They say Beirut is the Paris of the East… and in many ways – it is. But if that’s true, Lebanon is truly the Monaco of the Middle East. The country is sleek, glamorous and very very flashy. It’s no surprise that, for example, two sister cities of one of the country’s metropolises are - 1) Monaco and 2) Las Vegas.
Porsches, Mercedes and BMWs canvass the roads and appear as commonplace as they are in Redmond, WA. I even saw a few Aston Martins over there! … a true surprise and a stark contrast to the extreme poverty that exists and you can openly see both in the Middle East and Lebanon itself.
My first picture of Lebanon
As a result of so many years of military occupation, civil wars, political instability and sectarian unrest, Lebanon and Beirut, in particular, have been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times over the years. The country and its capital city feel (and look) very sparkling new. Beautiful, tall buildings span across steep hills and tower over bits and pieces of Nature while housing many hotels, apartments and businesses alike.
Due to temporary French rule of the country, modern day Lebanon is organized based on the French system in terms of transport, city layout and even education. Local citizens speak fluently both Arabic and French, though English is the official language of businesses and the hospitality industry.
I loved, loved, looooved Lebanon and spending time in that beautiful country! The people were so nice and very accepting of Westerners and especially of our way of dressing. Due to the large portion of Christian population – Beirut boasts a more liberal atmosphere and some of the best night clubs in the Middle East . The city is very tolerant and accepting of Western style of dressing and as a woman I could wear shorts and tank tops without being harassed by men on the street… Men, on the other hand, could easily wear shorts – something frowned upon in some of the other countries in the area.
At Jounieh Bay during our second day in Lebanon
There’s so much more I’d like to share with you about the country and my impressions of it, but that will come in later posts. There’s something I’d like to get out of the way first.
As much as I loved Lebanon, there is one thing I didn’t exactly love – and that was how crazy people there drive!! ..and mind you – NO ONE uses seat belts! It’s absolutely insane and made me sooo nervous! After having survived traffic in Cairo and gotten used to Egyptian driving – which for the record is one of the craziest in this general part of the Earth – I never expected that being in a car in Lebanon would make me THIS nervous!!! At least in Egypt, there are rules of the madness and an order to the chaos that is driving on the country’s roads; in Lebanon – there are no rules, no order… just unreasonable madness as folks make risky maneuvers speeding on the hilly streets.
Oh, and did I mention a lot of roads in Lebanon don’t even have lane markers?!
The taxi ride from the airport to my hotel was the first encounter with just how bad Lebanese driving is. Just a few minutes into it, I was clenching my seat belt in fear worried about the hour car ride ahead of us. We nearly hit a few cars …. multiple times. And a few cars – nearly hit us…
10-min into the ride, in a very congested with traffic street, the driver almost ran over a guy who was on the street trying to do something about his car having broken down. At that point, I started debating whether it was time to say a prayer or two…anything to help! haha
At some point, I decided to distract myself from being nervous by recording the following video. The taxi driver spoke perfect English, so I narrated the vid in Spanish – in an attempt to avoid awkwardness in the remainder of the cab ride. A little transcript in English is below.
Watching this vid (now that I am back in Amman) cracks me up! Every. Single. Time!
@2:08, a Hummer almost ran into us,so as the taxi driver honked his horn, he lowered the windows, locked the doors and began to yell at the Hummer’s driver engaging in an open road argument… all while… driving…. HAHAHA!!! … seriously?!!
The locking the doors bit made me laugh – really, you are going to anger the guy and get into a ‘car’ fight… but lock your doors at the same time?! LOL No words… No words could describe this! 
Anyway, hope you enjoy the video and this blog post! I’ll write more on Lebanon later and try to post some pictures for your viewing enjoyment as well!
Hasta la vista,
-K
[Video transcript:]
Hi guys,
I just arrived in Lebanon about 30-45 min ago. I’m in the taxi on the way to the hotel and I am so, soo scared bc the traffic is craazy! Never have I seen anything like this, even in Cairo where the traffic is very bad as well…. but here, here it’s just madness!
We almost hit a few other cars… a few times already. Let’s see if I would survive this car ride and if I arrive at the hotel in one piece.
Ok, so I just wanted to show you the traffic here and share this with you. I will be recording a few more videos here in Beirut and Lebanon soon. Ok, so that’s it for now!
Ciao!
