London

Made it to London in one piece late last night and this is the morning after. B is here with my friend Beth in a London Boozer getting on it on a Sunday afternoon.

We stayed two nights with Beth and her husband Ed and only really had the one whole day there which we spent in and out of various pubs. Well it was a really nice day so what else were we gonna do?




The photo below is a Japanese restaurant in Soho that was lovely. For some strange reason the waiter told me I couldn't take photos which I thought was crazy so here is left - right Ed, Beth, B, Claire, Conal & D enjoying Japanese.



This photo above is rather special. Both Beth & Ed have been Vegetarians for years and sometime early in the night Ed happened to mention he has been thinking about eating meat recently. I kept at him all night about this of course and eventually got him to try one of the smoked pork ribs that Conal & myself had been tucking into all night. Here he is enjoying his second one. Beth was horrified but Conal and I thought it was hilarious.

My very first vegetarian convert (he was very happy).

Goodbye Lebanon

Underneath Le Meridien Commodore was a bar (Casbah) that was probably the most authentic Lebanese bar I experienced. B didn't like it because it was a little seedy and just full of blokes drinking and watching the belly dancers. I however, thought it was excellent and would retire there every night for last drinks and to see what was going on. There was always something going on.

This was my last drink (vdoka & redbull) in Beirut and I was due at the airport in four hours to catch a flight to London. There are no photos of that morning as I was incapable of doing anything but getting on the plane. This is my the last photo of the last drink in Lebanon. Until next time.

Sky Bar

Sky Bar, on the roof of the Palm Beach hotel is perhaps Beirut's most impressive Bar. Over three levels, with a swimming pool and amazing views North & South over the Ocean it is an ideal place to drink and have some fun.

In the photo are (left - right) Joe, Nasam (thanks for the cigars), Knuckles and D. This was a big night.

Out & About in Beirut

Taking a walk around downtown Beirut is an eye-opener for sure and pretty exciting as well. The first photo is of the Palm Beach Hotel. This place has an awesome bar (Sky Bar) on the roof over three levels and is directly over the road from where Rafik Hariri (previous Prime Minister) was killed by a bomb back in Feb-05.













It's hard to see in this photo but behind D is a huge Mosque built by Hariri that is an amazing structure.















The photo below was taken on our last night in Beirut and we are back in Asia Bar this time for a meal as well as drinks. This was the best place we went to overall for food and drinks, the Sashimi was awesome as was the beef that I had with a bottle of fantastic French red wine.

I was determined to have a big one on my last night in Beirut and this was just the start of it.

The Commodore

Having already read a couple of books about the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) I was determined to stay at least one night at The Commodore hotel in West Beirut. This hotel became famous during the civi war as the place all foreign journalists and correspondents stayed and sent their telexes from to their news desks at home. It has a real history to it throughout this period and was pretty much the only hotel left standing in this area.

A friend of ours from Sydney (George) who was working in Beirut at the time had booked us into his hotel for convenience and it turned out to be The Commodore, now owned by the Le Meridien group but still trading under the same name (Le Meridien Commodore).

The photo above was taken in the lobby as we prepared (with G & T's) for a night out. The hotel was brilliant and definately a reccomendation for Beirut. In the heart of the Hamra in West Beirut it is well located for shopping and only ten minutes from Solidere in a cab where most of the restaurants & nightlife is.


This photo was taken in Asia Bar. Behind us is the bar and behind that is a view over the city and beyond.

Awesome bar and awesome view.

In this photo is (left - right) Natasha, Susie & D.

Harissa

On the way to Beirut we stop and get the Telefreque (Cable Car) up to Harissa which is up in the Beirut Mountains. What we find is more amazing views and beautiful churches, one old (seen in the photo below under Our Lady of Harissa) and one new which was enourmous right next door. The photo above is looking North from the top of Harissa and out to the Meditteranean.
From up here you can see the whole of Beirut below and the Ocean looks amazing from up here. There is a wonderful gift shop here to pick up presents for family and we find a lovely Rosary for my parents and a candle for B's Nan in Sydney.

Have to admit the Telefreque was a little un-nerving but awesome nontheless. See the views.

Leaving Diman

So the time has come for B & myself to leave the Village and head for Beirut. We have both had an awesome time and seen and done somethings we wouldn't have seen or done anywhere else on the planet. The last seven days has been sightseeing and pretty much relaxing at night. Now is the time to let loose in downtown Beirut and see what the place has to really offer. I am quite sad at leaving this place as it has been an incredible experience as well as very beautiful.

With views like this above and people like the ones we met, B & myself will certainly be back. Who knows when but we will for sure.

OK, time to see what nightlife Beirut can offer us.

Baalbeck

The Roman ruins in Baalbeack were awesome. Way better than I expected and actually quite well preserved considering their age and history. Most of the damage to these particular structures was done by an eartquake in the late 18th Century but they are still remarkable. We had a great guide who got a $US30 tip off me as a result. That was B's fault, I wanted to give him 20.



After finishing in Baalbeck we carried on driving through the Bekaa Valley and stopped at this magnificent restaurant for lunch. The picture was taken because of the fruit on the table. After you have finished your food they re-set the table and adorn it with every type of fruit available. Spot the size of the apples and some of it was fruit I have never seen.

What The? (Country of Extremes)

No we are not at the airport leaving Lebanon already, we are still in the mountains of Northern Lebanon and this is a house. Has anyone seen anything like this anywhere because I haven't. Complete with landing gear and wings as balconies. B's father asked the gardener if we could enter and he politely declined. I was dumbstruck and thought it deserved an entry in the history of our trip for being so ostentatious and extravagant.

This village has the largest houses I have ever seen either in the flesh or on tv and a few were quite literally Castles or Estates each one as unique and over the top as the last. Check this one out below that was right opposite the one that looks like a plane. Hard to gauge how big this is but there is a fella on the bottom left balcony you can see, he looks tiny.


This is seriously a country of extremes as beside the house in this picture are tiny corrugated shacks where the Syrian labourers live while they are building these places and looking after them. Quite literally UNBELIEVEABLE.

Village Celebration

This was a 50th Wedding Anniversay we were invited to and the layout was fantastic. This was the afternoon after Storm nightclub and as you cn see from the photo I was a little under the weather. This was a shame as the food and wine were very beautiful here and the setting could not have been better. The top photo was taken from the drive way looking towards the house. You can't tell from this photo but behind those trees on the right we are on the edge of a cliff which overlooks virtually the whole Qadisha Valley in Northern Lebanon.

The hosts were incredible and Teresa, B and myself were placed on the best table with family and some local big shots in politics and journalism. The whole day was incredible and after it finished I went back to the balcony to lie down. I still hadn't recovered from Storm nightclub, what a place.

'Storm'

After we managed to escape the restaurant we decided to party on and myself and B piled into someones car and started driving up through the mountains, God knows where we were heading.
As we drove through village after village we eventually stopped at the entrance to what looked like a large ski-hut in the middle of nowhere. Completely made out of timber with a small neon light over the door that read 'Storm'. As we opened the door the place erupted with music and dancing, we were at the local nightclub.

Have to say this place was brilliant and for pure enjoyment and having fun was on a par with anything we went to in Beirut. The music was mostly dance music from the UK but every 15 minutes the DJ would drop in an Arabic record and the place would explode with screams and energy and everyone seemed to just loose it.

The drink situation in this place was new to me. Someone had rang ahead and booked a table for our group and when you arrive you order bottles of whatever you want, in our case scotch and vodka. With the spirits comes all the mixers you want and when you empty one bottle of scotch you simply order another and the bill gets settled at the end of the night before you leave. My main problem with this was it was a recipe for drinking more and drinking quicker. There was no bar or queue of people to negotiate, just the table in front of you teeming with bottles of spirits for you to pour at will.

Not sure how we got home or at what time but more than likely one of the village lads dropped us off. I do remember however, being told just before I collapsed on my bed that we were invited to a formal function tomorrow, a 50th Wedding Anniversary in the village. More drinking and more dancing I thought, brilliant.

In the top photo (left - right) is Chadi, Simon, George, Spring, Ferris & D.

Below is Susie Saab celebrating her birthday in good style. Think that was her third bottle.

Mississippi in Lebanon

Welcome to Mississippi. No not the State in the deep Sourth of the United States but the restaurant in Bscharreh in the mountains of Northern Lebanon.

We were guests of two guys from the village who invited the whole village basically and although the night started pretty quietly as you can see it heated up pretty quickly.

The guys in the photo spoke no English and my Arabic is pretty limited but we got on very well as you can see. Probably something to do with the scotch I was drinking but they wouldn't let us leave whilst the music was pumping and I was soon leading the Dubkee and really getting into the swing of things.