From Jerusalem to Beirut

Am already a fan of The Perpetual Refugee and thanks to his blog I found Lisa's wonderful blog.

As I was wandering around Lisa's blog reading her posts and comments to her posts, I came across a comment written by no other than Perpetual Refugee:

"I can image the drive up to Beirut from Tel Aviv. You'd of course take the scenic route. The Mediterranean always on your left hand side. I would assume you'd leave in the morning, the sun already having risen in the east. It would be sunny. It
usually is. As you drive north past Haifa, the terrain starts to roll. The hills become mountains. Acrne. Nahariyya. Then the border. The Lebanese customs officer smiles and being Lebanese, starts to chat you up. He'll impress you with a 'Bokaltov' followed by 'Bienvenue a Liban'. You enter without any problems. Your Israeli passport stamped. Your license plates remain as they are. And you drive. The signs are now in Arabic and French. You already feel the difference, and yet, you're comfortable. It still feels good, comfortable. You get excited as you pass the ancient city of Tyre. You feel the urge to stop and see what Alexander the Great found so fascinating about the city. But you don't. You'll be back. Further north, you reach Saida (Sidon). It's stunning, a bit more Islamic in feel. Again, you want to stop but not today. Today you have a date with Beirut. And you'll fall in love." The Perpetual Refugee, Comment Section of Road Trip by Lisa Goldman (18 May 2006).

Beautifully written (as usual) it got me day dreaming.
Here I was on my own road trip, but the other way around.

On a summer night out with a couple of friends, after partying until dawn in one of Beirut's hotspot, we decided to board the car head south, direction: Tel Aviv. As we arrived we rented a room in one of the hotels to rest a little before working on our tan.

Spending the remaining of the day at the beach, we met and interacted with some Israeli peers who, then, invited us to check out Tel Aviv's party scene (some friends have tried to make me believe that Tel Aviv's nightlife was better than Beirut's - as I only believe what I see I have to explore:))

So there we are partying the night out in Tel Aviv with our new found friends. As we get out of the club, our new acquaintances decide to drag us down to the Sinai desert and spend the rest of the week end in some Bedouin camp.

So there we are, on a trip to the magical desert. Upon arrival we find ourselves in this captivating place, a place from where we can see a peaceful and serene surrounding and have a view of four countries now living in peace: Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Everything seems so enchanting and calm from up there.

We spend the night around a fire camp, take out a guitar, play some music and smoke the night away, reshaping the world.

It is now time to leave: "Next winter we'll meet in Beirut, we'll take you up north to the mountains for some skiing. Spend a day in Byblos, have some fresh cooked fish and one of the best hummus on the planet. Of course we'll make you discover the rest of the country and especially Beirut's mythical night life."

On our way back we decide to take the ancient road connecting Saint Catherine's Monastery with Jerusalem.

Once our pilgrimage to Jerusalem ends we get in the car and head back to Beirut. On the road from Jerusalem to Beirut, we realise the wonders of living in a peaceful Middle East; how lucky we are to (re)discover this part of the world and be able to meet and interact with our (new found) cousins.

But all of a sudden I wake up from my day dream and come back to reality. A reality in which innocent lives are being lost. A reality in which prejudice still exist. A reality in which the house still needs to get in order.

A reality I hope will fade away sooner than later and leave place to a new reality. Inshallah.