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!