Beyrouth
Trip Start
Nov 19, 2009
1
8
Trip End
Jan 09, 2010
Beirut, Lebanon
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Unfortunately, our dank, run down hotel was a bit of a joke and the main guy was, ah, interesting to say the least. It was as if we'd wandered into his lounge room uninvited and unannounced and demanded a glass of his best liquor... (Don’t stay at the Regis Hotel!!).
Our first stroll about town revealed many, many, many armed men on the street. In some places every few feet and two deep. All those guns made me feel uneasy. Oddly enough, within no time they blend into the background and the guys turned out to be quite helpful and friendly – saying hello, helping with directions and very politely telling you if you were going somewhere you shouldn’t. Nonetheless, they’re there for a reason and I was glad we never got to see them in action.
And then there were the cars....everyone drives....and no one walks. There is crazy traffic, most cars with only one driver and literally no one walking on the streets. And all the cars are ridiculously large and ritzy. It’s like John XXIII Avenue before or after school multiplied by whole a city (you know how I love those Claremont mums)... Oh and a billion taxis. Unlike Perth, where you practically have to donate a kidney to get a cab, in Beirut you can’t walk more than a few feet without a cab driver slowing down, beeping his horn and asking if you need a cab (and getting quite miffed when you don’t).
I didn’t immediately fall in love with Beirut. But that might have something to do with the fact that I had no decent clothes and the few items I did were in the wash – and in an image conscious society that was not a good thing. I got some rather unimpressed (in some cases disdainful) stares until I brought some new clothes and cleaned up my act!
So our first few days were spent shopping. Despite some initial disappointment we both ended up with a decent stash. In fact we spent most of our time in Beirut shopping and hanging out in bars and cafes. Our favourite was Bardo, which quickly became our home away from home. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks and dancing (ok maybe that part was just me, not Mark)....it did it all! And with the coolest soundtrack ever. It was also where we met George; a lovely guy who drove us out of the city for amazing views. Mark particularly liked Bardo given the high percentage of gay males there...
Mark also wanted to visit HELEM; an amazing gay and lesbian community group (see: http://www.helem.net/). They have done some seriously phenomenal community education, lobbying and provide a range of services to rival Perth’s GLCS and AIDS council put together (and then some). They gave us the lowdown on being out in Lebanon; in general it’s not the police or government that are the problem, but the families (even more so than the church). Beirut is also the city where not just Lebanese, but gay people from across the Middle East, come to be in a more accepting and liberal environment. And due to the amazing STI testing services that HELEM provide people fly in from neighbouring countries for less than an hour to get their anonymous testing done!! Interestingly, straight people also often get testing and information from HELEM; in a society where sex before marriage isn’t socially acceptable heading down to the family doctor isn’t always an option. We found out that not only were there “gay-friendly” places, but even gay bars in Beirut! Including a bear club!! We didn’t get to see a lot of the gay scene, but as described above spent a lot of time at Bardo. There was also a disappointing trip to Milk – a not so great gay club. We only took a few sips of our drinks (which tasted nothing like what we’d ordered and were horrible) and left. Mark, however, thought he’d try his luck again a few hours later (meanwhile I was fast asleep) and realised he shouldn’t have bothered....
On our last evening we met up with some locals (through couch surfing) who took us to Gouraud or Gemayze Street, the bar strip. We felt like we were only just beginning to know and love Beirut and already we were leaving. Again the hospitality was amazing, with us being invited back for home cooked meals by the locals we’d met up with. The group was an interesting bunch – one of them having worked in Nigeria and in the process of setting up business in Kurdistan! We had some fascinating discussions, including the possibility of Syria (and therefore Lebanon) making peace with Israel. I know it seems highly (HIGHLY) unlikely, but who knows??
It’s true that in five days we didn’t make it out of the city and almost every day we planned to go to the National Museum, but again never made it (although this wasn’t helped by the torrential rains that decided to descend on the city for a few days). However, by this stage of our trip we needed some chill out time and Beirut was certainly obliging.
It’s an amazing little city – once described as the Paris of the Middle East (before the 2006 war). Now it’s fighting its way back to that title; a fascinating mix of shot out places, old decrepit structures, restored, revamped and newly constructed buildings. In 2009 the New York Times named Beirut as the top place to visit and Lonely Planet rated it as one of the world’s top 10 cities. It’s definitely a place I want to return to and get to know better.
I think the most surprising thing about Beirut, is the fact that there are only just over TWO MILLION people there (a bit more than 4 million in Lebanon). The argument that there isn’t the population to support a lively city with extended trading hours and loads of bars, cafes, restaurants and clubs just doesn’t hold up here. I know in recent times there have been (and continue to be) lots of little bars and restaurants popping up over Perth (which I try and support as much as possible!), but at the moment when it comes to being a lively city, Beirut puts us to shame. They’ve even managed to develop a foreshore (the corniche) in between bomb blasts, wars and civil unrest....
Next stop Amman, Jordan.
