Beirut, Extended

We rejoin our hero as he ventures West, for a taste of the highlife...

Walter needed to leave the country to renew his visa so Aimee, Abed, Abed's mom, and myself decided to join him on his trip. Having been to Beirut before I knew I could expect good food, beautiful beaches, and pretty women. What wasn't there to like!
First we drove over the substantial mountain range separating Lebanon from Syria. The ride in was beautiful and we got to see the bridge on the main Beirut-Damascus highway that the Israelis blew up back in 2006 and is almost rebuilt. Once we arrived in Beirut we needed to drop off Abed's mom in southern Beirut. We knew we were driving through Hezbollah/Amal (Shi'a) territory when Abed told us to put our cameras away. After that bit of adventure we arrived at our hotel downtown and immediately set off towards the Virgin Megastore and the prospect of books in English. We were not disappointed and everyone (including Abed) walked away with at least three books. It was nice to have a selection of reading again!
We then decided to take a walk along the Corniche up to see Roshe which is a famous rock face. Along the way we stopped at a Ferris wheel that freaked out Aimee and Walter but delighted Abed and I. Great pictures taken from there.
After Virgin we decided to take Abed to the most middle class American eatery we could think of: T.G.I Friday's. Indulgence was the word of the hour as we all tasted a little slice of heaven(America). After dinner we said goodbye to Abed and headed out to a nice seaside restaurant for some drinks and arghelah.
The next day we went to the American University of Beirut (AUB) beach for some casual reading and foot dipping. The beach alone is a reason to go to AUB. Speaking of which my new plan is to go to AUB for grad school next fall. Reasons being:
- It has a great program that's accrediated in the States
- Any research I would do for a graduate degree in Middle East studies would require me to come to the region to do field research so if I'm in Beirut I'm already there!
- It's quite cheap for a graduate degree compared to what I would have to pay in the states
- Beirut is awesome
So after AUB we got some dinner and went to bed. We planned to head out the next day.
Unfortunately the next day Walter and I weren't allowed to leave Beirut. The short story is that Berlitz takes care of our visas for us and couldn't get the necessary signatures for us to come back in on that visa. We were also not allowed to try to go to the border on our own since that would anger some Syrian visa people. That meant that Walter and I had to stay in Beirut an extra night. It turned out to be quite a good time. Walter and I went to a fancy French restaurant (my treat) and stayed in a cool hostel and met some cool people. The next day we had to wait around and Skype Berlitz every hour in hopes that they would get our visa situation worked out. Finally at 4 o'clock when we had all but given up hope our prayers were answered. We were allowed to come back to Syria! Huzzah!

http://s653.photobucket.com/albums/uu259/nickgrinstead/Beirut%20Extended/

Berlitzers

Back to our hero...
So a couple days after Palmyra a bunch of people from Berlitz decided to rent a bus and go out to see Krak de Chevalier and Mashta Heleou, a mountain resort town. We had a lot of fun and laughs on the bus and at the sites. Nothing I hadn't already seen before but I made sure to document all of it. Enjoy!

http://s653.photobucket.com/albums/uu259/nickgrinstead/Berlitzers/

Palmyra

Hey all!
Long time no post. I must apologize because I've been quite busy with UNRWA things and traveling. I'll post as soon as I can get pictures uploaded which as some of you might not know is a decent problem here. Anyways on to Palmyra.
So Walter and I left Damascus midday to make it for sunset. We got there and found a hotel right where the bus dropped us off which was highly convenient. We were expecting some sort of tourist trap but we actually got a good deal. Score 1!
Next we decided to hike up this giant hill to a crusader castle to get a view of all the ruins. Hiking was definitely better than paying for someone to drive us up but it did tire us out. In the end it was worth it for the fantastic view of the ruins as the sun set. After sunset we hiked back down and went to a fancy hotel for a nice quite dinner.
We then went home and got some sleep for our planned sunrise viewing of the ruins. After some fitful sleep we managed to barely make the sunrise. It was nice and cool out and there wasn't anyone around to bother us. We decided to cut west to view the valley of the tombs first. What we didn't count on was a Bedouin family who were camped out waiting to take us in for tea. We accepted their invitation and despite my ability to sort of speak arabic I couldn't understand any of what they were saying. Also none of them spoke English so were left with hand gestures and English-Arabic cognates. After about 15 minutes they began to show us their crappy souvenir gifts and beg us for money. Walter and I would have made a speedy exit save for the fact that Walter broke one of their tea glasses on his way out. I gave them about 4 dollars and began to walk quickly while the two daughters continued to ask for money. Not the best part of Syrian society but definitely one you find a lot.
The rest of the day was wonderful as we wandered around the awesome Roman ruins and took some great pictures. The best part was we managed to finish checking out the ruins by 11 and catch a bus by 12:30. Definitely the easiest trip I've taken here so far.

More to come...

http://s653.photobucket.com/albums/uu259/nickgrinstead/Palmyra/

Bosra, eh

Went to Bosra last weekend to see the Roman ruins and ampitheatre. The ruins weren't anything special to me. I've already seen a fair amount of Roman ruins in the Middle East, mostly in Jordan, and these weren't anything too spectacular. I was glad to get out of Damascus for a day and I had a good time with Walter and our Lithuanian couchsurfer Martinas (we named him Pedro). The real adventure however was at lunch. We went to a little cafe right outside the main gate of Bosra. We took the only meal they offered which was dry chicken, dry rice, a "salad", and several small plates of hommos and lebneh. After eating we requested the check. One of the dudes hanging out at the restaurant, and not our waiter, came up and told us "1,600 lira" while laughing. Sensing a joke we laughed along as well. Then the waiter/cook came out and told us that that was in fact the bill. We protested loudly for 10 minutes until we reached agreed to pay 1,300 lira. Highlights of the protest included Walter telling the guy his name was "Santa Clause" (the guy's look was priceless). Also when we initially refused to accept the price the guy went inside, brought out a receipt, wrote everything down (that he thought) and then furiously stamped it. He then told us that we could take the bill to the police if we thought it was too much. He seemed surprised when we got up to actually go do that. Hilarity.

http://s653.photobucket.com/albums/uu259/nickgrinstead/Bad%20Bosra/

Krak and the Koast

Took a sweet little day trip a couple of weeks ago. Got up early with my boys Abed and Walter and took a series of busses out to Krak de Chevellier. Krak is perhaps the best preserved crusader castle and it's absolutely worth a trip. Not only is the surrounding countryside absolutely breathtaking but the castle itself is a wonder to climb all. It's left surprisingly open to the public considering how touristy they could make it. You can walk around the parapets and climb up the towers with no hassle. It's also worth walking up to the highest tower for the view of the countryside. You can appreciate how strategically important the castle was for protecting trade routes and farms in the surrounding areas.
After touring Krak we decided to swing a bus to Tartus on the Mediterranean Coast. We had to negotiate with several bus drivers to get us anywhere and I did my part by pretending not to speak any Arabic and frustrate them into giving us a lower price. We finally made it to Tartus and got a cab ride from the bus station to a beac about 10km north of the city itself. We had an awesome lunch on the beach, smoked a little arghellah, and enjoyed the ocean view. We drove back into town and decided to take a boat taxi to a little island called Arward about 3km off the shore from Tartus. We sat on the front of the boat and got drenched but had a hilarious time doing it. Arwad itself wasn't that interesting; there was only one uninteresting citadel. We had a hell of a time getting back to Damascus however. The busses coming out of Homs weren't nearly as accomdating time-wise as we wanted to we got back around midnight. Still a totally worthwhile day.

http://s653.photobucket.com/albums/uu259/nickgrinstead/Krak%20and%20the%20Koast/

Ma'alula

Went to Ma'alula a couple of weeks ago with Abed, Walter, and Aimee. Ma'alula is a tiny little mountain town about an hour outside of Damascus that is predominantly Chrisitan. The main attraction in the town is the Convent of Saint Thelka. Saint Thelka story was that she was running away from her husband when a bolt of lightning came down and struck the side of the mountain allowing her to escape from her captors. She then became something of a monk and adopted an ascetic lifestyle. Her body is buried in the convent and it has become a major stop on any holy tour of Syria.
After we saw the convent we decided to walk up the big hill and get lunch. After lunch we decided to hike all the way up the mountain. We had some gorgeous views of the windswept valley. Pictures below.

http://s653.photobucket.com/albums/uu259/nickgrinstead/Jesus%20is%20huge/

Busy busy busy

Been super busy lately teaching at Berlitz. I haven't had as much time to study arabic as I have been hoping but my language is still progressing.
Went to a Hammam (public bath) for the first time last week. What a trip that was! Steam room + cold water room + slightly uncomfortable massage= hilarious! The best part was after coming out of the Hammam and just sitting down and drinking tea. Never have I felt quite so fresh and clean.

Have to go to Jordan at the end of the month to renew my visa. I'm getting excited for McDonalds most of all.