dispatches from here

As many of you readers know, I spent the 10 weeks starting Feb 12 in the Middle East, through Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt. The core of that time was spent in Syria, living in an Iraqi refugee camp and putting together a documentary film (more on that later).

To keep things interesting and to log my travels, each day I took a photo telling the story of that day somehow. Most of them were done with a tripod and wireless remote, with an occasional bystander snapping the photo. I tried to switch things up, and the fact that I didn’t spend much time in the same place helped out.

Check out the complete slideshow below, 10 weeks of daily photos while bopping around the Middle East.

Hit the play button to get started.

Check out this NY Times story about an ambush on a group of Lebanese soldiers that happened this morning.  Four of them were killed when their truck was attacked with rocket propelled grenades and machine guns by drug traffickers.  The craziest thing about it is this happened in Rayak, in the northern part of the Bekaa Valley.  I was there, 6 days ago in Zahle and Ksara hanging out in the mountains and wine tasting.  These beautiful, calm, serene towns are only 6 miles away from Rayak!  Six days and six miles is far too close for comfort.

The most bizarre thing about Lebanon is how totally at peace with the situation all of the locals seem.  So comfortable and able to go on living their lives.  I guess you get used to instability after 15 years of civil war.  Reading that bit of news makes me even more excited to be in Egypt.

A two day trip up the Lebanese coast to Tripoli followed by a quick hop inland for some wine tasting in Zahle. Tripoli is an ancient Phoenician city dating to before the 7th century BCE.  Since then, its been ruled by the Persians, Seleucids, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Mamluks, and Ottomans.  And it is currently Lebanese, despite Hezbollah attempts to take it over.  In May, 2007 there was fighting between the Lebanese Internal Security Forces and Fatah al-Islam, a jihadist militia focused on the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp just outside the town.  This resulted in the deaths of 170 soldiers, 290 militants, and nearly 50 civilians, along with the destruction of the refugee camp. And in 2008, Tripoli was the epicenter for a fierce battle between Sunnis loyal to the current government and Alawites (a Shia sect) loyal to Hezbollah.  The Lebanese Army intervened a few days later to put an end to the fighting, but tensions picked up again in July and over 30 people died in the combined clashes. Check out this map of hte city breakdown.

But for now, in a period of relative peace (despite heavy military presence), Tripoli is a quiet, mellow escape from the glitz of Beirut.

The coastal town of Tripoli, contested but beautiful.

In the evenings, the corniche (aka boardwalk) is packed with families and young folks eating cotton candy, and riding bikes. In the background, young guys drive cruise by in tricked out cars blasting hip hop.

Barrels of Lebanese wine being aged in the caves at the Ksara winery, which was established in 1857 by Christian priests.

Cars and carts selling all sorts of goodies line the corniche.

Never too young for some hookah/sheesha/nargela

The view from my balcony. And I'm not sure who that laundry belongs to.

The Lebanese coast...beautiful, with some limited access in parts.

Lebanon is so radically different from anywhere else in the Middle East and pretty surreal.  A small country with only 4 million people, it continues to trudge on despite a 17 year civil war (1975 – 1992), war with Israel in 2006, and tensions with Hezbollah (most recently leading to armed conflict in the north in 2007).  So what does that mean?  A strong military presence, remnants of the civil war, and every Western luxury you could imagine.

After spending 6 weeks in Syria (in a refugee camp no less!), arriving in Beirut feels like I’m in a different universe.  How different is it from Syria?

• Replace all of the donkeys in the streets of Damascus (there are a lot!)  with Ferraris.
• Replace hijabs and chadors with Prada and Gucci.
• Replace mud covered shoes with shiny high heels.
• Replace sputtering 1975 Fiat taxis with shiny new Mercedes taxis.
• Replace the rust stains on the walls with bullet holes, which decorate any building over 20 years old.
• Replace pictures of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, with Hezbollah billboards and pictures of Hassan Nasrallah.
• Replace warm, undrinkable local beers with microbrews and $20 cocktails.
• Replace all of the shawerma with….well, shawerma.  Its still a Middle Eastern country, after all.

A beautiful sunset over the Mediterranean from a balcony in Beirut.

The Lebanese military maintains a heavy presence in the city, with tanks and machine guns on most corners. Its a really bizarre sight seeing a woman walk past a row of tanks into a Chanel store. This is the best shot I could get before being stopped by the soldiers.

Bullet holes in blown out buildings surround the new expensive apartment buildings.

Bullet holes in concrete walls, a constant reminder of the painful civil war that tore Beirut apart for 17 years.

Abandoned buildings converted into an urban canvas.

One of the thousands of armed checkpoints all across the city. Almost as many as Syria.

The southern suburbs of Beirut are essentially controlled by Hezbollah, with yellow and green flags and billboards on every corner and the streets in these poor suburbs are lined with pictures of dead Hezbollah militants.

In the southern Hezbollah controlled suburbs, there are more soldiers/paramilitary forces than civilians it feels.

Remnants of civil war.

The Holiday Inn, which during the civil war was the site of a major battle between Christian and Muslim forces. The blown out shell of this 20+ story building stands right next brand new multimillion dollar condos, modern steel and glass skyscrapers with fancy one word names.

Beirut is surrounded by water on two sides, and the Corniche, a wide pleasant boardwalk provides a hangout place for young Beirutis.

The Mohammad Al-Amin mosque, built next to the burial site of Rafik Harriri, was built in 2008. Ita huge, shiny, new, clean, and feels like it descended from another world. It feels so magical and out of place, almost like a Disney mosque.

Downtown Beirut is all glitz and glam, and Ferraris are a dime a dozen. I almost got run over by one twice! Porsches, Lamborghinis, Bentleys line the narrow streets of the trendiest neighborhoods as moneyed Beirutis drink and party at bars that rival NYC in exclusivity, with overpriced cocktails, hip sounding names like "Copper" and "Rehab", and lines around the block.

The American University of Beirut (AUB) is one of the most prestigious universities in the Middle East.  Established by American missionaries in 1866, this place is completely awesome and feels like any US college campus.  Note to any college students reading this: do a semester abroad here.  All of the classes are taught in English and you hear English and French chatter all over campus.

Modern buildings, spotlessly clean campus, water fountains, the works.

Gorgeous athletic fields overlooking the Mediterranean Sea

Inside the Bechtel Engineering Building...we have a Bechtel building at Cal as well, but its not as nice as this one.

Amazing! It seems like 95% of the Middle East consists of chain smokers. Impressive to have a smoke free campus.

I'd definitely want to do a semester here!

Part of the campus square, with students constantly milling about. The whole campus feels so alive and really indistinguishable from a college campus in the US.

A beautiful mix of ultra modern and classic brick buildings.