All,
Due to a really good reception ive had with my blog, i have decided to continue it even if my posts will be sporadic..
So im back in sunny Doha after my holiday and i feel really refreshed. Its weird as I get so many holidays with my job, yet i havent really been on a proper holiday for 2 years since my China travels, its because i been going back to the UK every opportunity i get. Well since things changed in my life it has allowed me to explore of Gods green earth and i am loving it.
I had such an amazing time away, and i have uploaded what i thought were the best 300 or so photos out of like 2000 pictures onto facebook so check them out. I tried to capture the feel of the cities i was in, and the feel of the cities is rarely in the scenery but the people of the country that is why so many of my pictures have random people in!
A couple of things have been bothering me so much, earlier today at work, this guy who will remain anonymous takes his job SUPER seriously, which im sure on paper all companies will love, but when in reality you see the impact people like that have on other people in the company then that desire and commitment will be seen s a detriment as they push people away and don't work in an effective manner, this guy is picking on this woman who is like one of the kindest and gentlist people in the office to the brink of tears, seeing a middle aged women crying due to some punk 30 something year old guys bullying is discussing and you cant get involved because its work related and will look even worse for her, but i just hate bullying and people who take their job super serious, as i always say you work to live and not live to work.
The other thing that has been bothering me was brought up by another friend and fellow blogger who said how he left facebook because of the things he saw on that regarding his friends and that he felt let down by it, and i thought it was nonsense and that you shouldn't be so judgemental and that if people are doing stuff you don't like or don't approve on facebook then you should try speaking to them rather than turning a blind eye, however i have recently been in that situation of where i saw some stuff on someone i had alot of respect for and was shocked to find some information on someone and was quite upset or more let down by that person and not sure what to say to be honest, i havent brought it up as i don't know how to or even if its my place to bring up, but its such a bad feeling having that where your disappointed in someone and im trying not to judge and there could be numerous explanations behind things, so its best not to but its a natural human emotion that is very hard to devoid from....
Anyway other updates in my life, well alot of my friends have recently left Doha, and so I am back to the situation of where i have some random friends like from this part of my life or that but no core- nucleus like i used, however it means i can spend some more time with myself, like reading and updating stuff on my files and photos and little things that i actually love doing, so in a way i am happy, and plus i have exams coming up for my mba so i gota start nailing the work! I been reading up on like if you dont do well what happens, and that will universitys know and they do so its shit me up even more, however inshallah my revision is going well so I wont mess up!
I read this thing the other day that was quite funny and quite true, well it says how like people say its cool to travel on your own and you find yourself etc etc and im one of those people that says all that, well they go its bull, and that really your just sitting in your hotel room wondering which mate to ring back home and txt and stuff, and its so true in my case, well its not really friend but its more like a partner but when you dont have one of them then it becomes a friend lol! The best kinda traveling i think is as a couple, because you get to share the memorable moments together and you also hopefully have similar intrests and so get to see everything you want which isnt always the case with mates!
aneway i best leave now, however inshallah ill write again soon!
Asif
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Part 2 of the Homelands adventure...
Ok well I prayed my Friday prayer and took about a gazillion photos which i probably will upload onto facebook.
Anyway after finishing the prayer and taking the photos i tried to find my driver, and with the help of people speaking to my driver I was able to find him, he then took me to the mount of the olives, which wasn’t anything great however the views from the top were breathtaking, where you got to see the whole city, and she the old city walls and the religious sites and tombs it was just amazing!
Then we went to the west bank and drove pretty much straight through security which i thought was a bit odd but then i realised the secuitry didn’t care who goes into the west bank just who comes from it, and its sad as their is no protection. This one guy from Bethleham was telling me that if an Isreali arab had him in his car in occupied Palestine, the isreali arab would get 6 months in prision, a fine and license taking away, he goes its worse to have a Palestine in your car than drugs, and that hit home. Then i saw the much publicised ‘Wall’ and it brought tears almost to my eyes, the messages people wrote saying like ‘you stood by while they built this’ and ‘is anyone watching what is happing’things along these lines, its so heartbraking, people often say its a prison but until you go and see you don’t realise how much, i mean some of the areas look fairly vibrant in the west bank like Bethleham but you go near the boarders and the outskirts and you see exactly what is going on, and the west bank is supposed to be semi-allied with Isreal so to imagine how bad it is in Gaza isn’t even worth mentioning. You feel so helpless and thats probably the worst feeling, it has to offer so much, you have Nazerth and Bethleham truly important sites for Islam and Cristianty and you have other areas where if opened up would be hiving with activity like Rumallah and Hebron but they don’t have that opportunity...
Then when we were leaving the west bank, we went through the security checkpoints and it was so weird seeing the solderis, you have these really young girls who look like proper jewish princess (those from Manchester will know what type im taking about) and they have these massive Guns and security vests, but then when you speak to them you get so infuriated because their just as ‘blonde’ she goes to me wheres ur visa, i go it was on a paper but they took it at the crossing, and she was like why was it on paper (its common for people to get Isreali stamps on a piece of paper as otherwise you wont be able to visit many Muslim countries with an isreali stamp) and all the security personal know the reasons why people ask for a stamp on a paper but their just being difficult. Anyway she then goes does Qatar not like isreal, whyyyy? And i go no they like but then i blagged i had to go to Saudi as well thinking thats obvious, and she goes does Saudi not like Isreal but whyyyy? And i thought u dumb b!tch i very rarely use such words but this was just a joke, and go no they don’t like and i don’t know why and she was like oh, at the end, then her general guy comes and he obviously knew and just said ok.. but its astonishing
Then i went back to my hotel which wasn’t the greatest espec for a supposed 4 star Golden Tulip hotel, its very good for those like me who just came to pray at Al Aqsa as its about a 10 mins walk and so in that sense is a perfect but in any other situation it is a joke! I had to go back anwway as my camera battery died,(like i said a gazillion photos!)
Aneway my plane has been called for Doha so will write the rest back in Doha inshallah...
ASif
Anyway after finishing the prayer and taking the photos i tried to find my driver, and with the help of people speaking to my driver I was able to find him, he then took me to the mount of the olives, which wasn’t anything great however the views from the top were breathtaking, where you got to see the whole city, and she the old city walls and the religious sites and tombs it was just amazing!
Then we went to the west bank and drove pretty much straight through security which i thought was a bit odd but then i realised the secuitry didn’t care who goes into the west bank just who comes from it, and its sad as their is no protection. This one guy from Bethleham was telling me that if an Isreali arab had him in his car in occupied Palestine, the isreali arab would get 6 months in prision, a fine and license taking away, he goes its worse to have a Palestine in your car than drugs, and that hit home. Then i saw the much publicised ‘Wall’ and it brought tears almost to my eyes, the messages people wrote saying like ‘you stood by while they built this’ and ‘is anyone watching what is happing’things along these lines, its so heartbraking, people often say its a prison but until you go and see you don’t realise how much, i mean some of the areas look fairly vibrant in the west bank like Bethleham but you go near the boarders and the outskirts and you see exactly what is going on, and the west bank is supposed to be semi-allied with Isreal so to imagine how bad it is in Gaza isn’t even worth mentioning. You feel so helpless and thats probably the worst feeling, it has to offer so much, you have Nazerth and Bethleham truly important sites for Islam and Cristianty and you have other areas where if opened up would be hiving with activity like Rumallah and Hebron but they don’t have that opportunity...
Then when we were leaving the west bank, we went through the security checkpoints and it was so weird seeing the solderis, you have these really young girls who look like proper jewish princess (those from Manchester will know what type im taking about) and they have these massive Guns and security vests, but then when you speak to them you get so infuriated because their just as ‘blonde’ she goes to me wheres ur visa, i go it was on a paper but they took it at the crossing, and she was like why was it on paper (its common for people to get Isreali stamps on a piece of paper as otherwise you wont be able to visit many Muslim countries with an isreali stamp) and all the security personal know the reasons why people ask for a stamp on a paper but their just being difficult. Anyway she then goes does Qatar not like isreal, whyyyy? And i go no they like but then i blagged i had to go to Saudi as well thinking thats obvious, and she goes does Saudi not like Isreal but whyyyy? And i thought u dumb b!tch i very rarely use such words but this was just a joke, and go no they don’t like and i don’t know why and she was like oh, at the end, then her general guy comes and he obviously knew and just said ok.. but its astonishing
Then i went back to my hotel which wasn’t the greatest espec for a supposed 4 star Golden Tulip hotel, its very good for those like me who just came to pray at Al Aqsa as its about a 10 mins walk and so in that sense is a perfect but in any other situation it is a joke! I had to go back anwway as my camera battery died,(like i said a gazillion photos!)
Aneway my plane has been called for Doha so will write the rest back in Doha inshallah...
ASif
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Palestine the home land...part 1
All,
I went to the home land of the main monotheistic faiths in the world (yes, even in Islam, where the land is considered sacred) Jerusalem, it was an experience that i will never forget for so many reasons. Let me tell you from the start because i want to share everything with you all...
Well a taxi came to pick me up at 6.30am and we went to King Hussein Bridge, which is the crossing to Palestine and is right next to the dead sea, there it was fairly straightforward and took about an hour in all to read the Palestian side, however thats where the problems started,..
The dreaded Isreali immigration police came into action and after hearing so much i was expecting the worst so i was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t so bad, i mean it was bad and in any other situation or country it really wouldn’t have been acceptable but in this country there is not much else you can do. After being interrogated for about 30 mins following an hours weight i was told to weight a further 2 hours whilst the investigated everything i told them, in the end when i finally got my passport back 4 and a half hours had passed!!They wanted to hold me up even further as i went through one gate the next gate asked if i had been spoken to, what a joke , they were proper taking the piss, but the sly thing was they sent out this really nice women they send out who is really pleasant and she asks all the questions in a nice way, so you don’t feel unjust, but man in reflection u feel it! Oh iforgot to say i went through some sort of machine that blew air onto you, it was so weird but they certainly had all the latest technology. Though i spent a lot of time more than most,(prob because of the lebo and Syria part of my trip) this one guy i spoke to he was from South Africa, but looked like a religious Pakistani guy, with the beard, glasses, tupi and the Shalwar, and ask soon as he got of the bus they told him to follow them, forget the machines forget his baggage and they took him to some room and grilled him for time! Whilst his wife and mother in law got the bags and waited, i suppose he shouldn’t have worn what he did but at the same time talk about typecasting someone!
Aneway as I finally left the crossing departure point, someone was waiting for me with a sign with my name and a sick car, so off we went to Jersulam i thought i had missed Friday prayer (the main purpose behind my trip but turned out i was lucky Thank God, as i made it just in time! I was so happy, and felt really blessed as it was the whole point of what I went for...
Aneway im feeling tired so I will write the next part later...
I went to the home land of the main monotheistic faiths in the world (yes, even in Islam, where the land is considered sacred) Jerusalem, it was an experience that i will never forget for so many reasons. Let me tell you from the start because i want to share everything with you all...
Well a taxi came to pick me up at 6.30am and we went to King Hussein Bridge, which is the crossing to Palestine and is right next to the dead sea, there it was fairly straightforward and took about an hour in all to read the Palestian side, however thats where the problems started,..
The dreaded Isreali immigration police came into action and after hearing so much i was expecting the worst so i was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t so bad, i mean it was bad and in any other situation or country it really wouldn’t have been acceptable but in this country there is not much else you can do. After being interrogated for about 30 mins following an hours weight i was told to weight a further 2 hours whilst the investigated everything i told them, in the end when i finally got my passport back 4 and a half hours had passed!!They wanted to hold me up even further as i went through one gate the next gate asked if i had been spoken to, what a joke , they were proper taking the piss, but the sly thing was they sent out this really nice women they send out who is really pleasant and she asks all the questions in a nice way, so you don’t feel unjust, but man in reflection u feel it! Oh iforgot to say i went through some sort of machine that blew air onto you, it was so weird but they certainly had all the latest technology. Though i spent a lot of time more than most,(prob because of the lebo and Syria part of my trip) this one guy i spoke to he was from South Africa, but looked like a religious Pakistani guy, with the beard, glasses, tupi and the Shalwar, and ask soon as he got of the bus they told him to follow them, forget the machines forget his baggage and they took him to some room and grilled him for time! Whilst his wife and mother in law got the bags and waited, i suppose he shouldn’t have worn what he did but at the same time talk about typecasting someone!
Aneway as I finally left the crossing departure point, someone was waiting for me with a sign with my name and a sick car, so off we went to Jersulam i thought i had missed Friday prayer (the main purpose behind my trip but turned out i was lucky Thank God, as i made it just in time! I was so happy, and felt really blessed as it was the whole point of what I went for...
Aneway im feeling tired so I will write the next part later...
Jordan the Republic of Palestine part 1
After my time in Syria i went back to Beirut where i was going to join a lebo tour group to Syria however i find out the roads are too dangerous to travel because the day before fighting occurred near the Syrian border between Sunnis and Shias and the tour group felt it was too dangerous to conduct the trip in such a situation.. So i was a bit stuck but slightly relieved as i never been a fan of tour groups purely because of the lack of freedom and the claustrophobic nature i have.
So i booked a flight to Amman, which i don’t regret now as it was an enjoyable experience! :P! Enough said use your imagination! Anyway after arriving and going to the Crowne Plaza, i hit the ‘down town’ and it was actually alot better than i thought, i never been a fan of Jordan, i just thought it didn’t offer much, but after spending a number of days here, i have began to see it in a completely different light. Geographically its in such an interesting position, its land boarders Palestine, Iraq, Saudi and Syria and also has its southern tip near Egypt across the water, its river provides all the water to Palestine and Occupied Palestine and the most impressive thing is that there are 4 million Palestine living in Jordan with a Jordanese passport and only 3 million Jordanese of Jordanese heritage, i think thats really impressive, if only the GCC countries would do something similar to alleviate the problems of the people of Palestine.
Anyway in the downtown area you will see a really dirty and grimey side of Jordan but i would say its one of the best sides, full of culture and commotion, you see all sorts of charachters and can get some real bargains, one of the funniest things was the number of illegal dvd shops there is there its so rife and for a country that’s so pro west its quiet surprising.
I would liken Jordan to Dubai, i think Dubai is the GCC revision of Amman, where it is modern but also trying to keep some Islamic identity however little...
Anyway the next day I went to Jeresh which is like an old Roman town, im not one for stuff like that but it was quite cool, and then went to the dead sea which was really cool, you cant swim for shit there and if you get anything in your eye your proper screwed, however despite all that its an experience that you need to encounter. I went to put the mud stuff on myself which is supposed to be really therapeutic, however i fell in one of the holes that someone made and i cut my knee, however because the water was so salty my wound healed within a few minutes it was amazing!
I was planning on doing other tours in Jordan and take it easy however as i was walking back to my hotel from a morning stroll i saw a travel tour company i went inside and saw they had trips to Palestine, they were really expensive but it was do-able, i was so excited, i transferred some money into my account and went ahead with it, i thought though i planned to do it i should not let this opportunity pass and i didn’t i took it and now i can’t wait to go to the holy land!
Anyway inshallah my next post will be on the holy land...
So i booked a flight to Amman, which i don’t regret now as it was an enjoyable experience! :P! Enough said use your imagination! Anyway after arriving and going to the Crowne Plaza, i hit the ‘down town’ and it was actually alot better than i thought, i never been a fan of Jordan, i just thought it didn’t offer much, but after spending a number of days here, i have began to see it in a completely different light. Geographically its in such an interesting position, its land boarders Palestine, Iraq, Saudi and Syria and also has its southern tip near Egypt across the water, its river provides all the water to Palestine and Occupied Palestine and the most impressive thing is that there are 4 million Palestine living in Jordan with a Jordanese passport and only 3 million Jordanese of Jordanese heritage, i think thats really impressive, if only the GCC countries would do something similar to alleviate the problems of the people of Palestine.
Anyway in the downtown area you will see a really dirty and grimey side of Jordan but i would say its one of the best sides, full of culture and commotion, you see all sorts of charachters and can get some real bargains, one of the funniest things was the number of illegal dvd shops there is there its so rife and for a country that’s so pro west its quiet surprising.
I would liken Jordan to Dubai, i think Dubai is the GCC revision of Amman, where it is modern but also trying to keep some Islamic identity however little...
Anyway the next day I went to Jeresh which is like an old Roman town, im not one for stuff like that but it was quite cool, and then went to the dead sea which was really cool, you cant swim for shit there and if you get anything in your eye your proper screwed, however despite all that its an experience that you need to encounter. I went to put the mud stuff on myself which is supposed to be really therapeutic, however i fell in one of the holes that someone made and i cut my knee, however because the water was so salty my wound healed within a few minutes it was amazing!
I was planning on doing other tours in Jordan and take it easy however as i was walking back to my hotel from a morning stroll i saw a travel tour company i went inside and saw they had trips to Palestine, they were really expensive but it was do-able, i was so excited, i transferred some money into my account and went ahead with it, i thought though i planned to do it i should not let this opportunity pass and i didn’t i took it and now i can’t wait to go to the holy land!
Anyway inshallah my next post will be on the holy land...
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Syrity of Contrasts
All,
I would have written during my time in Syria but unfortunately facebook and alot of other webpages were blocked so instead you will be getting a monster post...
Well ill talk about my last days in Beirut, where Dala left on Sunday and we went to an area called Beit Mary, as you can tell from its name a Christian area, and from what i could tell the majority of the Christian neighbour hoods were fairly prominent i wouldn’t want to draw into it, but i don’t find it very surprising from my experience with Muslims as they tend to be so lazy, im one of the them, but if it wasn’t for the natural wealth that God has blessed the Muslims then the wealth of the 1.5 billion muslims in this world will be ridiculously low, i mean if u took the GCC nations wealth out of the equation then you wouldn’t even want to imagine how poor the Muslim world would be...
Anyway onto my trip to Syria, it started off ridiculously early at like 7.30am or something like that! Aneway we drove through some really picturesque scenes on our drive to the boarder. We went through numerous checkpoints, thankfully me and Mohammad managed to make it into Syria and then we went on our way to the Shereton in Damascus, where a collegue of Mohammad was meeting us whos Syrian, and he sepnt the next few days with us taking us out and getting cheap taki fayres and getting cheap Syrian goods!Man the shopping was so good in Syria, i hardly brought a thing in lebo land but in Syria i couldn’t almost stop, i loved it so many little souveniors, and things i didn’t go crazy but i did buy a number of little things!
In the evenings we went to the mountainous areas overlooked the whole city, and if you go up there you will see loads and loads of little green lights and each of those represents a mosque, and i was told Damascus is called the City of a Thousand mosques and i qute lietteraly thing it does have a thousand mosques! However when your up there you will also meet the other sides of Damascus, when loads of families take picnics and bring the kids, but then you will find the dirty side, with a girl coming up to me who asked to have a photo with me who i am sure is a prostitute, then i had an incredibly attractive hijabi girl asking me in Arabic basically “how am i doin” but i didn’t understand so i jus carried on walking, i asked my friend if he thought maybe she was also a prostitute but he said most likely not, and she was just curious to speak to a foreigner. Anyway i never seen such forward behaviour, but it didn’t stop there, one night i was on the internet reading news articles on bbc as i couldn’t sleep in the lobby of the hotel and a women was in the check-in desk and then she turned around a couple of times, then she got up and nodded at me, and then did it again, i thought maybe im missing something, or seeing something that wasn’t there, but she made it clear once she was in the lift with her telling me to get in, clearly i didn’t otherwise i wouldn’t be speaking about it lol! But im saying it to illustrate two things firstly how bad things are in supposedly Islamic states and secondly and more arguably more importantly how desireable i am!:P
Anyway i did like Damascus but i much preferred Lebanon because i think you know what your expecting in Lebanon but in Syria it tries to be something it isn’t like on the surface you see it as a practising Islamic state but in reality, people need to be careful their not mugged, prostitution is rife, alcohol consumption is widespread and it jus seems a much dirtier country..
Aneway i best go as i have a busy few days, but will keep you updated!
Take care
I would have written during my time in Syria but unfortunately facebook and alot of other webpages were blocked so instead you will be getting a monster post...
Well ill talk about my last days in Beirut, where Dala left on Sunday and we went to an area called Beit Mary, as you can tell from its name a Christian area, and from what i could tell the majority of the Christian neighbour hoods were fairly prominent i wouldn’t want to draw into it, but i don’t find it very surprising from my experience with Muslims as they tend to be so lazy, im one of the them, but if it wasn’t for the natural wealth that God has blessed the Muslims then the wealth of the 1.5 billion muslims in this world will be ridiculously low, i mean if u took the GCC nations wealth out of the equation then you wouldn’t even want to imagine how poor the Muslim world would be...
Anyway onto my trip to Syria, it started off ridiculously early at like 7.30am or something like that! Aneway we drove through some really picturesque scenes on our drive to the boarder. We went through numerous checkpoints, thankfully me and Mohammad managed to make it into Syria and then we went on our way to the Shereton in Damascus, where a collegue of Mohammad was meeting us whos Syrian, and he sepnt the next few days with us taking us out and getting cheap taki fayres and getting cheap Syrian goods!Man the shopping was so good in Syria, i hardly brought a thing in lebo land but in Syria i couldn’t almost stop, i loved it so many little souveniors, and things i didn’t go crazy but i did buy a number of little things!
In the evenings we went to the mountainous areas overlooked the whole city, and if you go up there you will see loads and loads of little green lights and each of those represents a mosque, and i was told Damascus is called the City of a Thousand mosques and i qute lietteraly thing it does have a thousand mosques! However when your up there you will also meet the other sides of Damascus, when loads of families take picnics and bring the kids, but then you will find the dirty side, with a girl coming up to me who asked to have a photo with me who i am sure is a prostitute, then i had an incredibly attractive hijabi girl asking me in Arabic basically “how am i doin” but i didn’t understand so i jus carried on walking, i asked my friend if he thought maybe she was also a prostitute but he said most likely not, and she was just curious to speak to a foreigner. Anyway i never seen such forward behaviour, but it didn’t stop there, one night i was on the internet reading news articles on bbc as i couldn’t sleep in the lobby of the hotel and a women was in the check-in desk and then she turned around a couple of times, then she got up and nodded at me, and then did it again, i thought maybe im missing something, or seeing something that wasn’t there, but she made it clear once she was in the lift with her telling me to get in, clearly i didn’t otherwise i wouldn’t be speaking about it lol! But im saying it to illustrate two things firstly how bad things are in supposedly Islamic states and secondly and more arguably more importantly how desireable i am!:P
Anyway i did like Damascus but i much preferred Lebanon because i think you know what your expecting in Lebanon but in Syria it tries to be something it isn’t like on the surface you see it as a practising Islamic state but in reality, people need to be careful their not mugged, prostitution is rife, alcohol consumption is widespread and it jus seems a much dirtier country..
Aneway i best go as i have a busy few days, but will keep you updated!
Take care
Monday, June 16, 2008
Lebo Land Part 4
All,
Im writing this in a slight blur from the previous night where i returned to my infamous Red-Bull days for those that witnessed those times of my life will declare that I truly was a mess when i went sick on the Bull...and last night man i was on it!
I went to a show where they perform French, English and Arabic songs and it was a proper Lebo environment, full of everything i love and hate about this country, you had the show-offs the people so up themselves it boarded on the ridiculous, and then you had the care-free loving nation that is epitomised by my friend Dala. I had a good night and hadn’t been to such an environment for a long time, the last concert show thing i went to must have been like Usher or something ridiculous like that.
I keep forgetting to mention what happened at Jummah (Friday prayer), well i went to pray at this famous mosque called Omari, which was formally a Church and turned into a mosque i believe under the Ottomans, it is believed to have Yaya(John the Baptaists) arm in it, and also it had a hair from the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) however this hair was stolen during the civil war. Anyway after the prayer, me and Mohammad went to the man leading the prayer, the Iman to offer peace and blessings and got speaking, turned out he knew some people in the UK that i knew, a guy was there who was filming the prayer and he asked to speak to me, so after speaking to the Sheikh(another word for Imam kind of) i spoke to the film guy, who asked if i minded being part of a film documentary and answer in a few questions and everyone who knows me knows i love my 15mins!So i duly obliged and will inshallah be appearing on a film documentary near you soon!lol!
I am almost ready to go to Syria tomorrow however im pretty nervous though thankfully ill have Mohammad with me, i feel you cant be completely at ease in alot of these countries and you constantly have to be careful, like for example i took a picture of a picture of Nasrallah the Hizbollah leader here that is almost everywhere in the south and I was told that I should delete it incase the police check my pictures and stuff and im thinking come on, firstly im Sunni (sorry to label myself, because i hate it, i prefer to be known as Muslim but i suppose in situations like this its important to make the distinction) and so from what i believe the majority of Sunnis are against him, so that wouldn’t make sense, secondly its jus a photo of a photo and its not like pics of me and him getting wasted on red bull together or anything, i haven’t deleted it as i see it as ridiculous and inshallah it will be otherwise my next post might be from a Syrian or Jordanian prision!lol
Take care
Asif
Im writing this in a slight blur from the previous night where i returned to my infamous Red-Bull days for those that witnessed those times of my life will declare that I truly was a mess when i went sick on the Bull...and last night man i was on it!
I went to a show where they perform French, English and Arabic songs and it was a proper Lebo environment, full of everything i love and hate about this country, you had the show-offs the people so up themselves it boarded on the ridiculous, and then you had the care-free loving nation that is epitomised by my friend Dala. I had a good night and hadn’t been to such an environment for a long time, the last concert show thing i went to must have been like Usher or something ridiculous like that.
I keep forgetting to mention what happened at Jummah (Friday prayer), well i went to pray at this famous mosque called Omari, which was formally a Church and turned into a mosque i believe under the Ottomans, it is believed to have Yaya(John the Baptaists) arm in it, and also it had a hair from the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) however this hair was stolen during the civil war. Anyway after the prayer, me and Mohammad went to the man leading the prayer, the Iman to offer peace and blessings and got speaking, turned out he knew some people in the UK that i knew, a guy was there who was filming the prayer and he asked to speak to me, so after speaking to the Sheikh(another word for Imam kind of) i spoke to the film guy, who asked if i minded being part of a film documentary and answer in a few questions and everyone who knows me knows i love my 15mins!So i duly obliged and will inshallah be appearing on a film documentary near you soon!lol!
I am almost ready to go to Syria tomorrow however im pretty nervous though thankfully ill have Mohammad with me, i feel you cant be completely at ease in alot of these countries and you constantly have to be careful, like for example i took a picture of a picture of Nasrallah the Hizbollah leader here that is almost everywhere in the south and I was told that I should delete it incase the police check my pictures and stuff and im thinking come on, firstly im Sunni (sorry to label myself, because i hate it, i prefer to be known as Muslim but i suppose in situations like this its important to make the distinction) and so from what i believe the majority of Sunnis are against him, so that wouldn’t make sense, secondly its jus a photo of a photo and its not like pics of me and him getting wasted on red bull together or anything, i haven’t deleted it as i see it as ridiculous and inshallah it will be otherwise my next post might be from a Syrian or Jordanian prision!lol
Take care
Asif
Lebo Land Part 3
All,
I am writing this in the car on the way back from sepnding most of th days ip in the mountains, Dala tells me its a very atypical lebo day, and if so this is the side of lebo culture that i admire. I went with Dala, Mohammad and Mohammads mother, Ma’aam as Mohammads has instructed me to call her, which is weird because for friends mothers in my usual culture of indo-bengali its common to call your friends mum as Auntie, so it feels a bit weird. Anyway regardless of what I call her, I think shes brilliant! So friendly and welcoming, you hear of Arab hospitality but you really see it with her and her family. Mohammad has a house in a small village called Ainab which is in the mountains of Lebanon, and his whole family come here every weekend and Dala told me her family do the same, the Grandparents kinda own the homes but all the children from all sides of the family come and its a really family atmosphere, and the spend the whole day from young to old, eating, smoking shisha, playing badminton, walking about and just talking.
I saw so many animals, one hell of a scary dog that surprising to me Dala was less scared than me but then again for the people who have seen me with dogs will know how shit scared i get! There were rabbits, roosters and rumours of snakes though im pretty sure Mo was referring to Jts infamous reference to snakes...
I went camera crazy today as did Dala and ended up takingover 200 photos in the space of a few hours which boarders on the ridiculous really lol but there was jus so many wicked photos to be had, especially ones captain the animated Lebanese characters!
I also met this guy whos Mohammads friend who was a Maronite and then reverted to Islam. He had some stories and told me how he couldn’t tell his parents at first and that even now 12 years on they don’t acknowledge it and he has to becareful who seems him at the mosque, inshallah the effort he is putting in will be rewarded because it seems like he has alot tribulations. HE told me it took his brother who is also a revert to speak to him for only 3 days of talking with his brother to believe he was following what wasn’t right for him and what is right for him, its reallt amazing always to speak to reverts, as they are often so passionate but the ones i met in the UK have most of the time don’t need to hide their new faith but in a country which is so divided by what is in your heart that any betraly in this aspect really is like a death curcse!
Aneway I best go but will keep u updated inshallah as I head to Syria in a couple of days!
I am writing this in the car on the way back from sepnding most of th days ip in the mountains, Dala tells me its a very atypical lebo day, and if so this is the side of lebo culture that i admire. I went with Dala, Mohammad and Mohammads mother, Ma’aam as Mohammads has instructed me to call her, which is weird because for friends mothers in my usual culture of indo-bengali its common to call your friends mum as Auntie, so it feels a bit weird. Anyway regardless of what I call her, I think shes brilliant! So friendly and welcoming, you hear of Arab hospitality but you really see it with her and her family. Mohammad has a house in a small village called Ainab which is in the mountains of Lebanon, and his whole family come here every weekend and Dala told me her family do the same, the Grandparents kinda own the homes but all the children from all sides of the family come and its a really family atmosphere, and the spend the whole day from young to old, eating, smoking shisha, playing badminton, walking about and just talking.
I saw so many animals, one hell of a scary dog that surprising to me Dala was less scared than me but then again for the people who have seen me with dogs will know how shit scared i get! There were rabbits, roosters and rumours of snakes though im pretty sure Mo was referring to Jts infamous reference to snakes...
I went camera crazy today as did Dala and ended up takingover 200 photos in the space of a few hours which boarders on the ridiculous really lol but there was jus so many wicked photos to be had, especially ones captain the animated Lebanese characters!
I also met this guy whos Mohammads friend who was a Maronite and then reverted to Islam. He had some stories and told me how he couldn’t tell his parents at first and that even now 12 years on they don’t acknowledge it and he has to becareful who seems him at the mosque, inshallah the effort he is putting in will be rewarded because it seems like he has alot tribulations. HE told me it took his brother who is also a revert to speak to him for only 3 days of talking with his brother to believe he was following what wasn’t right for him and what is right for him, its reallt amazing always to speak to reverts, as they are often so passionate but the ones i met in the UK have most of the time don’t need to hide their new faith but in a country which is so divided by what is in your heart that any betraly in this aspect really is like a death curcse!
Aneway I best go but will keep u updated inshallah as I head to Syria in a couple of days!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Lebo Land Part 2
The second instalment in my lebo adventures and its been as eventful as my previous few days! I am currently at a internet cafe that serves shisha and gives the net for free while u smoke! U got to love it!
Well the food i been munching has been excellent, i suppose living in Qatar has built me up quite well for my desire of Lebanese food obviously with the addition of my frequential visits to Edgewear road. Talking of which, it really has gone down hill with the smoking ban, even with the beautiful weather that London and the uk is experiencing i feel its lost its edge. Whereas i feel east London has stepped up in particular brick lane/Shoreditch, where i had bare jokes with Jay during my one night in London before my levant travels.
Also after spending several days on Whilmslow road in Manchester i am convinced more than ever is being colonised by the Arabs, its becoming almost a epidemic!I mean soon it was easily be 50-50 with the Indian restaurants, which for me is a shame as i was brought up with that being the asian playground and its sad to see it being shared with others...
Right i been away since the above, and now im in a downtown restaurant cafe, in a blistering Saturday midmorning heat, its so french, yet with the Azan playing in the blackground thats what i love about this land of mixed relgions!
Aneway im off to the mountains for lunch!
Well the food i been munching has been excellent, i suppose living in Qatar has built me up quite well for my desire of Lebanese food obviously with the addition of my frequential visits to Edgewear road. Talking of which, it really has gone down hill with the smoking ban, even with the beautiful weather that London and the uk is experiencing i feel its lost its edge. Whereas i feel east London has stepped up in particular brick lane/Shoreditch, where i had bare jokes with Jay during my one night in London before my levant travels.
Also after spending several days on Whilmslow road in Manchester i am convinced more than ever is being colonised by the Arabs, its becoming almost a epidemic!I mean soon it was easily be 50-50 with the Indian restaurants, which for me is a shame as i was brought up with that being the asian playground and its sad to see it being shared with others...
Right i been away since the above, and now im in a downtown restaurant cafe, in a blistering Saturday midmorning heat, its so french, yet with the Azan playing in the blackground thats what i love about this land of mixed relgions!
Aneway im off to the mountains for lunch!
Lebo Land Part 1
All,
I thought I would do some more on the blog and keep you all updated on my Levant Travels, well I arrived into Beirut almost 2 days ago, and it’s been non-stop really, from the moment of successfully securing a visa and meeting Dala and Mohammad at the airport to me writing this whilst watching Croatia hammer the Germans.
I arrived at night, and after dropping my stuff off at Mohammad’s I made my way with Moe and Dala to Beirut downtown and I found a city that is truly of vast contrasts. One minute will be driving by some beautiful European esque grand building then I’ll be next to some shacks that wouldn’t look out of place in my mothers homeland of Bangladesh...Then I’ll be looking at this grand beautiful mosque, which will be placed next to Church that if I wasn’t mistaken has a twin in Western Europe!
Today I had the freshest fish I have had in a long time and it was so nice, we went to this seaside town in the south of Lebanon near the Israel boarder, the food was just amazing and the people in the south were really nice, I was surprised I mean I heard they were nice in the south but they really were, and man the people were so beautiful, not just the girls but the guys as well, I know it might sound gay, but I’m just saying this lebo land is FULL of good looking people! I fit quite nicely in lol!! It’s like everywhere I’m looking there is a hottie around the corner, however in Beirut is where you meet the lebos u know and hate, where they are very unapproachable to like I’m approaching I’m jus enjoying my time with my friends but I been witnessing it.
To be honest the biggest thing I noticed was how all the different fractions get on and the role the army is playing in the country with all the checkpoints! Today I saw some of the UNfil people and tanks and was quite cool but scary to think that presence was around, thats the problem I have with lebo-land with all these constant reminders I’m not in safe hands, it makes u feel slightly trapped, and though those who live here think it’s great that the police and army have checkpoints and are around most corners but it just shocks me to c such a military presence in civil situations.
Anyway I better head out but inshallah I will write again soon...
I thought I would do some more on the blog and keep you all updated on my Levant Travels, well I arrived into Beirut almost 2 days ago, and it’s been non-stop really, from the moment of successfully securing a visa and meeting Dala and Mohammad at the airport to me writing this whilst watching Croatia hammer the Germans.
I arrived at night, and after dropping my stuff off at Mohammad’s I made my way with Moe and Dala to Beirut downtown and I found a city that is truly of vast contrasts. One minute will be driving by some beautiful European esque grand building then I’ll be next to some shacks that wouldn’t look out of place in my mothers homeland of Bangladesh...Then I’ll be looking at this grand beautiful mosque, which will be placed next to Church that if I wasn’t mistaken has a twin in Western Europe!
Today I had the freshest fish I have had in a long time and it was so nice, we went to this seaside town in the south of Lebanon near the Israel boarder, the food was just amazing and the people in the south were really nice, I was surprised I mean I heard they were nice in the south but they really were, and man the people were so beautiful, not just the girls but the guys as well, I know it might sound gay, but I’m just saying this lebo land is FULL of good looking people! I fit quite nicely in lol!! It’s like everywhere I’m looking there is a hottie around the corner, however in Beirut is where you meet the lebos u know and hate, where they are very unapproachable to like I’m approaching I’m jus enjoying my time with my friends but I been witnessing it.
To be honest the biggest thing I noticed was how all the different fractions get on and the role the army is playing in the country with all the checkpoints! Today I saw some of the UNfil people and tanks and was quite cool but scary to think that presence was around, thats the problem I have with lebo-land with all these constant reminders I’m not in safe hands, it makes u feel slightly trapped, and though those who live here think it’s great that the police and army have checkpoints and are around most corners but it just shocks me to c such a military presence in civil situations.
Anyway I better head out but inshallah I will write again soon...
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