Charles Beirut

... They were given the 3rd bag of Mojo with which they disappeared in the dark. During all these happenings a lot of money changed hands (50 and 100 dollar bills), so that might give a hint about Mojo's real identity... but yeah, we wanted the adventure and we got one! ;) <br><br>You can't really imagine how glad we were when we finally got off that ride in Homs, Syria... but the surrealistic evening didn't quite end yet. We got to the ...

... while the American government considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization, the party enjoys widespread support not just in Lebanon but throughout the Middle East. Walking by a toy-store one day, I noticed several sheets of stickers for sale of all the classic favorites: Winnie the Pooh, Cinderella, Aladdin, and the like. But one sticker sheet seemed out of place despite its central location. In neat sticker rows stared the beady-eyes and bushy-beard of Nasrallah, the soft-spoken ...

... The guy at the hostel wrote instructions in Arabic so I could show it people, not many people in Syria speak English so its not that easy the other country's but you get by. I managed to get to the bus station and grabbed a bus at 3. The board crossings were fine apart from the fact I had to pay a departure tax of around 10 pounds for Syria and also around 13 pounds entry for Lebanon. I didn't have any Lebanese Liare on me but luckily I found a ATM ...

... ride in a developed capital like Beirut... Said ok. I simply didn't have the strength to carry my backpack to another vehicle and negotiate a new price. As expected, the ride took only 15 minutes. The driver now decided to ask for $35. I gave him 35,000 and left him blabbing inside his run-down car. Later, I learned that I should have paid no more than 10,000. A classic... Diana was not staying at the hotel, as I had thought, but instead at her friend's place ...

... We splashed out and spent one night on the sauce, starting with frozen daiquiris in a 1920's Cuba style cocktail bar before moving on to wine in a sophisticated establishment with fancy barmen, lager in a dark, neon lit, techno bar and eventually, super-strength cocktails in a skinny, packed bar with red lit windows and a wacky, festival-vibe clientèle who were already fantastically hammered by the time we got there and became even more shambolic as the night wore on. Needless to ...

... very suspiciously. He then had a brief chat with Rawda's uncle on the other end, then gave my phone to a helpful lingerer, who at least spoke English. He also had a chat to Rawda's uncle and he then gave me back the phone and told me that the only way out of the airport would be to catch a taxi up north. Rawda got back on the phone and asked if I could find another army guy. I found a slightly friendlier looking one and gave him the phone. He spoke to Rawda's uncle at some ...

... that.... So I get in, light up a candle in the bathtub and then he keeps going with the shower and the scrubbing of the toes! :-) Here's the jist of it. The electricity goes out twice a day for about four hours a day. You can be watching TV one minute, then staring at an empty screen another. The funny thing is that Ian got used to it pretty quickly. Electricity goes, he mumbles a little, then goes out to the balcony and we all play Dominoes ...

... We talked a bit and I told Imad that I was going to try to go to Syria the next day. He immediately said, 'I hate Syria.' Sometimes, I forget where I am. They were Christians, of course, and it was obvious to me after my few short days in Lebanon that the animosity between the Christians and Muslims is probably just about as strong as ever. The hatchet is far from buried and perhaps the only thing stopping another civil war is the cold reality of how bad things were not ...

... either driver bothering to stop. It is impossible to drive without talking on your cellphone. Hands- free kits are not popular because they stop you being personally in contact with your phone which will, in turn, stop you indulging in the national pastime of comparing your cellphone's functions and shininess with your mate's cellphone. If your cellphone is broken or has been stolen you may substitute a falafel sandwich while driving down to buy a new phone. Aside ...

... steel after I have been here about a month. I didn't believe him then, but it's true. Your body adapts. It's Fall here now, and in the mountains it is chilly and very much Fall weather. Down bellow, in Beirut where I am staying it is still very much Summer weather. A sizzling 88 degrees with 75% humidity most days. The humidity is not as bad as when I first arrived, and is a good improvement from the 80% humidity. This is very much typical ...