Cavalier Beirut

... for the stop due to their weak commands of English. Suspiciously enough, the one guy in the passenger seat who was totally fine 30 min ago was suddenly really high and was talking weird stuff. The 10 guys hanging around the supermarket didn't look too nice either. <br><br>Suddenly a motorbike with the 2 bags of Mojo pulled up and several man jumped up and quickly put the Mojo back in our car. We rapidly realized that Mojo wasn't anything to be ...

... Solomon ordered the construction of his temple with the finest wood, his craftsmen came to this very Lebanese forest. After wandering beneath and through their ancient boughs with only the birds to keep my company, I understood why the Lebanese have placed the cedar on their flag as their national symbol. To the east, lies the Bekaa Valley, a land of rolling farms, green grazing pastures and bountiful vineyards. <br><br><br>Of course, the Bekaa Valley receives significant press ...

... he is quite the world traveler and adventurer and some of his imaginative stories are very funny. If only I could be more like him in everyway, I can learn alot from him. Tomorrow I am off back to Syria and on to Palmyra to see the most easterly roman part of the empire.

... that only Aeroflot flies from Beirut to Moscow. They have biweekly flights on Tuesdays and Saturdays. However, they don't have an office at the airport. So, the ladies at the Middle East Airlines of Lebanon told me that told me to buy the ticket from the check-in counter. I hate cab drivers. As I was about to exit the airport, one of them came to me and said taxi. I asked him if he had a taximeter. He said yes. When I opened the passenger door, I noticed ...

... of the fighting is shockingly evident, with both sides of the building completely riddled with holes, where presumably machine-gunners had tried to take out the sharp shooters. Despite this damage, I was also told that the Hotel had been built to withstand earthquakes, so they were considering patching it up! To enter the star-shaped streets of central Downtown, you have to go through a brief security check, where bags are inspected by armed soldiers. Once inside, you find yourself ...

... try again, don't worry too much". This was not the most reassuring thing to see on my phone on arriving in a country where I do not speak the language! I lined up at passport control and there were armed guards absolutely everywhere in the airport. It almost seemed like there was at least one uniformed guy carrying a semi-automatic weapon for each civillian milling around. I slowly worked my way to the front of the line and got another text from Rawda "Text me and tell me when ...

... and just enjoy being here. We wake up in the morning and of course dad is all peppy and waiting for us to get out of bed. We get up, get in kitchen and start the same thing we used to do 20 years ago. We fill up a big bucket of water and start heating up the water to take a shower. Uhum... now it's all coming back to me.... :-) We heat up the water, get in the tub and mix up our cold water with the hot one and start dumping water with a little ...

... at just how big the caves are. The ceiling of the cave must have been around 100 feet in some areas. Many of the stalagmites looked like crude sculptures and the lighting in the place gave it an eerie hellish atmosphere. Unfortunately, there was no photography allowed. My last night in Beirut I decided to take in the nightlife. Lebanon is famous for its nightlife in the Middle-East, but I found it to be very pretentious. The 'Disneyesque' downtown was packed with beautiful ...

... or restaurants. The place to be seen could as easily be one of the new pedestrian walkways of the revamped downtown for all the use they make of, and notice they pay to, the view. It is a nice wide stretch of road to cruise in your Mercedes, Lambo, Hummer, Porsche or Audi though, or to rumble along in your APC, tank or jeep. Wide is important because there are absolutely no road rules (except, maybe, the army, for obvious reasons, has right of way). Triple parking ...

... during the evening on most nights, which scares all of the billions of bats out of their hiding places into the sky. Imagine the contrast of bats flying around against a background of fireworks. During the day, street vendors walk the streets in our neighborhood selling all kinds of food, some which I'm still not sure what it is. They sell Arabic coffee (which I have tried and hated- it is so strong and is very thick like a syrup), fruit, gellato ...