BEIRUT - Day One

A few months ago, Wajdi Elian (filmmaker/editor/musician/friend extraordinaire) mentioned a live film score he was going to be doing in Beirut in November.
It was sorta said in passing that I should come, but when it was finally decided that we would have Eid off from work.... it was a must.
I walked over to JP's desk and simply said "Yo. You wanna go to Beirut?"
His response was just as simple, "Yup."
Within 10 minutes, we had plane tickets and a hotel booked.

When we got there, I did my best to keep track of the "goings-on".
Most of this is pretty scattered but hopefully will illustrate the trip with some kind of accuracy.
Lets go one day at a time......

Friday Nov 12, 2010
Beirut - First Impressions Last
Ride from airport - haggle for price - road congestion - hot - car smells like skittles, air smells like tailpipe - lots of graffiti - sickle and hammers - Che portraits - Arab talk radio with nothing to say - skinny leg beggar - millions of old Mercedes - is this Cairo? - arrive at Monroe Hotel - room is not ready, stroll downtown - Souk? Gucci, Prada, Hermes.... mad authentic huh? - designer hell - sit next to a 15th century mosque.

There is a beautiful, old Christian cathedral next to Roman ruins next to a mosque.... nice site
Bullet holes in everything - meet Wajdi downtown - talk politics, history, tips
Go to lunch at a real deal Leb spot
In order to stay true to the delicious meal laid out before us - I had to eat off of a bone. Pretty damn good but still wont make it a habit.

Back to hotel - tiny room - RIPPED OFF - Coffee, Leb style - read maps - relax

How can we survive in a city where nothing even starts until 2am? Am I too old for this? Too anti-social? Or just too lazy?

Illustrate Area Seen From Window

Intercon Phoenicia - Front left
Sea front/Yacht Club - Right
Bomb site memorial - Straight ahead
Bombed out Holiday Inn - Left


5pm - Feels like bedtime - Partially drunk on Arak - phones dont work, internet doesnt work - fooled by online photos of hotel - photos of pool dont quite match up with the real thing:
Upon further investigation.... the pool has been closed for over 2 years!

6PM - More Leb coffee - walk to Hamrah - hills and crazed drivers - running fingers through and across bullet holes in walls - uphills, downhills - long street full of nothingness shops - stop at a cafe for orange lemonade and french fries - walk more - and more - came across small cd shop and picked up Omar Souleyman's "Jazeera Nights" for 20,000 LBP (still cant figure out the conversion to USD) - legs sore, back sweaty - stop at a little shop for water and shampoo - back to Monroe at 8pm - NAPTIME
Back up around 9pm - cab to Gemmayzah St - Pub crawl state of mind - first bar, before we even get our first drink, someone yells "JP?!?!?!" from outside - small world - follow his friends to a trendy little bar called "Mew" or something like that - nice clothes, fake boobs and noses, crowd is all 30 plus - 17,000LBP drinks - cant wait in line for bathroom (too many cocaine users) - piss in street 4 times - Lebanese have an 80's music obsession.... weird thing is its not even 80's music!!! It's 90's - Meet a dude called Fad - chatted for a while about America - he thought I was in Kings of Leon hahaha - 230AM walk home along sea front - in hotel by 330AM - more coffee - notes on day - bed.

Lights out on day one in Beirut.