part of the episode to learn more about the Palestinians living conditions here in the country. He then made several people speak about religious diversity and how the different sects coexist happily in Lebanon (especially Sunni and Shia these days!), and he later visited some Hezbollah supporter in Dahieh all while portraying the party as a mighty beast.

Moreover, he never failed during the episode to stress about the threat coming from the east, that is the Islamic state. So it was basically more about politics than anything else. I believe he could have simply aired some recent report about the political situation in Lebanon and spared himself a trip here.

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