Beirut: Night Two

Kayan in Arabic means entity or essence. It was also the name of one of our bartenders in the very popular namesake bar Kayan in Hamra. A couple of hours in, Kayan from Kayan asked me if I wanted to learn to make doudou shots. Hellz ya. I got behind the counter much to everyone’s entertainment and he went suddenly from charming bar tender to Lebanese drill sergeant. “Two doodoos and one tiramisu shot, quickly” while I scrambled around on some invisible deadline for drinking responding to his shouts of “hold it from the top, quickly” “vodka there” “wash spoon” “one olive” “gentle gentle, NOT SO GENTLE with the powder”. Lemon juice, one teaspoon of olive oil with an olive, 2 drops of Tabasco sauce and vodka- I made enough on the night to remember this for a long time).

The bar was about the size of a train carriage, tended to by 2 hardcore bar tenders (who looked like they had a Harley obsession in their time off) and one apprentice. They went about socializing with the regulars and the tourists, pulling drinks out of the air, smoking between the drinks.

After Friday night’s faux fur crowd the vibe here was quite different, mellow, crowded, lots of laughter, lots of interloping into conversations because of the space.

The other bartender, Avo spooned in what I thought of a heavy amount of salt into a drink and then blitzed it into some concoction. I watched with the intensity of someone who has just learned how to read. L whispered to me ‘They give you salt to keep you drinking.” Avo served the drinks and came back and stared at me and said “What?”

I responded: “It’s like, you know..art. But also irresponsible. “

Avo: “Not its not.”

Me: “So much salt?”

Avo:“It’s sugar!!Taste it!!”

Me: “It doesn’t matter. You will make them drink, they will go home with someone unsuitable, wake up with children and then spend their lives coming to your bar drinking to forget. ”

Avo: “It’s not my fault. God gives them sense.”

Me: “And you give them alcohol”

Avo: “For those who don’t have sense, God gives condoms.”

I am laughing now at this man who looks like an Arab version of Mr. T minus bling on chest (but there in his ears) and he takes the opportunity to tell me about life being a risk and how that often means being on snow shoes when you’re drunk and then breaking your leg. For him that is. I do think philosophizing about life must be Item No. 1 on a bartender’s CV.

Many conversations, behind the bar forays for L and me later we head out to meet some of the crew who had been at the party Friday night at another bar called Alcove. We dance, we laugh and we hanker for some Arab music. One short walk down Gemmayze we walk up a broad set of staircases that form the alleyways in streets here to Sepia. In Sepia I almost immediately run into an Argentianian-Lebanese whose claim to fame, he said, so far “was touching Maradona”. The music was invigorating, the crowd loud and the vibe different from the regular remix bar. In very much the Andrew Wright style (so famous in Oxford. Not) I find myself dancing with a…..wait for it wait for it….a doorway.

In that night, I spied with my own two eyes that…

a.      Baarbar is a life saving chain of all night food kiosks/bars scattered over the city.

b.      A ‘service’ and a ‘taxi’ are different. The same car can become a taxi or a service depending on how you call out for them. If you say service the price is 2000 lira and the assumption is that the driver is allowed to pick up other passengers on the way. Taxi is 10, 000 lira automatically for exclusive carriage. If the driver charges you more than 2000 lira for a service, give him 2000 anyway. He knows the terms.

c.     Youth unemployment is high (for under 25s it is 29% and about 4-5% in adult employment)

d.     The gaggle of men with women are often much older than them (particularly in social entourages); young men can’t afford to show them a good time.

e.      Young men who want to look like gangsters are usually very skinny and have fleece hoodies that rest demurely on the crown of their heads.

f.     One of the most beautiful sights in Beirut are the mountains glittering in the night.

 Khallas.