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Beirut, Lebanon

Posted on March 31st, 2008 in Lebanon,Middle East by robjkentjr
With only a 48-hour visa, we chose to spend our second night in Baalbek (N34° 0′ 14.9″, E36° 12′ 18.4″).  Known as the ‘Sun City’ of the ancient world, these ruins are the most impressive ancient site in all of Lebanon.
The greatest thing about visiting such a popular site during the political instability was having it completely empty.  We were able walk all around the Temple of Bacchus without seeing another person.
These are the Six Standing Columns, which are biggest we have ever seen.  To the left you can see Rasa standing with her arms in the air to get an idea of their size.
We had rain the whole way up to Baalbek but once we started down into the valley, we had perfect weather and sunny skies.
I love it when there are no fences to keep me from scampering over the ruins.
The highway runs right along the ruins and this is the first thing you see driving into the city.
The Mediterranean style houses just add to the character of this scenic village.  They really do add such a nice contrast to the snow capped peaks and Roman ruins.
Below the ruins are endless pastures with more sheep than people.
We only had a slight delay getting back into Syria but immigration finally stamped us through when our taxi driver yelled at them to hurry.  Yallah!  Only two weeks left in Syria until we leave for Jordan.
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The Reef

Posted on March 23rd, 2008 in Middle East,Syria by robjkentjr
On the 11th, our apartment lease was up so a friend offered for us to stay in their country home.  Excited to the suburbs of Damascus (known locally as the reef), we move out to Sahnaya.
The first thing we had to do was figure out how to get back and forth.  This is the Servees station in Damascus.  These mini-vans are kind of like the Jeepneys of the Philippines.  We get a 30-minute ride for $0.10, so well worth the hassle of squeezing into a hot van.
Urban sprawl seems to be an issue everywhere in the world, especially so here since the population of Damascus has almost doubled with 2 million Iraqi refugees.  The fringes of the city are growing faster than the government can build streets.  It is such a contrast from Old Damascus where you can hardly fit two people wide in the alleyways.
Here begins the slow death of family owned businesses.  One problem with building only housing is the total lack of commercial space.  Hence, the mainstay of the American suburbs: the mall.  We do not know of a single mall in downtown Damascus.  We have only found them where there has been a mushrooming of apartment buildings.
This is the view from our rooftop.  Sahnaya (33° 25′ 15.7″N, 36° 13′ 15.3″E) is south of Damascus and only 90 minutes from Beirut.  Just over these mountains is Lebanon and to the left is the Golan Heights of Israel.
Following an unusually cold and snowy winter, the summer heat has come a month early and with it water shortages.  We have been here for 11 days now and have had government-supplied water only once.  We had to arrange for a water delivery of 1,750 liters for $5.  Thank God, we learned how to take bucket showers in the Philippines.
The best thing about staying here has been the 1,347 channels of satellite TV and it is all free!  Well, that is after you spend the $60 to buy a dish and receiver.  The satellite owner broadcasts a free signal and the channels pay them for the privilege.  Kind of like a modern day rabbit ear antenna.
The qualifying rounds have started for the World Cup.  With the local team of Homs winning their first match against Qatar, there was a little bit of pride on display.
I made some changes to the code of this email to correct the reported problems.  Please let me know if you are still having trouble viewing the text and photos.  Thanks for reading!
Man making a copper kettle by hand. Bab Mousalla, Damascus, Syria
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