http://www.bioneural.net bioneural.net is for stuff worth sharing: commentary by Bruce McKenzie. Major topics covered are gadgets, informatics, Internet, Mac, mobile, musings, New Zealand, photography, Project Koru, quicklinks, rant, rave, travel and Windows Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:02:32 +0000 en http://www.bioneural.net/images/kiwi-yellow-64px.png http://www.bioneural.net 64 64 bioneural.net http://www.bioneural.net/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bioneural.net%2F2005%2F10%2F29%2Flebanon-syria-and-jordan%2F&seed_title=Lebanon%2C+Syria%2C+and+Jordan http://www.bioneural.net/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bioneural.net%2F2005%2F10%2F29%2Flebanon-syria-and-jordan%2F&seed_title=Lebanon%2C+Syria%2C+and+Jordan#comments Sat, 29 Oct 2005 05:55:20 +0000 Bruce http://www.bioneural.net/2005/10/29/lebanon-syria-and-jordan/ From http://www.bioneural.net :

In September through October 2005 we joined a whistle-stop group tour of three Middle-Eastern countries: Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. Sat 17 We arrived in Beirut to a 27-degree welcome, enticing us to remove our UK-donned fleeces. Distant explosions were thankfully fireworks but this is not a ready assumption: a car bomb had exploded the night before our arrival. Zyad, our tour leader, escorted us to a small bus for transfer to the hotel. It was night when we arrived, and the cityscape looked not unlike a Turkish city but for the Arabic script mingled with the English and occasional French. Hotel Berkley was near the centre of town. The bus door opened to the distinct smell of sewage—not all together in keeping with the 6 stars above the hotel name. The man on reception told us, however, this was actually a 7 star hotel. With a cold beer on arrival, 2 bedrooms, bathroom, lounge and kitchen we weren't disappointed, but rather thankful it wasn't the 2 or 3 star (local rating) accommodation we had been expecting... Pigeon Rocks, Beirut Sun 18 The morning began with a city tour, initially by bus past the site where Ex-PM Hariri was killed in a car bomb. Adjacent to the Corniche in the Raouche area are the Pigeon Rocks. On foot we passed a number of fine-looking buildings that would not be out of place in any European city. Indeed, partly because of the familiar advertising brands, Beirut looks rather westernized. There were signs of the civil war (a ...]]> http://www.bioneural.net/feeder/?FeederAction=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bioneural.net%2F2005%2F10%2F29%2Flebanon-syria-and-jordan%2F&seed_title=Lebanon%2C+Syria%2C+and+Jordan/feed/ 33.887189 35.513404 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/