Playing frogger in Beirut

20th February, Beirut

We arrived in Beirut last night just in time for the pension's rooftop BBQ hosted by the owner/manager, Michel. A nice introduction to the city even if we were not quite in party mode after our 8 hour journey from Damascus. Another one of those whatshouldhavebeenastraightforward150kmjourney which turned into something not so straightforward afterall.

We are learning fast that all stress-free and successful travelplans dependent on public transport in these regions will do well to factor in what we call the "insha-allah" (God Willing) element. Forget bus timetables, schedules and your 'rights' as a paying customer. There are no refunds nor compensation (unlike the very lovely Eurostar which gave us half price tickets when we were held up for 2 hours returning from Bruge to London one summer) and no, they don't want your customer feedback either thank you very much.

To be fair, we have found bus travel within Syria to be very good - the buses are clean and the driving is safe. The better companies even have efficient young men issuing baggage tickets, handing out cups of water and tissues at regular intervals. Buses to Beirut was an entirely different story as there is only one company operating so we were held hostage to their deficiencies. And then, there was border control which never runs smooth, whatwith a busload of passengers, and with it the inevitable detainment of dodgy tourists. And I don't mean us two; although God knows we look dodgy enough now that our smart London coiffs are getting a bit shaggy and our clothes looking just a tad rumpled.

Anyway, one good thing which came about from the bus journey was meeting Hassan, a very friendly and charismatic Palestinian refugee living in Beirut, with whom we had some very interesting discussions. He has invited us to visit his 'home', Shatila - one of the UN-refuges in Beirut (and site of some of the very worse massacres - aided by Israeli forces - and also strongest guerilla resistance during the civil war) - and to meet his family and friends. We fully intend to take him up on his invitation.

None of the tourist sites like the museums, galleries are open in Beirut today so we just went for a long walk around central Beirut: from the eastern suburb of Gemmeyzeh, where we are staying, along the waterfront (the Corniche) through downtown Beirut to Hamra in the east. The geographical setting of the city is without a doubt what makes the city one of the jewels of Lebanon. Beirutis have a sparkling waterfront - not unlike Auckland's own - and looking inland from the coast, there are majestic snow-covered mountains. Really quite stunning.

Many parts in the centre of the city are still in the process of picking up the pieces from the war and the skyline is littered with building cranes. What has been achieved in the downtown area is quite remarkable, with the reconstruction of many of the very elegant and lovely Ottoman-French buildings, returning the area to their former state of grace and splendour. The waterfront is also one big hive of development action - luxury hotels and state of the art apartments springing up on every square inch of land fronting the sea. I hope they remember to keep some open spaces for their children to play in.

One wonders how many local Lebanese families will be able to afford these new developments as the economy isn't particularly hot and unemployment is as high as 20%. Anyhow, there must be a largish middle class in residence as there is certainly no shortage of luxury and imported goods and services targeted at them. I might even think about getting a haircut here although the first salon I checked out was a bit concerning what with services for 'inflatable lips' and 'deeping wrinkles' on offer.

What we really find incomprehensible is the presence of foreign workers from as far afield as the Philippines and Sri Lanka, working as domestic and manual labourers, when there is (a) high unemployment levels amongst the Lebanese, and (b) a willing and able workforce in the form of the Palestinian population (many local born and bred) who would be more than happy in most cases to take on some of these jobs. I guess we will have to get our heads around some of the politics in this country to understand this. No doubt, the foreign workers are probably willing to work for even less than the Palestinians.

We had a relatively pleasant first day in Beirut, ending with a nice Lebanese mezze in one of the swish downtown restaurants, Al-Balad. It was probably the most expensive meal we have had on our travels yet, but then again I also had my first decent glass of wine (since my Egyptian rose experience - think watered down Ribena), so, all well and good.

It is also worth mentioning that we made it through the day without being run over by a crazy Beirut driver (Hallelujah).The cars in Beirut are newer (than those we have seen in Syria) and downtown teems with the usual luxury brands, including a healthy number of 4X4s which seem to be flavour of the moment with the moneyed set. However, Beirut would be a much nicer place if any of them could drive half decently and not treat the public roads like their personal F1 track. We thought the driving in India was bad, but the Beiruties have to take the prize; what with good roads, working traffic lights and the absence of wandering holy cows, there really is no reason for driving the way they currently do.

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