Blogs from Lebanon, Middle East - page 6

Another great day! After sleeping in (Lebanese are definitely night owls and NOT early birds), Joelle, Joanna and I went to the "beach". It was actually a beach resort. It was beautiful. We walked down to the big pool surrounded by lounge chairs. A bar was to the far side of the pool and a DJ played hits from the US, Lebanon and Europe. The the side of the big pool, there was a smaller pool with a beautiful waterfall flowing into it. To the other side, the Mediterranean Sea provided a picturesque view. Joelle, Joanna and I spent our time lying on our lounge chairs soaking up the sun and enjoying the cool water of the pool. (A day for which I am now paying with a doooozy of a sunburn. But, well worth it) ... read more

We flew into Beirut looking forward to eating kebabs, felafel, hummus and enjoying a few drinks, and it hasn’t disappointed. It seems kebab eating is acceptable at all times of the day, they also eat a sort of cheese pizza thing for breakfast so we have taken full advantage of both and no doubt put back on the few kilos that we lost in India. But its not all been unhealthy, in the bars they like to serve carrot sticks with beer so we’ve managed to have one of our five a day while enjoying a beer or two. There is apparently a lively bar scene here but unfortunately our budget has us in bed before 9pm when the happy hour ends… Beirut is a really easy city to walk around as its pretty small, didn't ... read more

It's everywhere and most of it is really great - very little rubbishy tagging and much more political statement (well, on the whole). Most of this is from around Hamra..... read more

You haven’t seen Beirut until you’ve seen Beirut at night. It’s at night that the city wakes up and everyone comes out to play. With their troubled history, no one understands about living for the moment better than Beirutis. They do it right. Whatever your predilection for nightlife – from American swing dancing to Arabic belly dancing; from shaking your hips to Latin beats to shaking your dreads to reggae rhythms – you can find it in Beirut. One night I went to a church to hear the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra and the next to a grunge bar to hear a friend DJ. From the quiet contemplation of well-coiffed residents to the lively head banging of the oddest couple I’ve ever seen, one a gangly man in hot pants (complete with prosthetic ass and Pinocchio nose), ... read more

More often than not, I can get the feeling of a place as soon as I arrive. Within minutes, I know that I love it, or that I want to leave on the next available bus. Beirut has not been such a place for me. I’ve been here for over a week and I’m still confused as to whether or not I like it; still confused as to what Lebanon is all about. It’s a country of incongruities with a complex national psyche that short-stay visitors will struggle to wrap their heads around. I’m not wholly convinced that life-long residents fully understand it. Like most of the Middle East, Lebanon has a long history of occupation that dates back to the dawn of civilization. From the Babylonians to the Ottomans, the Phoenicians to the Persians, almost ... read more