Lebanon - Baalbeck & Beirut

The Temple of Baal/Jupiter - Baalbek, Lebanon

We were only in Lebanon for 2 days - Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so we decided to hire a driver for the day and drove 2 hours north to Baalbak. It was a long drive up narrow, windy roads, through lots of small villages and military checkpoints. There is a definite military presence in Lebanon. I never felt unsafe, but was surprised at all the checkpoints we had to pass through just to get into the mountains and up to Baalbak. There were 5 on the way there and of course we had to pass back through all 5 to get home. However, it was so awesome driving through the villages as they were all decorated for Christmas! :)

Random Christmas tree in one of the villages we drove through!

One of the many military checkpoints we passed through.

I HAD to take a pic of this as we were driving by.......it was so nice to see a cross!!! :)

Loved the colour of the soil here!

Baalbek.....this place was incredible! It sits in a valley between two mountain ridges which had snow on them. It was sooooo awesome to see snow again! :) Anyways, Baalbek is a very ancient site. They have found ruins beneath the now standing ruins that date back over 5,000 years. It was originally the place where the Assyrian god, Baal, was first worshipped. Then along came the Romans in 15BC to construct the enormous Temple of Baal/Jupiter and rename the place as Heliopolis - "City of the Sun" because they worshipped the sun god there. The Crusaders came later and then the Muslims. So over the years, MANY different people and religions have claimed this site, yet many of the original structures still stand, seemingly untouched today. :) Baalbek has the most fantastic ruins I have seen and ones that you could still climb on and explore. Because it was a chilly and clear day, the pics turned out really nice too! :)

Looking East...

These 6 gigantic rose granite columns are the only ones out of the original 128 still standing today.

Baalbek with the columns of the Great Court in the background.

The enormous Temple of Baal/Jupiter

Proof we were here......

Check out how big these columns are.....I'm standing in between them....

Looking up between those columns!

I LOVED how you could see the snow from here! :) A perfect setting for Christmas Eve! :)

Old barbed wire left over from who knows what.....this country was at war only 2 years ago.

Looking up at the Great Court...

The Temple of Bacchus

Inside the Temple of Bacchus

Peeking at more ruins through more barbed wire....

The exit out!

Here are just some more random pics from driving all the way back to Beirut.

The foothills of Lebanon reminded me of home! :)

The flag of Lebanon painted on a random old wall.

A shot up military post...

Once we got back to Beirut, the sun was already starting to set, so we made a quick stop to Pidgeon Rock to take a nice sunset photo! :) Sooooo pretty! :)

We were excited that the timing of arriving at Pidgen Rock was just as the sun was setting! We didn't even plan it that way! LOL :)

And that sums up Christmas Eve in Lebanon.....the other Christmasy pics I included in my blog entry on "Christmas in Beirut". I'll post the rest of my Lebanon pics tomorrow! :)

Weekend Getaway to Dubai!

I laughed that the clock showing Dubai's local time in our hotel was a Rolex.....that pretty much sums up Dubai! It is a very wealthy little Emirate, even after having to be bailed out by a neighbouring Emirate!

This school year has been pretty intense and there have been MANY days where all I could think about was flying out of here to some other place! When word of Dubai's new visa requirement for Canadian citizens was made public, Kimberley and I decided we needed to go to Dubai ASAP before this ridiculously expensive requirement ($250 CD) came into effect on January 2, 2011. So we found cheap flights, a great deal on a nice hotel and off we flew to Dubai!

Flying to Dubai! The flight was only an hour. :)

Because we were only in Dubai for 2 days, we didn't get a chance to explore much, but decided to relax by going shopping and just enjoy the freedom of being out of Kuwait! However, the one thing we did go see was the Burj Khalifa - the world's tallest tower! It truly was HUGE!!! You have to order and book tickets beforehand, which we did and then got to go up to the Observation Deck on floor 124.

The Burj Khalifa

Here is a scale model of the Burj Khalifa.....this thing is ENORMOUS!

We had to take this long escalator just to the platform where the elevators were to take us up to the observation deck....

The air was a little dusty this day, but if you look into the distance, you can see the world famous, man-made Palm Island Jumeirah!

Looking down on Dubai....

This is looking down on Fountain Dubai which apparently is this massive fountain that does a water show to music......sadly it wasn't working the day we were there. :(

Us at the top of the Observation Deck.....124 floors up! Our ears popped 3 times going up in the elevator!!

Closer view of Fountain Dubai that happened to not be working the one day we were there.....LOL.....my girls were SO disappointed I didn't get to see this "ajeeb" (super cool) fountain!

In the famous Dubai Mall there is an enormous aquarium in one end. Apparently, inside there are penguins and all sorts of other sea life! We didn't have time to go see, but took a few pics of the aquarium walls you can see from the inside of the actual mall. :) I hope to go back one day and actually go into the aquarium and see the rest. :)

That big fish was actually bigger than I was! It's hard to see just how big this aquarium is.....gotta love the reflection of the store signs on the glass!

We also got to see what Ski Dubai looks like.....SOOOOO wish we had time to go skiing/snowboarding there! We seriously want to come back and experience Ski Dubai! Here are some pics from the viewing windows in the mall. It looks so puny compared to the ski hills and mountains of Canada, but for over here this is indeed impressive! When you rent the equipment, you also get the snowsuit, toque, and mittens! LOL

It actually "snows" in here....we watched it fall shortly after I took this pic!

This looked like so much fun! I soooo want to go back and actually go in and snowboard!

Kim in front of yet another cool site inside the mall....this wall was all water and had life-sized statues of divers all the way down the three-story water wall!

All in all, my impression of Dubai was.....amazing! I would love to be able to go back and explore more of the Corniche and the big souqs along Dubai Creek. I would also love to go to Ski Dubai and the cool waterpark Atlantis! So many things to still do and see in this little Emirate! :) Inshallah, Dubai will drop the ridiculously high visa fee for Canadians and I can go back before June! If you ever get the chance to go, GO!!! :)

We were soooo sad we had to go back home to Kuwait.......please Dubai, please be nice to all Canadians and drop the new $250 visa fee!

Merry Christmas from Beirut! :)

An outdoor Christmas tree on Hamra St, Beirut!

"For unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you, you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!" Luke 2:11-14

Well, it's hard to believe it's Christmas Eve once again.....another year of teaching in Kuwait is almost halfway done and I am sitting here right now in Beirut, Lebanon thinking of friends and family back home in Canada. :)

It was so nice to be able to fly here for today and tomorrow and be in a country that openly celebrates Christmas for Christmas Eve and Day! :) Our hotel lobby is all decorated and they even sent us up a special Christmas treat - a Yule Log!! :)

Our Yule Log! It was really good! :)

We walked down Hamra Street tonight and saw Christmas lights, decorations and trees! :) We could even hear church bells and Christmas carols!!!

Christmas tree outside of the Crowne Plaza Hotel

The kicker however, and perhaps the best Christmas present ever was.......REAL pork bacon! :) We ordered a special side of bacon (we explained to the rather confused waiter that we worked in Kuwait and hadn't eaten pork bacon in 4 months) to eat with our Christmas Eve dinner of hamburgers at the Roadside Diner in Beirut!

Clearly this was an exciting moment....LOL! Not quite turkey, but it was still great!

I wish everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! May you enjoy tonight and tomorrow spending time with friends and family! I am eagerly anticipating next Christmas back home in the Great White North! :) Love and miss you all! xo