Blogs from Lebanon, Middle East - page 8

We had decided to go on an organised trip as our first trip to the Lebanon as we had only a week and wanted an easy time in terms of travelling around, booking places to stay etc . So there we were at T1 Heathrow people spotting to try and guess who we might be spending the next week with. We flew out from London to Beirut on BMI, not the BMI Baby offshoot that the number of ankle biters on the plane might have led you to believe. I normally sleep like a "baby" on flights but this was four and a half hours of screaming wakefulness. And we were late so dashing my hopes of seeing all the second half of the Champions League Final destruction of Man Utd by Messi and Co in ... read more

War isn't too far away here in Lebanon - you get a feeling that anger is just below the surface. This is pretty sad and worrying for most Lebanese since another conflict with Israel seems inevitable sometime in the future. The reason I say that is because of Hezbollah. We were actually lucky enough to spend a day in the beautiful Bekaa Valley which is predominantly Hezbollah territory. On our way there we encountered many road blocks and saw some of the targets that were bombed during the 2006 fighting. Our driver stopped for us to view an interesting war sculpture with war tanks and vehicles all cemented into a tall monument. This country is still very much divided and it was amazing to drive from the coast which is mostly Christian to just across the ... read more

Early start for day trip to Lebanon but it was well worth it. First stop was Roman ruin Balbeek and then onto Beirut. Beirut is very Western - Zara, Dorthy Perkıns, Subway, Costa Coffee, Dolce & Gabana, Porshe, and lots of people speakıng French. The city centre has been completely rebuilt so was all shiny, new and just like any other city centre you might find back home. A short walk to the outskirts and there were lots of once beautiful run-down buildings covered in bullet holes. They looked Parisian with lots of balconies and highly decorated walls and ıt was easy to see why this was once known as the Jewel of the Mediteranean. We had dinner down by the sea and then back over the border to Syria. ... read more

Woke up this morning to find my Lebanese American University Acceptance letter in my inbox! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: February 22, 2011 To: Scott Alexander Preston Dear Scott, Congratulations! You have been accepted to the Lebanese American University, SINARC (Summer Institute for Intensive Arabic Language and Culture) FALL 2011 Program. It is our pleasure to welcome you on board of our fall 2011 Session for a delightful and exciting Arabic Language experience. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------... read more

- Hello my friends, i went to Lebanon me too, i passed crazies holidays , i would like return with you next year - It’s looks like amazing, i’m jealous lol. In France it’s not the same - Your blog is very interessant, thanks to show us all this moments to internet... read more