What Can $10 Get In Lebanon?

What Can $10 Get In Lebanon?

I’m Drew Binsky and I’m going to show you what $10 can get you in Beirut, Lebanon. Welcome. This is one of the most beautiful cups I’ve ever seen. Oh wow. So freaking good. Let’s go. This place has it all. Breathtaking mountains. The nature in Lebanon is spectacular. Buzzing Mediterranean vibes, incredible food, and the friendliest people you’ll ever meet. But in recent years, Lebanon has faced extreme inflation, which means prices have dropped significantly, making it surprisingly affordable to travel here as a tourist. So, let’s find out how many things can I get for 10 bucks. Yo, you good to see you. I miss you, man. How are you, man? Good. It’s been 5 years. 5 years already. I actually changed my flight to come here last minute because my buddy Giorgio invited me to stay with his family. I can’t wait to show you all the cool places, man. Look, you look a little bit older, but mostly the same. They just disappear. They’re the same. So, all these buildings were destroyed. That’s crazy, man. Yeah, they renewed everything. It It looks good now. Like, they did a good job to renew it like quickly. Giorgio has taken me to one of his favorite shama places. Still don’t know why it’s pink, but it looks really good. What animal is that? It’s beef, but it has a lot of spices. Oh my god. Very good. Merci. Oh yeah. Thank you, bro. Cheers. Yes. How good is that? Just so good. You can actually tell from the way I’m eating it. I’m drooling already. All right. So, we are trying the amazingly pink schwarma. Here we go. M. That is really good. All it is is pink beef, onions, tomatoes, and sauce. 10 out of 10. So, this is an Armenian style schwarma, but it’s almost like pastrami. It’s so tasty. Food in Lebanon is so good. It’s probably in my top three favorite cuisines in the world. Lebanese. All right. The guys working here are so nice that they made me this concoction. Thank you. Welcome, Shukran. Welcome to Lebanon. This is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. [Music] I love Lebanon indeed. So, what is this area that we’re in now? It’s actually kind of lively here. There’s a lot more things happening than the other areas. Even though the country is going through hardships, man, I’m still so happy to be here. Like, the people of Lebanon are the best. Food is the best. Fun fact, Lebanon is one of the only countries in the world where there’s more people living out of the country than in. Armenia is another one. Hello. Hello. How are you? We came to this area last time, right? I feel like I’ve been here. No, I think we did. Hey, man. No, just glad to see you. Hey, thanks. Thank you. I’m from Kuristan of Iran. Oh, nice man. Spot you went with finally drew here in Kuran. So much time, bro. So, welcome. Thank you. We take a picture. Sure. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Thank you. What I love about Lebanon is like everyone is open and friendly. Oh, yeah. They’re easily to approach the people here and just have a conversation with anyone. It’s fantastic, man. Like even though they’re always angry about the situation. True. But they’re friendly with other people, especially tourist. And when they find out you’re a tourist. Exactly. They like love to talk to you. Next up is some fresh fruit juice because Lebanon is known to have some of the best fruit in the world. We’re getting banana and strawberry. Thank you. Holy moly. I don’t even know what to think about this. This is one of the most beautiful cups I’ve ever seen. It is so colorful. So many different fruits, including avocado at the top. M. This is so good. You eat this all the time or just like once in a while? Once in a while. I don’t even know how to physically eat this. It’s a challenge. Yeah. It’s all over the table. Right here is a site of the huge explosion in Beirut. If you remember back in 2020, it happened and this whole area was wiped out. And my boy Georgio was actually in the area when it happened. So like what did you experience when the bomb went off? The thing is like I was 700 m away. I was there like behind that black building over there. Crazy. I was filming outside and first we heard a small explosion and then we started hearing like firework and then let’s go to the car and then while running to the car for 3 seconds like everything was blurry. What was your first thought? I didn’t think about anything. Seriously like I thought that was actually for 3 seconds like what the happened. I was there like I was I flew like 3 m away. I can’t like when when I saw the news of that I immediately messaged you and you told me you were alive. It was like the scariest thing. So what was the destruction here? Like this whole area all the windows shattered. There was a car showroom over here. It’s no longer there. It’s gone. Nothing. No glass stayed intact. There was a lot of kids playing around me. Yeah. And we started helping the kids. The first thing is let’s hide under the stairs. Yeah. And then we waited like 5 minutes. is like, “Okay, all good.” I ran to the car and then we saw the big smoke from the explosion. I mean, you can see there’s still destruction left. Thing is, it was chaotic and for me to go to arrive home, I was driving like crazy. Last time I was in Lebanon was 2019. It was before CO. It was before the explosion and before the recent war. And it was a different Beirut. Like there was way more people around. It was buzzing. It was more happiness. It’s really sad for me to be here and feel this kind of stillness. But the people of Lebanon are so strong and they’re amazing and they’re resilient, right? Yeah. And they’re hoping for a better Lebanon. You’re now in the neighborhood like right outside of where the explosion is. Everything was destroyed here. All of this. Everything. Like when I saw all the videos of people panicking and running in the streets, it was like right here. This right here and the and the street next to it. Yeah. It’s so sad, bro. I love Beirut so much. It’s like breaking my heart that that this happened to a beautiful city. Things are getting better. You can actually tell. Yeah. Like not better but different from a different direction that we didn’t expect. Actually, you see all these new buildings here, like the green one here. All these traditional buildings were destroyed. You texted me like, “Bro, it’s different.” And I was like, “No, no, no. It’s Beirut is still Beirut.” And I I can see it feels different. feels calm. I remember last time like people talking loudly in the street and like enjoying. I just don’t see that. Like where is it happening? Most of my friends are in Dubai and France and states like I’m just Why did you stay with you stayed with your family? I stayed cuz I love Lebanon. Yes. You got to Yes. There’s a beautiful glow coming right here from right here cuz coming off of the building. Yeah. This is a nice moment, bro. Where are we right now? Yeah, we’re on the edge of Beirut. Yeah, everyone’s just kind of walking around. It’s just like a hangout spot, right? Sure. Just a hangout. Just a hangout place for people. But it’s beautiful. It’s nice here. Giorgio now lives in the northern parts of Lebanon. We went there. No. Yeah, we did. Mentally, I’m more stable there. Yeah, makes sense. Makes sense. Like I can’t I can’t stand the city anymore. I need to be in a calm place. Would you say that these if you live in these like apartments expensive like on the water? They’re really expensive. Most of them are empty. Maybe the people who actually live here just flew away. They just left the country. Would you say that there’s a lot of hope right now between the people? Like they think that Lebanon is going to return back to its like glory days. We keep hoping. Honestly, you can’t tell. But it’s looking better. That’s what I can say. No one can tell exactly what’s going to happen or but people are hopeful. That’s good. Lebanon was once known as the Switzerland of the Middle East, but today its economy has collapsed. Right now, one US dollar is worth how many Lebanese? 90,000. Okay. It’s a dollar. Yeah. When you came here last time, that was $100. Crazy. Now it’s 1.5 almost. So, how do you deal with that? We used to actually keep the dollars with us. Okay. And every time we need to buy something, you go to an exchange place, exchange exactly how much money you want to pay in the next hour, and then just pay and then just keep the dollar because it’s stable. Since 2019, the Lebanese pound has lost over 90% of its value, plunging millions into poverty almost overnight. Banks froze accounts, basic goods became unaffordable, and a once thriving middle class disappeared. Electricity is scarce, fuel is expensive, and many families now rely on remittances just to survive. So people that have money in the bank, they’re not able to take it out. You can just see the number. It is there. Maybe it’s not. I don’t know. But you can just actually see it on the app. That’s it. You can just read the number, but you can’t actually use it. Maybe some banks are giving like they have some deals. They give you like $400 or $300 per month from this money that is frozen. That’s it. Most of the people are almost uh almost retired and now they’re still working again. So just imagine that. Yet somehow, amid the chaos, the Lebanese people remain incredibly resilient, and their hospitality hasn’t faded one bit. Is he selling something? Oh, it’s cheap. Coffee and tea. I want some [Music] [Applause] Arabic coffee. If an old man drink from it he’ll become young again. Okay. English. America. How? My name is Drew. What’s your name? Uh Michael. Michael. Yeah. Nice to meet you. Yeah. Denmark. You’re from Denmark? Yeah. You speak Danish? Yeah. Oh, he does. How many years are you living here? 2009. Cheers. Cheers. [Applause] Thank you. Welcome. How much? $1,000. I don’t have $1,000. I see. This is a great little moment here in a beautiful part of Beirut with a a lovely man, a Danish Lebanese guy. I have one question for you. Are you hopeful for a very positive Lebanon moving forward? In allah. Okay. What has been your biggest struggle um being in Lebanon the last few years? He used to be a constructor a contractor. Now he’s just selling coffee. So it actually shows his situation. I hope the best for you. Thank you. Yeah. See you. See you next time. Yeah. Okay. Inshallah. Dude, that’s actually really sad. It is sad. What did he say? He used to work in construction. Yeah. And now he doesn’t have a job anymore. Yeah. And he’s old and there’s nothing to help old people in Lebanon. That’s incredibly sad. I told you like so many things are happening to a point where you can’t keep track and you always expect something bad to happen. like he actually said a verse that he came up with something about being united and stop following just one person and just stop the war and all these things all the conflicts that are happening between the Lebanese people. I did not realize so we can actually translate that and know exactly what he said but it was beautiful. Yeah, you almost shed a tear. I saw that was a good moment. See overlooking the beautiful Mediterranean Sea taking in all the vibes and the smells and the culture. It’s crazy how different it is from my last time here five years ago. Before CO, it was a much more enjoyable place. It was a happier place. You think about all the things that have happened to Beirut over the last 5 years. A pandemic, a massive explosion, a war. It’s crazy how much it up the economy. A lot of Lebanese left, but those who remain are are here and they’re strong. And I am enjoying being here so much. It’s so fantastic. I will always be loving Lebanon for the rest of my life. There’s just so much to like here. The food, the culture, the people, the history, the night life. It’s all fantastic in Lebanon. All right, night is upon us and we have driven to a famous falafel place. [Music] This is so freaking good. I can’t put it into words. He’s making the falafel fresh in the back. I’m not even hungry. And this is the best thing in the world. Fresh, gooey falafel and vegetarian for all my vegetarian friends. And to wrap up a wonderful day in Lebanon, it’s time to party because that’s what Beirut does best. We’re heading to one of the most popular shisha places in town. Okay. What is it? Bou. This one. Okay. That’s like an orange. Yeah. Try it first. The champion has arrived. It’s actually good. pretty good. In total, I got a schwarma, a fruit cup, a cup of coffee, falafel, and a shisha for $10. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you in the next video. [Music]

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