Napoleon Beirut

... of rotting concrete? Picture the North Georgia mountains but in the desert. Now cover every inch of them with highrise and midrise apartments and then sprinkle in a liberal dose of garbage. There you have it ladies and gentlemen...beautiful Beirut..the Paris of the Middle East.<br><br>Driving in Lebanon is an interesting experience as well. The roads don't really have stripes for lanes and people just maneuver wherever a free bit of asphalt presents itself ...

... insane humidity that makes Beirut terribly uncomfortable in the summer. But if there's anything everyone I've met supports, it's a peaceful and fair election... let's hope... <br><br>Also: After watching Obama's speech at an internet cafe and, again, with locals, I can honsetly say that never, ever have I been so proud of my country. But even after a speech as strong and powerful as Obama's, the word on the street is - we've heard enough words... we're ready for action.

... german girls from my room, which was nice - Tyre is in the south and considered to be (I think) in a more dodgy part of Lebanon as far as safety and israel is concerned, but it was a lovely day with no reason to worry. Tyre has some ruins scattered about, including a big cemmetry type complex, full of sarcophagi and tombs (still with bones inside might I add), and a huge hippodrome which really was quite impressive. We visited a local NGO called terre des hommes, which was ...

... while living in the camp, would the child have the right to own a Lebanese passport. The answer was no. I couldn't believe this. Because this place has existed for close to 60 years, this meant that people have been born in the camp and raised their whole life here yet they were still referred to as Palestinians even though they never set foot in their own country. A lot of these people lived their whole lives in Lebanon and yet they weren't allowed Lebanese citizenship. I guess ...

... called C&#305;trus. The 4 guys f&#305;gured out the game and started flaunt&#305;ng the fact that they came w&#305;th 2 hot As&#305;an g&#305;rls. lol They f&#305;nally let us &#305;n the door. :) (I honestly don't know how backpackers party &#305;n th&#305;s c&#305;ty - &#305;t &#305;s cl&#305;quey and beyond exclus&#305;ve and not des&#305;gned for the showstr&#305;ng budget &#305;n m&#305;nd at all..) They gave us a small table - there was no dance ...

... speak English, and speak it better, than I had thought. One young dude we talked to said that nowadays many kids learn English as their first foreign language, and may not even learn French at all. He said he basically didn't speak a word of French, which is crazy after Morocco. The accent is American English, not British. Most of the advertising billboards downtown are exclusively in English: no Arabic, even. That having been ...

... emphasised how important he was to his people and how profound an effect his murder has had on this country. Our walk had been interesting, but we wanted to get a more comprehensive picture of Beirut. So, hailing down a taxi, we headed off to south Beirut. As we entered the southern suburbs it felt like we'd entered a different country. In some ways we had, as the south is controlled by Hizbullah rather than the elected Lebanese government. Gone were the affluent buildings ...

... started picking out verses to paint tomorrow then got to cleaning up. Some of the paint only comes off with turpentine which made for quite a mess and Dave and I both were covered in green for a while! After cleaning and changing, we went to John and Nancy Sagherian's (sp) for dinner. John is head of YFC here and is Armenian so much of the food was similar to what we've had but with an Armenian twish, or so I'm told. Nancy is from Iowa and we were joined by their daughter and her ...

... decision. After a few minutes a fleet of medium sized dished began arriving that collectively comprise mezza. Naji explained that mezza is served at the beginning of a traditional Lebanese meal and should be thought of as something between an appetizer salad course. Hummos, tabouli, and an interesting white cheese, parsley, and lemon concoction were among our favorite samplings from this particular mezza, but grape leaves, eggplant, and cheese sticks also featured prominently ...

... I went shopping! Back to the souq - probably my favourite part of Tripoli. Had a good long wander around, saw another soap making factory, many fruit and veg stalls and bought some camomile and rose petals for tea. Very relaxing. Definitely helped me recover from the earlier hair raising experiences! I have to say, I think my last day in Lebanon was one of, if not the best. Everyone I had spoken to had great things to say about Baalbek, in the Bekaa Valley, so Idecided to leave ...