I just recently returned from a five day holiday in one of the greatest countries I have ever been to: Lebanon. It was such an amazing experience and definitely one of those places you have to visit during your life time (especially with someone who is Lebanese). During my five days, I saw it all (but I still need to go back). From the night life of Beirut to ancient Roman ruins to protests and attacks against the Norwegian Embassy to pristine snowboarding conditions. Lebanon is a diverse place; diverse in landscape, religion, politics, and people. As a result of its size, you are able to participate in completely opposite experiences in a matter of only 20 car ride minutes (that is if you can stomach the race car driving practices of most Lebanese. 190 kph = 100 mph).
This is one of my favorite pictures I took in downtown Beirut. It shows the diversity of religion with a skyline of overlapping places of worship
To briefly recap the Lebanese five days, a rough overview of the things I did, saw, and thought about (In pictures):
DAY ONE:Arrived in Beirut. Had some amazing Lebanese/Armenian Lunch as masses and explored downtown Beirut including the site where former prime minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated on February 14th 2005. It was intense to see the destruction that had taken place. The amount of explosives the assassins had used destroyed most of the hotel and surrounding buildings.
DAY TWO: Time to experience the world famous Beirut night life. So I feel I have been well exposed to different party scenes throughout the world, the hot LA scene, Vegas debauchery, Mexico Spring Break madness, Full moon parties in Thailand, but compared to the party habits of Lebanese these were for the novices. The preparties started at 12:30 AM and the clubs got crowded around 3 AM. By 5 PM I was ready to head home, but the place was still packed with people dancing on tables, chairs, platforms, and the bar, all definitely not ready to leave. The night club BO18 was quite unique and now on my top list of clubs I've visited. It was a former bomb shelter that still retained the same characteristics: a full ceiling that opened, images of people that had been victim to past bombings and chairs and tables that were designed to look like red cushioned coffins with all the same hinge opening features. Morbid sounding, but better understood when experienced.
"For a slightly bizarre experience, try BO18, built on the site of a Palestinian refugee camp stormed by the militia during the civil war. The theme is an underground cemetery set in a wartime bunker." *www.cntraveller.co.uk 
(Side note: the night we went out, we had gone to the famous party streets of Monot and Jumaizee before ending up at BO18 to only find them both deserted. The next day we found out there had been bombs threats to these areas -- Never had I experienced that before).
DAY THREE: Woken up by a phone call from one of our Lebanese friends frantically warning us to stay inside due to the rallies that were taking place blocks from the hotel protesting the recent Danish cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammed. The rallies quickly escalated into the destruction of public property, the torching of the Norwegian embassy, and the trashing of a local Maronite church. We had to wait until 3PM to leave our hotel watching the whole scene on Arabic tv and the biased and framed CNN interpretation.
http://news.bbc.co.ukAfter we headed out to Bekaa Valley, the final destination being the city of Baalbec known for its Hezbollah affiliation and ancient Roman ruins. On our way there, we drove through numerous military road blocks and a Christian village where locals were protesting the recent activity in Beirut. To ensure the crowd would not become violent, there were large amounts of military vehicles and personal armed and ready. It's one thing to watch these events on tv, but it is an unreal experience to drive right through it. Can't compare it to my former suburban life.
The city of Baalbec was such a trip to me. We arrived to see the famous Temple of the Sun and after walked the streets of the very Muslim village. One of the streets was referred to as the martyr street where on every lamp post was the picture of an individual that had died as a result of the Israel conflict. I've seen these images on CNN, but seeing them in person was much more moving and real.
DAY FOUR: Headed off to one of the oldest cities in the world: Byblos. It was a beautiful city set on the coast that still had much of the ancient roman ruins intact. Wandered through the old structures and took in all the history which is very much absent in my life in Dubai. Lebanese people are so friendly! They were all very welcoming and more than enthusiastic to share facts on their country. Being in Byblos really made me miss the feeling of being in a place that you know had weathered many years and has character (If you want to try to argue with me that the Burj Arab and the artificial ski slope has character I'd be curious to hear your perspective).
To explain this photo, we were all kind of worried that my travel companion might kidnap me, but don't worry he didn't succeed, we just thought you'd all think the photo was funny ;) DAY FIVE: Faraya: The final day, woke up in a friend's chalet to do something I had been craving since I moved to the desert: PLAY IN
REAL SNOW! To describe skiing in Lebanon, picture the Lebanese woman you see at the night clubs, plus Almaaza beer, plus their love for designer products and you have skiing in Lebanon. To be fair, the skiing in Lebanon was quite amazing. It is the only place I have skied where from the top of the mountain you can look down at the beautiful coast line and see Cyprus in the distance. It was entertaining though to see the woman sitting at the bottom of the slopes, their makeup set as if they were going out to some fancy night club and well prepared to participate in an unexpected fashion show. 'Apres Ski'
Chanel Snowboards?! I had no idea they had diversified their product line, but I guess you do have to have one to match your Chanel bag. So that was my trip to Lebanon, short, but such a great experience. It's amazing to see a place with such resilience after so many years of civil war. Check it out, you'll find it to be quite different from most of the places you have seen.
-lish
