It is a new experience me, sleeping otudoor has never been done in my life. And here we go again with Maiku traveling in the Middle east, we are now in Jordan in Aqaba and it’s been a few days since we are relaxing in this small Bedouin Village Camp a very easy going place.

Here, you can sit and relax and enjoy your time around the camp from swiming to snorkling to diving to just relaxing and using their free wifi, it seems to many like a paradise. well, more or less it is for the people that are for example living in Finland now in the +5C (not trying to tease anyone). Oh here comes my dive! she was diving all ove the red sea and enjoying watching old tanks.

you can know more about our current location in this small heaven by checking on the website of www.bedouin-hotels.com and on www.diveaqaba.com

I know these are short posts but my energy is going mostly to www.maikusasi.com!

We are back on the road!

After a long stay in Beirut, we decided that it was time to continue our trip and discover new world’s, be nomads and discover new cultures and destinations.

So bags are packed and trip goes on!

Read more about our trip details and follow our route while we cross thru the crusader’s lands to Salaheldine fortress to Petra and to the Pyramids.

Find more about our trip in Syria, Jordan, Egypt on www.maikusasi.com

Lebanon can really show you the differences of society classes, the cigars, the fake boobs, the huge lips and full make-up girls of downtown Beirut that have linked their lifestyle with freedom and democracy of the west.

A bunch even claimed that if you wear a Prada or a Gucci that means you are linked to the west and support a certain political party! Yellow just wear trash as it seems to some people’s mind, maybe they do not know that they real Gucci’s are also made in fake in the Yellow people’s land:)

But still I believe it isn’t all in vain, things will change in the future. People will go back to their sense and evolve. I came to a conclusion that people did not really want it to turn like this, they just wanted the same like Georgia’s freedom and democracy example. Wonder who’s helping Georgia’s now?! Where is the west, If they can’t save Georgia, will they save Lebanon from it’s bigger neighbors.

 I write this article just to let you have some hope and give a bit of motivation to come to Lebanon, that truth is that regardless of how this community turned into, there is good. What is the good being done?! Where is the good?!

I do not know, neither see myself  but it exist. Maybe the good old tradition, maybe the good food but there must be something that still makes Lebanon special. 

After all, why would you blame a young generation that was raised having an extreme rich lifestyle based on the support from immigrants that plunged yearly thousands millions of Dollars and Euros from African diamond business, to telecom business, to war and gun raising in certain places on the planet to their relatives and family that just care about SHOW OFF, about CLASS, about SNOB, about taking everything first world countries have and living it to the EXTREME. They do not take human rights and environment care, they just take the nice cars concept and etc… In 2006, before i left to Finland i had applied for a job in Abu Dhabi just to go and make more money like most of the expats but today i praise myself for making the wisest decision in my life by going to a country like Finland instead and living with my Maiku. Tell you why?!

With Maiku, i have learned that humans are more valuable then money, i have learned that we are all equal and that we do not need to have big cars and huge bank accounts to be happy. That, maybe just reading a book in the park equals a huge party in Sky Bar And to top it all, i have learned, the real meaning of freedom and lived it, to do what I want really without caring about the say of my friends or the opinions of others. I have learned that history, education, books, reading, writing, being honest are keys to make a better future for the generations to come.

Now after 2 years, I came to a conclusion that I do love my homeland for the history it has, for the sweethearts of the old ladies that make Kibbe and excellent Tabboule, but i do not want to live ever again in it. I will be leaving out of here soon and will try my best never to come back here. It has been to stressful to live and adapt again to the system here, a system based on connection and classes of humans and rich and poor to a sick extreme.

Damn it! The Lebanese do it always to the extreme.

After our trip in Europe and living in Finland for the last 2 years, I came to the conclusion that nowhere on earth is like Lebanon, of course, am talking carrier wise and hospitality sector.

I wanted to write this article to introduce the “a la libanaise” way of doing things. In Lebanon, you have 2 kinds of sectors, private and public sector and the gap between both is huge. The public sector, is a corrupted, non-organized, chaotic sector and the most hypocrite side of it is that they claim (the newly or old elected government) claims that they are on the path to reforms.

Funding for reforms from EU and US and other GC has reached its peak but where are these funds that have pledged to the Lebanese government? As a Lebanese, see no progress in any sector. Electricity cuts still go on in on daily basis, some areas even do not get electricity for more than 6 hours daily. And the business of owning a generator to cover a few blocks might get you rich. There are even a few persons ( and I do not mean companies ) that run cable tv service, internet service, generator service in the same blocks and these people do not belong to any company and do not pay taxes neither there is any control over them .

The system goes by the fact that if you have money, you can be a king! The Lebanese situation is frustrating for many people living here; the locals are suffering from the rise of prices. The expensive lifestyle and the demand of a society that claims to be modern and take as it’s idol the west, but shame that people take everything in a contradiction, if you were D&G it is not for the sake of buying quality labels but for the sake of showing off to your friends and surrounding that you are something or you are better than the rest of the people.

The frustration and despair of the local middle class (that is basically non-existent) or that have immigrant is shocking, People are dreaming to go abroad, the dreams of becoming a citizen of a first world country or going to the GC where job opportunities are higher is everyday’s talk. One of my friends when I came back goes and tell me “Jad, there is no more guys in Lebanon” I cannot find a descent boyfriend.

And since I work in the hospitality industry, I can see on daily basis Lebanese immigrants or non-Lebanese men visiting to get engaged or to get to know more their future wife from Lebanon to say.

I went too far maybe with explaining the conditions of life here, but since I am back here temporary or maybe permanently, I figured that it is nice to put a small overview on life in Beirut. Now coming back to our private sector, the private sector suffers deeply from the old systems and the non-advanced way of adapting to its progress by the Public sector. The progress shown by the company that are Lebanese owned is amazing, Lebanese companies specially in fields of F&B, hospitality, industries, architectures are all now based in UAE, KSA, KW and Qatar. These companies from Lebanese origins are now a core in the fast progress of the gulf. Lebanese, have invaded these countries to say. Lebanese banks have opened branches all over the Arab world in a plan to attract investors and rich Arabs.

Lebanon benefits highly from Dubai, Doha and other countries and fortunately this is what keeps it stable financially regardless of the unstable political situation that it has been suffering. The shame and I say shame is that Lebanese people living here do not benefit from these steps. The law of the jungle still rules in Lebanon, regardless of all the promises of reforms and promises of a better life for Lebanese citizens that have the biggest asset for their country, the successful immigrants abroad.

In my opinion, Lebanese didn’t change much after 15 years from the civil war, there is huge reconstruction, huge investments and loads of money being plunged here but unfortunately it is not distributed equally and it supports the massive corruption run by the Media and politicians. I will remain in Lebanon, for the few coming month and will keep u updated how will the tourism industry will do and how will this promised summer after the Doha accord will benefit or take Lebanon into stability and prosperity.

Thank you for reading and my apologies to my readers for not posting more frequently.

Jad

Coming back to Lebanon was one of our targets when we started maikusasi.com travel plan. After being lost and confused about what i would like to be, European or Lebanese mind oriented, we decided to take a brake and flee out of our bubble, our routine.

We arrived to Beirut after touring for 3 months all over Europe, going to amazing destinations and finding heartbreaking places, meeting new friends and building a life lasting relationships.

We came back here when we found that our pocket was dry so we ended at my parent’s home back in Beirut. Beirut an amazing place, interesting as it has always been but still full of the same shit. I apologize for using this term and don’t want to complain even though i see people doing nothing to progress; they live in a kind of hysteric way in the same past.
A reality discovered is that Beirut is build nowadays of a fake society of snobs dancing to their graves. They do not see how things are, neither the reality around them, living in the past. Lebanon is run by corrupted warlords and naive civilians that are followers like sheep with no social or civilized orientation.

It has been amazing how hard it is to use a free, European mentality here, the more i live abroad i change but being here this change hurts me, you cannot be an honest, descent person here. Life unfortunately is full of lies.

I am back now to Lebanon for the next 3 months to discover more and see if this is a liveable place, if this is a place where you can make a change and not always pack your bags and go. It is not easy to sacrifice a life for another country, where you have no roots. Lebanon is worth this sacrifice, is worth trying to fight to live in it. And there is SUN: P

So am back to Beirut people

Maybe i would move here one day, it’s like half of lebanon and half of finland. a lovely mix of both, it’s not a pasta dish though neither a pizza even that’s all what you can get in italy.

Italy is like wonderland in it’s nature and beauty and it’s sometimes like a living hell with the noisy car and hyperactive people but then that makes me everyday feel more and more home. The mix of people and their hand moves and all the action and life they show is amazing.

On another side, i have so got used to the lifestyle of packing the bags and moving nowdays that i feel something wrong and that am bored if i stay in one place too much. People are amazing here, they hosted us and helped us a lot. we met amazing people on our path and we look forward to meet more.

I learned one important thing: Italians hacve a charming personality and they want always to show you the best of what they got. But you must be always up to the expectations, Be alive and ready to fight. Flight in term of get in the daily action.

Anyhow, you can check our comon blog www.maikusasi.com for more updates by me or maiku!
ciao!

I didn’t forget this blog neither will , even my time is so little nowdays since am always on the move.

Anyhow, I am as was predicted traveling around Europe backpacking with Marika now for a year and here is our travel blog link Www.MaikuSasi.Com

Take a look and let us know what you think .

I promise to write soon !

Love,

JaD

Yup !!! Backpacking for the first time in my life … i admit i am scared to hell , a step i never thought i ll make but i always had the dream of flying , of seeing the world and here we go first step is Europe … we will leave Finland end of march on our backpacking trip toward our final destination Lebanon.

Looks crazy , you might say why do i leave Finland to go to a country on the edge of a war , well answer is clear , i need action and plus Finland is here for me to come back too . The awfull winter weather will be here i am sure .

So destination Milano on 31st of march … couchsurfing , hostels , backpacks , bed bugs welcome to my life !

I will be updating my travel trip details on my blog here and you can see our common blog for me and marika for our trip when we set it up soon.

Cheers and see you soon people !

Finland seems to have became one of the warm countries (global warming, blame damn world leader’s for that not me ), in fact we haven’t seen any harsh winter this year. It was mild and even i felt the difference from last year. Warm and warm, the Baltic Sea free from ice. And Helsinki had maybe -5 c for one day. Last year we had the -15 and -20 effects and we walked on the ice i remember but it seems the way this planet work has changed. Lebanon on the other hand has seen hell of snow storms, even snow at 200 meters altitude and cold temperature. Even now we have a business idea to start selling our winter clothe to the Middle East *evil smile*

I am satisfied personally with the weather except that sometimes i wish we had some more snow. for the people that never been in countries like Finland and Scandinavia, it sound horrible to hear that i am begging for some snow, but in fact this is one of the secret factor of the beauty of the weather in Finland (when it snow people, the whole city becomes white and make a great reflection and you can see so clear even in the middle of the night … I can’t explain you just have to come and see it)

Oh! Now I am famous it seems (yea right!). Yup! I have been on Finnish YLE TV , there is a show called baser , which usually host immigrants and their stories and they had made a documentary about me and where I work now Farouge , it was very interesting except i would have liked them to put more of the shootings they took , the story sounded a bit weird . But the lady next door in the shop recognized me and she said I was so cute … oh my! , I am a diva now.Marika and i having been dreaming and maybe soon our dream will get a reality bite. I will officially announce it when all the planning is ready and done. We both feel the bubble is shrinking on us and need to do something about it. After all, there is nothing to loose …

“If you can dream it, you can do it”
-Walt Disney

Ah! We Arabs are loud I agree but huh! Come on tell me don’t we know how to party !? It might be embarrassing for some that we shout and act wild and crazy, but important reality shock to all this is the land of freedom and the place to say what you want and live how you like it . So for the ones, that made silly comments about our behavior, please spare us your opinions, I lived in my beautiful closed Lebanese societies by the rules and by how people want me to live for enough time. The only thing i plan to keep and defend from my Finnish experience is FREEDOM of choice and FREEDOM of speech: O oh and democracy (a la BUSH way *joke*smile*).