New Year's in Beirut

There is a storm sweeping through Lebanon bringing wind, rain and snow at higher elevations. A bit of a shame cos it's a long weekend for us - Monday off as it's the Prophet Mohammad's birthday. Interesting fact - the Muslim calendar is a lunar one, so a year in the calendar is shorter than the western, Gregorian calendar. This means that there will be two Prophet's birthdays in 2015, once this weekend and once in December (the exact date escapes me at the moment). And while we're on the subject of holidays, Tuesday is the Armenian Christmas and a public holiday in Lebanon. Sadly, my work doesn't recognise Armenian Christmas as an official holiday and I have to go to work.

I had a relatively quiet New Year's Eve with three other friends. Definitely quiet by Lebanese standards judging from the war stories told at work on Friday.

We started with a glass of wine at friend's apartment, then proceeded to Le Sushi Bar, near Monot. Dinner was nice and the food was of high quality, though not entirely suitable for me given my squeamishness about raw fish and seafood allergy. Still, I managed fine with the cooked, non-shrimp/crab options and was pretty full by the time we were down. The deserts were average. I had a Double Chocolate Fondant. The texture of the cake was more undercooked rather than moist and
the cake didn't quite ooze in the middle like it should have. We also ordered a bottle of Italian wine (the Japanese/Italian combination seems popular in this part of the world, more on that another time) and one of our party had a cocktail. The bill came to US$90 each, an outrageous sum given that we hadn't ordered that much alcohol.

Goodie bag from the restaurant containing various noise and light
emitting devices. The hat too. 

We left the restaurant at about 10.30 and shared a bottle of champagne while walking through the streets towards Gemmayze. I love the fact that drinking on the streets is completely A-OK in Beirut. So unlike the liquor bans around New Zealand. Then again, the Lebanese are a lot more civilised when it comes to drinking. Binge drinking and the associated anti-social behaviour is rare and frowned upon.

We finished the champagne across the road from the iconic Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque in downtown Beirut while waiting for the midnight fireworks. That's another novelty for me - try drinking alcohol in front of a mosque in Malaysia and you'd be lynched for being 'insulting Islam'. Yet here in Beirut, there lots of groups having a peaceful drink next to revellers in head scarves. No issue and no one blinked an eye. It was also nice how they closed the Gemmayze area to traffic, turning it into a pedestrian street.

There was no countdown where we were and people were setting fireworks off at about 11.40. Blaring of ship horns from the harbour signalled the stroke of midnight and the New Year. Cue more fireworks and people blowing on various whistles, horns and other noise-makers. I merrily joined in with the toy trumpet I got in my goodie bag.

I managed to capture a burst of fireworks

Glimpse of the crowd at the Al-Amin Mosque waiting for midnight

Fireworks done, we headed to Dragonfly, a bar in Gemmayze. The friends order drinks, I passed as I was beginning to feel the effects of alcohol. I headed home at around 12.30 and was asleep before 2 am.

Family holiday recap - Lebanon and Jordan

Yes, yes, I know it's been a while since I last updated this blog. I've been busy having fun and doing more travelling.

First, my family - parents and brother - came over to visit me in Lebanon. I had a good time showing them around Beirut. We also did two trips out of Beirut - to Sidon and Tyre, and to the Qadisha Valley the next day. I was quite tickled by the attention my family attracted. See, most Asian females in Beirut are Filipino maids. There aren't many Asian men around and certainly hardly any families. When I was with my brother (he'd arrived first), we got plenty of STARES. I joked that people must be thinking that I was a naughty maid running off with a boyfriend - there may actually be some truth in that given the looks people were giving us. That all changed when we started walking around with our parents. People were so friendly and we got lots of random people on the streets saying "Welcome to Lebanon". At Raouche in Beirut, a local couple asked to take a photo with Mum. In Sidon's old souk, kids followed us around to say hi multiple times. 

Downtown Beirut, by the cinema

Qana el Jalil. Thought to be the site of Jesus' first miracle,
where he turned water into wine. This cave houses a small
shrine.  

Sidon Sea Castle

Beautiful Bcharre in the mountains above the Qadisha Valley.

After the Lebanon teaser, we jetted off to Jordan to continue our family holiday. We arrived in Amman too late to do much on the first day apart from stroll around Rainbow Street and the downtown area. The next day, we did a tour of Madaba (famed for its mosaics, also the ancient Biblical land of Moab), Mt Nebo (where Moses is said to have looked over to the Promised Land before he died), Jesus' baptism site, and finished at the Dead Sea. 

Copy of the Holy Land Mosaic.
Outside the St George's Church where the actual mosaic is. 

The oft-photographed Serpentine Cross, Mt Nebo

Where Jesus was baptised. The Jordan River has shrunk so much
that this area is now (almost) bone dry

Modern day baptism site. That's Israel across the river

The Dead Sea. I understand that sunsets can be spectacular, but
not the day we were there. Still, the pinkish-blue hue was very pretty

Salt deposits form layers with sand on the shores of the Dead Sea

In the following days, we explored the magnificent ruins of this ancient city of Petra, experienced the Wadi Rum desert and stayed in a Bedouin-style camp, and saw Amman's Citadel. Then it was sadly time for Mum and Dad to leave. My brother and I stayed back in Amman where friends kindly hosted us over Christmas. My brother and I managed a visit to Jerash to see some of the best preserved Roman ruins in the world and finished with floating in the Dead Sea the morning before finally saying by to Jordan.

The iconic Treasury of Petra

Red sand dune at Wadi Rum

Camels being watered at Wadi Rum

Sunset behind the Temple of Hercules, Amman Citadel

Oval Plaza at Jerash

A truly enjoyable couple of weeks. Now I'm back to the daily drudgery of work, I'm truly thankful I have these wonderful memories to keep me going. :)

We had a fire burning merrily all Christmas afternoon at my
friend's apartment in Amman

Istanbul is wonderful (Part 1)

The iconic Sultanahmet Mosque (aka Blue Mosque)

Visiting Turkey has been on my bucket list for a few years. It was certainly on my "must visit" list when I learnt I'd be heading to Lebanon. The strange thing was that when the opportunity to go finally came, I found  myself tossing up between Turkey and Greece in what should have been a no-brainer decision. In my defence, I'd hesitated over Turkey because I'd initially planned to go with friends in early 2015 plus I was distracted by the will-I-get-leave-or-won't-I saga. A week after returning, I'm not sure my leave was ever officially signed off as I still haven't seen the paperwork (the craziness of my work would fill another blog post and more),

The last minute nature of my trip meant that a) my flights were dearer than I'd liked at US$355, and b) I had done minimal planning.  All I knew was that I wanted to visit Istanbul plus Cappadocia AND Ephesus. A tall order given the size of Turkey and the fact that they form three points of a pretty large triangle. But all three had been plugged by my parents and brother (who had all been to Turkey before me - why am I always playing catch up?) as the main highlights of Turkey for them, so I didn't want to risk missing out on one. After all, best intentions aside, there's no guarantee that I'd ever have the opportunity to return to Turkey.

I jetted off to Turkey early Saturday morning, 15 Nov.  While the 7 am flight meant that I had to be up by 4.30 am, the advantage was I arrived in Istanbul by 9 am and had the entire day ahead of me. Coincidentally, I arrived in Istanbul on the same day as some friends. P and N are based in Amman, Jordan where P does the same work that I do here in Beirut. We met each other at the airport and made plans to spend the next 3 days or so exploring Istanbul before we headed off to other parts of Turkey. As we were all staying in the historic/touristy Sultanahmet area, that made things easier.  

From the airport, we headed to town via metro and tram. Oh the joys of public transport - such a treat to have an efficient public transport system after the taxi headaches of Beirut (that's something for another post). After sorting out things like checking into our hotels and filling our empty stomachs, it was time to check out the sights.

Stumbled across this East Turkestan restaurant in Sultanahmet.
East Turkestan = Xinjiang Autonomous Region in China.
Calling it East Turkestan is a political statement. I was
intrigued and wanted to try it, but sadly did not have the time. 

Sultanahmet is Istanbul's Old City. It is essentially where the ancient city of Constantinople was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985. Most of the main historical sights in Istanbul are in Sultanahmet or within walking distance. It is a delightful area with lots of twisty little streets filled with quaint buildings. The downside is how overwhelming touristy it was - hotels, tourist restaurants and souvenir shops galore! One thing I did not like about Istanbul was how restaurant staff and shopkeepers continually hassle you to come in, buy their stuff etc. I'm one of those people who's more likely to buy stuff if you leave me alone.



Unsurprisingly, we started at Sultanahmet Square. The Blue Mosque and the Basilica-turned-mosque-turned-museum, Hagia Sophia (or Aya Sofya) face each other across Sultanahmet Square. The old Hippodrome (now an open-air square) and the Basillica Cistern are adjacent to the square. There are many street vendors selling snacks (including simit, a traditional Turkish pretzel-like bread), souvenirs, toys and Bosphorous cruise tickets. One thing I was surprised by were the number of stray dogs, and rather large healthy-looking stray. The dogs all bore tags on their ears - a Turkish friend told me that it's a way of showing that the dogs have been sterilised. I guess the Turks don't have the same fear and abhorrence of dogs that their Muslim brethren in Malaysia do.

Majestic-looking dog with Hagia Sophia in
the background.

Another one making himself at home at the square

Inner courtyard of the Blue Mosque. It was an overcast day.

Our first port of call was the Blue Mosque, one of the few free attractions in Turkey. Some might say it's a house of worship, so of course entry is free. But that's not the case for many churches in Europe - Westminster Abbey, I'm looking at you. The way around that is go during a service, which means actually attending/participating, but that's not an issue for me.  It's a privilege to be able to attend a service in such beautiful a building with such rich traditions.

Anyway, I digress. While P and N were having lunch, I'd nipped back to my hotel quickly to get a scarf to cover my head for this. It turns out I needn't have, because they were handing out scarves for free at the entrance (but the again, I know mine hasn't had several hundred heads wearing it). It was quite a queue at the visitor's entrance at the side of the mosque to get in. While standing in line, N and I amused ourselves taking pictures of ourselves in headscarves.

Stations of the wudu or ritual ablution at the back of the mosque.
The visitor's queue went past this area, which stretches out the
the entire width of the mosque. 

After about 15-20 minutes, we were in. They handed each of us a plastic bag for our shoes, which we carried around with us. The mosque is pretty, but it was difficult to appreciate it with all the tourists jostling around. If this was during the low winter season, I don't want to know what summer would be like.

The Blue Mosque gets its moniker from the blue tiles adorning
its interior. They didn't show up as clearly because of the
overcast conditions, but you can still see the blue-ness.

The faithful praying while the tourists
wander behind a barrier.

The Hagia Sophia.
If one is blue and the other pink, is one a boy and the other a girl?

After the Blue Mosque, we crossed the square to join another queue. This time, it was at the Hagia Sophia. The Hagia Sophia was built as a Basillica during the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire). Its massive dome was a masterpiece of Byzantine engineering. I read somewhere that the Hagia Sophia is so big that the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris could fit inside it. While no doubt an amazing structure worth visiting (we spent a couple of hours there), we thought that the 30 TYL entry fee was a bit of a rip-off considering the massive scaffolding inside (Wikitravel says its been there since August 2013). When Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 1400s, Hagis Sophia was converted into a mosque. The Ottomans made changes to it, such as adding four minarets and plastering over Christian mosaics. Ironically, seems that the plastering over of the mosaics may actually have preserved them. In 1935, the Hagia Sophia was converted to a museum under the new Republic of Turkey.

The interior has a dim Gothic feel.

One of the chandeliers illuminating the Hagia Sophia

TheVirgin Mary and Christ Child, flanked by
Emperor John Commenus and his Empress. 

Christ, in the Deesis Mosaic

The Blue Mosque, as seen from the Upper Gallery.

I like the juxtaposition of the mosaic of the Virgin and Christ Child
with Islamic calligraphy in this shot. 

We had initially planned to visit the Basillica Cistern after the Hagia Sophia. However, we had not planned for the massive queue in at the Cistern entrance when we exited Hagia Sophia. A local guy who saw us staring said that it was because the Hagia Sophia had closed for the day, so the crowd simply migrated to the Cistern. Deciding our time was better spent elsewhere then yet another queue, we found a cafe for drink and a short rest.

We had dinner that night at a restaurant near P and N's hotel. But not before P led us on a gigantic circle around the Blue Mosque to get to that area, when we could have cut through Sultanahmet Square. After that, it was back to the hotel for an early night. It had been a long day.

I swung by to take some night shots. They didn't quite turn out.
Only this one is halfway decent.

The Chouf mountains: Land of the Druze and cedars

The second weekend of my three weekend saga was a hike in the Barouk Cedar Reserve in Chouf. Unlike my trip to Tyre, this trip had been planned for a few weeks and postponed twice because of bad weather. This time, it was a three day weekend (Hijri New Year) and the weather forecast was great.

The Sunday started off well. My friend and I met at the foot of the stairs in Mar Mikhael. We walked to Gemmayze, got some breakfast at Paul, a French bakery/cafe, then hopped into a cab bound for the Cola bus interchange.


That's where we hit the first snag. There were no buses in at the place we were dropped off. After standing around for a while, my friend (who speaks Arabic) approached a man who also appeared to be waiting and asked about buses to Chouf. He told her that the bus driver was on leave because it was a public holiday but maybe another bus might show up. Thankfully, a bus did come not too long later and yay, it was a bus heading to our destination.

The way public buses work here is they wait until they're full before departing (but for 3000 LBP, about US$2, you can't complain). Since we were among the first to board, it meant a wait of almost an hour before we got going. By this time it was past 11.30, so our plans of a visit to the Beitadeen Palace, lunch and and afternoon hike had to change. Coincidentally, one of the passengers was a friend of my friend, and she had brought a friend along too. The four of us decided that we'd just do the hike and skip the palace.

We finally arrived at the village of Barouk at around 1 pm. Barouk is a Druze town and we saw plenty of people dressed in traditional Druze dress. I did not take any pictures, but you can see what it looks like here. Wikipedia says that: "The Druze are a monotheistic religious and social community found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan. Rooted in Ismailism, a branch of Shia Islam, Druze beliefs incorporate elements from Abrahamic religions as well as Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, Pythagoreanism, and other philosophies, creating a distinct theology known to esoterically interpret religious scriptures and to highlight the role of the mind and truthfulness. The Druze call themselves Ahl al-Tawhid "the People of Monotheism" or "the People of Unity" or al-Muwaḥḥidūn "the Unitarians". The Druze community played an important role in shaping the history of the Levant, particularly Lebanon. The Druze's social customs differ markedly from those of Muslims or Christians and they are known to form a close knit and cohesive social community but also integrate fully in their adopted homelands."

The Druze are a secretive bunch. While there is information on their history and communities on the internet, there is not much information on their beliefs and religious practices. It has been said that this secrecy is because of their traditional need to protect themselves from accusations of blasphemy. A Druze friend told me that in some areas, they claim to be are a sect of Shia Islam to escape persecution. Another Druze friend explained that most of them only begin to learn about their religion later on in life (40+) and it is an arduous process to earn the right to read their scriptures. Each Druze family has a copy of the scriptures in the house, but they are not allowed/able to read them. He said that Druze children are told to keep anything they learn about their religion a secret from outsiders. Because Druze children and young people receive so little religious instruction, he said that many young Druze see Druze-hood as their social identity and a way of life, rather than a religion.

So in Barouk, we found a taxi and haggled with the driver to take us to the cedar reserve and pick us up again at later for 60,000LL (US$40). It was a rip-off for the distance but all taxi fares in Lebanon are a rip-off and we didn't have a choice. Split four ways, it wasn't too bad so we agreed and off we went.

Barouk Cedar Forest may be so named, but there are many more pine trees than cedars. The Lebanon Cedar (Cedrus libani) is native to Lebanon (duh!), Israel, and parts of Syria and Jordan. The Bible is filled with references to the Cedars of LebanonThe seafaring Phonecians used them to build ships, King Solomon used them to build the Temple of Jerusalem, the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, and Ottomans also used them, Its usefulness and fame has acted as a double-edged sword. The cedar is now endangered thanks to centuries of deforestation and well, cutting down the trees for its valuable wood. The cedar is a national emblem of Lebanon and appears prominently on the country's flag. In this diverse and disparate nation, it is said that the conservation of the cedars is the only thing the Lebanese can agree on.



We followed a road in the reserve up the mountains. About 10 minutes into our walk, and weary of following a road rather than a nice trail, we were lucky to run into a park ranger who showed us a turn-off to a hiking trail. It was pretty rocky (had to watch our footing) and uphill the entire way. Not having done much exercise since coming to Lebanon, I was soon puffed.

The weather was perfect (maybe a little too hot). While it was still quite green, the golden hues of autumn were emerging. Beautiful autumn crocuses were growing on and around the rocky paths, adding colour to the landscape. It was so nice to breathe the fresh mountain air and to enjoy the peacefulness of nature, away from the endless honking and vehicle fumes of Beirut.

The funny thing was we kept thinking the cedars were around each corner we came too. But each time, nope, the trail continued. After about an hour, the trail finally ended and we found ourselves... on the road again. We did finally find some cedars after following the road for a bit. In the end, conscious of time and shorter daylight hours (it was the first day the clocks went back), we decided not to walk all the way to the main cedar grove. We stopped for a quick snack, then decided to turn back.



While we were still on the road heading to the start of the trail, a flashy Mercedes drove past, reversed back to us and stopped. Turned out that the driver wanted us to take a picture of him and his girlfriend, which we did. He offered us a lift and the four of us squeezed into the backseat of the car. Within a minute of him stating to drive (remember, this was a windy mountain road), he pulled out a 1 litre bottle of vodka, took a swig from it and asked us "you want some". Another swig later and we asked him to stop the car so we could walk the rest of the way. We could barely hold hack our laughter until his car was out of sight. I do hope he got home safety.

By the time we got back to Barouk village, we were starving as we'd missed lunch. By this time I had a splitting headache and was feeling a tad lightheaded. After a late 4.30 pm lunch (chicken quesadilla sandwich for me), I felt more like myself again. It's amazing what a nice meal can do.

Then it was back to Beirut by bus. All of us promptly fell asleep once we got going. Once back in Beirut, I ended a satisfying day with drinks and dinner with some other friends.

Cedars!

 

Flying visit to Tyre

It's been a while since I've updated this blog. The last few weeks have been quite busy and I must admit that blogging wasn't at the forefront of my mind. So now, I have three weekends of activities to write about. First up, Tyre.

The trip to Tyre was completely unplanned as far as I was concerned. On Friday evening, a colleague mentioned that she was going to Tyre the next day. Faced with a rather uneventful weekend, I crashed the party and asked if I could go along.

Next morning, after an hour's delayed departure, I found myself in a taxi heading south. The driver was a terrible one - speeding away at up to 140 kmph and driving with frequent, jerky braking and sudden turns. We kept telling him to slow down, but he soon slipped back to his crazy driving. It was a relief when we finally arrived in Tyre.

Tyre is an ancient Phoenician city in southern Lebanon. Israel lies only about 20 km to the south. From 1982 to 2000, Tyre and other parts of south Lebanon were occupied by Israel. The area is currently under the partial administration of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which was established to manage the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. UNIFIL soldiers and vehicles are a common sight in the city. Tyre is frequently mentioned alongside Sidon (Saida locally) in the Bible. The nearby village of Qana is said to be the Cana in which Jesus performed his first miracle, turning water into wine. Today, Tyre is home of one of Lebanon's major ports. It is predominantly Shiite Muslim and has is strongly under the influence of Hezbollah. The Arabic name of the city is Sour.

The taxi dropped us off at the old city harbour, where we had a delicious seafood lunch.

The harbour

I'm told these were awesome

The fish was a lot bigger than it looks in this picture and so GOOD

From the restaurant terrace

One of the many UNIFIL vehicles around town

After a leisurely lunch, we headed to the beach and lazed around some more. The beach was almost empty, as the winter season had officially arrived - never mind that it was about 26 degrees or hotter. I'm told that in summer, there are many makeshift shops/stalls selling all manner of food and drink.

Looking to the south from our spot on the beach, a little/town seafront settlement was clearly visible. I was told that it is a Palestinian refugee camp. Talk about a prime piece of real estate! Further south, Israel could just be seen rising out of the haze. I'm told that at night, the no-man's-land separating the two countries is very clear as the light of coming from settlements on both sides if the border is suddenly broken by inky blackness. 

Palestinian camp

Where does Lebanon end and Israel begin?

After a couple of hours at the peace, we strolled towards town on the Corniche, charming a waterfront promenade, until we got to one of the Hot Springs Ruins. It is the second of the two main Roman archaeological sites in Tyre. Situated by the sea, it is a beautiful setting made even prettier in the light of the setting sun. The Romans sure knew how to build and thankfully, the site escaped damage during the Israeli bombing in 2006.

Majestic pillars

I felt lucky to capture them in this light

Roman baths

View from the entrance of the site

From outside looking in

After our little archaeological stop, we continued our walk along the Corniche. It was a nice stroll, away from the hustle and bustle, and pollution of Beirut. It was wonderfully clean too. It was nice to see families out enjoying themselves. I loved freshening evening breeze and the colours of the falling light of day.

We ended our walk at the lighthouse at the north-western tip of Tyre's peninsula. There, we found seats in a bar/restaurant and had a few drinks before heading home.

The lighthouse

From our table

Our ride home in a 1990s model and well-maintained Mercedes was a lot better than the nerve-wrecking journey to Tyre. The driver, Abdullah, was a young chap who spoke good English. He's a soldier in the Lebanese Army based in Sidon, but drives in his free time to earn extra money. We stopped in Sidon to grab a bite. Abdullah initially suggested McDonald's, but that was roundly rejected by all of us, so he found us a nice shawarma place instead.

All in all, a Saturday well spent. I'd love to return to Tyre at some point to see the Al-Bass Archaeological Site (home of the world's biggest and best preserved Roman Hippodrome, a large Necropolis, an intact Roman road and aqueduct).

Note: All photos were taken with my phone camera as I forgot my compact camera, so the quality is pretty average.