I’ve got a slew of posts I’ll be firing off in the next couple of days, as I get a whole bunch of stuff I’ve written while in Lebanon. I’ve got to admit that I really miss blogging. I miss it because all these ideas and thoughts that keep floating in and out of my head every day, have no place to go; usually they’d go into a post.

Just some house keeping information. Here’s a Map of Lebanon for all those wanting to know just how small the country actually is. I was born and currently in Sidon.

I am going to try and get down as much as possible down because this trip down here has been very important for me. It’s basically opened my eyes to things that I seriously didn’t want to see.

I went up into the mountains on Sunday, to a place called Jezzine (check the map for details). During the war that was completely off bounds, with land mines taking up the entire mountain side. Lebanon by it’s geography is an incredibly mountainous region. That is where the name Lebanon comes from. It’s mountains are always covered in snow, and white in ancient arabic was ‘Laban’ and thus came the world ‘lubaan’ which is what Lebanon is called in Arabic.

Anyway, 30 minutes by car, in what is the worst roads in the world, 15km away and you’re in mountains, with valley’s and trees and a waterfall. Natural serenity and beauty sprawling in front you. I went up with my aunt and uncle Mouine (more on him in future posts). We went to this restaurant and seriously had a stuffing session. So as I’m eating these incredible delights, I reach out for the bottle of water to pour myself a glass. I swear I had a mini-fight with the waiter that refused to let me pour it myself.

That one moment kind of summed up my stay here in Lebanon, and in general the Lebanese people. Excess. The Lebanese people love excess. Things that serious go above and beyond the norm or reason, just because. Stuff like valet parking, to the constant food offerings to guests. I’d probably guess that at least 60% of the cars here are either mercs or BMWs. Don’t get me wrong nothing wrong with BMWs (loads wrong with mercs but that’s another post for another time), it’s just that whether people can afford it or not, they’ll buy them, just to show off.

Lebanon, the country of excess.