It’s my first morning in Beirut. I woke up very early and got my bags unpacked. I’d been too tired on Friday night to do much of anything, although I did go out to grab some food about 1am. All I could find with a gas station store, so I got ready made chicken sandwich and it was fresh and good.

I woke up again a little before sunrise. I wanted to get my bearings, so I decided to go for a walk around my neighborhood.

This is my first time in any Middle Eastern country and I speak only English. I wanted to get my b earings, grab some breakfast and take pictures. Later in the day, I’d start contacting people and give them my Lebanese mobile number.

I ended up walking around for about five hours, with a few pitstops in coffee shops and restaurants.

At one point, I was walking on Hamra Street, which is one of the main streets in Beirut for shopping and restaurants when I was approached by some kids with shoeshine buckets. They didn’t speak English at all but I understood them saying ‘Syria’ and pointing to themselves. I don’t know for sure that they are from Syria but I know that’s what they said.

They ranged in age from 8 to 16. (I showed them pictures of my own kids and held up fingers; they got what I was doing and did the same.) I gave them some money, which made them want more money, of course. They were very persistent in an ‘experienced street kid’ way. At one point an older man came by, who they seemed to work for and they said ‘bye bye!’ to me and took off.

Here are some photos and short bits of text from the rest of the walk.

I can already see that Beirut is a city of contrasts. Battered old buildings next to new construction. From what I saw this morning, it’s also built on many levels with winding streets and huge stairs that bring you from one area to another.

Lots of interesting stuff on the walls. Many more photos coming like these to my Flickr account.

I saw a man praying at a shrine on the side of a building. I took this when he was done. You can see what is around the corner. Contrasts.

This is another street shrine for Christians to pray at. I’ve seen these a few places around Beirut.