Rotana Hazmieh

... english novel until it got to be a reasonable hour. (I awake very early), and after a good, hot water shower, was off to explore and get something to eat. We are very near the city center, the place of business, banks, insurance companies, etc. and breakfast must be had at an expensive restaurant. Unlike lattakia, where my restaurant next to the hotel was greaaaat! A full breakast for less than 1USD! All the good, healthy, nutrional stuff. The streets ...

... Ksara Winery were nothing too special (though we still came away with a bottle of Moscatel as a souvenir) so we had to stick to the local beer instead. The food in Zahle was delicious though, and after eating our way through every starter, main and dessert we could find we decided it was time to make tracks for Syria &#8211; Zahle is only 3 hours drive from Damascus so we were definitely feeling the pull of our next big city.<br><br>.

... of what it would of looked like, an amazing setting right next to the water. The crusader castle was quite nice and gave you some quite good views. After a bus ride back into Beirut I strolled around the downtown area of Beirut. Beirut is a really modern place with all the latest designer shops around and is really modern. They have lots of posh restaurants and you notice alot of people wearing designer clothes and smoking cigars. I have not found the Lebanese people that friendly ...

... and video recorded. Nothing was natural, and it was a club to go simply to be seen in. Chris is quite the critic for club music and let's us know instantly when the music is not up to par. The largest hit this summer in Lebanon is all the songs from Bob Sinclair, it's being played on all the radio stations and over and over again in the clubs. I like the song though, even if it's a bit too comercial.

... fighters loyal to the Hezbollah-led opposition in Beirut after followers of Hezbollah paralysed the capital. May 8 - Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, says the government has declared war against the group after its decision to dismantle and take legal action over the group's communication network. Gun battles break out in Beirut, leaving several dead and many wounded. An offer by Saad al-Hariri, the governing coalition leader, to ...

... The higher we got, the more nervous she got. Needless to say, she was happy when we arrived safely. After a quick tour of my village we had a traditional Lebanese dinner at my uncle's house- complete with Johnny Walker and a hookah! After dinner, my cousin drove us to the coast where we were staying. It was long day and we were pooped. It doesn't look like we're going to make it to 7:30 mass tomorrow.

... the religious headress and everyone seemed to speak english (and french if you were so inclined). We wanted to go for a quiet drink but we were tired so we decided to wait till the following day (yesterday). So we wake up at about 12 becasue this was supposed to be holiday day for us. However when we ventured outside it semed all the shops had also taken our thought and taken a holiday too. The city was dead. There were a few shops open and the people we ...

... right next door to the plush new Intercontinental. The pavements are in erratic repair and the roads littered with potholes, speed humps, portable spike road blocks, concrete and chain barriers and Checkpoint Charlie red and white crossed wood and barbed wire barricades. Young, young men in mountain camouflage fatigues and cherry red berets man the barriers, so habituated to their automatic weapons that they use them for shoulder stretches and bicep ...

... who were blown up in the last year. So perhaps the police presence is merited, and as a result the soldiers are not just around the Solidere district. Armed beings are all over the numerous government agency buildings south of the Green line (the no man's land in the civil war). And there were scores of others with their APCs just to the East of the Green Line along the trendy streets where monied Beirutis buy their jewleries and Italian clothes* Even in the less rich ...

... you picked pigeon up with your fingers chicken-style or used a fork. He timidly reached for a small bird and plopped it into his mouth, crunching on the tiny bones and trying to swallow it out of his life as quickly as possible. Now I was in a similar situation. I had never smoked out of a hose before but I sportingly placed the tube to my lips and took a deep breath, as self-conscious as an adolescent Arabic girl taking her first inhale of narguileh in ...