Beirut, Lebanon

And then came Lebanon and Beirut.

There was little culture here as it's known as 'The West of the Arabic World' although completely unknown to me (I am such a heathen) I, once again, did my Christopher Columbus impression and discovered it was inhabited by the French for so long everyone speaks French and Arabic and not much English.. oh the trials and tribulations of being multilingual :-) But I managed... tried 'speaking Italian' (as I do soooo well) but even that didn't work :-)

After the plains of Syria Lebanon was surprisingly mountainous and the caps were still covered in snow.. although at 28 degrees in Spring I don't think it will last much longer but it was beautiful. In fact Beirut was beautiful; far more scenic than Syria with less history.. or so it appeared. The first thing we noticed was the military presence.. duh.. of course!! There were military personnel carrying machine guns and armed tanks at almost every corner... an unusual sight for a true westerner like this one. The coastline of Beirut, while fascinating to Simona who lives 400 miles from the coast I can honestly say was lovely but... coming from New Zealand and especially Auckland was nothing out of the ordinary! No offence to the Lebanonese BUT.. well its just how it is.

The Rauche rocks were amazing and we went on a jetboat and through a hole in the rock.. visions of Cape Brett in the Bay of Islands. Once again there was a huge miltary presence and barbed wire protecting the area. We ventured out for a day at Byblos, a little fishing village about an hour north of Beirut and sampled fresh seafood which was amazing.. the giant shrimps even tasted freshly caught.. and of course the wine was great too. Once again a UNESCO world heritage site as the Crusader Castle there was inhabited 2,000 years BC.. oh so much history once again. Of course (of course!!) most of our time in Beirut was spent socialising and making the most of our freedom.. and eating bacon (harem in Saudi.. even trying to bring it in would result in deportation and I didn't think any of you would want me suddenly camping in your front room!) so while the pictures are somewhat entertaining to say the least... they arent exactly of historical sights.. as you will see.

Damascus, Syria.

That's what it felt like.. Get out of Jail.. its amazing how one accepts the freedom of 'normal' life after being here but we decided to make the most of it so Damascus and Beirut were our destinations.

I must say not the usual places I would choose to visit but being here in the Middle East I thought it would be nice to have a broader view than just the Saudi culture.. and what a surprise I must say :-) Damascus was typically arabic and historical ruins, and while I wasn't that enthused with Roman and Greek ruins (well after living in Rome for 18 months would you?) Simona loved them and totally fell in love with Damascus. And unlike Saudi alcohol was allowed (and almost encouraged) so as you can imagine we had some amazing nights out. Jason, who works on the mens campus, was on our plane and we spent several good nights in his company, and some locals we met. Two of the guys we got chatting to in a small bar were Palestinian Refugees who were actually born in Syria. They can't go home as their village is now in Isralei territory and Syria wont give them a passport. Imagine being stuck in a country and belonging nowhere. Both of them are well educated, knowledgable and work as journalists for various newspapers and oh so interesting to talk to.

After living in the west all our lives it was intriguing to hear about the 'real' Middle East. Damascus , being the oldest continually inhabited city in the world was full of ancient monuments, mosques and 2,000 year old churches while Bosra (about 100 miles to the north west) has, allegedly, one of the best examples of a Roman Ampitheathre in the world... although I disagree as the one in Taormina was amazing... but who am I to disagree with the history books. I wont give you a history lesson (as if) but the ancient mosques, underground churches and narrow crumbling streets were amazing to visit.

A day trip to Palmyra to krak de chevalliers to see ancient Greek Ruins saw another wonderful day. Jason joined us and after visiting THE most amazing Crusader Castle we ventured north to Palmyra, stopping for lunch. The Syrians are so hospitable and friendly, I think one of the friendliest races I have encountered on my travels. Once they knew we were from Riyadh they plied us with alcohol and laughed at our clothes taking the pIss out of them.. Why no Abaya etc. Culminating in watching the sunset from a mountain top surrounded by remains of castles and statues dating back to 1,000 years bc was the icing on the cake.

I guess the 'highlight' of the day was passing the sign to Iraq!! Yep, we were only 100km from Baghdad... the driver thought we were nuts when we got him to stop in the middle of a busy intersection so we could make a suicidal dash across the motorway to take photos of a sign :-) I guess thats the closest I will ever get to Iraq which isn't a bad thing to my way of thinking. The most memorable night out was with the Zia and Moaz (the Palestinian guys), Jason and two other French Canadians we picked up along the way. Starting at a traditional bar with an Oude player trying to sing Elvis (and not too badly I will admit) and finishing at a nightclub where we 'smoked weed' (one has to try the local traditions) danced and drank tequila slammers (they dont call them that in this neck of the woods.. but hey with lemon and salt they are) until the wee small hours stumbling home around 4am.... oh I am too old for this lark BUT I did have a wonderful night.

The Hash in Saudi.

Leaving home at 9am on a 'Sunday' was no mean feat.. but the promise of amazing scenery and of course a chance to get out of Riyadh and get some exercise spurred me on.
Being May it was getting hotter and given the distance we had to travel the 'walk' would be around the hottest time of the day.. which didn't seem too onerous although in hindsight it was a bloody stupid idea :-)
When we started out it was 38 degrees and by the end it was 41.. the heat was oppressive... However, all said and done... it was a great day and the scenery was well worth it.. even if the 'exercise' took a back seat.