Category Archives: Lebanon

Beiruting.com Fail – And Pictures of “Lebanon” Snow That Are NOT Lebanese

I woke up today to find two pictures circulating across my friends of the recent snowstorm in Lebanon. The first one is the following, “originally” shared by Beiruting.com, complete with a watermark for copyright:

The second one is the following, presumably of the Cedars:

Beiruting.com did not share the second one. I have no idea where it originated from.

Now the original version of the first picture, without the watermark, is the following:

How come there’s a non-watermark version of it?  Simply because this picture was not taken by Beiruting.com. This picture was taken by someone not in Lebanon but in Oswego, New York. That’s about 9000 kilometers away from where this picture was supposedly taken.

The second picture is actually in Japan and dates back from 2010, a relatively dry year in Lebanon. You may have not noticed the cars driving on the “wrong” side of the road. But I hardly believe we have the snow removal trucks in Lebanon that can do such a precise job. And suppose this is in the Cedars, would our beloved trees that are outside the main forest peak above the snow cover? I hardly think so. In fact, the second picture is part of a wider batch of pictures of Japan’s Snow Roadway. Check out this link for more images and this YouTube video as well:

It’s lovely to think highly of our country but I expect from renowned websites such as Beiruting.com to at least go through some fact checking before going after those coveted Facebook likes and shares (for the record, the picture has about 300 shares and 600 likes). As for the rest of the Lebanese, not everything landscape-wise that you find impressive is actually Lebanese.

If you want a sequence of real pictures of the recent blizzard, check out this link. These are pictures taken by Lebanese in their hometowns through their phones, cameras, DSLRs, not taken from Google images and stamped with a Lebanese stamp of approval.

Winter in Lebanon: Real Pictures from the March 2012 Blizzard

The recent storm to hit Lebanon has been said to be the strongest in over a decade. And according to satellite images of the country, I think it shows.

The picture is from the previous blizzard. A newer one from the most recent snowstorm has yet to arise. But it should be even more impressive.

Pictures from the other snowstorm can be seen here.

And with this turning into more or less a series of posts where I expose a side of Lebanon that many do not get to see, I figured I’d continue with it and collect pictures from friends of their hometowns during the storm. The pictures range from towns in the North such as my own, Ebrine, to my grandma’s hometown, Dar B3eshtar, to Baskinta, Achkout, Aley and even Sidon.

I tried to encompass scenes from all over the country and with the recent Wall Street Journal article about Lebanon’s Mountain Trail, I figured it’d be appropriate to post this today. Some of the pictures going around are FAKE. These are totally real. So without further ado, we begin.

My hometown:

The picture was taken at the beginning of the storm. We were not lucky enough to have snow accumulations. No idea why.

Douk, a village in the Batroun Caza. These pictures were taken by my friend Agnès. You can follow her on Twitter here:

This picture was taken by a friend of Bazbina, her village in Akkar:

And these are pictures taken by my friend Hanna in my grandmother’s hometown in Koura, Dar Baachtar:

The statue of Ishtar, at the entrance of the village.

This is a picture of Kobayat, taken by Rita Zreiby:

Beit Chlela, in the Batroun Caza:

The Cedars:

The Cedars – as photographed by the Daily Star

Moving on from the North, we reach Mount Lebanon. And these are pictures of Achkout, taken by my friend Roland of his hometown:

These are pictures of Aley, taken by my friend Howaida:

Hammana:

Baysour:

The village of Jeij in the Jbeil Caza:

The village of Baskinta had its pictures taken by Marie Karam, a frequent reader of my blog who decided to share the pictures with me for inclusion in this post:

The village of Bater, in the Chouf caza. They haven’t had snow since January 2008. Pictures provided by my friend Maggie:

And last but not least, to conclude Mount Lebanon, a picture from Bekfaya via BlogBaladi for the statue of Pierre Gemayel:

Moving on to the Bekaa, I figured it would best to have that are represented by Zahle via two pictures taken by professional photographer Clement Tannouri. Both are absolutely breathtaking if you ask me.

Other pictures of Zahle, taken after permission from the Lebanon Weather Facebook page:

And the most impressive picture from the South was the one taken by The Daily Star for snow at the beach in Sidon:

Spring is coming up in just 17 days. Get ready for a new series of Spring in Lebanon – that is unless I come up with material for one last Winter in Lebanon post to wrap up 2012’s winter with. This winter has been quite awesome, hasn’t it?

The Wall Street Journal Showcases Hiking in Lebanon’s Mountain Trail

The trail in Tannourine

(source)

It seems someone, somehow, has paid attention to the rambling of many Lebanese bloggers about the coverage Beirut gets by renowned international publications. The Wall Street Journal has decided to showcase something that many Lebanese are not familiar with: a 440 km hiking trail going from Lebanon’s North to its South: the Lebanon Mountain Trail (LMT).

After the Telegraph article about Beirut and the New York Times article about Beirut’s Zaitunay Bay, this is definitely a welcome change in a direction that I believe Lebanon can be a pioneer in especially in the region: scenic tourism.

Brooke Anderson, the article’s author, says of the trail as seemingly a world away from Beirut, even though it’s only one hour away.

She describes the trail as showing different sceneries depending on the season: “colorful foliage in the autumn, snowy summits in the winter, waterfalls in the spring and a respite from the hot summers on the coast. It is home to Roman ruins, temples, mosques and churches dating back over a thousand years.”

And even though many Lebanese have not heard of it, foreigners haven’t been as clueless. She speaks of the experience of Adrain Cazalet, an Englishman, who has hiked the trail twice in different seasons and is planning a third trip this coming May and a Dutch contractor, Wim Balvert, who has hiked the trail twice as well, one of those being with his family. They were impressed the most by the Qadisha Valley. Who wouldn’t be fascinated by it, really?

The project was conceived by Lebanese expat Joseph Karam who modeled it after the Appalachian Trail in the U.S., which spans from Maine to Georgia, with donations from USAID and other private donors. The most famous part of the trail is probably the Baskinta Literary Trail, a 24 km walk across the infamous Metn town, which celebrates many famous Lebanese authors such as Baskinta’s own Mikhael Naimy.

I think this is a fascinating side of Lebanon that few get to see, especially Lebanese. Perhaps if more of us get exposed to this side of our country, some of which hasn’t been touched by concrete blocks yet, we’d be less keen about nagging all the time and perhaps relish the beauty of our nation – at least for the duration of our hike.

Thank you for the Wall Street Journal for taking a chance on non-Beirut Lebanon. Here’s hoping some contractor doesn’t wind up in some region of the Trail and lets his greed get into the way of keeping whatever remains of Lebanon’s beauty intact. And people still ask me why I’m harsh on Beirut-related international publications. Simply put, we have such jewels that few know about and you’re still talking to me about how fascinating Le Grey is?

Lebanese Governmental Websites Hacked

It looks like “Anonymous” has opened up a Lebanese branch. The websites for the municipality of Beirut, the Ministry of Economy, General Security and the Ministry of Immigration have just been hacked to show a picture of a poor man feeding the government.

It looks like the hype of football has gone down a notch and people have begun to notice fuel prices are on their way to an all-time high. This time, however, we don’t have bickering ministers to cut down the prices.

Power to the people? If only such things were actually relevant.

A Non-Sport Look at the Lebanon vs UAE Football Game

Almost everyone in Lebanon sat in front of their TV sets yesterday to watch as our country took on the UAE in Abu Dhabi on their quest to qualify to the second and final round of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

This post won’t be, as the title says, a sport analysis of what went on during the game. God knows it was bad. But I guess I’ll leave it to the experts. What’s interesting to note, however, is something that went on over the social networks simultaneously with the game.

So I’ve decided to class people under different categories.

The Dreamers:

These are the tweeps & Facebook users who immediately started to weave out a fantasy of unity for the country. It didn’t help that we got #GoLebanon to trend worldwide on Twitter. As the game ended, these people were still dreaming, worried about how everything would go back to “normal” in a few days. You know, as if the whole country’s future rested on a football game.

The Annoyed:

These are those who were annoyed by the extra attention the game was getting. They are definitely many. But few let it known. And they do have a point. After all, everyone has a TV nowadays, a cable subscription and electricity (that last point may be debated). These people do not like to get carried away with the excitement of it all. They have every right to. But they are a buzzkill.

The Non-caring:

These are the people who either didn’t watch the game and made it known or were actually watching the game and making it known how little they cared whether Lebanon advances or not. These are lesser than the previous two categories.

The Politically Phobic:

They basically panicked when Sami Gemayel popped up on screen. When Nadim Gemayel appeared on screen, I think I might have heard ambulance sirens echoing all around. Heart attacks, maybe? After recovery from the shock, they made it clear how they didn’t want politicians to be part of the game. You know, because Lebanese politicians are not people who are entitled to also cheer for Lebanon’s national team. It’s exclusive to the masses apparently. Who knew?

The annoying:

They are the ones who used the football game to take jabs at every single thing going on in Lebanon today, including the snowstorm. They were wearing t-shirts and skirts yesterday. How in the name of anything that’s holy is there a snowstorm today? Of course, there’s also the occasional tweets about electricity, potholes, traffic, lakes on Beirut’s streets, etc…. All with a football flavor.

The “Activists”:

Who do you think prepared those fireworks that were lit despite the game’s result? Who do you think was driving those cars that were honking the bejeezus out of your brain? Who do you think ventured out in the cold to make it know how much they absolutely love their country? It’s them. Let’s call them Lebanon’s “activists.” They exist in every shape and form. They are spread all over the land. And they are very active when the need arises. Today was one of those occasions.

The politicians:

And last but not least, and this is a premonition that I believe will turn out correct (move away Michel Hayek), you have the Lebanese politicians who will soon compare this to another Divine victory for the country. Lebanon’s qualification will be compared to a miracle. And with Lent being upon us, the Miracle of Qana seems fitting, no? They will annoy you in the next few days with their enthusiasm, until they notice that gas has actually skyrocketed again and that most people don’t have money to fill up their cars. And the cycle repeats again.

Either way, go Lebanon!