BONJOUR DE BEYROUTH

greetings from beirut everyone! i've wanted to write earlier (which is the case most of the time), but i just couldn't find the time too - i've been busy appreciating the view (read: men) here. i've been here for more than a week now, and i've fallen in love with like a few hundred men here (unrequited, of course). i fell in love with like 10 men before i passed the immigration area (and yes, i fell in love with the guy at the immigration counter too.. hehe). i also fell in love with the hotel pick-up driver, the bell boy, the front office guy, the housekeeping guy, the waiter at the coffee house.. you get the drift.

basically, the people here are gorgeous. the women, especially, are drop dead gorgeous (alamak str8 nya statement nih..heheh). it must be depressing being a not-so-gorgeous girl in this country (for men it's not so bad because having money can make you attractive and appealing to women).

and the place is just as gorgeous as the people. it's charming. it's funny that even when the buildings are berkulat and the paint has faded and the footpaths are covered with overgrown grass.. they still look raher perfect. and the fact that my hotel room window overlooks the mediterranean sea may have affected my opinion on the place. it's gorgeous.

despite all the gorgeousness, it's not really a pleasant place to visit at the moment. you see, i've never been interested in world history and world politics. but since i waas going to visit this place, i had to force myself to read about the political situation in the country (blearghh). anyway, right now, there is some political tension here. they are supposed to elect a new president and they need to do it before 23 nov as per their constitution (they have a president AND a prime minister). but they can't seem to agree on a candidate. once the president is chosen, then only they can have the election. the president, based on the constitution needs to be a maronite christian (someone from the church. by the way, they have power sharing thing going on - something like sarawak). but until now, they can't agree on a candidate. don't bother asking the lebanese to get a better understanding of the whole thing. they don't even care. they hate all their politicians. they just want to get on with their life. they don't want another civil war.

if you walk around the city of beirut, you'll see (gorgeous) military personnel everywhere. it does look a bit scary. but the local people look like they are used to this. they are carrying out their daily lives as normal as they can, living in their bullet-hole-visible apartments (which, by the way, are still charming). my colleague got scared of the whole scenario that he decided to just stay inside the hotel the whole of last weekend. but i'm not gonna let a few thousand men in military uniform stop me from wandering outside (eheh). so i walked around beirut last saturday with a beirut map in my hand. checked out the mall and wandered around the city. went to the national museum (which was so grandeur, except for the fact that they were like 7 visitors there including myself). but thanks to my woosy friend, i didn't have anyone to take photos of myself around the city. takleh nak letak kat facebook. hmph.

unlike dubai, they don't really have that many asians in this place. so they do make a double-take when they see you. but just like dubai, malaysians like me are always faced with an identity crisis. a few days ago, while i was walking by the roadside, a kid (he's about 12) shouted from a car "ARE YOU CHINESEEE?? I LOVE CHINESEEEEE!!!!" after that he went on to make some noise which i think was some kung fu fighting sound effects.

and that's not the only time this happened ok? last weekend, as i got out from the cab at the mall entrance, 2 teenage boys said "koniciwa" at me and smirked. malas nak explain... so i just said "koniciwa" back. heheh.

well, i'm glad that they find me amusing in this part of the world. but i'm still waiting for an older guy to mistake me for a chinese or a japanese or a korean so that i can correct him. and more. hehehehe...

ok need to stop writing now. ngantuk.., part two coming up soon...