Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Some Lebanese Facts And Cats

Here are some Lebanese facts (some of which I had shared in my previous posts):

USD is good for tender in Lebanon: you can use it on minibuses, at supermarkets, buying coach tickets etc. You will get Lebanese Pounds in return of course. USD1 is tied to LBP1,500.

Internet coverage and WiFi connection are slow in Lebanon. Some hotels charge extra for it. I had been offline in Myanmar before so as much as I was reluctant to be offline, I wasn’t about to fork out money for a slow crawling surf on the Net.

You need to exercise a lot of patience dealing with the locals and waiting for and riding a minibus. Minibus condition varies from downright dilapidated no longer road-worthy vehicles to almost new almost clean vehicles. Bus drivers there are like the Metro bus drivers here when they used to terrorise the KL roads (good riddance to them and polluting smoke!): they wait on and on for passengers and take longer routes if it means an extra passenger or two when a shortcut would suffice. Minibus drivers may promise you they would take you to your destination but bring you only half-way there. And they know they can get away with it as you can’t do anything about it when you’re already half-way to your destination.

The army presence is heavy in Beirut and around the country especially along the highways. Baalbek is less than 10 km away from the nearest Syrian border and we were subjected to roadblocks on the way to and from Baalbek. You can’t take photos of just about any building in Beirut; the security guard or an army personnel may ask you not to do so.

There are some helpful locals but there are also gruff unfriendly rude locals who won’t think twice about snatching things off you. Be alert, be aware, even when you’re not walking alone and even when there are security guards and the place is all lighted up. There’s also a scam to rob passengers in service taxies where who you think is your fellow passenger is actually collaborating with the cabbie to rob you.

The locals speak Arabic of course and French. You’d expect the younger people to speak more English but not all do actually. At least not those I approached to ask for directions.

The locals live in apparent harmony, Muslims and Christians. Muslims also seem to celebrate Christmas and I believe I saw Bibles printed in Arabic. Here, we are so worried that Muslims would be apostates and become Christians if the Bible is printed in Malay (note: it’s printed in Bahasa Indonesia in Indonesia). Who’s to say Muslims would practise their faith anyway? Under the terms of the 1943 National Pact between the various political and religious leaders of Lebanon, the President of the country must be a Maronite, the Prime Minister a Sunni and the Speaker of the House a Shiite.

And now for some Lebanese cats and a Qatari:



 I was welcomed by this kitty early in the morning of my arrival
 Minutes after that first cat, this scaredy cat was fleeing away from me. Maybe because I looked like I eat cats for breakfast

Temple guardians, Baalbek, with their personal butler
A local in Tyre (Sour)


Outside Natural History Museum, American University of Beirut


Campus residents at the American University of Beirut

 Local resident with The Corniche at the background, Doha

At Souq Waqif, Doha