Three weeks ago I bought quite impulsively a ticket to Beirut. The feeling of doing something totally different than the usual was overwhelmingly strong. In my dreams I travelled already five times across the globe to find the right place for this particular trip: unknown to me, not too far from Amsterdam airport, pleasant climate, and things to discover. After conversations with a colleague, who is Lebanese, I decided to book a ticket to Beirut. The reactions have been mixed. From: ‘what? You are going to a war-zone?’ To: ‘this will be the best holiday destination ever!’ Some people declared me crazy going by myself to Beirut while others thought it was the best thing to do.
And here I am: sitting in a coffee place/bar in the center of Beirut. And all I can say is that I really like it. So far, no moment of regret. Seeing my name written on a large piece of white paper being held by an old man with an even bigger smile gave me right away a good feeling. At the hotel the welcome was very warm as well and I booked right away a city tour for today to explore down-town Beirut by foot and to go to Beiteddin and Deir El Kamar.
In short:
- weather is fantastic – blue sky and sunny with a slight crispy breeze;
- people are easy-going;
- the food is too good;
- the overall atmosphere is relaxed. People are worried though what will happen in the event that the regime in Syria may collapse;
- I expected French to be the dominant second language after Arabic, but after all it seems more people speak English so I stopped trying to show off with my French.
- It is weird that people smoke inside bars and restaurants. I m no longer used to that and it feels simply dirty.
- Much less women wear a head scarf than I expected. Perhaps I haven’t been to the neighborhoods where they do, but even on the side of the roads I see very few women covering themselves.
- I hear people here complain about the traffic but having grown accustomed to the truly crazy traffic in Port-au-Prince, I realize all is relative. There are about 1,5 million people living in Beirut with approx 2 million cars, while the city was built for much less. But to say that traffic is horrible.. noo..
- It is mindboggling how many different religions are practiced in Lebanon of so many different denominations. Churches I have never heard of.
- Inspiring to see that the authorities in Lebanon have used the rubble that was generated after the war for land reclamation. This new land has been used for impressive infrastructure projects in down town Beirut. Perhaps an idea to facilitate an exchange of the Haitian Ministry of Public Works to see what are the various opportunities to re-use rubble in a strategic way.
- Deeply impressed by the mosaics. Just lovely and beautiful art.
- The word ‘camp’ is equally controversial and sensitive as in Haiti. In Beirut a ‘camp’ with Palestinian refugees, refers to a neighborhood with houses where Palestinian people live. Temporary settlements have turned in permanent housing.
- weather is fantastic – blue sky and sunny with a slight crispy breeze;
- people are easy-going;
- the food is too good;
- the overall atmosphere is relaxed. People are worried though what will happen in the event that the regime in Syria may collapse;
- I expected French to be the dominant second language after Arabic, but after all it seems more people speak English so I stopped trying to show off with my French.
- It is weird that people smoke inside bars and restaurants. I m no longer used to that and it feels simply dirty.
- Much less women wear a head scarf than I expected. Perhaps I haven’t been to the neighborhoods where they do, but even on the side of the roads I see very few women covering themselves.
- I hear people here complain about the traffic but having grown accustomed to the truly crazy traffic in Port-au-Prince, I realize all is relative. There are about 1,5 million people living in Beirut with approx 2 million cars, while the city was built for much less. But to say that traffic is horrible.. noo..
- It is mindboggling how many different religions are practiced in Lebanon of so many different denominations. Churches I have never heard of.
- Inspiring to see that the authorities in Lebanon have used the rubble that was generated after the war for land reclamation. This new land has been used for impressive infrastructure projects in down town Beirut. Perhaps an idea to facilitate an exchange of the Haitian Ministry of Public Works to see what are the various opportunities to re-use rubble in a strategic way.
- Deeply impressed by the mosaics. Just lovely and beautiful art.
- The word ‘camp’ is equally controversial and sensitive as in Haiti. In Beirut a ‘camp’ with Palestinian refugees, refers to a neighborhood with houses where Palestinian people live. Temporary settlements have turned in permanent housing.
There have been several moments today that I had to remind myself that I m in ‘Lebanon’ – that small country next to Syria where there are so many problems. There were more moments that I felt so privileged having this opportunity to ‘step out’ of my ‘normal’ day-to-day life. I m curious to see what is still ahead of me for the next days to come.
And then when I wanted to publish this post yesterday, my computer cable exploded… J so one day late! In the meantime I had an amazing day about which I will write tomorrow.
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