De Ville Beirut

... economy, society, and politics. The Lebanese civil war lasted from<br>1976 to 1991 and peace remains precarious, as the recent Israeli<br>incursion and Syrian withdrawal show. Any suggestion that this city<br>can throw off its past and be reborn through ambitious development<br>projects and an increasing flow of tourists should be taken with an<br>ocean full of salt. This 'playground' will be haunted for many many<br>years to come. <br><br><br><br><br>

... historical artifacts in the locked basement while incasing the bigger pieces in concrete cement. The war did not spare the museum building, but most of the artifacts within survived more or less intact. After years of painstaking renovation, the museum reopened to tremendous and well-deserved fanfare. <br><br><br>More importantly, the Lebanese people do not live in a psychological war zone. On one hand, Israel is still enemy number one and technically the two nations are still ...

... was pretty ****, i just wandered until i got called over by these two fellas, who didnt wanna encroach on my underpants for a change and just wanted to av a crack. One reminded me of a good mate of mine that i met in china, they both have Iraqi dads and when he smiled he looked the spitting image of my buddy. Anyway, these fellas showed me round abit and we had a chat about birds (the boobed type, not the flying ones) and football and all that manly stuff that lads do on ...

I woke up at 730 am as our driver was picking us up at 830 for our day trip to the south of the country. Unfortunately, Sarmed was MIA. So it meant that the cost per person for the trip was more than Kimo and I wanted. I quickly made the rounds to the other hostels in the area to see if anyone was interested in coming with us but no one was around. All the lazy backpackers were still sleeping. When I got back to the hostel, we told the driver the situation. We ...

... couple. Since the boot wouldn't close, some kids produced a blue rope and the boot was tied so the luggage didn't fall out. My backpack went into the back with me and the older lady and we were in a vehicle at least. We started the drive out of the airport and followed a few other cars past mounds of smoking ash and piles of dirt. We came up to the end of the airport road and it was completely blocked by a 1.5 metre blockade of stuff. The driver U-turned and went back to the ...

... his legs. Walking up quiet avenues past tiny shops riddled with bullet holes and seeing gorgeous hotels next to bombed-out ruins are stark reminders of how recently Beirut has suffered through the horrors of war. Mind you, none of that was quite as horrifying for us as inadvertantly coming across the guy having his back and shoulders shaved in the picture window of the local barbershop. We didn't stick around to see if his Speedo-line was next. Anyway, a fitting example of Beirut ...

... we decided a cheaper entertainment option was to get a few bottles of wine and play cards at the hotel. It wasn't exactly what we'd come to Beirut for but we had a fun time nevertheless, staying up until the wee hours and getting rather drunk. The next day we returned to Pigeon Rocks as planned. I'd never been one for jumping from great heights and, as I stood at the edge of the cliff, I suddenly remembered back to a Spanish holiday some years back when I'd chickened out ...

Got another early start this day by meeting Maher at the same place at before. Didn't get knefeh though :( I went in and bought Easter chocolates for small group and work people. They're so pretty, I hope they hold up on the trip home. We went up to Elissar (I should be writing these names down I wish I could tell you the names of more of the foods, too. The school is in Rabihe and NEST is in Ras Beirut, or West Beirut.) Breakfast was ...

... the shell damage is so bad, some have given up the fight and overgrown bomb craters dot the road. Next to a bombed out building, balconies dangling, pillars shot down to the reinforcing iron, weeds poking out from shattered balustrades, is a glossy, chrome and glass international bank headquarters; shiny billboards exhorting you to buy a Peugeot or exfoliate with L'Oreal sit in front of burned out homes; Europcar's welcoming rental office is the only sign of ...

This is going to be a fairly uninspired update, be warned. This past weekend was fairly uneventful...we had a big Canada Day celebration on Friday night at a fancy hotel just north of Beirut. It was a pretty chi-chi event and the first time I've had to wear a suit and schmooze on Canada Day. Nevertheless, it was interesting to attend one of the most "official" receptions of the year. The security precautions were pretty impressive to say the least: there were Canadian ...