Lebanon Part II: Hezbollah's Home

Aug 29-Sept 3

Following another night out, Gus and I woke up early to make our way to Baalbek, located in the Beqaa Valley region of Lebanon. A 2-hour minibus ride from Beirut brought us to this ancient city.

It was quite remarkable to see the transition from the ridiculously humid, rolling hills of coastal Lebanon, to the dry, flat valley region of Beqaa.

Baalbek is known for two things: a) Heliopolis (City of the Sun), some of the best preserved Roman ruins in the world and b) being the home base to Hezbollah, the Shia Muslim political party and terrorist organization as classified by the US, Canada and many other western nations. Hezbollah's position of anti-Zionism and ties with Iran were quite evident, with statues of the Iranian Ayatollah at several roundabouts leading up to the city.

Gus and I exited our minibus and proceeded right to Heliopolis. We were instantly impressed by the size of the site and the grandeur of the temples.

We climbed onto a stone structure and were immediately reminded where we were: we could hear some machine gun fire in the distance, probably not directed at anyone, but still startling none the less.

We sauntered through the immense temple of Jupiter and the incredible temple of Bacchus, being one of the most complete Roman temples I have ever seen.

Even though Baalbek is only 2 hours from Beirut, it remains far removed from the culture of the capital: the liberal, seemingly rich Eurabs were replaced by conservative, modest Muslims. Baalbek could have easily fit right into any other Arab state we had visited up until Beirut. This was the Arabia I was accustomed to. Before we left, Gus bought a Hezbollah T-shirt as a souvenir/joke gift.

We hopped on a bus to rejoin our Eurab contemporaries in Beirut, but only after being told that it was uncommon to see westerners in local buses due to the prevalence of kidnappings in the area. Needless to say we were glad to be back in Beirut!

The following days, we split our time between Hamra and Gemmayzeh, taking full advantage of the perpetual party-scene which is Beirut.

We also visited a beach in northern Lebanon called Batroun on probably the only day it wasn't sunny and ridiculously humid during our stay.

Unfortunately it was Gus and Chris' last night with us: Gus had to head back to Madaba and Chris was off to Turkey, before making his way back to Australia for mid-September.

We had spent an incredible month-and-a-half with these guys and would definitely miss their company.

What better way to celebrate the departure of great heterosexual friends in a city full of beautiful women, then to go to a gay dance party!

The PC party or Party Circus, Pony Club or some other abbreviation I could find on Google, was the suggestion of a friend we met while visiting the campus of AUB. Her first suggestion of the Sporting Club had been a blast, so we decided to take her word on the PC party, although we didn't know it was a gay event.

While unofficially a gay event (since homosexuality is illegal in Lebanon), the crowd comprised mostly of men, a handful of drag queens and people in costumes; and the remainder being either couples or underaged girls. Since we had already paid for entrance, it had an open bar and the music was pretty good, we decided to stay and all had a pretty good time.

A pretty unconventional sendoff in the Arab world shortly after Ramadan, but hey, that's how we roll.

Then there were two.

Like any other city where the majority of time is spent partying, I took my camera and took some pictures of the city the same day we were leaving it.

Josh and I woke up early and explored the many neighborhoods of Beirut on foot, giving the finger to the blistering heat and humidity that Lebanon throws at you in the summer months.

We walked along the corniche until we had reached Beirut's iconic Pigeon Rocks.

From there we went through Hamra and back to the downtown core, taking extra time to admire Beirut's many churches, mosques, monuments and even some Roman ruins to boot!

I took some extra time to visit the Martyrs Square, commemorating Lebanese Nationalists hung by the Ottomans in WWI.

Many remnants of Lebanon's tumultuous past and uncertain future can be found throughout this beautiful country. From the burnt out Holiday Inn in Beirut as a reminder of the Lebanese civil war, to the current spillover of the Syrian civil war in the northern city of Tripoli; Lebanon is in a very fragile position.

Even though being in the center of Beirut you would never feel this instability despite seeing barbed-wire, soldiers and convoys of Humvees on a routine basis, it is still a volatile country, which I hope will one-day achieve a prolonged and substantial plan for peace.

On a side note, once on our way to Gemmayzeh, we were passing an office of the Phalangist Kataeb political party. I was walking by a seemingly unarmed guard, when I saw what I thought was a garbage bin behind him. As I was reaching over to throw out my shawarma rapper, he made a motion towards me and had a surprised look on his face. As I got closer, I instantly realized that this wasn't a garbage bin, but a holder for his AK-47. I quickly lunged backward and gave him a smile. Thankfully he returned the smile and we both continued with our respective evenings.

Crisis averted!

Lebanon Part I: Land of the Eurabs

Aug 23-28

Visiting Lebanon had always been in the back of our minds, but increasing turmoil between pro-Assad and Syrian Free Army supporters in the northern city of Tripoli, made that decision a complicated one. We asked countless people their opinion on visiting, but their answers were usually split right down the middle. Gus had already planned to visit with a work colleague of his, and Chris wanted to go anyways. Josh and I decided that we would be a larger group, and if worse came to worst, we could always just take the earliest flight out.

We were going to Lebanon!

The flight from Amman to Beirut was a mere 45 minutes. I had arranged a driver to meet us at the airport. As we left the airport, it was rather surprising to see the military presence at nearly every turn: countless soldiers, APCs with mini-guns and even a few small tanks. Rather than being startled by this, I found it rather reassuring that if things were to go down, the response could be immediate.

The driver dropped us off at our hotel, Talal's New Hotel (www.talalhotel.com), in the Gemmayzeh district. Gemmayzeh centers around Rue Gouraud and encompasses scores of bars, clubs and restaurants. We had hit the jackpot!

Once we dropped off our bags, we decided to scope out the downtown area. Dominated by the Mohammed al-Amin Mosque, downtown Beirut looks more like a pristine, upscale European city than the typical Arab capitals we had grown used to.

Beirutis made us look like hobos: everyone very well-groomed, impeccably dressed and nearly all contributing to the German economy by driving BMWs, Mercedes or Audis.

As for the women: Oh My God! Beirut is the only place on earth that can rival Montreal in terms of beautiful women per capital, at least in my opinion.

The one caveat being that plastic surgery is a very prevalent and lucrative industry in Beirut, with many people having work done: nose jobs a-plenty, tummy tucks, and it seemed as though most young women strived to emulate the mountainous landscape of Lebanon on their chests using silicone as their foundation. However, after having spent a month-and-a-half in conservative Muslim countries during Ramadan no less, dominated by women wearing Hijabs, Niqabs or no women in sight at all, we were definitely not complaining!

After having spent just a few hours in Beirut, I was convinced we were no longer in Arabia, and Beirutis should be called Eurabs, a cross between Europeans and Arabs. A far more fitting desciption.

In Beirut, our first order of business was finding a travel agency to arrange our Visa for Dubai. For most western nationals, a free Visa is issued upon arrival, but because the Canadian government does not believe in bilateral accessibility to Canada for the Emerati, Canadians now have to get a Visa in advance, have an onward ticket prior to entry, and pay a whopping 110$ for even our short stay of 4 days!

Well, what're you gonna do?

Over the next few days, we visited various areas of Beirut: we walked through the bustling student district of Hamra, the campus of the American University of Beirut, the uber upscale port area and the trendy Achrafiye neighborhood.

After a long night of partying at the Sporting Club along Beirut's corniche, we decided to visit one of Beirut's fabled 'beach clubs'. Although Senses was situated on the Mediterranean, there was not a grain of sand in sight. Instead there was a massive pool, a swim-up bar and many bronzed Lebanese gods and goddesses.

After the weekend, when Josh and I had finalized our Visas for the Emirates; Gus, Chris and I decided to do some good old fashioned sightseeing!

We hired a car to take us to a candidate for the New 7 Wonders of Nature: the Jeita Grotto. The Jeita Grotto is situated 20km outside Beirut and comprises two levels of some of the largest and most impressive stalactites and stalagmites in the world. The upper level is traversed via raised platforms and the lower level is visited by boat because it is channeled by an underground river. The two levels span a total length of 9 kilometers.

The grotto was incredibly impressive, but a power-failure midway through spoiled our visibility in the cave for the final portion, although not completely.

The only criticism I have of the experience is that if the Lebanese government is pushing to increase tourism to the site and wants to validate its candidacy for a New Wonder of the natural world, they should at least let you take pictures in it! I had to check in my camera upon entering and the only explanation I received was that by eliminating photography inside, people wouldn't stay as long and it would decrease congestion inside the grotto. As a consolation, here are photos I found on Google images.

http://world.n7w.com/new7wonders-of-nature-finalists/jeita-grotto-lebanon/

From there, our driver took us to Byblos, touted as the world's longest continually-inhabited city.

Inhabited as early as 7000 years ago, Byblos contains ancient relics, artifacts and architecture showing ties to the Egyptian Empire, the Greeks, the Mesopotamians, the Phoenicians and the Romans.

The archeological site is now dominated by a crusader castle built in 1104 A.D.

Chris, Gus and I spent a few hours exploring this beautiful sea-side wonder, a little in awe of the wealth of human history it encompasses.

After taking it all in and enjoying the views of the rolling hills and turquoise seas, we headed back to our hotel to join up with Josh and resume our nightly ritual of partying in Gemmayzeh!

I love Lebanon.

Madaba and Amman Part II: Welcome to Jordan!

Aug 17-22

Our return from the Dead Sea coincided with the return of Gus and his father, also Gus, from the south of Jordan. They were heading to Jerash in northern Jordan and asked Josh, Chris and I if we wanted to tag along. We eagerly agreed.

Jerash is the modern name of the Roman city Gerasa. The city stems from the time of Alexander the Great and reached its peak in the 3rd century A.D.

We spent a few hours wandering past impressive ruins like Hadrian's Arch and the hippodrome, which is still used for mock chariot races and gladiator fights, but unfortunately postponed until the end of Ramadan.

Ramadammit!

From there we piled into the Guses' rental car and tried to get into Bethany, the baptismal site of Jesus, but it too was closed early due to Ramadan. Go figure!

Feeling slightly rejected, we went to the Dead Sea again and watched the Guses enjoy the salty marvel.

The following day we went to Wadi Mujib, sometimes referred to as the Grand Canyon of Jordan. This valley is 1km deep and is part of the Wadi Mujib nature reserve.

The trail is much like that of Zarqa Ma'in, but is more beautiful and the water is cooler and therefore far more refreshing. Another fun difference is that ropes are set up at various points along the route to aid climbing up small waterfalls along the way. This short trek, taking only one hour each way, terminates at a beautiful and powerful waterfall.

For some reason, we seemed to have arrived in Madaba during the escalation of a feud between two powerful Muslim families, the Halmidas and the Alzaidas (no idea on the spelling of either of them). It all started when 2 members of the Halmida family took a member of the Alzaida family to the Wadi Zarqa Ma'in and killed him in cold blood. The victim's family is pushing for the death penalty (which doesn't exist in Jordan) for the perpetrators, but the trial is only slated to start in the fall, increasing the animosity between the two families.

Gus jr. told us there were riot police and tear gas being used at semi-regular intervals to break up the common skirmishes in the streets.

One night as the Guses, Chris and myself were enjoying some drinks at Haret Jdoudna, we noticed the staff continually looking out the front door. We were there until closing and the staff advised us to leave out the back door despite our hotel being just across the street.

As we exited, we saw flashing police lights and heard a commotion coming from the street over As we approached our hotel, we saw groups of young men running down the street towards us. There were riot police in full gear hitting stragglers with their batons and kicking doors. We were the only people moving towards the police. Gus jr. was telling the police that he lived here (we were next to St. Georges church) and when Chris asked the officer if we could just go back to our hotel, the officer gave a resounding No!, but followed it up with a comically misplaced "Welcome to Jordan!".

We ended up waiting at Gus' place before being escorted back to our hotel by a member of Jordan's equivalent of the FBI.

Crazy night!

Nearly every few minutes in Jordan, someone will stop and ask you "where you from?", and will immediately follow it up with "you are welcome". If people know only three words in the English language , they'll be "Welcome to Jordan". Despite the tense situation from the night before, Chris and I couldn't help but laugh when the officer welcomed us to Jordan after beating some rival clans and chasing people in the streets.

You can't make this stuff up!

After nearly a week in Madaba, we packed our bags and headed to Amman, Jordan's capital. While not much to look at aesthetically speaking, the city's mountainous landscape and lack of rival family clashes made it a welcomed change.

Our first day was spent walking along Amman's famed Rainbow street, followed by a viewing of the Dark Knight Rises.

Our arrival in Amman coincided with the second day of Eid al-Fitr or the festival celebrating the end of Ramadan, so people were in a more festive (i.e. drinky) mood. We celebrated Eid in the apparently typical Ammanian way: by getting drunk at bars that also double as bookstores during the day! There's nothing like losing brain cells while being surrounded by intellectual reading material!

During the night, Chris and I got in a little grappling match and he tripped backwards (I didn't push him I swear!) and hit his head on the street, knocking himself unconscious for a few seconds. Gus and I made sure he was okay and then we went for shisha.

The next day we nursed our hangovers and Chris the bump on the back of his head, not really doing much during the day. I decided to visit Amman's Roman amphitheater, one of the few remnants of the ancient city known as Philadelphia. The theatre can hold 6000 people and is still used for live events to this day.

From the theatre you can see the citadel, which sits on Amman's highest hill and comprises various ruins including the Temple of Hercules.

From there I visited the nymphaeum, or Roman fountain, and took a quick peak at the King Hussein Mosque before returning to our hotel.

That evening, we were invited by some Jordanian girls who spoke to us the night before and somehow didn't realize how drunk we were, for some coffee and shisha (narghile in Jordan). We were later joined by some other people from Dubai, Palestine, Ukraine and various other places. We had a great time discussing, joking around and learning about each others' culture and backgrounds.

It was unfortunate that we met all these great people right before leaving for our next destination, but alas, such is life on the road!