Tag Archives | Beirut

Group buying websites in Lebanon

Have you noticed the rise of group buying websites in Lebanon?

In case you don’t know what group buying is, it’s getting good deals at discounted prices on condition that a specific minimum number of people would make the purchase. For example, one of these websites can offer a discounted dinner at some restaurant (say $20 instead of $40) on condition that a minimum of 20 people purchase the deal. And usually you won’t be charged unless the minmum number of buyers is attained.

You might also be wondering how do these websites make money. To my knowledge, it works like referral programs, which means they get a small amount of money for each customer they refer to the deal.

While not all the discounts might seem tempting, but some deals are really good, I personally bought two entrance tickets to Laguava resort for $22 instead of $44 from one of these websites!

Here’s a list of the websites that get deals in Lebanon:

Any other one I forgot to mention?

By the way I’ve noticed that you don’t necessarily have to use a credit card on websites that use Bank Audi’s payment gateway, you can actually input a debit card number on condition that it is issued from Bank Audi. It worked for me on goSawa.

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On abuse of power and ISF

Nice catch by Salim Al Lawzi.

Salim spotted two members from the ISF washing the Mercedes of some Lebanese official in Achrafiyeh. Think of it, if for the simplest things, in this case a car wash, this official is abusing his power, can you imagine what he does when dealing with other more important issues?

On the other hand, that most probably explains why ISF members act like douchebags with people, they get abused by their supperiors and they eventually have to let it out at others, us! (Although they do have some fun sometimes)

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Looking for a needle in a haystack

A guy who participated in the Lebanese Laïque Pride march for a secular state on March 15 2011 started one of a kind blog calling for help, and it’s nothing related to the cause of the demo he attended, he’s actually searching for a person.

He found himself extremely attracted to one of the girls in that march, and it was his second time to notice her after last year’s march, so he took that as a sign and decided trying to approach her one way or another, and he got really close to his aim until she disappeared!

That’s why he’s now calling for the help of the internet people in Lebanon in an attempt to find her. And in a country where everyone knows everyone, I guess there’s a good probability for that man to find her!

You can read all about his story and the updates he will be posting on his blog Finding Dulcinea, and below  is the description of the girl he’s trying to reach:

  1. She has chestnut color hair, natural color not dyed. (Couleur Châtaigne)
  2. Blue eyes
  3. On that day, she was wearing a black tight biking pants and a white jacket.  She was carrying on her back a red sports bag, I think it was an Adidas (not sure)
  4. She had 2 silver rings on her left hand; one of them had a purple stone. (I didn’t notice a wedding band – Geez that would be a bummer if she turns out to be married – but hey let’s keep it positive for now)
  5. All I know is that she works in the protected area of Solidere where the parliament is. So that area stretches from Costa/Blom bank on the upper level facing the Grand Theatro building all the way down to the area past parliament building/Abed Clock area.
  6. I am speculating that she must have left her bike in the office that day and was returning to get her bike and leave the sign at her desk.

I can’t but wish him all the luck!

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Good fish and chips where you least expect it

It’s definitely not the best out there, but Sanyour Cafe in Sarba has a good fish and chips for 12,000L.L only.

I also liked their Osmaliyyeh Chicken (chicken strips covered with Osmaliyyeh pastry) which comes with sweet chili sauce I think, and the Pizza Tawouk with garlic sauce all over!

Sanyour has branches in Kaslik, Antelias, Sarba, and Dhour El Choueir. And needless to say, you’ll have to be able to tolerate the arguileh smokers all around you if you decided to go there.

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Woosh it at City Mall

Have you noticed these new signs at the City Mall parking area?

It seems like you’ll soon be able to have your car washed at any parking spot in City Mall since the service buttons are available everywhere.

I just hope their pricing will not be ridiculous, I usually get my car washed for 5,000L.L at almost any gas station and I honestly am not ready to pay more no matter how eco-friendly their washing process is.

Woosh by the way claims to be the first eco-friendly car care provider in Lebanon, and they clean cars through the use of special waterless products.

Update:

According to Joe who tried the service at City Mall, a car wash will cost you 12,000 L.L.

the first eco-friendly car care provider in Lebanon

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iPhone app to keep track of electricity cut-offs in Beirut

I guess I’m lucky to have a good memory and almost always remember the electricity cut-off schedule in my area of Beirut, but I know a lot of people who keep on forgetting it and can definitely make use of this new iPhone application by Mustafa Baalbaki.

Only those living in Beirut would appreciate “Beirut Electricity” because they daily suffer forgetting when electricity is off.

You need to know that electricity in Beirut city (capital of Lebanon) is off everyday for three hours, and each day these three hours are withdrawn backwards. For example, if the power today is off from 3:00 PM till 6:00 PM, so tomorrow it will be off from 12:00 PM till 3:00 PM and so forth until reaching 06:00 AM to 09:00 AM, and then it switches back to be off from 03:00 PM to 06:00 PM. It’s weird and this App is here to solve the calculation problem for you.

When you first launch the App, you need to configure it by specifying the day and time cut range, and based on your input you can find when the electricity will be off at your location any time and on any day.

The application works on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad but requires iOS 4.0 or later, and you can of course get it via the iTunes store.

I don’t have an idea about the schedule of areas outside Beirut, but if they also follow a certain system then we’ll probably see some similar releases soon, or maybe an upgrade of the current application.

Via Bilal Houri.

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Zaatar W Zeit and the missing Z’s

I just got this in my e-mail:

Other than a few photos and short videos of the “kidnap”, missingz.com account contained the following manifesto:

We, the Z liberation cell, claim the responsibility behind the kidnapping of all the Zs from the Zaatar W Zeit signs.

The Z Liberation cell has no affiliation to any political leader, military or religious group.

Our cause is solely to liberate every single Z we find in town.

We want change and we aim to evolve.

More info to the public in due time. #MissingZ

“change” could be a hint to probably new items on their menu… and I expect the whole thing to turn into a competition the find the missing Z’s… Let’s wait and see!

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Breakfast at Bonheur du Pain Verdun

Bonheur du pain is located in Verdun’s main street right next to Leila. Their breakfast menu is basically very close to what Paul offers but at a less price.

The cheese omelet I had was very good, but if there’s one thing I could improve it would have been their croissant, which are really not bad, but you usually expect pastries to taste no less than excellent at places like Bonheur du Pain.

My overall experience there was good even though their staff were acting clumsy… which is probably because my visit was shortly after their opening…

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Nokia E7 flash mob at City Mall


I personally liked the one performed by the Beirut Duty Free more. I salute the efforts made by the organizers for Nokia’s flash mob, but I would have preferred it to be more natural. It’s not like I’m an expert in making viral videos and stuff, but there’s really no need to perform sophisticated dances, keep it simple like the Dabke in the airport, and allow people to join instead of stressing on the security guards to keep them away of the dancers.

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This menu will leave you in awe!

I really can’t believe someone can be that bad in English… the menu items are just unreal!

Tabboush snack is a proof that sucking at translation is not exclusive to Egyptians and Syrians (with all due respect), apparently Lebanese too can do a terrible job sometimes. The place offers Urination, Bebse, Duonas, Zaluoaa, Flesh, Black chickens, and a lot more… check for yourself.

According to my friend who provided the photos, Tabboush made 25,000 copies of the menu… so there’s 25,000 copies of this thing possibly roaming the streets of Beirut and ready to massacre your brain at anytime!

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