[Music]
Good afternoon, guys from here in Faraya, Lebanon. Today is actually the beginning of the fourth week. I’m actually shocked,
I’ve already been here for three entire weeks but I’ve been having such a good
time here in Lebanon that it is flying by so quickly. I’m gonna be staying
longer and longer because I want to check out as many of these places as
possible. So yeah, guys in today's video we're gonna be exploring all around
Faraya over probably this video maybe one or two more videos after that. And so, we
just got here it's about 4 p.m. and our place that we found it has beautiful
views over the mountains here which is great. It's kind of like right downtown,
in Faraya, there's some local shops down there. There's the iconic Faraya sign up
there which we'll be going to at some point, and then we'll be exploring all
around the mountains, and whatever else there is to do in this beautiful ski
town that we're here actually in the summer. So, where we're staying at is we
have this Airbnb that we booked for about 60 dollars per night. There's
Fuad, he's the man here. We're gonna be exploring all over this city together.
That is the kitchen, so it's the living room nice, chill spot we got a little
bean bag too to chill out on, bathroom, shower,
toilet all the necessities. Here we got one room, two beds in there,
so plenty of space for people to be in. We got Fuad, looks like he's taking a nap
already. He's got some views of the local neighbors over here.
How we doing neighbors? And that is our place so it's- it's
a great spot to be spending the next three nights or so maybe we'll stay a
little bit longer in Faraya. I’m already digging the city, the vibes, we did a
little ride through the mountains so I could get an idea of what this place was
like. And I’m really, really liking the overall feel to it. So,
that's about it for right now guys. I’m gonna do a little bit of work right now,
and then once we actually start doing some exploring later on this afternoon,
we'll check back in and show you guys what this amazing place has to offer.
Alright, guys got a little bit of work done, and now we're gonna continue
or actually pretty much start our adventure of exploring Faraya, and it's
about 6: 45 p.m.
So, we're hoping, we're gonna catch sunset just in time. We've got
about like a 15- or 20-minute drive up to the top. I guess. We're closer to that.
I guess 15. 15, 15 minutes. Is that Lebanese minutes, or Western minutes? I
hope they're Western. Western minutes. We’re hoping yeah because we've had
pretty bad luck we've missed most sunsets
for various reasons. Things are always just farther than they seem. But yeah,
we're gonna be going up to Mar Charbel,
which is where the huge Faraya sign is that like basically can be seen from all
over this entire mountainous city. So, it's gonna be sick for sunset, and
hopefully we'll get some drone shots for you too. So, let's do it. Alright, we're
in route guys, and you can see that this town is very beautiful to drive through.
Looks like- oh my God look at that buggy right there, that's a certified vibe yeah.
Oh, yeah oh ATV rentals right here, another- another cool looking buggy, a lot
of them here. You've been to Faraya a couple times right? Yeah. And you've been up to
the- the sign up there Mar- Mar Charbel? Yeah. Yeah. It's beautiful.
Have you been for sunset or just during the day? I was during the night. No,
just to pray. Yeah. Say small prayer in the Charbel. So, it's
a holy place up there, yeah. Oh well yeah it's a place like to pray with a
beautiful view. It was like a cruise on cruise at night. Ah very nice, very nice.
By the way, those buggies they're also like placed around buggies up there in
like - , it's like a place where you go like to ski stations that
transport you to mountains. Oh cool, yeah yeah to go skiing.
Like everybody like here lives here have like small buggies and stuff.
That’s how they get around? Yeah.
Yeah, that's pretty sweet. I was saying like if I were to stay in this area for
like a couple weeks, I’d for sure want to like rent a buggy, and then an apartment
with a view, and just relax. I mean just look at these views here, you got cool
apartments everywhere. You got different cliffs and mountains.
And like, there's all different views depending on like what you're looking
for. Look at that place up there, it's like a
castle up top. So, it seems like from what I’m starting
to gather after being here for a few hours that there's a few different
levels of accommodation like our place we got-
I’m sure we could have found cheaper if we had more time but we booked it-- It's pretty
bright. We booked it like three hours in advance, so
you know if you're booking a couple weeks out, you can probably find much
better deals of course, the cheapest are always gonna go quickest but then you can
also stay in super, super luxurious places, so depending on when you're
coming that's going to be obviously totally depend on it. If you come here in
the winter which is a huge hot spot for skiing, then obviously you'll probably
pay like similar amounts or more. You think in the winter? Yeah, I mean like
summer, I mean like winter mostly here is like a
hot season, like yeah you know what I- what I mean like people
around the Charbel over here spend weekends or the whole season to
skiing. And then but like in the summer though would you say it's just as busy?
Well, no I think it's busier on winter because like it's one of the best ski
stations here in Lebanon and then the Middle East. Really that's- that's amazing. So, people
come from all over the- the country or all over the Middle East then to ski
here. Yeah, yeah, that's cool. Have you gone skiing here? Well, I don't know how to ski.
My friends go over there. I don't either,
yeah. I’ve never done it. So, yeah, guys this is- this is the cruise up though.
Look at how beautiful this is, just weaving in and out of the mountains.
Once again like more accommodation options like look at that view right
there. It's just- it's mind blowing for me, this is really my type because I love, love
love mountains, and it's my favorite place to just be for a period of time.
Because it's a little bit more low-key than
being in you know a busy city, you can focus on getting work done while going
outside get some fresh air, catching some nice views. So yeah, really, really
impressed with it so far. Alright, guys we just made it up to the
top. Honestly, just driving up was a experience in itself.
It is much colder up here in Faraya than it is
out in like Beirut, and on the coast, not humid.
Alright, so got the jacket on, much nicer good call
on that. Yeah. You know, he's been here before he said make sure to bring a
jacket. So, I feel like this is the place you do not want to miss out on the
sunset. Yeah, I was trying to figure out why when someone commented on my TikTok
video, Faraya is like if you ordered Hollywood on Amazon Prime, and I was like
I don't get the joke but now I get it because the Faraya has signs similar to
Hollywood. So, it's pretty funny, I guess you have to go here sometimes to get the jokes.
Look at this stunning, stunning view.
The perfect thing is- is we came with enough time to fly the drone, see over
here. Now we're gonna walk down, and see if we can get in front of the sign. So,
let's go. We got a bit of a pathway here, and hopefully we'll be able to get
all the way down that way. Probably shouldn't have worn my white
shoes. Look at that you can see all of Faraya right here.
So, so beautiful,
and we're coming up to
the Faraya sign.
Feels like we are in Hollywood. Alright, so that is the Faraya's
version of the Hollywood sign. You could probably see it better from the drone
than you can right up front but it's still cool to walk down here, and check
it out.
[Music]
But it's still cool to walk down here, and check it out.
And I would definitely recommend to come here only at sunset. Do you think sunrise
it's worth it here you can really see as much? Everything's worth it here. Yeah.
That’s true, I mean you can just literally see everything from this angle.
So, it's like I guess any time of the day it's gonna be the best. Even a road trip is
worth it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, just a road trip out here is worth it. So, if you don't
have that much time but I love doing everything at golden
hour just because I don't know the landscapes just look the best with you
guys know how it goes. It's just the shadows, the majestic feelings, things are
a different color, it's just a win-win all around. So, we're gonna walk up there
to the top. We can show you guys what it looks like
up there as well. How was that, today's workout? Yeah. Pretty
nice. We should have a nice air bro. Yeah, yeah exactly burned off too many calories.
Oh so, now we're walking up to the top
here. I think this is the reality bro, we need
to make it to these spots like 30 to 45 minutes before the sunset goes down. Geez,
we're both out of breath and then we'll have enough time for his
drone shots, and be able to see everything, and still enjoy it,
before it goes down. Look at how massive the statue is.
This statue is Saint Charbel--
and he moved in the monastery.
Oh yeah, yeah. That’s pretty cool. Yeah. Alright, let's
go check out the viewpoint from the balcony here or from the ledge.
Look at that Sun. So, right over here on the other side, you
can actually see the dam, all the way down here.
And Fuad's saying, we can actually swim in there. You guys know is it true
that we can swim in the dam? Yeah
And it's safe? Yeah, you can swim.
The water will be freezing. So yeah, oh it's freezing. Alright, so we gotta- we
gotta wait to go swimming in there on a hot day. But you have to walk. You can't
go from the road like you have to park somewhere, and you have a 20-minute walk,
and then you can swim there. Oh okay, that's a local's hack then. Are you from
here? Yeah, yeah. Alright, alright, see that's- that's good to know because we
were just in what city Bsharri and there was this
really nice pond but they said in Bsharri that if you swim in that pond, it
sucks you under. So, I’ve been kind of scared to swim in some of the lakes in
Lebanon. It's like quicksand. Yeah. Is that true though like have you have you guys
heard that about Bsharri, some of the ponds will suck you under
there? I don't if the ponds will do that.
Okay. Sounds like there's some-
some battles between Bsharri. Yeah, but as you can see,
it's a pretty massive dam. What’s that- what's that water used
for? Do you know? I guess for farming. Farming? Mostly. Yeah, that's- that's pretty
cool. So yeah, farming and that must be able to take care of like the entire
region because that'-s that's got to be what like a 50 maybe 100-acre dam.
Oh, probably more than that. Pretty sweet, though.
Yep. Yeah, you can literally see everything in Faraya. It's like you
don't even need the drone right now in order to
figure out what to do. You can just look around and be like alright I want to
visit that mountain, the dam. You know there's another viewpoint, it
looks like way- way over there. So, a lot to do and see here.
So, what do you think Fuad, this is your first time here actually at sunset, right?
Is it best at sunset? Wow man, it's majestic it's very like you feel
like you're in another world or another like special place in the world man. Yeah
seriously. I mean, I don't even wantna go you know.
You still got a little bit left of the the golden hour here so- You know
one last view for you guys the lights are starting to turn on up here too.
So, that's pretty cool. Oh, we've got someone's car alarm going off. I mean
like Mac and I were convincing each other to stay here for a bit.
Yeah, exactly. So, we don't want to leave. We'll probably
come to like- You know what let's stay. Yeah, I know right. Yeah, stay a little longer. I'm gonna stay man.
Yeah. Yallah bro. So, as you guys have probably seen in
some of my videos whenever Fuad and I are traveling anywhere, he always happens
to know someone. So, we just ran into Ellie here, what's up brother? Nice to
meet you bro. Nice to meet you too. Welcome to Lebanon, to this beautiful
city like you see now in the mountains and Faraya that's called Mar Charbel. Yeah.
It’s like- like Christ here in Lebanon, one of the
most famous God like God, and the one on here. What do you think about this
place? It's so beautiful, that's what we were just telling everyone on the camera.
That’s like we did not want to leave even though the sun already set because
we were just blown away by it. Have you been here like a few times before? Yeah, I
live here like- Oh, you live in Faraya? I live in Faraya, I have a house in the
mountains, like I spend all my I have- spent all my like since 2006.
That’s amazing. Our vacation yeah but now like I visit
Lebanon because I live abroad yeah like in- like
in the summer. Yeah, yeah. Spend like time
with the family and things like this. Oh, that's very nice, and that's- that's
proof how beautiful of a viewpoint this is. If he's a local here, and he is still
coming back up here whenever he's back visiting. Yeah, you know. Even like with
the crisis economy, and everything like happening in- in the city here. Yeah.
Visiting the city it's like beautiful thing here.
It is a beautiful place to visit, and you see the people are like so beautiful to
communicate and things like this, even now with the pressure with the political
situation like we're facing.
But Lebanese always in our heart like we lived there. But what do you think about
Lebanon? Oh I- I love Lebanon so unfortunately, there's a lot of hard
times as you guys have probably seen in my other videos. There's a lot of various
problems going on throughout the country but I will say that my favorite thing
about Lebanon is despite all of those things going on everyone is so
hospitable, so welcoming. I’ve never arrived to a country and been so warmly
welcomed with recommendations on things to do, people inviting me in for coffee,
friends that I meet on the street, and he invites us to eat with his family. I got
really sick with food poisoning the other day, and Fuad’s
mom made me some food plus brought me some medicine. And so, it's just an
unbelievable amount of hospitabil- You must also taste my- my mother's food it's like perfect.
Oh, there we go. So now we have a competition
He speaks Spanish too. I mean like people can leave Lebanon but Lebanon can't leave people. Yeah, yeah
that's true. You see even like- like I said we're facing this
pressure, this thing the stress all the things but you can see that the people
have like high vibes, high intensity like they communicate with you. They can
recommend you, and that's- that's very beautiful. Absolutely- absolutely you're
the man Ellie, so great to meet you brother. Yeah, hell yeah cheers.
Yeah it's- it's really a majestic place to come and,
hang out for a bit. It’s calm- Look yeah look into the
viewpoints yes exactly it's really calm quiet. You can't hear any noises of the
city maybe here and there a small little plane flying by but
that's about it so- And clean air to inhale at least. Oh, it is yeah super clean air,
which is great. So, yeah guys I really hope you've enjoyed
this video, exploring some of Faraya with us and tomorrow we're gonna be
exploring even more because there's so much that this
mountain town village has to offer. So, make sure you guys hit that subscribe
button so you don't miss out on any more videos here in Lebanon or in other
places all around the world. And, if you can smash that like button, it helps this
video so much. I’ll see you guys in the next video. See ya.
[Music]