Surviving Lebanon - Unavoidable Tips - Part I

'If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere'
By "here" I mean Lebanon and not New York... Excuse me Sinatra and Jay-Z.
I decided to write some ‘unavoidable’ tips if anyone ever decided to survive Lebanon.

1. First and typical tip: Don't watch, listen or read the news! Or you’ll be singing Roberta Flack’s ‘Killing me softly’ soon; I mean really soon!
2. Don't panic when you see equipped soldiers or tanks on the road. That's normal. Surely not stable, but normal.
3. You need to know and trust a doctor. It would be better if he's from your relatives, and more specifically, the relatives that you do not share any kind of property (Land, building, ...) with! Or you'll find yourself killed by a 'law abiding' doctor.
4. You need to know and trust an auto mechanic. Or you will be changing the whole engine each time you go changing your car's engine oil.
5. Never drive when you are already angry. keep a stress ball in your car.

I feel like I can write a whole novel about 'Surviving Lebanon'.
Feel free to comment and share your tips/ideas.

L'Isba restaurant - Cedars

2 weeks ago, and thanks to my good old friend (@AccidentalTweep) for introducing me to L'Isba restaurant at the Cedars - Bcharre, I went to try it, and it happened to be Valentine (by accident!).

L'Isba (or The Hut) is located under the Cedars reserve in Arz, where you take your right near the Alpines hotel.

(There is a very notable sign)

You will notice a very comfortable and classy interior design.

And you can also get a special table design (in case of Valentine of course :P)

They have an agreeable 'Fondue' formula.

First, a fresh and a very tasty traditional salad. It felt like the vegetables were picked minutes ago.

Then the cheese or meat fondue (or even both). I just tasted the meat fondue, since I'm not a blind fan of cheese, and it was pretty good. You also get a plate of baked potato cubes to enjoy while waiting for the meat (or vice-versa :D).

And finally, of course, the mouth watering (better than sex) chocolate fondue!

My advice is to try L'Isba as soon as possible, since you can enjoy the Cedars in the snow, or some skiing at the slopes.

For reservation or more information, contact Wajih on 00961 3571154.

Fog, snow and Cedrus Libani

Last week, I visited two well-known Cedar reserves. One in the historical Barouk - Chouf that contains the largest natural reserve in Lebanon, and the other in Arz, Bsharre - North Lebanon, also known as 'The Cedars of God' because they were used by Solomon in the construction of the first temple in Jerusalem.

We were lucky to take some photos in fog and snow in Barouk. (I loved the first one below!)

And of course the amazing one drawn on the Lebanese Lira coin:

As for the Arz Cedar reserve, these are some photos.

Check the entourage first:

By the way, the reserve is always closed in winter, but you can ask people there, and they can guide you through a secret path ;)

First thing your eyes lie on is "Heaven's gate".

And this is Rudy Rahme's masterpiece.

And last but not least, the massive Cedar drawn in the Lebanese flag.

Make sure you visit Cedars in winter, and you will definitely know why they call them 'Cedars of God'.

Egypt be careful!

We may all agree that this is a very important period in the Egyptian history.

Egypt, one of the biggest countries in the Arab world, is finally protesting against dictatorship, and calling for democracy.

What Egyptians know that they don't want Hosni Mubarak and they don't want any other three decades presidents.

At the same time, it is very important to differ between democracy and extremism, and between believing in a good case and following a person blindly.

Democracy Vs Extremism:

Radicalism always shows up as a possible solution when a country is weak.

Extremists and all Egyptians are protesting against Mubarak together, but not for the same reason. And That's where Egyptians should be very careful cause extremism never was a solution and never will be. You can check what was/is happening in Iraq, Afghanistan...

Good case Vs following a person:

Any 'power greedy' politician is protesting with people now, and of course for 'other' reasons.

Always remember, the initial cause is your 'belief in Democracy' and not ousting the president.

It is extremely dangerous to follow a politician blindly.

Keep on surviving, I'm sure he's going down real soon. Hoping for the best.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Technology reward for Lebanon

Congratulations for our beloved country Lebanon for receiving one of the most significant reward in the technology industry!

No Japan, No USA, nor any other country: Lebanon got the reward of ‘The most Advanced hi-tech country’.

Finally, we got the reward we deserve and we are the leaders of technology in the world.

Why?

Lebanon managed to transform all its population into living ‘ROBOTS’, who can eat, drink, drive, walk, talk and any other physical activities any human being can do.

These robots are amazing, and have many great features:

They have no emotional feelings at all.

They don’t react for any mistreatment: So forget about any protest, any objection on anything happening, no matter how hard their ‘masters’ treat them.
They are programmed to wake up, go to work, go have dinner and then sleep no matter what’s happening in their country.

How?

Lebanese responsible have been working on some hi-tech chips since 1975, and they finally achieved their goals. This week, they tested the robots to make sure no more emotions nor affections. Here are some of the tests:

• On Monday for example, groups of robots wearing black were sent to the roads with ‘scare other robots’ orders. The robots passed the test, no affections.
• Yesterday, the gasoline prices have been raised 500 LBP. Also the robots passed the test without making any reaction.

After passing these tests, technology leaders decided to reward the ‘Lebanese officials’ this great prize.

But seems there will be some more tests, but I think there is no need. They succeeded.

For more information and a closer view, check the ‘I, Robot’ movie, it is almost the same, we just need to find our ‘Sonny’.

Elissa Vs Pipo

I do love Elissa, but I just couldn't not share this!

It feels like the ad was torn apart on purpose!

It is on Nahr Ibrahim highway!:D

Which one is the real ad? :P

Lebanese Fraud Monk

It’s been a while since I started thinking about creating my own blog. I postponed that because I do not have enough time to manage it the way I want, but the following story left me with no other choice!

A week before Christmas, I was in Zouk (Jounieh) heading to ‘Le Mall’, when I noticed a monk standing on the highway at ‘Marché du pont’ trying to get a lift.

I stopped for him (you know, Christmas spirit). Below is some of the conversation:

• His name is Elie (Atallah I guess, and around 25-30 years old), and he’s from Chouf – Mount Lebanon.
• His parents died when he and his sister were too small to remember.
• They both lived on the streets for almost 10 years.
• He was the only one taking care of his little sister.
• A priest saw them once, and decided to take care of them.
• His sister is married now and lives in Ain l Remmeneh (where he said he was heading to spend the night), and he’s a monk in ‘Kfifane’ monastery.
• He has cancer. He said that he has a scanner tomorrow and a big operation on Monday.
• During his conversation, he apologizes many times for bothering you with his discussion, but he says that he's in too much pain and he needs to talk to forget about it.
• He gives you a little prayer ant two Rosaries that he claims doing them, a small one for the hand and a bigger one.

Until now, the story is credible. The thing is that he tells you that he lost his money on his way. When I asked him if I can help and if he accepts money, he said ‘like you wish’.
So I told him that I can get him to Ain l Remmeneh since I’m going to ‘Le Mall’ but I need to pass by a friend and take her with me.
When we got there, he asked me to stop for him near St. Mary statue because he needs to pray before heading home.
I sensed something weird about him, and when we arrived I didn’t mention money. I told my friend that I felt like he was a fraud. But later on, I felt really bad about it.
Two days ago, a colleague told me that he was in Harissa the night before and he gave a lift for a monk who told him the exact same story!!!! Gave him rosaries, and told him that he lost his money, and that he has an operation tomorrow (if it is a weekday, he tells you that he has an operation tomorrow).

My poor friend gave him money!

It turned out to be a fraud!

So if you ever encountered this fraud imposter monk… Kick his ASS! Or let the police do that!
Can we blame him? or this is a consequence for the life he's living?!

Anyway... Keep on surviving.