We reached Beirut in the evening, and since the city is famous for it’s nightlife, we soon hit the town after dinner. Food is exceptionally good in Lebanon, nothing compares to Lebanese food in the Middle East that is for sure. We had a nice walk in the old town of Beirut (locals call it Downtown), checked the shops and old churches and mosques. Beirut struck me as a city a bit similar to Istanbul in the following regard: Istanbul, as well as Beirut has a population very much mixed, Christians, Muslims and other religions live under the same roof. Because of this, Churches and Mosques are often seen side by side which is a pretty rare sight, specially for someone living in the Gulf. See picture below of an example of such:

After our walk in the city, we started asking people what to do at night in Beirut and we came up with an impressive list of 5-6 clubs and 2 streets that are a must when someone is partying in Beirut. We hit Gemmayzeh street first which was one of the most happening streets I have seen in my life to date. There are residential buildings on both sides of the street and at each of them on the ground floor there is a bar or club with open doors to the curious Beiruti or foreign visitor. We were bar-hopping for quite a few hours and I don’t remember the last time when I had so much fun. People are extremely friendly and outgoing, you won’t be able to spend more than 10 minutes at a place before a conversation breaks out between you and some locals. After our bar spree we hit the clubs at around Midnight, first we were off to the “Basement” then later around 2AM to “B018″. The former is a regular club, a ted upscale with limted dance floor space and posh people. The later one is a, hmm how to say it better, a “bad ass” club that was build in an underground bunker that dates back to the war times. The place is really dark inside, hard core house music is provided by the house-DJ and lots of fun-loving people all around you. We were there from 2 to 5 in the morning, and when we left, people were still coming in. Now how’s that for a Middle Eastern night out? The place got smokey from time to time and then the bunker’s roof would be opened up and the crowd was under the stary sky for a few minutes before they closed it up again.

After our night out, we were ready to hit the streets of Beirut for a quick sight seeing tour before my friends airplane takes off and I go back up to the Mountains. Beirut is very mediterranian in style specially around the old town areas, so we enjoyed the warm late March sunshine and sat outside in cafes and other venues.

All in all Beirut is well worth a visit. If you happen to be in the area with a couple of days to spare, I’d strongly recommend stopping over in Beirut for a day and a night.

Below are a few example pictures, for more on Beirut, visit the Gallery.

The old town at night

My friend in front of a Bar on Gemmayzeh street

Coffee in Old Town Beirut – see how badly I was sun burnt from skiing

In a dance-bar on Gemmayzeh street

At Beirut’s most famous landmark

This is it for now, I am sure I’ll return one day and post up more info on Beirut. Cheers,

Ben

I had two weeks to cancel everything in Iran and rebook my trip to Lebanon, and this was no minor task. Lucky for me Lebanon has caught up with the world in terms of Internet and online booking, and I was able to do everything in front of my PC, which was not the case of Iran initially. I normally like to search extensively and book things one by one; however, the short time I had did force me to go with a single company who arranges everything. This is how I got to the following site:

http://www.skileb.com

They have a search engine on the site that helps you build a package that suits your needs. I have first chosen my airport pickup and drop off to match my flights, and then chose the hotel and ski pass and my rental snowboard. All this was done at the site believe it or not, and in less than 10 minutes. I paid by card and received all necessary information via E-mail.

The days were going fast and I was ready to set off to Lebanon. I tried taking my snowboard with me to make sure I’ll have proper equipment but the budget airlines I checked and booked on did not allow this. The air fare costs about 1000AED or 300USD return. Check the following for examples:

http://www.flydubai.com
http://www.airarabia.com
http://www.jazeeraairways.com

I flew in late in the evening after a whole day of work, and was picked up by the taxi company skileb.com has arranged. The trip from Beirut International took 1 hour 10 minutes to Faraya, where my accommodation was reserved at. I stayed at Faraya Village Club , a very modest and cheap hotel with all the basic needs covered like hot water, central heating and clean sheets:). I paid about $40 USD per night for my stay and an extra $20USD for the lift passes and snowboard rental.

I went in late March and expected nearly no snow, but to my surprise, the conditions were great. We had about 120cm’s of snow at the base and 180cm’s at the summit and 80% of the lifts were still working. The resort had about 20 or so lifts and about 50 slopes. I had the real “alpine” feeling, by which I mean you set off at one particular place and ski all day without coming back to the same slope even once. They must have had at least 80km’s of slopes open when I was there.

A good mannakish (Pizza like Lebanese bread) at the slope restaurants cost in the range of $2USD and a beer was about $3USD. This obviously meant I was drinking day in and day out, coming from Dubai and the $10USD and above beer prices.

I had no chance in checking the other great ski resort out, the Cedars, but having seen Faraya and how skiing is done there and for how much, I give Lebanon 5 stars for skiing.

Click here to see the Faraya Gallery at Celifornia.com for more pictures, otherwise see a few examples below.

Cheers,
Ben

And here I am with some Lebanese mountain men from the ski rental shop. They were really nice, every morning they greeted me with Coffee and cigarettes, plus a seat near their warm heater.

And Finally some beautiful Roman era ruins between my Hotel and the ski slope

Cheers,
Ben

I have just received my alcohol license I was refering to in this post.

To get the license you need to be a non-muslim, you need to have a proper job with a salary that can be proven. If you meet all these requirements, its pretty easy actually. Here is what I did:

I went to the Alcohol store African and Eastern at the Dubai Marina Walk, got the application form and filled it out. I then made a copy of my passport, my drivers license and VISA page. With all this, I went to our finance department and asked for a Non Objection letter which states that my company does not mind me having an Alcohol license. Are you laughing yet? Then, I went to the Dubai Municipality and asked their non-objection statement for getting the license. Once I had the blessings of the Dubai Municipalities, I needed a salary certificate from the same office, and off I was to submit my application. It took 3 weeks, the Dubai Police signed off on it, and the Liquor store called me to have the license picked up.

The cost of the license is 160 Dirhams (~50 USD), and for the same value I got a voucer that can be used at African and Eastern. This actually makes the alcohol license free, and to have it is indeed very necessary in Dubai, should you be ever confronted for drinking.

This is how it looks like, cheers:

It was my first ramadan and it was quite interesting. Our muslim colleguaes are fasting all day from sun-up to sun-down which means no drinking, no eating, no smoking and no sexual activities for as long as the sun is visible. To be fair to them and to satisfy my curiosity I fasted for the first day of Ramadan. It was surprisingly easy, the only difficult part was the no drinking.

Iftar is the first meal when you break your fast just after the sun sets. In the beginning of Ramadan Iftar was at 6:38 and by the end it was at 6:05 or so. During ramadan, all hotels and restaurants serve a special Iftar meal, which is usually buffet style and starts right after sunset. We had these iftar meals often during this period, and its always fun to take place in something so special as iftar is for the muslims.

I was in Kuiwait a few days ago, and my host there took me to an Egyptian restaurant for Iftar. In Dubai I so far attended only Iftar buffets, but this time it was different. We arrived 10 minutes before Iftar to the restaurant, meals already prepared were steaming away on our table, everything covered with tin foil. The restaurant was full, people were sitting and waiting for the time to start eating. All of a sudden an islamic tune sounded up from the speakers, and people started removing the tin-foil from the dishes and glasses, and picked up a few dates, which is how a fast is broken properly. After dates we had water and some date juice and only then we moved on to eating the proper meals. We had many interesting dishes among which stuffed pigeons stood out by being the most exotic one. It was a nice meal with lots of cheer and joy I saw on people’s faces. It had a more authentic feel to it than anything in Dubai I have seen so far. For a westerner, Ramadan might seem like a time of suffering and agony, but the Muslims actually enjoy it as it gives them the opportunity to come closer to god, and this period is also full of family gatherings.

On the day of my visit to Kuwait it was still undecided if this was the last day of ramadan or we had another one ahead of us. Just as we ordered our mint teas out and some of us lit on a cigarette for complete relaxation, the TV announced the end of Iftar, right after officials have evaluated the Moon’s state. This was around 7:30-8PM. Ramadan is followed by Eid, a holiday of two days for celebrating the end of the fasting. Just imagine how hard it must be to plan for a holiday if you only find out your days off from office at 8PM the evening before.

This is what the table looked like at the restaurant, before we broke the fast:

Click for more pictures…

Us waiting for the meal….

Crowd waiting..

The fish selection was quite nice

The restaurant’s entrance

And the food after the foil was removed

]]> http://www.celifornia.com/blog/2008/10/06/last-iftar-of-ramadan-egyptian-style-in-kuwait/feed/ 0 http://www.celifornia.com/blog/2008/10/06/kuwait-day-trip-to-the-country-first-impressions/ http://www.celifornia.com/blog/2008/10/06/kuwait-day-trip-to-the-country-first-impressions/#comments Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:56:14 +0000 bence8810 http://www.celifornia.com/blog/2008/10/06/kuwait-day-trip-to-the-country-first-impressions/ Hi,

I had to go to Kuwait for a day trip with my coworker on business yesterday, and I took some pictures while there and thought I would share it here. Kuwait is a very interesting country, small in size, super rich and has the strongest/most expensive currency in the world, the Kuwaiti Dinar.

We were all day on a meeting, but just before sunset, we had an hour to spare before heading back to the office, and it was just enough to escape and visit the most viewed buildings in Kuwait, the Kuwaiti towers. These towers were designed by a Swedish firm back in the 60′s or 70′s, and they were actaually built by a Yugoslavian company believe it or not and the project was ready in 1979. One tower was built as a water reservoir, the other (tallest) tower is the one you can actually go into and have a coffee while looking at the Arabian gulf from a height of 120 meters, and the skinny rocket-like tower is the electricity tower that controls all the rest. The lookout tower has a rotating floor so while having your coffee, you will be shown around Kuwait city.

Other than the towers, we didn’t see much, which is probably because Kuwait is a very small country and it’s definitely not a tourist destination packed with historical sites or landmarks. Being there feels kind of special, I remember back when I was a kid in Hungary, we often talked about Kuwait where everything was made of gold, and the people were so rich they had nothing better to do than enjoying life. This is obviously not true as you will see on the pictures soon, not all things are made of gold. The city itself is quite dirty, full of old gas-guzzler American cars and of course dust. The country itself is still very rich I take it, it just that they are not showing off like people do here in the UAE.

Enjoy the pics and click below to see more pictures:

The magnificent towers from a distance:

..from below

The friendly lift operator….

And Kuwait city from above:

And this was my entry ticket:

For more pictures, visit my Gallery.

]]> http://www.celifornia.com/blog/2008/10/06/kuwait-day-trip-to-the-country-first-impressions/feed/ 0 http://www.celifornia.com/blog/2008/09/15/japanese-beer-sapporo-in-dubai/ http://www.celifornia.com/blog/2008/09/15/japanese-beer-sapporo-in-dubai/#comments Mon, 15 Sep 2008 05:41:41 +0000 bence8810 http://www.celifornia.com/blog/2008/09/15/japanese-beer-sapporo-in-dubai/ Since the time we left Japan in 2005, I always missed Japanese beers. We used to go out a lot and not once did I miss to have a nice and cold “Asahi Super-dry” or “Kirin Ichiban” or “Sapporo” to go with the food. In Hungary I was able to find Asahi at some major stores like Kaiser’s and Auchan, but in Dubai so far I failed to locate any Japanese brands.

I went to most leagal and illeagal shops here already, and last week I finally found a store selling “Sapporo” beers. Its in Dubai Marina, on the Marina walk, called African and Eastern. You need to have a Dubai alcohol license to purchase. I got a case of 24 bottles, it set me back nicely 264 Dirhams with TAX, which is about $80 USD, more than twice the price of Heineken, Stella or other brands. However, as I missed it so much, I didn’t care for the price and got it.

Since then, every night I open a bottle and enjoy it on our balcony. What a treat………

I am sure mostly all of you have heard about the “ridiculous” tall tower, the Burj Dubai that is being built near Downtown Dubai. The tower has already reached its height and its being finished up these days. I recently got a photo that shows the views from the top of the Tower, I can already imagine the prices of the Top restaurants that will offer this view. Here is a peak shot for you, enjoy.

Cheers

P.S.: Those tiny towers you see at the foot of the Burj are “just” around 50 stories high, about twice the size of the largest building in Downtown Budapest. This gives you a sense of just how tall the Burj really is….

For weekdays they are serving an all you can eat Lunch with an “a la carte” system, which means you still have to order from the waiter/ress but it you pay the flat fee. It costs 65 Dirhams, which is about 18USD, and the quality of the food is just superb.

The restaurant is called Da Shi Dai, and it seems they don’t currently have website. Anyways, have a look at the picutres below, and if interested, you will find the restaurant by driving from Media City towards JBR, and you stay on the street thats behind the buildings, where the parking places are. Its right next to The Noodle House. Enjoy

Click for more pictures

]]> http://www.celifornia.com/blog/2008/09/01/found-a-good-chinese-restaurant-serving-cantonese-food-at-jbr/feed/ 0 http://www.celifornia.com/blog/2008/09/01/chopping-tree-tops-in-the-greens-dubai/ http://www.celifornia.com/blog/2008/09/01/chopping-tree-tops-in-the-greens-dubai/#comments Mon, 01 Sep 2008 06:00:26 +0000 bence8810 http://www.celifornia.com/blog/2008/09/01/chopping-tree-tops-in-the-greens-dubai/ Since in Dubai, we found our home at The Greens, a community named after its surroundings. The Greens is supposed to be a very green, and nature friendly community, and for the most part it really is. Lots of people here have little kids and dogs, as the environment is very friendly towards them. We have been around Dubai mostly everywhere, and yet still not found a place compareable to The Greens. From a foreign country, it might look like “just an ordinary complex”, but in Dubai, it is a uniquely green area.

Last weekend while walking Momo, I was shocked to see that the gardeners started to chop the Tree-tops rather agressively, without taking the well-being of the trees into account. My dad has graduated from an Agricultural university in Hungary majoring in Gardening (that is gardening on a higher level), and growing up with him I learned plenty about how to cut branches off, etc. Even to the untrained eye, what happened in the Greens last weekend must seem very strange and wrong. I heard about a lady (German) who was even shouting at the gardener to immediately stop this butchering, but of course he has no intentions on stopping, as he would put his job at risk.

We also have to take the fact into account that the guys chopping the trees are the same ones painting the walls, and washing the cars around the lots. The sense of professionalism is missing by large, and I don’t see a chance to this changing in the future at all. The most important thing is cheap labour and keeping the community as neat as possible. Sure, these trees will look neat in a few months to come provided the excellent weather we have here, but still, it does not justify the agression towards them. Have a look at the pictures.

For more pics, read on…

This is alongways the process, you can see the chopped ones on the left, and the original ones on the right. I dont know what was wrong with them to be honest…..

However, if we put this chopping aside, the community seems rather clean and organized. There are surely 100′s of men working on the upkeep, I see them every day in herds cleaning the streets, gathering leaves and cutting grass.

This is a sign the put in the middle of a sand-pot indicating that there is a change to come. Hopefuly they will plant some flowers, so that it will look decent.

We took a weekend drive to Ras Al Khaimah, another Emirate in the UAE. To get there, we had to cross through Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain. It sounds like a long distance, but it was only about 120-150km from our place. We went with Momo, our dog, and because of this, we didnt manage to spend much time out of the car, as she would get overheated very soon on the burning sun. We went down to the Beach to let her run a little, drove along some little roads between sand dunes, and of course went to buy Alcohol in Umm Al Quwain since we were nearby.

Here are a few pictures of the tip, enjoy.

Click here to read more

This is a left-behind airplane we found in the desert. It seems to be used for giving shade for parking cars and to advertise a nearby hotel. I heard stories that the plane was flown there once a long time ago, and it could never take off again, so they decided to just leave it behind. I dont know what the truth is, but the plane by itself just looked great in the middle of the desert.

This is Momo on the beach….

A place we stopped to drink a coke at…

And finally the desert temperature at 11:30 AM…..

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