tourism » ginger beirut

Spin me a yarn, but make it good

Mercedes taxi

Yesterday I had the pleasure of recording a new piece for the BBC programme From Our Own Correspondent. It was already just after 12pm and the sun was directly overhead. It was going to be a sticky 25-minute walk and I didn’t feel like turning up panting so I took a taxi to the BBC studios near the Serail. The driver clearly decided I was fair game for a story or two. “I want to welcome you to this country and ask you to pray for me,” he began. I sighed. I’d thought using my few words of Arabic would spare me being taken for a witless foreigner. “My wife has just given birth,” he went on undeterred. So far nothing new. “She’s had quadruplets!” I must look more stupid than I thought. “Mabrook,” I told him, “Lucky you.” We had arrived. I paid making sure to get my full change before tipping him. It reminded me of a funny piece by BBC correspondent Owen Bennett-Jones for FOOC, Taken for a ride in a Cairo taxi, except his yarn-spinner was a good deal shrewder than mine. I wish I could find the audio version as I remember it being particularly lively, but it makes a great read too.

Free ebook by 40 Lonely Planet bloggers

It’s finally here: the very first project produced by an amazing group of travel bloggers, all featured by Lonely Planet. The eminent travel guide publisher has, over the past few years, been selecting certain bloggers to be featured on its web site. In 2010, I was invited to join this fortunate band, dubbed the BlogSherpas, and since then each of my posts appears on the relevant Lonely Planet page (usually the Beirut one). That’s how some of you readers found your way here in the first place.

Over the past months, the BlogSherpas have been collaborating on an online photography book, Around the World with 40 Lonely Planet Bloggers, introducing their perspective on travel. As one of the 40 contributors to the ebook I am happy to be able to offer my readers a free copy.

The contributors include other serial expats, round-the-world travellers, experts in family travel, budget travel, food writing and more. In this free ebook, they share their experiences along with stunning shots from nearly 70 countries.

If you are looking for inspiration for summer travel, impetus to quit your office job and make that long-awaited move abroad, or maybe just a great armchair travelling experience, all you have to do is click here or on the banners top and bottom. No extra effort is required from you!

You can read what Lonely Planet has to say about it here. It has been a great experiment and I hope you enjoy browsing the ebook.

Behind the scenes

cedar sapling in the snow (Arz er Rabb)

Things have been quiet at Ginger Beirut this week but I thought I’d let you in on one of the projects going on behind the scenes linked to my travel writing which is due to surface here shortly.

As a travel blogger featured by Lonely Planet in their BlogSherpa programme, I am collaborating with a diverse network of travellers across the world on an exciting project. 40 of these BlogSherpas will soon launch an ebook of photos taken from around the globe, introducing a selection of writers and photographers and their take on the world. You’ll be able to download the ebook via Ginger Beirut and via Lonely Planet shortly.

What’s new in Zawarib Beirut

it's a cultural thing

In this tiny country, forever caught in a cycle of construction, destruction and reconstruction, the landscape changes fast, and Zawarib Beirut is determined to keep up. Only five years old, the first edition of this road map of Greater Beirut had already been left behind by developments in the infrastructure. This brave venture by Bahi Ghubril, who undertook the gargantuan task of mapping out the city as a personal project, has now been propelled to the next stage.

You may have noticed that, in general, the Lebanese don’t do maps any more than they do addresses. This is a country where your takeaway receipt comes with a paragraph-long description of where you live for the delivery boy. Even City Mall did without a store plan until last summer. One can only hope that an architect’s plan existed prior to construction.

But what makes Zawarib a chef d’oeuvre is Read the rest of this entry »

Gold or glitter?

out on show

After visiting Beirut, a reader wrote to me remarking on the incongruity of price tags and of the predominant luxury vehicles in town. Given that the evidence of a recent conflict lingers on in a whiff of tension, a whir of helicopters, bullet holes and third world utilities, the lavish lifestyle on display does indeed seem out of place.

A number of factors contribute to the striking proximity of prosperity and privation in Lebanon. I will cover the main points – feel free to add those I may have missed out.

First and foremost, Lebanon receives a considerable inflow of money from the huge diaspora (several times larger than the current population) either via Read the rest of this entry »