I left Damascus for a 2 day trip to Lebanon (two days because the visa is free for 48hrs) and I am now in Beirut.  The town's name brings memories of Terry Weit and the hostage crisis here, and memories of the civil war still linger on.  Many buildings still have bullet and shell marks on the walls and many are uninhabited.  Having said that the reputation as the "Paris of the middle east" is coming back and the new down town area has some wonderful architecture and town planning.  It should also be called mini-Paris because it is so damn expensive compared to Syria, so I'm glad I am not staying longer.  Hostel in Syria, 2 pounds a night, hostel in Beirut 4 pounds a night, (for comparison-hostel in London, 12 pounds a night.)  The women are beautiful and wear tighter clothes than Europe.  MTV-style lebanese TV is pumped into many Arabic speaking homes in the middle-east and has made Lebanon famous for it's relaxed versions of Islam and christianity.  I dropped into the American University of Beirut which was a pleasant campus at the edge of the city near the beach.

I am again feeling tired from travelling and I expect to make my way to Jordan as soon as I am back in Damascus and then onto Israel.  I will not see much of JOrdon, I will leave it for another time.  I plan to go home soon after that around the 10th August I think, but I still don't have a ticket, and it will probably be cheaper to come back to Aman in JOrdon to fly home.

Adios,
John