A hint of Beirut nightlife

Saturday night: I hear it's alright for fighting. In general, this hasn't been my experience, but I suppose it could be. A friend of mine had invited me out for dinner and drinks in Jounieh for Saturday night. As much as I love my family, I couldn't possibly resist. So off I went into Beirut and Jounieh for a Saturday night of good fun. My two friends took me to some enormous restaurant/Arguilleh bar. For all those of you mildly culturally aware people, the arguilleh is what most people call the hookah. The Turkish name for it is Hookah, and everyone else calls it the sheesha pipe. Another amusing piece of information is that hasheesh is the arabic word for grass and in Lebanon generally refers to leafy greens that you eat at meals...

Well, I sat in the restauarant/arguilleh for a long time maybe 3 hours. I wanted to whip out the backgammon board and show my Lebanese friends that I really do know how to play, but I think we were all content to sit around and smell the good smells, have our Arak, watch the beautiful people roll in and out, tell dirty jokes, and be generally content with life without a competitive game of backgammon.

The night rolled along pleasantly as we all got a mild high from the flavored tobaccos and half bottle of arak each. Then it was time to go. My friends took me back down to Beirut where I was staying. I have a cousin who just finished his exams and so is relaxing and the whole crew of his friends decided to go clubbing in Beirut. He came back to the room about 1AM and said, "we should go somewhere."
I livened up with ferocity. Could it be? My recent dream come true? Going out after midnight to have fun? Not worrying about what time it is? Oh yes, sweet many Gods in the Hindu pantheon, it was true! So my university cousin and I rolled out and picked another of his friends. Off to Gemayze (the bar and club district in Beirut) we go. We walk through the streets and apparently I walked right by some famous singer. I guess I shouldn't be SO surprised, it is the only real party city in Lebanon and we were in THE party district. But I guess it's still fun to think I was towering over one of Lebanon's more famous male singers.

One guy says he knows of a vodka bar. I'm not really into the idea, but what the hell, it's almost quarter of 3 in the morning and the party is still going strong. This particular bar allows minors and stags, perfect for the three of us. We only had a round then left. After a little while of sitting and shooting the breeze and listening to yet another crappy DJ spin more crappy tunes we rolled out again. This time to drive around the mostly empty seashore. I remember this type of activity from my late high school days. It brought back memories. Driving around late at night, no one else around, learning the city for yourself...
Well we stopped and got "fruit cocktails" which were really closer to milkshakes, but not quite. I'm not sure what they were other than delicious and a little extra delicious because the vendor was open at 3:30AM. Finally we came back and crashed.

It felt amazingly good to have the faintest hint of a night life again!