Left Byblos late because Daisy was asking George so many questions.
It is at this point that I need to tell you about George, who was a very patient concierge at the hotel Byblos Sur Mer. We had a few problems and George helped to sort them out. As independent travellers, we wanted to know a few things about the locality and George was very informative.
After Daisy’s especially lengthy interrogation of George alluded to in the above comment, we didn’t see George again during our stay. I supposed that he had been hospitalised with nervous shock or at the very least had jacked in his job.
Every hotel should have a George and indeed, since our stay at Byblos, Daisy and I refer to the especially helpful person that Daisy finds as “George”, regardless of their real name and/or gender.
…then on to Baalbek – stunning temples of Jupiter and Bacchus (Venus?). Shown round by Mohammed himself [driver Bassam had to engage a local guide for us despite my prior familiarity with the place].
JupiterBacchusJupiter & Venus themselves at BaalbekVenus with Baalbek New Town in background
Left Beirut early – drove out through East Beirut – past Byblos and then up into mountains – superb vistas to photograph – to Cedars [see headline photo].
Stunning scenes on the roads up into the mountains
Mist was lifting as we drove up – stayed up long enough for our photos and promptly descended again to pelt down [on us].
Down to Byblos – an old Phoenician ruin (the building, not me)
Toured castle which includes Phoenician and Roman ruins as well as Crusader and Ottoman periods.
You can see Pepe Abed’s in the distance
Rested late afternoon and had dinner at restaurant Pepe Abed’s [aka Chez Pepe] and tried chanchalle? (cheese & tomato) and fresh fish.
Le patron mange ici (mash potato and stewed apple).
In 1997 we did really meet Pépé himself and he really did eat while we were eating there and he really was just eating soft food rather than tucking in to the hearty food we were eating.
People continue (into the 2020s) to claim in their on-line reviews to meet Pépé Abed at his restaurant or at his fishing club, but as he was old as the hills when we met him in 1997 and he died in 2006, my guess is that they now see his son or a “Tribute Pépé”.
All of the Lebanon photos in our album can be seen here and below:
and on to Sidon, by which time sun had turned to rain. Ruined castle– old souk – patisserie.
Then back to Beirut for tour of green line development – shopping and then rest before dinner with Elias Habre at Al Mijana (beautiful old villa in Ashrafieh (East Side).
Beirut CornicheDinner with Elias Habre
Janie had treated the Habre family in London for many years…decades even. Elias Habre was in Beirut at the time and insisted on providing hospitality to us that evening.
Al Majana still seems to be well regarded in 2022 if this review is anything to go by.
All of the Lebanon photos in our album can be seen here and below:
Sunday 2 March 1997 – Flew out of Heathrow p.m. – only 30 minutes late.
Got held up at the airport ever so slightly by immigration.
Got to Hotel Bristol late – dined at Kabab-Ji on Hamra Street near hotel.
Held Up At Immigration
Yes, “held up ever so slightly by immigration” is code for a rather peculiar incident, perhaps based on my physiognomy.
Of course our papers were entirely in order and Janie was waved through when we got to immigration at Beirut airport. In my case, however, a military-looking fellow stepped forward and swiped my passport from the immigration official’s hand for “routine checking”.
Janie got a little aggravated when she realised that she’d got through and I hadn’t but was told simply to stand at a distance and wait.
The immigration official engaged me in conversation, which I imagine was part of the “checking” process.
“First time in our country?”
“No”, I said, “I visited your country as a child, with my parents, many years ago.”
“Where did you visit?”
“We went to Beirut and Baalbek”, I said authoritatively.
“That’s not very much visiting”, he said.
“No”, I replied, “we were on a Mediterranean cruise, so only stayed here for one day, unfortunately”.
“Ah”, he said, “if you were on a Mediterranean cruise as a child you must also have visited ISRAEL”. That last word was hurled at me in an expletive manner.
I realised that our whole trip might be over. Were the officials to search our travel papers, they would see unequivocally that we were going on to Israel at the end of our trip. Beirut International Airport (Air Side) might be the sole and entire extent of our holiday.
Three Weeks Of Bliss? Many Stay Longer!
I smiled at the immigration official.
The immigration official smiled back.
I put on my thoughtful face, to show that I was trying to dredge the memories…or the right words. Then I said:
“Well, to be perfectly honest with you, I was 10 years old when my parents took me on that cruise. So I don’t remember all the places we visited back in 1973. But I clearly remember visiting Lebanon and I clearly remember liking it very much and wanting to come back to see more, so here I am!”
The official smiled and laughed. His laugh suggested the thought, “I know that you know that you went to Israel on that cruise”.
I smiled and laughed back, which probably implied, “I know that you know that I know that I went to Israel on that cruise”.
But I think his response was also a sign to the military-looking guy, who appeared as if from nowhere at that moment with my passport and said “welcome to Lebanon” as he handed me back the vital document.
We rather liked Le Bristol Hotel. Steeped in Beirut history, it felt like “the” place to stay for the couple of nights we were to be in Beirut. An affordable luxury too.
Sad to learn that the economic crisis and then the pandemic led to the place permanently closing in 2020. It’s history and undignified end well described and illustrated in the Middle East Eye piece – click here.
It’s hard to tell for sure, but I’m guessing that the Kababji in question, given the Hamra Street clue, is this one – click here.
Not many reviews post pandemic – ouch!
Photographing yer food hadn’t been invented back then, but it is more than likely that our meze looked a bit like this:
I think I had the measure of it. That barbeque was an absolute highlight for us. I remember a Scottish head chef who had looked after us well there, coming down to supervise Prasert and make sure it was all really well arranged for us. Perhaps he did that for all the guests. Still a highlight for us.
I watched Trading Places (Janie mysteriously watched highlights)
Partly the film didn’t please her, partly the exertions of the previous day got to Janie, I suspect.
1 April 1996
Snorkelled Phra Nang beach rocks – swam & sunbathed.
We wanted to enjoy every last minute of that place. In future years, we would probably not have done the “swimming until the last minute” thing as it is so difficult to transport wet cossies all the way home!
I made no notes about the journey home; I suspect it was relatively problem free and therefore not note-worthy. Certainly not memorable…in a good way.
It had been a fabulous journey all in all.
All the photos from the part of the journey that featured Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam & then Thai resorts can be found through the Flickr link here or below.
I can safely say that Janie took this picture on the dangerous hike
Went to pool early – set off on trek – Janie completed/Ian gave up
We both did this early part of the trek. Then I took one look at the required hiking in the heat and gave up, while Janie went on with some sweet and friendly Thai Air folk who were stayingJanie made it down into the lagoon despite the heat. If you think she looks red in the face in the picture, you should have seen her when she got back to the pool with those kindly Thai Air staff, who had helped her to complete the hike “safely”.Before returning to poolside, Janie took this shot from a high point of the hike
Janie returned to pool – noodle lunch – siesta watching Last Tango In Paris – returned to pool – quick aborted snorkel at Railay and then Thai starter dinner at Thai Restaurant, then watched most of Indochine.
A few memories to accompany this. Janie realised she had bitten off more than she could chew with that lagoon hike and was most grateful to the Thai hikers who kept an eye on her and helped her out.
I recall that the afternoon sun was simply too hot for us both, pretty much every day, so we needed to siesta every afternoon and chose to watch the odd movie from what seemed to be an excellent video library, not least with films like Indochine, which helped to reinforce what we had just seen on our touring. Interesting choice of movie there in Last Tango. Neither of us had seen it before so we thought we’d give it a go. I suspect that Janie had seen enough steamy hot scenes for one day exploring that lagoon so probably now claims to remember little of it.
We loved the little villa we called our own for those few days at Rayavadee. They also had an excellent collection of CDs and I recall listening a lot to several there which I subsequently bought, including a Best Of Van Morrison. Funny what sticks in the mind.
All the photos from the part of the journey that featured Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam & then Thai resorts can be found through the Flickr link here or below.
Went to Chicken Island/Poda Island snorkelling – superb morning trip.
Snorkelling with the fishesFeeding the fishes by Poda IslandBeautiful vistas on return boat trip
Had sandwich lunch at Beach Bar – watched Indecent Proposal over siesta, played briefly with canoes, had seafood meal at the Thai/Seafood Restaurant and early night.
All the photos from the part of the journey that featured Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam & then Thai resorts can be found through the Flickr link here or below.
Entering Princess Cave (Above).Nam Mao Beach on the way (below)
Latish up – went to see Princess Cave…
Inner Princess Cave
…had a light lunch of noodles and rice (aborted lunch at beach restaurant) – after swam – played with snorkles – had sauna, jacuzzi and massage.
Then got lazy, ate in from private dining and watched An Autumn’s Tale on video.
All the photos from the part of the journey that featured Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam & then Thai resorts can be found through the Flickr link here or below.
All the photos from the part of the journey that featured Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam & then Thai resorts can be found through the Flickr link here or below.
Early start on our own account [unguided]. Taxi to Jade Emperor Pagoda…
Devotee within Jade Emperor Pagoda (above) and the view out (below)
– then money exchange hunt & short shopping spree and return to hotel for pick up…
This Taiwanese couple were having their wedding photo shoot outside the hotel
…and then schlep to Phuket – three hours at Bangkok [airport] especially wearing. Overnight at pretty decent Dusit Laguna Phuket.
It wasn’t possible at that time (still might not be) sensibly to get from Ho Chi Minh City to Phra Nang in one day, so we arranged an unwanted afternoon & night in Phuket. Actually we rather took to the Laguna and returned there (although to a different property) for a short break in 2017.
But back in 1996, our short stop at the Dusit Laguna Phuket looked like this:
All the photos from the part of the journey that featured Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam & then Thai resorts can be found through the Flickr link here or below.
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