So I'm in Lebanon now, and I'm having fun times. There are a lot of differences between Cairo and Lebanon, if you ever get a chance to compare the two. The first is, they have hills here, right next to the coast with houses built on them, which reminds me of California. The second is, of course, girls with mini-skirts. Which I really missed. It's nice to see that girls have legs again, and that's just something you don't get in Cairo.
I was a little concerned when I first got here because I kept hearing gunshots going off throughout the day. It wasn't that big of a deal until, after leaving a museum, I was wandering in one direction, and then shots were coming from in front of me a few kilometers off. I decided to maybe go a different direction, but before that long I heard gunshots in that direction too, so I decided to take a cab. Perhaps walking isn't the best option. It was all okay, though, for the cab driver informed me that it was just that they were announcing the scores of some yearly test and these were gunshots of celebration. Great.
Mentioning cabs, though. That's a little different over here. At one point, I asked a cab to take me to the bus stop, he drove me to a street and told me to go down some stairs and to the highway and buses pass there. I told him I wasn't sure, and I wanted to get out and look at this supposed "bus stop". I got out of the cab to look down the stairs, but he go out too and grabbed my backpack, and started yelling for his money. I tried to explain to him that I just wanted to look down the stairs. Then he went to his trunk, opened it, and pulled out a stick, all the time yelling about his money. I was not too worried, this old guy could barely lift the stick, but I was shocked it had gotten to this point. Anyway, in traditional Arab style, people started to gather around to see what all the commotion was. I asked them if there was really a bus stop and they confirmed that there was, so I paid the money, but I don't think it would have ever come to violence so quickly in Egypt. Maybe people here in Lebanon are really on edge from fighting and civil war, or maybe that old guy was just crazy.
I've done lots of fun things since I've been here, I went to Tripoli, and I've discovered that Tripoli is really boring. But I visited a place called the Jeita Grotto's near Beirut, those were amazing. You go into this gigantic cave filled with stalagmites and stalactites. It is probably the best interesting cave formation in the world. You walk through one cavern and then you take a small boat through another that is filled with water. It's a whole upside world where mountains come from the ceilings. It's also kind of interesting to realize, "Hum, I'm in a room with thousands of giants daggers hanging from above." But the formations are so complex and intricate that it really feels like the whole thing is alive. It's like you're walking through a snapshot of something that is growing and moving with arms that stretch out and skin that flaps in wind that takes an eon to go from one side of the cave to the other. Unfortunately, they don't allow pictures, so I'll just have to snag some on the internet to show people at home.
Well, that's it for Lebanon, I'm off to Syria tomorrow, I just need to find a bus schedule.
