Attention All Foreigners: 5 Unexpected Things About Lebanon That Will Blow Your Mind

If you’re planning on visiting Lebanon for the first time, or if you’ve wanted to but have hesitated because you’re not sure what to expect, here are some delightful (and some not-so-delightful) surprises you may not have otherwise known about the country and its people.

The hospitality: You think you know hospitality until you land in Beirut and realize there’s hospitality and then there’s Lebanese hospitality. Think random strangers offering you rides, restaurants serving you free desserts, villagers inviting you to share their meal and friends giving you all but the clothes on their backs to make your stay a memorable one.

The party scene: You’ve heard of New York City as the city that never sleeps, of Rio de Janeiro’s party spirit and of Ibiza’s wild nightlife but there’s a reason we keep harping on Beirut’s nightlife: it’s not the hundreds of bars, clubs and party spaces scattered around the city, it’s the Lebanese people’s astounding capacity to squash its million woes and dysfunctions into a swaying oblivion. Pathetic apathy of a broken people or evolutionary resilience shaped by decades of political turmoil? Who knows? The end result is just as pleasing for you lucky tourists: bottoms up!

The peace: Your travel advisories are fake news. Contrary to what you have been told, you will not be maimed, shot or kidnapped while eating hummus on our beautiful shores. The most serious – and real – threat you will encounter is death by overeating.

The contradictions: if you’re trying to make sense of Lebanon and realize you are more confused after asking a thousand questions than when you initially arrived, don’t get disheartened. Nobody gets it. Not even the Lebanese. Why is it that 1% of the population live in opulence while the remainder struggle to make ends meet? Why do skyscrapers keep rising while basic Internet connectivity and waste management is still lacking? Why do Lebanese voters continue to vote for war criminals while they preach modernism? Ping me if you’ve got a clue.

The plastic: Now that’s what your advisories should warn you about. Plastic is in abundance in our motherland: on our shores polluting our oceans, in our malls acquiring needless goods and in our women disfiguring their figures.