dlish

I took a few days off to visit some family in lebanon. Its summer in Lebanon now, so we usually have an exodus of family members in Sydney escape the winter and spend a month or two in warmer climates.

I took this opportunity to see them again since its been almost a year since ive been back home to Sydney.

My lebanese hometown is in the northern port city of Tripoli (no not Libya! i get that a lot these days). Ill be sharing some pics of my days there as well as my trips to Lebanons highest point, amongst a few other places.


Ebbeh, a suburb not too far away from where i live along the Abu Ali River


Abu Ali River


a Turkish mosque built by the Ottomans being restored by the turkish government. This mosque sits on the Abu Ali river


driving here is not for the faint hearted. its every man for himself here. roundabouts are negotiated by beeping your horn and accelerating. red lights are ignored, and it all works itself out in the end in some strange way.




quiet mornings in Mina

a quiet morning in Mina


busy nights in Mina


This is where i spent my nights overlooking the meditereanean sea



tomorrow ill add the trip up the countryside for my trek to Qarnet Sawda, Lebanons highest Mountain.

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An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

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amonkie

How do folks navigate the hill in the first picture of the suburb? Is that a road cresting along the bottom towards the right?

Glad you go to see family!!

__________________
Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

dlish

no idea Monkie. ive never been down that road, so i couldnt tell you. road road runs by the river. you could probably see the very edge of the retaining wall of the channel on the bottom right.

all i know is that its every man for himself on the road, and that seatbelts are for wusses.

here my daytrip to Qarnet Sawda


we stopped by a town near the popular suburn of Kissba here to take a few pictures of a castlelike house built by a lebanese man who imported the dark rocks from another part of lebanon. this place has become iconic apparently.






can u tell where im from?



the outlook at Kissba



Lebanon has a massive collection of old european cars.

by far the most populsr are Volkswagen, BMW, and puegot which ill post later


this is for all my american friends. i have no idea what the connection with misissipi is, but there you go. A restaurant named after an american state in lebanon.


the lookout at Hasroun






the snow usually lasts till august. here is the first bit of snow we saw going up the countryside.


a Renault carrying a diesel generator? what the...?


where my trek started






looking back from where i came


first bit of snow after an hour and a half




ran into a shephard and his goats..and dog. turns out the guy had visited sydney a few years back and knew where i lived. strange!





at 3000above sea level theres still plenty of snow up here



view from a vantage point close to the top at 3050m


me at the top of Qarnet Sawdah, Lebanons highest point!






view on the way down once the clouds came in. i wanted to get off the mountain as soon as possible because the temperature plummets in the afternoon, although i had my cold weather gear with me just in case.

an isolated trek. not a difficult one, but a nice little challenge!

__________________
An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy

Jove

Beautiful. Thanks for posting pictures!

amonkie

Still never good to go by yourself but glad that it was another peak you could cross off your list!

__________________
Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

Fly

awesome.........you're a very lucky man

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BASTARD

SterlingStudios

Craven Morehead

Very cool, thanks. I really enjoy your travel pictures.

dlish

thanks guys. im very lucky to be able to travel and show the places ive been.

amonkie, although the trek was done aone, it was only a 6.5hr round trip. i got a taxi to the ski field, and the taxi driver waited for me until i got back. i also called him when i got to the top to let him know i had made it. he expected a call from me. i also had plenty of water and food with me and watherproof clothes with me, so i was prepared.

lebanon is a country that is passionate about its politics. everywher you go people will talk about religion and politics in the same breath, and the country is divided up on these lines, which i think is unfortunate. a major cock up if you ask me, but thats for another thread.

so i decided to take some pics of the various posters around the country as a matter of interest. let me know your thoughts..you may notice a few familiar faces in there

you may have noticed the assassinated prime minister Rafik Hariri in a picture i posted earlier ( pic no. 3). i dont really know lebanese politics or politicians very well, but i recognose the most popular faces and names...

here are a few more


Sa'ad Hariri on the right, not sure who the guy on the left is






a Najib Mikati ( cuurent prime minister of lebanon) placard "we are all for the nation, we are all for doing things"


Rafik hariri's son Sa'ad



"The Martyr Saddam Hussein"

__________________
An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy

MeltedMetalGlob

ALL the pics are eye-catching, but I found those two especially breathtaking. Truly feels like it's the top of the world!

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StanT

I'm amused by the one seat chairlift. I barely remember those.


Nice shots.

Remixer

Holy crap mate.

What's with the German-and-Japanese-cars-only rule in Lebanon?

Very nice scenery, though.

dlish

remixer, wait till you get a load of what im about to show you!

theres a recent phenomenon in Lebanon that i never noticed until my recent trip.

Its the VW combi-vans cum mobile cafetria that have taken over the streets. Anyone who knows a lebanese person knows that they love nothing more than have a coffee and a shisha and chat about lebanese politics and religion, preferably at the same time.

so i decided to capture some of these vans on camera just out of interest. i thought it was quite amazing that there was literally hundreds of old combi vans driving around the streets of Tripoli with cafeterias in the back. Some even have tables and chairs in there as well as shisha's to accomodate the requests of the masses.










this guy has the works, including a satellite on top of the combi








ok this guy has bigger ideas

__________________
An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy