Beirut Wrap Up

I got back from Beirut last weekend and had a seriously wonderful four day vacation. Joel and I walked everywhere (a luxury we don't get to enjoy at all in Kabul) and ate such fresh food. Think: a lot of humus and eggplant dip with pita and haloumi cheese. On our first day in Beirut, we walked down from our hotel in Hamra to the ocean/promenade called the Corniche and stopped at a cafe on the water to grab lunch.  Much to our surprise, our lunch came out accompanied by olives, pickled carrots and a full plate fresh veggies: tomatoes, radishes, cucumber and a bunch of fresh mint. You have no idea how much little things mean after months of oily disgusting food. 

The city has so much history - we ventured downtown to St. George's Church that was recently excavated. As part of the excavation, they preserved the bottom layer of the church - showing off Byzantine, Mesopotamian, Roman, Ottoman layers. Each had a different style and shaped the Lebanese architecture in a certain way. It was very cool. And right down the street from St. George's Church is Al-Omari Mosque with a bright blue dome, which is reminisent of the Blue Mosque in Instanbul. I loved how Churches and Mosques lived side by side, and how old merged with new. 

Downtown Beirut outside of St. George's Church

Our old ad agency, Grey, is located in Beirut so we went up to the offices one day, which is actualy like 20 mins outside of Beirut but the drive is straight up into the hills. From there, the city reminded me a lot of Vancouver with the ocean and the mountains. Joel and I obviously ended up hitting the town every night - Beirut is known for it's nightlife after all! We discovered gems from low key bars (perfect for watching the Arsenal-Barcelona game) to more whole-in-the-wall Beirut-chic places introduced to us by our buddies. This one place called Torino in the Gemmayzeh neighborhood reminded me of the East Village, but less grimy and more European hipster/artist. On our last night, our agency guys took us to a bar called Behind the Green Door that had no sign outside, but inside it was this 60s retro lounge with crush velvet banquettes. Very cool. 

Our last day in Lebanon, we took the drive out to Byblos to check out the ruins. That was by far the best day. The whole week was breezy/spring weather, but on Friday it was around 20 Celsius and perfectly sunny. We hired a guy named Ali, who was recommended to us by friends who had found him somewhere downtown Beirut at 4 AM the last time they were in town. Apparently this guy picked them up, found them falafel at that late hour, and was automatically their tour guide for the rest of the week. Ali was a sweetheart and Byblos was fantastic. The view out to the Mediterranean from the top of the fort was just beautiful.

Joel taking in the view from the Coliseum 

View from the top of the fort, Byblos

Town of Byblos

  After Ali took us on a walking tour of Byblos, we were back in the car, headed to our last stop: Harisa. In order to get to Harisa, you need to take a small gondola (or Telefrique, as they call them) up this super steep mountain and at the top there is a church with a Rio-style Jesus staue next to it. I have to admit, it was only partially awesome. I freaked out on Joel a couple of times when he insisted on shaking the two person telefrique on the way up. Please refer to the pictures below. Unfortunately, the ride down the mountain marked the end of our trip. We headed directly to the airport and back to Kabul. 

Two person telefrique, please note the steep incline

Freak out at the top of the mountain

View from the top

Top of Harisa

The Sun Also Sets in Afghanistan

Sometimes you look around Kabul and are just taken aback by the beauty of the mountains. The city is located in one of the largest and highest mountain ranges in the world, after all. Too bad we're not allowed to get out of the car to take pictures. This is a shot of the sun setting on Jalalabad road. 

Beer Pong

I'm off to Beirut today.

Good thing because we just got text from Security about another blast in the city. I heard this one... like a car backfiring or a small firework going off. Ironically, the local head of security came into my office this morning and asked if Lebanon was safe right now.

Looking forward to five days of Lebanese food, shisha, people-watching, sight-seeing, shopping, dining and walking along the Mediterranean, checking out ancient ruins and speaking French. All the while wearing fall jackets, scarves and boots in the city that inspired the now infamous drinking game.

At Its Finest

I guess I have to write the bad with the good. I'm sure many of you have read about the Finest Supermarket bombing in Kabul a couple of weeks ago. The news may be old, but it's still somewhat fresh here in the city. After four relatively calm months in Kabul, there was an attack on our local supermarket. Just to give you context, there are two supermarkets within three block vicinity of the Roshan office. Sometimes, on a slow afternoon, Joel will pop out to pick up groceries and snacks for the weekend. We have, on occasion, shopped at Finest Supermarket on a Friday for a dinner we are cooking later that night. Saying, "it hits close to home"  is pretty accurate. 

Finest is a local shopping center for ex-pats on the search for real Hellman's mayonnaise, Tostitos with Lime or frozen turkeys on Thanksgiving. They had actually just re-done that location, maybe a month earlier. They expanded out the back and carried extra produce, cheese, and hand-carved wooden decorations for the home. The irony is that out of the nine casualties that day, six of them were from the same Afghan family. 

The whole thing was a little unnerving. 

It's amazing how different the mood is in the city is now. I had grown so used to listening my iPod on the ride to work, grown used to the normalcy of the sight of women in burkas, begging children, the smell of burning tires and the presence of military vehicles. I guess I had become complacent to my surroundings. Now, the morning ride is different; more cautious or anticipatory. 

Lock down has lifted and we are free to roam about, although no one is really moving around the city unnecessarily. I was in Dubai last weekend, and am heading to Beirut next week. This weekend has been filled with TV, reading, the gym and Spartacus. (I suggest everyone gets their hands on that series.) I guess we wait it out - until the tension lifts and things go back to how they were.