Finally Beirut!

After half a month's travelling, I've finally arrived to my last destination for this trip. I caught my first glimpse of Beirut as the Middle Eastern Airlines Boeing 777 descent gradually southwards. My first sight was a long stretch of beach, where the waves of Mediterranean Sea continue to clash perpetually with the sands of Lebanon. A marina came into view and at the backdrop was an incomplete construction of what appears to be a highly sophisticated looking office tower. As I looked eastwards, multitudes of aged low-rised buildings dotted the landscape which sloped gradually upwards to the mountains in the distant. Within seconds, I landed with a full view of the International Airport.

The flight in from Paris was actually quite enjoyable. Middle Eastern Airlines (MEA) does keep up a service standard that's pretty on par with SQ. Plus, I got to enjoy movies-on-demand throughout the flight so there's nothing to complain about! I've got to get their mileage card =P

Compared to Algeria and Morocco, Lebanon is more developed. Looking at the streets on the way to the hotel, I could see similarities to streets of Bangkok and Hong Kong albeit less flashy billboards. However, Lebanese seem to have a penchant for showing opulence, I couldn't help but notice the number of luxury cars on the roads. Appears to me that out of 10 cars, 7 cars' a Merc (hey isn't that Singapore?!?!?) but the other 2 are probably an Infinity and a BMW (bourgeois scums! haha).

Arriving a the hotel with Sakai, I was greeted by another Asian colleague. It seems like I've not seen him since my interview a couple of months back. I hurriedly check in because I was hungry and we had dinner. Surprise, surprise, it was serving Asian food!