From 2000 metres to sea level for a quid
Trip Start
Feb 15, 2006
1
23
34
Trip End
May 19, 2006
Bcharre, Qadisha Valley, Lebanon
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
But even so, it's good value!
The qadisha valley is the Maronite Christian heartlands and bcharre, the right wing Phalange parties head quarter. So the oppersit of hezoballa's baalbek i guess.
It's also a stunning patch of mountain-scape!!!!
The mount Lebanon mountain range is quite incredible, rising straight out of the sea to some 3000 metres in altitude. The suburbs of Beirut are a couple of 100 metres above downtown, as the Damascus - Beirut highway winds in and out at what seems like a 1 in 4 gradient!!! Tripoli was no different, within one hour we went from spitting distance of the Mediterranean, into Bannana palms, Olive groves and then Grape vines. The houses became more Alpine, tiles and sloping roofs and the irrigation gave way to terraces as the snow line got closer.
Once in the Qadisha valley things felt exclusively Christian with shrines to the virgin mary on any high point and bend in the mountain road and monasteries dotted all over. Not like the Beeka valley which still seemed, at first impression mixed. Cross based graffitee on almost any scrap of stone gave things a right wing, sectarian feel that was just as imposing as the anti US banners I'd passed in the Beeka valley. However, this gave way once in the towns to flag flying, admittedly the right wing Maronite Christian Phalange parties flag, but the fact it was a nice flag and not some AK47 based logo made me feel more relaxed.
The town and area was very picturesque, the apple trees are just coming into Blossum and the snow melt means springs are flowing full. The place was also sooooo clean! Hezbolla country in the beeka was also high in the mountains but that was as dirty as anywhere else in the Arab world, so the high;ness can't be the excuse (do I sound a bit racist there?) so is it really a social Political thing? Maybe this Phoenincian heritage really does count for something?
Its funny but when I was caught taking photos of the political parifinalia and then invited to tea (as I have been with both sides), I felt much more uneasy saying I was Heathern to the Maronite Christian (I even said yes when asked of my christiananity). They put far more pressure on me when talking about political issues and when the standard "stay the night" invite came out, the silence after my "no, I can't" was more pronounced than usual. Maybe it's an assumed common ground rather than a "lets show this crazy tourist round" attitude, but it is different and not so pleasant.
That same evening back in Tripoli, I had my first, "too scared to sleep" night, where the Lebanese (Christian again) I shared a dorm with exploded upon me with an anti US and UN rant. The merger of the US and U (S) N as they call it, isn't new and nore is the ranting. But he'd removed the third person. It wasn't your country, (seeing he thought I was Swedish, let alown American, I don't know where that link came from) but it was YOU!!! And ironically that distinction between Citizain and Governments returned when he talked about his own country, HIS bad GoVERNMENT (couldn't the states be stuck with bad government too?) No he didn't want to think about that) were all that were stopping a UNited Arab army invading the USA. And that was coming from a Protastant (he said Anglican but I think he meant Protastant) Christian from southern Lebanon, who I guess, may have pushed his opinions for maybe 10 of the last 25 years with a gun!!!!!
On a slightly more tranquil note the 2000 year old Cedar trees on mount Qornet es-Saouda were fantastic, walking in deep snow at more than 2000 metres just one hour from the Mediterranean coast!
Its such a shame that I based my self out of Tripoli for Northern Lebanon, where as the country side around is fantastic and communities very interesting, the city is a dump and the people arse holes. It has left me with a sower taste for the whole country. Obsesivly image and label concius, every thing has a pretentious feel. "ha ha, and I thought you were staying in Le Meridan hotel!" was a all too common response to the hostel I was staying at. This from a piss poor food vender in Gucci clothes he can't afford and a stolen (ex) German car!! When these people, who are often quite well off and are in a reasonably expensive country to live in, still try to rip you off at every opportunity, bus tickets which increase in price by 33% over night (good job I found out the real price last night!), food that when you ask for a break down suddenly drops in price by 1/4 and with a little argument even that turns out to have been inflated.
The problem is that it's not in my normal phycie to question money all the time, there is no haggle culture here and prices aren't negotiable, just to the foreigner they are sometimes inflated.
