Beirut!

So, we didn't actually make it to the Dead Sea in Jordan, but it was worth the extra time to rest before Beirut. I'll have to work that into a future trip. Beirut is a crazy city. First off, about half the city is under the control of Hezbollah, a Lebanese political party and an organization deemed by the US government to be a terrorist organization. Hezbollah controls southern Lebanon, most of the border with Syria (they started in Syria and get much support from the Syrian government), and part of Beirut. There are essentially two major groups of people in Beirut/Lebanon: those who support the current coalition government and those who support Hezbollah (which is now part of the coalition, but has been for only a few years). It is significantly more complicated than that, but that is the simplified version. We stayed in a government-controlled area (Hezbollah supporters claim everything is "government-controlled" insomuch as Hezbollah is part of the government) and never felt unsafe at all. We were a few blocks from the American University of Beirut (AUB), which is an absolutely beautiful campus with their own beach on the Mediterranean. We spend a little time on the campus just to check it out.
The first night we were there, we got in a little late, so we decided to just stay in the hotel, which was beautiful, for the evening and relax. The next day, we spent some time walking along the Corniche, which is a sidewalk that runs along the Mediterranean. From there, we watched the sunset, which was unlike any I'd seen before. While we were watching the sunset, a man came up and asked us if we were tourists, to which we tentatively responded yes. He explained that he was Australian and was touring the city as well. We talked for a while and while walking back to our respective hotels, exchanged numbers and agreed to meet later (all the while being cautious about our new friend; we never told him where we were staying and made sure that we were meeting up with him somewhere that was in a safe area of the city). We grabbed dinner at this amazing Lebanese fast food place where we got Tawouk (I think!). It was basically chicken, turkey, french fries, pickles, a few other ingredients and some amazing sauce all in a huge pita, all for $5 including a drink. We visited that place several times over the course of our trip.
We met up with our Australian friend, Clancy, a while later at a bar in the same neighborhood as our hotel and went bar hopping from there to a few bars in one of the bar districts of the city. In our travels, we met a few students from AUB and spent some time with them. Sometime during our stay at the last bar, Clancy headed out and we stuck around with a few of the AUB students. We exchanged numbers and agreed to catch up the following night, concealing our hotel location once again.
The following day, the three of us walked down to downtown Beirut, where there are a few mosques, churches and memorials. It was fascinating to see the port area and everything downtown. In addition, because of the very recent civil war (1975-1990), the conflict with Hezbollah in 2006 and the war with Israel in 2008, you can see significant damage to some of the buildings, mostly due to bullet holes.

From Amman/Beirut

From Amman/Beirut

From Amman/Beirut

Later that evening, we caught up with the AUB students and went to a few bars, having incredibly interesting conversations. This was probably the most striking part of my trip, actually talking to real Lebanese people my age and hearing their perspective on events in their country and outside. Their English was very good; one had lived in Canada for many years and other had been born in LA. That being said, while they certainly weren't anti-American, I wouldn't say they were particularly pro-American. However, they were willing to explain things to us since it was clear that we only knew the American side of things. In the US, we hear a lot from Israel's point of view and little from the Lebanese point of view, which can be very different since the two countries have been enemies for decades.
A few notes about Beirut:
-the currency is worth 1500 to 1 USD, so they often just use dollars there; you can get dollars out of the ATMs and everyone takes both currencies, using the 1500/1 exchange rate.
-the city is incredibly advanced despite the fact that it has been torn apart by civil and external wars for the past 3 decades and is still very split by political factions (and every so often, a group like Hezbollah just decides to take over part of Beirut beyond what they already control, like in 2006). Beirut compared to Cairo is like night and day.

In summary, the trip to Beirut was definitely worth doing. I have a much deeper understanding of the country and their culture, although I still feel like I only scratched the surface. The trip has opened my eyes to a whole new culture, and I am actually planning to do much more research on Lebanon for at least one of my classes this semester.

Kevin

From Amman/Beirut