Tyre Burning

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Well i arrived in Baalbek safe and sound and was introduced to a half Lebanese/half Italian Dr of Archeology in Baalbek making a model of the ruins. Unfortunatly he didnt speak any english and my Arabic and Italian are non existant. However he took me around the site of Baalbek and then got the police to drive us out to see "The Pregnant stone" - a huge block quarried for use in the temple complex of Baalbek but never used. I also got driven out to see a number of other ruins that are in the middle of nowhere really. Cool.
Baalbek is an amazing site - the temple of Bacchus is one of the best preserved temples around and the pure enormaty of the temple of Jupiter is astonishing, the blocks used in the temples construction are ginormus. The blocks alone that made up the guttering around the roof are as big as a car. My Dr friend treated me to an awesome mezze lunch before taking me to have coffee with some friens of his. Talk about being the white elephant in the roof, it made for an odd experience.
The next day i was due to leave, only..... There was a strike on. The hezbollah were holdng a huge anti america rally down by the local mosque and the view from my hotel balcony was somewhat clouded due to all the tyre fires around the place. The roads were closed, the army had tanks in the street and Israeli fighter jets would occasionaly fly overhead. So i just hung out for the day. Got a knock on my door in the evening from my Dr friend who was asking me weither i wanted to come with him to the Drs. seeing as i was feeling fit and healthy i didn't really understand untill he made the tea drinking motion. Remembering the boredom i had experienced the previous night I declined. A couple of hours later i got another knock on my door - this time from the Paramedics. Seems my Dr friend had passed out in the Drs office and was in a bad way. So IV in one arm the paramedics put him to bed and i made him an omlete and kept him company. Overall an interesting few days in Lebanon. Was fined 25,000 lebanese lira for overstaying a visa i had no choice to overstay, but i did bet a visa to get back into syria again - seems i was a dumbarse and didnt get a multiple entry visa the first time round.

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Photos

Effing Massive!
when you consider the size of me next to it/underneath it

Coffered ceiling
very, ver, very rare to see still standing

Pregnant Stone
Its Massive! - largest stone ever to be quarried and comparative to what the temple of jupiter is made up of

Baalbek Lion
Its a classic shot

Smoke across the ruins
By the end of the day i couldn't see the mountains on either side of the valley for all the smoke

Young Boys Stealing Tyres
Those Fires just don't start themselves you know

Conveniant Tyre Carrying device
Ahhh, who knew that anarcy could be lazy

Ineffective Road Block
kept me entertained for hours watching people dealing with this, no one paid any attention and drove straight through, then some one would come along and set it up again only to have someone else drive through it again 5 min later