The Arrival

Part 1

It’s T-day. I had constant thoughts running in my mind about whether I was all prepared. This is partly because of the economic situation and political instability in Lebanon. It’s always difficult to visualize a country with information from the news. Karelle, my local contact in Lebanon, told me to be careful with stealing and other petty crimes. And partly because Lebanon is an off beat destination and I was getting many advise domestically to be careful in the country.

Before you even make a picture of Lebanon in your mind, I never felt unsafe while I was there, and I believe that anyone who visits will have a great time. I was only in Lebanon for a short time, but I was really impressed with what I saw. The country is beautiful and the people are incredibly friendly and helpful. I can’t imagine how they manage to keep going with the current inflation rate, but somehow they do. The humanity is still alive in the country when inflation increased 189% in the first 11 months of 2022.

I was living with the thought that I needed to prepare more and yet spent time with friends T-6 hours before. We had evening snacks, chai and played chess. I borrowed a GoPro from a friend and it was worth it. I was reluctant at first, but now I’m glad I took it.

It was 11:30 PM and I had already run through my travel checklist multiple times. I got into a cab and reached the airport (IATA: BLR) in an hour. I was relaxed because I had time on my hand. I leisurely proceeded towards security and immigration. It was a long queue at immigration. That’s the only place where it took time. The first interesting incident happened at the Indian Immigration side. Ready for it?

I visited the Indian Immigration counter and the officer asked me if I was going for employment or tourism. It appeared that Lebanon wasn’t a country for vacation and Indians probably go there for employment. He wrote something on my boarding pass and directed me to approach another officer. I left the queue and approached the officer. At this point, I was thinking if it’s that big of a deal to visit Lebanon? The other officer checked my passport and asked me a few questions around my travel. I answered him and showed him Japanese and Armenian visas. He struck off words written by previous officer and wrote OK on my boarding pass. I again visited the same counter and I got an immigration stamp in my passport. Sigh! It was an experience in itself. The travel had already kicked off.

I cleared security and headed towards the lounge. I’ve been to this lounge before, so I know the entire layout. I never got a comfortable seat there. I carry this regret with me all the time. You will find too many people in many airport lounges in India. I sat there and had light snacks because I already pre-booked in-flight meals (BLR-SHJ, SHJ-BEY). I killed time by using my phone and this is where I thought to have an iPad to entertain myself during flight journeys.

I boarded the flight to SHJ. It was 03:10 AM IST and I was sleep deprived. I tried to sleep till they started serving meals. The journey was smooth and I reached SHJ. It was 03:35 hours layover before I board Air Arabia’s flight to BEY. I settled on a seat and started counting time for my flight to BEY. The moment arrived and I was a bit nervous. I saw that the left counter had Beirut boarding and the right had Istanbul boarding. I went to the counter and they asked me to go to an airport official and have him sign my boarding pass. I went to that person (he was an Indian employed at Sharjah airport) and he signed my boarding pass. This happened with a few people and I finally made it onto the plane.

I had Upma with sambar for my meal on the flight. After my meal, I had to kill time for another few hours. I usually sleep or read the magazine. I love IndiGo’s and Air Arabia’s in-flight magazines. Air Arabia has a quarterly magazine called Al Nawras, which is a Persian word for “young” or “blossoming.” I remember learning about the Lagom philosophy from an IndiGo inflight magazine. I took photos of that article and later bought the book on Lagom by Lola A Åkerström.

Part 2

The moment of truth has arrived. I can see Beirut city from above. It’s a beautiful city situated on the Mediterranean coastline. I arrived at BEY around 12:25. It was easy to clear immigration and there was barely anything by customs. I was happy and confident. The first thing I did at BEY was ask for the washroom. After that, I headed towards the exit. Chady, my local connect in Beirut, already told me that you won’t find any currency exchange or SIM card at the airport. You can read more about it in Currency and SIM card.

I immediately headed towards the taxi stand and I saw people holding placards and taxi drivers. A man approached me and showed me his airport badge. I could have used Bolt or Uber, but it was drizzling and I was tired. Chady already told me to negotiate with taxi drivers and helped me with a range. He asked me $30. Note that the airport is barely 10KMs. I negotiated for $15 but he was insisting for a $5 tip. I told him I am a student and won’t be able to pay. He understood it and called someone and the taxi arrived in 3-4 minutes. I got into the taxi and had small talks with the driver. After few minutes, I opened my bag and quickly grabbed my GoPro to take videos and photos. It was not even 15 minutes and I arrived at my location. The driver dropped me at Saint Nicholas Staircase. I said Shukran to the driver and quickly climbed the stairs as it was raining heavily on my head and entered The Grand Meshmosh Hotel. One of the best hostels in Beirut located in Gemmayze neighbourhood which is known for old bars and modern restaurants. The hotel has a mini bar and serves complimentary Lebanese breakfast in the morning.

Okay. Let’s see what happened at the hotel reception. A nice gentleman in his 40s greeted me and asked my name. He checked my name and said I had booked a night with them. I told him that I had dropped a message for two more nights on Instagram. He extended the booking by two more nights and he told me the amount in US dollars. I was carrying enough cash, and it was in a mixed denomination. I was surprised that everyone was accepting US dollars, although they have their own currency. You will be able to connect the dots when you read my week-long full experience. The fine gentleman explained me about hostel rules, breakfast time, check-in and checkout time. He showed me to my dorm and gave me a short tour. He also asked me to note down the door code. The door is open until a certain time and if you want to leave or come back beyond these times, then you need that code to open the door. This was the experience in Japan too.

I asked the reception for coffee and he asked a staff member to serve me coffee. A young and tall girl was generous enough to prepare it for me. Later, she told me that she hails from Baalbek region. The landing page photo shows Roman Ruins located in Baalbek region. They usually don’t serve coffee in the afternoon, and I found this small gesture really welcoming. I thought it had been 12 hours or more since I’d been travelling, and I would get a sweet sleep but I couldn’t sleep. I asked Chady to meet me at 16:00 so I could take a nap for an hour or so.

Part 3

I met Chady at 16:00 at Mohammad Al Amin Mosque (a.k.a Blue Mosque) to explore Beirut. I took my GoPro and filled my bottle. I was leisurely walking on the Rue Gouraud and capturing buildings on my GoPro. After a few minutes, I was seeing a grand structure in yellow and blue color. The colors were due to Yellow Riyadh Stones and the blue tiles on the dome. I had been talking to Chady for weeks and I had seen his photos. It was quickly for me to spot Chady and we greeted each other. I had certain questions about Lebanon and we started discussing it. Chady was explaining about current affairs, political history, the significance of the Blue Mosque and the area around it. He explained about the Muslim and Christian populations in Lebanon. He further explained that there are six mosques and six churches in the area. He said it is like a competition where they want mosques and churches in equal number but people live in harmony.

The mosque was closed when we met so we decided to walk behind the mosque and explore the area and Roman ruins. We further went to explore downtown Beirut which is merely 800 meters from the mosque. It was an important area surrounded by important political and religious buildings. Chady explained me about Lebanon history and Phoenician civilisation. There were temporary walls and barricade places and the military is guarding the place. Chady showed me Lebanese parliament. I whispered Chady if I can take photo of the parliament. He said feel free to take but make sure you avoid military guards. We spent some time there talking and discussing.

It was not even 17:00 but it was dark and felt like 20:00. It was chilling and drizzling evening. This made a perfect weather for visiting local Christmas market and try out some local food and drink. It is located at central district and popular for cafes and restaurants and 650 meters from the mosque. I told Chady that I’m hungry and want to try some light snacks. He directed me to a Man’oushe (flatbread) stall. The woman was freshly preparing Man’oushe and serving with Za’atar (mix of herbs and spices). It was fresh, delicious and filling and costed less than a dollar. I requested her to let me film her Man’oushe preparation and without any hesitation she smiled and agreed. We strolled around the market and checked out few stalls. I asked Chady if he is up for a coffee. He asked me to go ahead and try out. I had a cup of coffee and it felt like it was a Turkish coffee.

After some time, we left the mosque and walked towards Chady’s car. It was a Mercedes CLK 320 and I loved the wooden interior. We got into the car and I handed Chady’s gift from India. Chady was excited to take me to a few attractions in Beirut. Our first stop was Zaitunay Bay and he joked that he owned a yacht there. It sounded so real that later we laughed hard. I wanted to pee and we were finding a public restroom. There was one at Bay but you need to purchase something from Starbucks to use it. We strolled around the area and decided to visit Raoucheh and find a public restroom there. We spotted another Starbucks and I exclusively visited the outlet for pee. Seems that alone in Beirut there are 20 odd Starbucks. The feeling after pee and the chilling breeze was so calming. We walked a bit there and headed to Corniche. We didn’t spend much time there and decided to go to Hamra for dinner. Chady recommended that I should try dinner at Barbar restaurant. It’s opened in 1979 with first operation in Hamra. So I was in 44 years authenticate Lebanese restaurant and ready to try my first dinner in Lebanon. I let Chady order some food and we tried Spinach fatayer (similar to Samosa), Falafel, Ayran (yogurt drink) and Taboule. It was a filling dinner. We took a stroll around Hamra and decided to part our ways. Chady was kind to drop me to the upper side of St. Nicholas stairs. I couldn’t ask for a better first day in Lebanon than this.

I ended my first day with a local beer named Elmir at the hostel bar.

Attraction of the day:

1. Pigeon rocks
2. Martyrs’ Square
3. Corniche
4. Mohammad Al Amin Mosque
5. Beirut Souks
6. Zaitunay Bay
7. Raoucheh
8. Hamra
9. Barbar restaurant
10. St. Nicholas stairs
11. American University of Beirut