Tripoli Railway Station I woke at 0300, which is good for adjusting back to East Asia.  I dozed for a while and headed out at 0630 by foot to Mina, which is Tripoli’s port area nearby.  The route took me through a different side of Tripoli which was clean and modern. Some 25 mins later, […]

Breakfast I had been keeping to roughly Malaysian or Chinese time for much of the trip, but the extra hour time change in Lebanon saw me wake at 0300.  I dozed a little before heading out at 0700 to get breakfast at a place that came highly recommended because I’m Malaysian. It’s a fatta shop […]

Crossing to Lebanon Today, I leave Hama in Syria to cross into Lebanon for my two nights at Tripoli.  I had originally planned to just over night but have arrived early, having saved a day in Aleppo few days ago. This is a route I had done twice before in reverse in the days when […]

Grotto Excursion and More This is my last day in Beirut before I fly out at 2045 tonight to Dubai then Colombo.  There’s a whole day to fill.  I invited Claire (also staying at the hostel) to join me in going to the Jeita Grottoes. We made a brief stop at Nahr al-Kalb (Dog River […]

Thoughts on Leaving Syria Leaving Syria, I felt the country was more open than before.  There were more international travellers, especially backpackers, but that’s perhaps I stayed in a dormitory.  Also, the Syrian army wasn’t active in maintaining security in Lebanon.  Things were looking brighter.  [Edit: Little did I know that the Arab Spring would […]

This morning I took the bus up into the hills and the Qadisha Valley, which is the stronghold of the Maronite Christians.  The bus was meant to be a fraction the price of the shared taxi but as the driver was on the phone when I boarded, I couldn’t confirm the price … so he […]

The other Tripoli This morning I moved up the coast from Beirut to the second largest city, Tripoli (Trablous) … which bears the same name as the one in Gaddafi-land (Libya).  The coastline is very built up along most of the way with high-rise apartments, beach clubs, factories etc. One thing I’m certain of is […]

This morning I took my third trip to Baalbek … yes, it is that good … it is the most impressive Roman ruins I’ve been to (not that I’ve been to that many).  The Lonely Planet says it outshines any of the Temples built in Rome itself.  This has always been a poor and conservative […]