Articles from this Category
19 October 2004
Getting ready I woke at 0500 and lay till 0630. We got packed up and headed out for a brief walk around the town of Hama before breakfast at 0715. I wanted to see what changes, if any, since our visit two years ago. Text continues after this gallery. Pat and Fiona joined […]
18 October 2004
Above: Temple of Bacchus. See the size of the man at the bottom? Roman Ruins of Baalbek Today is a big day. We plan to start from Beirut to Baalbek for sightseeing, then hopefully continue to Hama in Syria. I have concerns that the border in the north of Lebanon may not be open to […]
17 October 2004
Hill summer retreats Breakfast at the hotel took a turn downhill today with no tomatoes and cucumber. It was quite a surprise as both are basics of a Mediterranean breakfast. We took a brief walk outside the hotel, recognising Starbucks and the juice shop from our previous visit to Beirut. We met Zakaria, our driver […]
16 October 2004
Taking a day-trip I loved my Middle Eastern or Mediterranean breakfasts! Tomato, cucumber, cheeses, hard boiled eggs, bread, cake, strong coffee/tea and the token cornflakes perhaps to make the selection more “international”. Fiona didn’t seem too comfortable with the food and stuck to the mini French bread, toasted and buttered with tomato slices on top. […]
15 October 2004
Flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beirut We woke at the Kuala Lumpur airport’s Airside Transit Hotel at 0545 and walked down to the departure gate at 0630 for the 0720 departure to Beirut on Malaysia Airlines, via Dubai on the same aircraft. With about 20 passengers arriving late from Melbourne, we departed a little late. […]
23 May 2003
Today we have a daytrip, with a pick-up at 0830, to Buraimi Oasis and Al Ain via Hatta and Hajar Mountains. Our driver James, from Karnataka drove us through sandy dunes on the side of the motorway before entering more rugged territory. At Hatta Fort, it was a brief stop as it was closed being […]
22 May 2003
We rose around 0600. The sky seemed quite light way before the actual sunrise time. After breakfast, we set off in our Land Cruiser to Camel Rock where the sand was redder and there was no vegetation. We were taken back to our hotel around 0930 and were fortunate enough to be given a room […]
21 May 2003
The real Dubai After a simple of breakfast of items from the supermarket we took the hotel shuttle to Deira for the Gold Souk. The traffic was a shocker, just like yesterday evening. It was already hot when we wandered around, despite in largely sheltered alleys. The gold necklaces and adornments of various types were […]
20 May 2003
We ate a simple breakfast of cereal, mango juice and some cake in our room. Our hotel is in the same group as the Jumeirah Beach Hotel and we used their free shuttle to get there. The water in the sea by the hotel was just stunning. It was a gorgeous turquoise to look at […]
18 May 2003
Above: Abbasi Hotel courtyard. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons. Shaking Minarets Kim didn’t sleep well due to the traffic noise. We changed room after breakfast to a quieter one. Kim also had a cold, so wasn’t particularly happy. We took a taxi to Chehel Sotoun, a pavilion with forty columns set within a park, but it […]