Lebanon, May 2009

A Quickie to Beirut ~ May 2009

ASD had a long week-end recently and I was looking forward to just taking it easy in Dubai until some friends of mine told me about a trip they were planning to Beirut, Lebanon. I thought, cool, so within 24 hours my ticket was booked! Beirut use to be called the Paris of the Middle East. (With the cynical joke being that Paris of the Middle East is kind of like winning the NIT!) It’s quite liberal and Lebanese woman dress only slightly more modestly than the previously mentioned Russians. Beirut is on the Mediterranean Sea. Of course, there was the ‘little’ war with Israel two summers ago, and it has a war-torn recent history. Much of Beirut looks new, but built to look old with the architecture being very Mediterranean Europe. It’s just striking. There are wide avenues, outdoor cafes, and upscale shops in the heart of the city. But also in plain view are older buildings that haven’t been refurbished that clearly show the effects of war like blown out windows, a missing side, or bullet-striffed outer walls. The Med. Sea is on one side of Beirut and it has a really nice Corniche which provided an incredible place to watch the sunset and just wander. As it was the week-end, many people were out for stroll, a card game, fishing, flirting, and shisha smoking. The shisha smoke really added to the whole atmosphere as you got whiffs of various sweet smells of tobacco as you wandered the cornice. It was also cool looking at the apartment buildings and wondering which ones would be cool to live in if you lived in Beirut. The views on the ‘other side’ side of the city are the hills that are covered with buildings and beyond those the mountains that reach about 7,000 feet or so. In my Kuwait days, I went to Lebanon to ski for a long week-end, so I was just in and out of Beirut. I do remember Lebanon as having incredible scenery, and this time around it didn’t disappoint at all. We were really just in Lebanon for a day and a half, but we certainly made the most of it. The afternoon of the day we landed, the group rented a van and headed towards Byblos, a city that is some 4,000 years old (or older!). It’s right on the coast, has a little harbor with small wooden fishing boats, and men were fishing with long cane poles. The city is also famous for its Roman ruins that surround an old Roman citadel (fort). The day was sunny, beautiful with a nice breeze and was such a welcomed relief from the recent heat of Dubai. WE just wandered around, took lots of pictures, chilled in places that provided a view of the sea, and then shopped a bit I the souq (with no major purchases!)

The elections that promise a new Beirut/Lebanon are coming next month, so there were plenty of posters around and people riding around in cars waving flags and proclaiming their allegiance to one party. Over the week-end we were there, there must have been some expected rallies and/or protests because there were soldiers out like I never seen anywhere unless there was a riot or demonstration. Literally on the main road soldiers were stationed every 50 meters or so and they were armed with AK47s. Every so often there was an armed vehicle parked and ready for action. If they were there to deter any action, I suppose it worked as the city stayed quiet the entire time we were there.

On the second day after wandering around downtown Beirut for the morning in the fashionable central district as well as a neighborhood, which I like to refer to as “will the real Beirut please stand up, please stand up, please stand up” (in reference to an Eminem song!) We were in search of a non-touristy souq and didn’t quite find it but did find this neighborhood which provided some interesting sights and a little store where I bought another Arabic coffee pot to add to my collection. On the way back to meet the others and the van for a trip out of town, we stopped by a shwarma restaurant which provided us with the best shwarma I’ve (and the others) had ever had. For those not in the know, a shwarma is a typical Lebanese/Arabic type of sandwich. The meat (chicken or lamb usually) is piled high on a vertical spit and cooked slowly. When you order the meat is carved off the spit and into a pita and then garnished with lettuce, tomato, other spices, hot peppers and garlic sauce. The key for these is that they are toasted slightly on a grill after the pita is made which prevents them from falling apart as you eat them. They were yummy!

Our destination that afternoon was twofold. First up were the famous Grottos or caves. They were huge and amazing. Lebanon was trying to get them listed on the list of the New Seven Wonders of the World, but it didn’t make it. It’s hard to describe what they were like and you couldn’t take pictures inside. You walked on a concrete path that was built along the wall of the cave quite a bit off the ground. The stalagmite and stalactite formations were very huge and quite eerily. Apparently, you can judge the age like a tree trunk and we saw some that were 10’s of thousands of years old. These are not rocks but instead ‘drips’ from the rocks that make the formations – stalagmites if the drips build up from the floor and stalactites if they are dripping down from the top. Either way it was quite impressive.

Our next stop was this cable car that took one from a town along the coast up to a mountain top park/staute/church. The ride up took only 11 minutes but since it was the week-end the wait in line was about 40 minutes. It was OK as it provided some good people watching opportunities! The funny thing about this ‘funicular’ ride is that is passes right by people apartments (in multi storied/high rise) apartment buildings. As you go by, you can actually ‘almost’ reach out and touch the balconies! Of course, if you were a voyeur, you’d be in heaven as you could see right into rooms and whatever was going on had curtains not been closed….not that I was looking, mind you!

As this was our last night in Beirut, we had to do it up right, so we went to a bar that sat right on the water (we just missed another sunset) for some drinks and munchies. We all agreed that we’d ODed on Lebanese food, so we headed to a popular street with many restaurants in search of something else. We found it in an Italian restaurant. After a meal it was time to hit a few bars and then a club. The bars were OK but rather small and very smoky. I kid you not when I say that practically all of population of Beirut smokes! A night out in Beirut wouldn’t be complete without a venture into a ‘club’ until the wee hours of morning. A club called Snatch served the purpose and we danced to techno (on the sofas no less) for a while before calling it a night and heading home. All too quickly we were back in Dubai after the three hour flight. Reality hit as we had to go to work the next day. The short, but action packed week-end did make me plan for next year. We all agreed that we are going to leave Dubai at least every other month next year on the frequent three day week-ends that are in our calendar next year. We’ll see if it really happens!?

Otherwise, school is beginning to wind down. It’s always a happy and sad time of the year - happy that another year is over and that a long vacation is just around the corner, but sad because it means that people will be moving on. By people I mean students and friends/fellow teachers. The recession has made several students unexpectantly move elsewhere that wouldn’t normally be leaving. Teachers are moving on…some just down the road to Abu Dhabi but others to Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and beyond. They’ll be missed for sure, but it’s funny when paths cross again. It’ll be as if no time has passed at all! Funny as that sounds, I swear that’s how it is more often than not. It always makes me wonder how much longer I’ll be in Dubai. In some ways, I’m ready to move on, but in others I’m content and like Dubai well enough to stay at least two more years. We’ll see. I’ll have to decide about whether to stay a forth year this summer, and that’s before year number three even begins! Alas, that is the way it works in international teaching.