Showing 1-7 of 7 results
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Free for women and foreigners
Blog: ginger beirut - 8 November 2010
Cranes leer over the shoulder of every derelict beauty in town, threatening a bigger brighter building. All around property development wrapping brags about “sumptuous living spaces” offering “a refined way to live”; new high-rises are labelled with permanent signs arrogantly announcing that they are “super deluxe” (in case we had a doubt). The blatant wannabe [...]
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Family bonds are a long-term placement
Blog: ginger beirut - 1 November 2010
There are a few constants to eating out in Lebanon. Fantastic flavours, getting full beyond belief, and – at the end – the big fight over who gets to pay the bill. Treating others is considered an honour and an obligation. It becomes part of the ritual. After the mezze, the meat, the fruit and [...]
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Open house
Blog: ginger beirut - 25 October 2010
Have you noticed how when you call a plumber, an electrician or some other repair service, the chap always tells you he’ll come by, takes directions, and then hangs up? There’s me with my pencil poised and diary open, scanning my limited availabilities, and he just says he’ll come by and that’s it. As if [...]
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Streets of Beirut XV
Blog: ginger beirut - 15 October 2010
It doesn’t matter if the Lebanese are driving a Hummer with extra lights and tinted windows or if they’re pushing a cart of strawberries, they have an innate sense of their own right of passage. They exist therefore they have right of way. The cart would not be intimidated by the Hummer, either. The road [...]
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Here come the rains again
Blog: ginger beirut - 11 October 2010
After a mere sprinkling in September, this was the first real rain since April. Instead of collecting drips from the air conditioning, the buckets filled with torrents which cleansed the air and breathed colour into Beirut’s sun-fatigued, dust laden streets. Check out the short slideshow from the downpour and aftermath. Experts say the rain is [...]
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Mifteh al buttn, liqmé
Blog: ginger beirut - 8 October 2010
Lebanese food is famous throughout the world, but some of my most curious discoveries here have involved trying foods I grew up with but in a different form. As a child I remember we kept a bottle of rose water in the bathroom. A drop or two would be added to a hot bath or [...]
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Beirut on a drip
Blog: ginger beirut - 27 September 2010
We are past the dizzy peaks of nearly 40 degrees Celsius experienced in August, but the air across the tin roofing still shimmers and I’m sure if there were any proper tarmac to speak of in Beirut it would be melting. This summer I’ve been frugal with the air conditioning, aware that many across the [...]
Showing 1-7 of 7 results
