Lebanon

As the Lebanese go to the polls today to vote, I sit and reminisce about my time there.  Last week I was in the mediterranean country soaking in the sun and bathing in the sea.  Lebanon was different from other middle eastern countries that I have been to.  Beirut was very liberal and modern, known for its night life.  But all this modernism and progressiveness didn’t have an impact on the behaviour of men.  Still they cat call at you worse than the construction men.  Had one episode of total inappropriateness but was able to handle my own.

As for the danger factor, there was none.  The worse experiences were having to deal with the taxi drivers.  Once when a driver was trying to extort double the price out of us, we threw down what we wanted to pay and jumped out of the cab and ran.  There were some rallies leading up to the election.  One happened very close to where we stayed..a Hezbollah rally and you could hear the gun shots going off in the air. 

Lebanon itself has a lot of roman ruins to see.  The best one set in the stronghold city for Hezbollah, but there was no problem visiting as they make it into a tourist attraction where you can buy t-shirts and other paraphernalia.  They have the mountains and are known for their cedar trees.