Category: Travel

Nataly is stuck at the airport, her flight to Dubai on board Emirates was delayed 2 hours and 15 minutes. Last week my sisters flight to Dubai also on board Emirates was delayed an hour and a half. So why are people still flying with Emirates instead of Jazeera I don’t know…

I just checked my email today morning and found an interesting offer by Jazeera Airways. Two return flight tickets to Beirut plus a one night stay at a 4 star hotel for only KD129. Not a bad deal and not a bad idea at all. [Link]

I took my Holga Camera with me to Lebanon and while I was there I took some pictures. A bunch came out a bit blurry I am guessing either because I wasn’t holding the camera steady enough or the fact that the focus system on this $20 camera isn’t very reliable. Some pictures turned out interesting and I am really starting to get a handle on this camera. Its terrible for indoor shots (no flash, shutter speed 1/100 with 8f, my film is iso 100) but does a great job during the day outdoor. Its definitely a landscape camera. Here are my favorite pictures from my trip. [Link]

Its not as bad as Kuwait’s Airport (its pretty close though) but it still sucks. First of all it stinks of something, like coming into a house that hasn’t had their windows open for years. The AC is also off and its really hot and stuff.. I am in my tshirt nearly sweating. There is Internet but its like $10 for 75 minutes. There is no entertainment, and 1 very over priced restaurant. My flight has been delayed, way to go Kuwait Airways. I am bored.

Private bars in hotel rooms are amazing. They are filled with the coolest munchies and for some reason a Pepsi can always looks a lot cooler in these hotel room fridges then in yours back home. The items are also extremely overpriced and thats why its usually a good rule never to get stoned in a hotel room. A coke can costs KD1 ($3) while a tiny bottle of Black Label costs KD5 (I could still buy it and bring it to Kuwait and sell it for profit). The most expensive thing in my fridge at the moment is the 1/4 bottle of champagne costing a nice KD20. The cheapest thing is Kit Kat which costs 800fils.

Click here to view a picture of my rooms mini fridge.

Took a cab ride today in one of those old beat up Mercedes cars. In Lebanon these cabs are called “service” (pronounced serveece) and they ride up and down the streets picking up people. They pickup more then one person and you usually get off on the main road near your destination. They charge LL1000 which is like 200fils (I think like 50cents). The driver I took a ride with today turned out to speak fluent Arabic, French, English and Indian. Turned out he used to work in construction back in Saudi and moved back to Lebanon in 1993. He ran out of money and couldnt find another job so he ended up becoming a cab driver. These kind of stories are pretty comon here sadly.

I just arrived to the hotel like an hour ago. The room is pretty cool, I got showtime and internet access so its just like home except for the fact I have to pay $10 for 5 hours worth of internet and I have to use up the 5 hours within 24 hours. I will try to find free wifi in the area and try to hop on from there.

The Kuwait Airways flight sucked. The plane left on time and arrived on time but the experience wasn’t that great. Firstly I arrived to the airport early and I asked the guy to give me window seat as front as possible. He told me the best he can give me was row 16. After travelling on like row 4 and 5 with Jazeera going back to 16 is like fucked up. Secondly when I got on the plane I just felt sick. The inside was dark and gloomy and the seats are too small and there is like zero leg room. I could also smell plane exhaust which made me even sicker.

On the bright side, the food was pretty good, I had hamour fish with rice. They also had an old episode of Xfiles playing which I watched.

The weather here is as hot as Kuwait which sucks. It looks like Lebanon will be missing its winter also, fucking ozone layer.

Note: It currently costs KD42 (approx $120) for a two way ticket with Jazeera Airways to Lebanon but costs KD147 (approx $450) for a two way ticket with Kuwait Airways. What a fucking ripoff.

Ok I was just are two flights to Lebanon today, one at 12PM and the other at 3. I decided to go with the 3PM one since its 9AM now and I haven’t packed or anything yet. The problem is the 3PM flight is with Kuwait Airways. I used to prefer Kuwait Airways over Middle East Airlines but recently everyone has been complaining about the terrible Kuwait Airways delays and service and now I am just worried I am going to have the crappiest flying experience ever.. and I hate flying! Hopefully things won’t be as bad as I am guessing it will be. I will post a Kuwait Airways review when I come back or something.

I just came back from dinner. It was great, I went to a place called Roadster with 6 hot chicks (including Nat) and I was the only guy. Really cool.

Tomorrow we are coming back to Kuwait. I can’t wait since Kuwait is more my home then Lebanon is. At the moment I feel like a tourist here living out of my suitcase… which is actually true so I can’t wait to get back to my own home and my own car.

I didn’t take as many pictures as I was hoping to. Nat bought 6 DV tapes before we left and we managed to use only 10 minutes from the first tape. I took only a handful of pictures with my digital camera while I managed to finished 2 rolls of medium format film using my Holga. For some reason taking pictures and video wasn’t on our to do list.

This I believe is my last post from Lebanon, hopefully the next one will be from Kuwait.

I was walking in this shopping district in Lebanon when I thought I spotted a Sony PSP in the display of one shop. On closer inspection it turned out to be a fake PSP surrounded by a Fake Nintendo DS and fake iPods. Click on the link for a picture of the display. [Picture]

One of Nats friends here in Lebanon has a Great Dane called Hugo. He looks like a motherfucker.

Awhile ago me and Nat drove up the mountain a bit to check out the snow and fuck was I shocked. There was A LOT of fucking snow, like a lot more then I had expected and imagined. I don’t remember a Christmas where there was this much snow by now. I got up to Faytroun an area before the ski slopes in Faraya and I had to turn back because the car was starting to slide and slip. I took some pictures though and video, the temperature was minus one. I will try to get the video online but here are the pictures:

Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4

Update: Here is the video, you probably need quicktime to view it. [MPEG 1.8MB]

Yesterday morning it was five degrees celcius where we are staying at. On my way down to sea level I saw cars coming down from higher up the mountain with snow on their roofs. Its tradition that when it first starts snowing in your area you pile up as much snow as you can on the roof of your car and drive around like that as a way of informing people down below that its snowing up in the mountains where you live.

All of Lebanon seems to have the flu. I think the sudden change from its hot enough to wear a tshirt to its cold enough to store your frozen goods on the balcony has caught many people by surprise. Nat is sick and I am not, but I think thats going to change today. I feel it coming.

Note to self: Chivas Regal will not give me a hangover.

I drank more than half a bottle yesterday night and I woke up early today morning without a headace. First time that ever happens.

I was in the supermarket with Nataly when we were passing the alcohol section and I told her that if I lived in Lebanon I would have a huge bar in my apartment and draft beer. Just as I finished my sentence I saw the most amazing thing. A mini Heineken keg!!!! Fucking rocks, 5 Liters of fucking draft beer for only KD5! ($15). I quickly got one and its now sitting in my room infront of me. I would open it and start drinking now but I am worried I would be too drunk to go out later tonight. I vote this mini keg the best invention of the decade! Now if only I can figure out how to sneak one of these into Kuwait, its fucking heavy!