June 2018 – Bellion Travels

24 hours in Lebanon

So lets say you’ve got 24 hours in Lebanon and don’t know what to do. Well here is what Tim, Tim’s mum and I did in one whole day. We woke up early in the morning and drove south. We visited two old towns; Deir El Qamar and Beit el Deen.

Our first stop was at Qalet Mousa (Castle of Mousa) which is located between both towns. Mousa’s castle was built on a hill and it was designed by a man named Mousa and was built by himself. There is a story behind it, when Mousa was a student in school, he kept sketching castle and his teacher would scold him for not paying attention and would mock his dream. He actually accomplished it and it took him 60 years. You will find statues of his life story inside the castle.

We later visited a mosque and a church located in the square of Deir el Qamar which were there during the 15th century. Deir el Qamar was a Jewish community in 1638 but is now a community for all Abrahamic religions including Druz.

After resting our feet, we drove to Beit el Deen which can be translated to the House of Religions. I love how Lebanon is able to coexist. We visited the Beitedeeine Palace where festivals are held there and is also converted to a museum.

We later drove around the town and stopped for a meal and headed back to Beirut. I simply enjoy Lebanon. Its heritage, culture and its history.

June 24, 2018June 23, 2018

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Azerbaijani Cuisine

Azerbaijani cuisine is very similar to Middle Eastern, Russian and Georgian but it’s filled with BUTTER. On our first day, Noor took us to a restaurant called Dolma. Dolma is actually dishes which are stuffed with rice and minced meat. We of course ordered that and it’s similar to the Arabic one but the taste is slightly different and very BUTTERY.

Our favourite dishes are Dolma which is stuffed vegetables, Azerbaijani Plov (I kept removing the raisins) it’s a rice dish served with plum, Qovurma which is kinda similar to Indian korma and our ultimate favourite AZERBAIJANI CHICKEN SAJ. THAT DISH WAS AMAZING and it’s enough for 3 -4 people. Tim and I ordered it once and he ordered it again with Mimi. The picture will speak for itself.

Azerbaijani cuisine is quite interesting to try and if you ever visit, pleaseeee order the AZERBAIJANI CHICKEN SAJ.

June 23, 2018

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Our favourite hangout place in Tbilisi

We really didn’t have much time to explore Tbilisi but for some reason we kept going back to Agashenebeli Ave where the ‘I LOVE TBILISI’ sign is located and we had an amazing Khachapuri over there. The two nights we spent in Tbilisi, we went to loane Shavteli St. where there are a lot of pubs and restaurants.

Our last night in Tbilisi, we all went for shisha aka Hookah at Shardeni St. and danced the night away. The street is filled with nightclubs and shisha restaurants so I’d highly recommend those two areas for a night life.

We truly love Tbilisi

June 17, 2018

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Georgian Food from Georgia the Country

I’d say Georgian cuisine is one of my favourite. It’s a mix of European, Middle Eastern, Armenian and Russian which I find incredible.

Being half Palestinian, I add a lot of pomegranate in my dish. Whether its syrup or the seeds itself and it’s very similar to Georgian. Their kebabs and their salads are just rich with pomegranate and gives a sweet flavour to a salty dish and lots of sumac.

One of my favourite dish to have for breakfast is called Khachapuri. There are two types of Khachapuri. One is from Adjora region also called Acharuli served with egg and cheese and Khachapuri from Imereti region which looks like a pizza. I liked both but honestly my favourite was Adjora. YUMMMMMYYYYYY!!!!

If you love cheese then you must try Imeruli cheese which is added to the Khachapuri but having it by itself it just heaven.

Tim and I were very fond of the beetroot pkhali with walnuts. We had it at a restaurant in Tbilisi called Kafe Leila, it’s one of the best restaurants I visited around the world and till today my mouth waters every time I think of that place. Everything we ate was delicious and the cafe is vegetarian/vegan friendly. I can go on and on about their food but honestly, there is nothing like Georgian cuisine. I assure you, you will not be disappointed with their food.

June 14, 2018June 14, 2018

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Visiting Macau Temple

The temple is called A-MA Temple and is located near the water. According to our tour guide, the temple area was where the Portuguese arrived. The sailors asked the natives for the name of their land and the natives kept saying Magook which was the name of the temple, the Portuguese misheard it as Macau; henceforth the Portuguese named the place ‘MACAU’.

The temple is very much ancient Chinese and has a lot of painting and the temple consists of 6 main parts and we managed to walk it all. There was a tree that is thousands of years old, the tour guide said whoever takes a picture of themselves with their loved ones under the tree, will never break up so we took over 100 pictures. JUST KIDDING maybe like 99.

The temple is one of the most visited and iconic places to visit in Macau and it was indeed a fun trip.

June 9, 2018

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A quick trip to Lantau Island, Hong Kong

It was our last day in Hong Kong so we woke up really early in the morning to catch a bus to head to the airport which is in Lantau Island that’s where Disneyland is but NOOOO we didn’t go there. 🙁

So we kept our luggage at the airport and paid the rent for storing it while we go and explore the island. We took a train to where the Ngong Ping Cable Car is located but unluckily it was not operational on that day and we missed all the buses that goes up to Hong Kong Buddha and we didn’t have enough time. So we took a taxi which was bloody expensive. Fortunately, on our way back to the train we managed to take a bus which was so much cheaper.

When we arrived to the top (btw, it’s quite far) we passed by the Ngong Ping Village and walked towards the Po Lin Monastery and the Hong Kong Buddha was located there. We walked all the way up to the big Buddha which was EXHAUSTING but the view was breath-taking. We later visited the monastery and headed back to the airport to catch our flight.

It was indeed a short and quick trip and maybe some day we will get to explore more of the island next time.

June 8, 2018

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May 2018 Recap

May was a quiet month especially that it is the month of Ramadan when all the restaurants shut down and eating and drinking in public is prohibited here in the UAE. So besides work, we met up with family and friends for Iftar and Suhoor.

Destinations we’ve visited

We only visited Dubai and Sharjah. It is the month of Ramadan and we are all fasting so we are mainly visiting those 2 cities to break our fast.

Highlights of the month

Ramadan started on 17th May 2018 and we are all fasting. Working hours are short and we break our fast at 7 PM.
Had Iftar with my brothers in Wokyo
We went to ROVE-Healthcare City.
Tim and I had iftar at Viceroy, Yas Island in Abu Dhabi

What have we watched?

Series:

Santa Clarita Diet (Season 2) – still watching
Vikings (Season 1) – still watching
13 Reasons Why (Season 2) – still watching
Breaking Bad (Season 2) – still watching
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Season 2) – still watching

Movies:

Avengers Infinity War
Dead Pool 2

What I read this month?

I’ve joined GoodReads.Com to track how many books I’m reading, read and even want to read.

So far I’m still reading The Travels of Ibn Battuta by Tim Mackintosh-Smith.

What have I blogged in May?

Hopefully things will start picking up again and we will be back to exploring. We’ve recently moved to Abu Dhabi and haven’t really explored the city much but we will be as soon as Eid begins.

June 8, 2018

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Markets in Kowloon Hong Kong

There are several markets in Kowloon to visit. Tim and I visited the Flower Market, Ladies Market, Goldfish Market and the Temple Street Night Market.

The markets aren’t that far from each other, we managed to walk to it all and started from the Flower Market. It was a strip of flower shops that sold different types of plants and flowers. We went there to check it out it out to see if we would see anything unique and we have. It’s not very touristic because obviously tourists don’t buy flowers LOL but it’s lovely to see.

Our second stop was the Goldfish Market, that was impressive. If you are an animal lover you won’t like how they cage animals and how they sell Goldfish in a plastic bag. Yes, it is upsetting but it’s worth seeing. I was so tempted to buy a turtle and I even got into a argument with Tim over that LOL. He was like “HOW WILL YOU BRING IT WITH YOU TO DUBAI?” But they are just sooo cuteeeee. I love turtles by the way and when I was a child I had 4. 3 turtles and 1 tortoise and YES, I named all 4 after the Ninja Turtles hmmmmm technically famous painters LOL.

Third stop was the Ladies Market. Men you may go and visit, it’s a mix of stuff. Ladies and Men’s clothes, souvenirs and toys. I bargained with one lady and dropped the price to more than 50% and she told me to shut up and to leave her shop LOL. I’m really not that annoying when I bargain LOL.

Last stop we visited was Temple Street Night Market. One of the best markets we’ve been to and we highly recommend it. So many interesting restaurants and street food and yes, it is only open at night.

So those are the 4 markets we’ve visited in Kowloon there are many more and more and more in Hong Kong Island.

June 2, 2018January 23, 2019

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Places to visit in Azerbaijan

We booked a tour for the whole day which included the Mud Volcano, Gobustan Park, Fire Temple, Bibi-Hebyat Mosque and the Fire Mountain.

Mud Volcano

Land form that erupts mud and gas. There is no lava and the eruption is caused by hot water deep below the Earth surface. I highly recommend you visit it because it’s one of the most interesting places I’ve visited. Very unique experience.

Gobustan Park

In 1930, a group of miners discovered the stone formations, carvings and man-made caves which is now available for the public to see known as the Gobustan Park.

There are approx. 6000 rock engravings and it believed it dated back 50,000 years. The place shows settles, burials and inhabited caves which were held during the period of the last Ice Age.

The engraved art works on the rock consisted of men, animals, dances, warriors and pictures of sun and stars. There are more but we didn’t really get to see them. The park is preserved by Azerbaijan government and it is registered with the UNESCO World Heritage site.

Highly recommend to visit the Gobustan Museum which is located near the ancient park. Over there you will learn a lot about the history and the objects which were used by the Homosapiens and about animals that inhabited the land once upon a time.

Bibi-Heyat Mosque

The Bibi-Heyat Mosque is also known as ‘The Mosque of Fatima’. It is a historic mosque built during the 13th Century. The mosque includes the tomb of Ukeyma Khanum a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and is now a spiritual place for the Shia Muslims.

Ateshgah

Baku Ateshgah also known as ‘The Fire Temple’. It is a religious temple in a town called Surakhani. The temple was a holy place for Hindus, Sikhs and Zoroastrian. The temple was built during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Yanar Dag

Yanar Dag translates to Burning Mountain. Natural gas fire blazes on the hillside and the flames jet almost 3 metres high.

You can visit all those 5 places in a day.

June 1, 2018July 6, 2018

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Month: June 2018

24 hours in Lebanon

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Azerbaijani Cuisine

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Our favourite hangout place in Tbilisi

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Georgian Food from Georgia the Country

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Visiting Macau Temple

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A quick trip to Lantau Island, Hong Kong

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May 2018 Recap

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Markets in Kowloon Hong Kong

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Places to visit in Azerbaijan

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