Beirut

Jan 30, 2001

I just came from Beirut. We arrived 11PM. And what I can say about Beirut is: 'it's ugly'. I'm very disappointed. All the Lebanese crew we have always talk about how nice their country is, well sad to say, I didn't find it that way.

The only thing nice about it is its geography. Mountain ranges on one side and the sea on the other. The mountains are capped with snow in winter. They do winter sports there. But the buildings are old, the cars are old. Some buildings are even left as it is after the 80s war - in ruins. I admit around 50% of cars in Manila are as old as the ones in Beirut, but ours are well maintained at least. People there doesn't seem to care about how their cars look. Dusty and crappy. I may sound like I belittle them too much, as much as it has dissapointed me. Blame it on our crew who act so well-off and trendy. Ang Pinoy, mahirap man, humble.

Shops have craps for sale. The clothes are terrible, leathers however are very nice and cheap, but the designs are mostly loud. Even their dept. stores are gloomy. I find old stores in Binondo better. I have my camera with me but wasn't able to take not even a single shot. There isn't any place pretty enough for a shot.

Beirut is a mountain made into a city. You can compare the ups and downs with that of Mandaluyong. The streets are all 2 lane, except for the highways leading out of the central.

I got for myself a very nice souvenir, and postcards of course. No not any of these cider trees Lebanon is known for. I got a small figurine of 5 idol-like men made of molded metal. I asked the shop owner a little background of the figure. Unfortunately, she can't speak english that well. I showed it to one of the crew before the flt. back to KWI. Her name's Nadine, she's Lebanese (more on her later). She liked it and told me I made a very good choice. It's a replica of idols they found in an ancient temple in Byblos dating to Phoenician times. Hhmmmmmm, very interesting.

Nadine is a petit F/A. She's only 5 ft, may be shorter. White, thin, with curly light hair, prominent cheekbones, wide round blue eyes and soft high pitched voice. I think she's 28. She's very nice and 'masipag'. I notice sometimes she humms classic rock tunes. At first I thought she just heard it somewhere and got stuck in her mind. The next flt I heard her humm 'I got you Babe'. Tonight I heard her humming another rock tune. So I asked her. She said she appreciates all kind of songs, even loud ones. Funny, I told her. I never thought an Arab would have the taste for it, specially a girl like you. And she told me "Highway Star" is her favorite. My God! Born to be Wild is not far behind. Then she started singing Highway Star. And she knows the words. Natalo ako.