Have you ever been in a car driving along and come to an on-ramp to a highway where everyone seems to driving at about 80 mph? You have to assimilate to that speed really goddamn quickly, or it’s curtains. That’s what the past week has kinda felt like.
Since the wife and I came back from Lebanon last week, we’ve both been trying to re-enter and re-acclimate to the blitz of activity involving our respective office workloads, the impending school year for our kids and everything else that comes along with the end of the summer. As such, I haven’t had quite as much time to devote to the blog. Apologies, but I’m sure you understand.
In any case, while I’d originally intended on drafting a long, detailed post about the trip to Beirut, I’m instead simply going with selected highlights, punctuated by my photos. I want to post this while it’s all still relatively fresh in my head, although we’ll already have been back a full week by tomorrow.
Anyway, basically, the wife and I spent a little over a week in Beirut, also spending some days outside of the capital city in the higher elevations like Bsharri to the north (not too far from the Cedar Forest … or “Forest of God”), the quaint fishing village of Byblos and in a region southeast of Beirut referred to as “The Chouf.”
It's hard to encapsulate in a single nutshell, but our trip shattered a lot of my preconceptions about this part of the world. To the last, everyone we encountered was unfailingly gracious, especially when they learned we weren’t there on business but on holiday. The Lebanese are incredibly warm, polite and familial people, happy to help, extrapolate and share. Obviously, theirs is a history rife with a well-documented share of turmoil, but between the factions of the city in everyday life – Christians, Sunni Muslims and Druze peacefully coexist … except, of course, when they don’t, and the visual remnants of those conflicts are still evident, in certain places.
Herewith some other observations....
While largely a good-natured, relaxed and big-hearted bunch, the Lebanese drive like absolute maniacs. Speed limits, traffic lights and even basic rules of the road are all essentially blithely ignored suggestions. Protected turns? One-way streets? No parking zones? These are all sort of subject to an endearingly unbothered “says you” sensibility. I spent our first few trips by car hyperventilating accordingly, but after a while, the Lebanese laissez-faire approach rubbed off on me. That said, you DEFINITELY need to look both ways a couple of times before daring to cross any streets. Oh, those same streets are often completely bereft of any helpful, identifying signage, but that’s another matter entirely.
This probably isn’t limited to the Lebanese, but I was truly struck by the sheer volume of selfie-taking on display. In many instances, certain folks – mostly women – could be observed snapping selfie after selfie after selfie for half-hours on end. If you thought it was bad in New York, rest assured it’s a global problem.
Speaking of gratuitous selfies, though, here's me in a strangely Eighties-ish, David Lynchian men's room of a restaurant in Downtown Beirut...
Enough of my yacking. Enjoy the pics.
Incidentally, the woman making the odd cameo here and there, here, is my wife.
I got excited by the STOP signs, as they were one of the few signs I could comprehend.
While the wife was resting one afternoon, I went out in search of the mythical Chico, arguably Beirut’s preeminent record store, buried deep in Hamra, kind of Beirut’s Williamsburg, if you will. I found it. Nothing too exciting, although I did find this slab of wax from Martin "Youth" Glover's post-Killing Joke outfit, Brilliant.
These next few are from a day spent in Dayr Al Qamar in the verdant hills of The Chouf, truly one of the most breathtakingly idyllic places I've ever been fortunate enough to visit.
M'self & one of my excellent cousins-in-law, Naji
Even in the hilly wilds of the Chouf, no one escapes the portentous prose of Don Henley.
These next few are from the fishing village of Byblos...
Back in Beirut...the mighty Mediterranean...
Recent Comments