Lebanon

Beirut

: Street in the Gemmayze neighborhood of Beirut, the Lebanese capital

: Seemingly out-of-place rural-looking man humping a bundle through the modern, trendy streets of Gemmayze

: I saw a lot of old-ass cars driving around Beirut

: “Punch bug red!!!”

: Here’s another old beater parked in front of some graffiti

: And a couple more throwbacks just for good measure

: Sidewalk prayer box or whatever you might wanna refer to one of these as. According to Wikipedia, about 41% of Lebanon is Christian.

: Bullet holes presumably left over from the Lebanese Civil War which spanned from 1975-1990.

: Political shit next to a Lebanese flag

: Que rico mami

: Nationalistic shit. Kind of looks like how Hitler might heil his “tannenbaum.”

: “Mom Am I Barbarian?” Some refer to it pejoratively as “graffiti” whereas others call it “street art.” However you wanna label the stuff, many have left their mark on the streets of Beirut. By the way, what’s more badass than a young, Conan-age Arnold? Dude’s a boss…

: “FIGHT RAPE”

: Another “Mom Am I Barbarian” tag

: =Life

: More political stuff?…Or someone just reppin’ their man-crush?

: One of the stranger graffiti jobs I came across on a street ad in which a dude on a lounge chair is flipping off a spaceship.

: The following are a few pieces I saw at an art gallery I wandered into…

: BEAT IT!!!

: A ho shakin’ it fo’ the whole crew. Sultan ’bout ta make it rain!

: Café scene

: “SAVE WATER DRINK BEER” – Good advice

: Just another Beirut street scene

: Billboard ad for Arab Idol

: Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque seen from a distance. On the opposite end of the photo and the spectrum, in regard to lifestyles, is a billboard with a leggy model showing off her gams in a short skirt.

: Simple yet beautiful

: Lebanese Pounds. 1USD=approximately1500LBP

: The Dark Knight in street art

: “FREE SYRIA”

: A graffiti’d underpass

: “VAG” – Happiness in a single syllable

: Syrian immigrant turned local garbage man

: “This Is Beautiful” Show me, don’t tell me!!!

: “LET KNOWLEDGE DROP”

: Modern Beirut

: Deez catz gotz skeellz

: One of the few taggings in Arabic I came across. Although Arabic is the country’s official language, most of the young people I met in Beirut also knew French and English.

: I don’t know what language that shit’s written in

: Representin’

: A rooster debating whether to “Party responsibly or not…” Usually when I let my cock do my thinking for me, responsibility doesn’t even come into question.

: Old school fire engine?

: A snail with a peace flag stuck in its back saying, “…We’re Almost There?” Not likely with spillover from the Syrian conflict – sorry, buddy.

: Khalil kicked the bucket – rest in peace big homey!

: More graffiti next to a tragic old shitshack of a home

: “Only Dead Fish Go With the Flow”

: Great job!

: Dat ain’t no Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones or Rip Torn, but I got me an MIB all up in this here picture.

: If only I could read Arabic, I could convey what I’m looking at

: “Last chance to evacuate planet earth before it is recycled”

: “Dare to dream BIG” Also looks like we got some rival taggers going at it here as evidenced by the “Revenge Soon” quip thrown on that painted-over part in the middle.

: One of my favorites

: “Do something good today” – Project Smile

: Hungry man

: Witchyo Pirates of the Carribean lookin’ ass

: Horizontal chick

: …

: In a region so volatile, will love find a way?

: Beirut ballin’ bitchz

: Man selling flowers near all the bars in Gemmayze

: A delivery boy’s motorcycle with alleged weather protection

: Shawarma Boy

: A hilariously racist depiction of an Asian face on a frozen pack of spring rolls

: I felt like I was seeing a reenactment from the movie Airplane!

: Art along the bike path which runs along the shore of the Mediterranean

: YES!!! I don’t know what type of establishment “FAG” was due to the metallic doors pulled down over the shop, but I was SO happy when I saw this…

: …and even happier when I saw they had a second sign!

: View of Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque as seen from Martyrs’ Square in Beirut

: Fashionable, trendy constructions along Martyrs’ Square

: Fashion v. Politics: It was so strange to me how a country so politically and religiously on the edge of blowing up can be so focused on the latest fashions and perpetually ready to party

: Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque up-close and personal

: Interior

: Dome shot

: House of God

: Very new and very clean-looking area of Beirut near Martyrs’ Square where…

: …a couple had been having their wedding photos taken.

: In this same area of the city, we wandered into an art gallery. Unfortunately, I forgot to write down the artist’s name. Nevertheless, here is his work…

: …

: Pretty trippy stuff

: …

: Preggerz

: And a little bit farther down the way was another art gallery which specialized in…

: …making taboo Popeye paintings. Here’s one of Olive Oyl taking a line of spinach to the dome.

: Jacked-up Popeye

: Popeye poppin’ a boner to an Oyl’d-up Olive twerkin’ at the strip club

: Here, Popeye turns the tables and shakes his junk in Olive’s face

: Popeye and Bluto gettin’ gay on that Titanic tip

: And last but not least, Olive Oyl kills Popeye on the bathroom floor as Bluto looks on in the mirror

: Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque by night

: “I (heart) penis” written on a dirty window

: “Maqati’s not masturbating in here”

: “Destiny’s Boner”

: “ANUS” Surprisingly, I didn’t write any of these.

: Gettin’ shitty on Jame-O during our not-too-exciting St. Patrick’s Day celebration. My friends here are Lauridana from Lebanon who was kind enough to chauffeur me around the country and Efren from Mexico. Efren likes to wear his sombrero in front of landmarks all around the globe and has a website called www.wetbackpacker.com

: Whereas quite a few of the buildings in the Gemmayze area are newly renovated with fresh exteriors…

: …a lot remain torn to shit from the war. This is the building next door to the hostel.

: Here is the exterior wall of the hostel out on a little smoking balcony. In pen, someone used the bullet holes to their advantage in drawings of a cow’s head, a ghost and a woman’s asshole on this wall.

: Another beaten-up building

: Yikes

: A man-lady

: “I’m With You Beirut”

: Swiss cheese lookin’ ass

: A close-up of the building in the bottom left-hand corner of the picture previous

: Muslim woman looking out over the buildings in the two pictures previous

: After I left Lebanon, my friends Lauridana and Azhar sent me a picture of them throwing down a SUCK IT!

Baalbek

: The road to Baalbek out near the Syrian border was foggy, hilly and cold

: I don’t know for certain, but I think this little shanty town had been occupied by Syrian refugees.

: First sighting of Baalbek’s ruins

: During the period of Roman rule, Baalbek was known as Heliopolis

: Getting closer to the main attraction…

: Columns

: Star of David at a place built to worship Jupiter, Venus & Bacchus in a city now occupied by some 72,000 Shia Muslims? Dat shit cray!

: Swastikas at a location where they also have the Star of David at a place built to worship Jupiter, Venus & Bacchus in a city now occupied by some 72,000 Shia Muslims? Dat shit even mo’ cray!

: Entrance into the Bacchus Temple

: Bacchus Temple Interior

: More columns

: Chair set strategically under a tree which provides no shade

: Sun beginning to set on the Roman ruins

: Temple of Bacchus

: …

: Lauri snappin’ some photos

: Ruins on ruins on ruins

: Who’s gonna clean all this shit up!?

: For your enjoyment – a nice strong erect post

: Efren shootin’ at the lion’s head

: Close-up of a column

: She’s purdy

: Efren, like Creed, with arms wide open. Also pictured – what’s left of the Temple of Jupiter on the right

: Daylight waning

: Great court area?

: View of what I think is the Great Court from above

: Snowy hills up in the distance

: Some o’ dat Roman writing ‘n’ shit

: These pillars are absolutely, irrationally MASSIVE!

: Efren standing up in the middle of the columns

: Ya boi throwin’ down a SUCK IT! at The Temple of Jupiter

: From directly below

: Temple of Bacchus by dusk

: Temple of Bacchus from directly below

: Dennis Reynolds: (Describing his workout goals) I’m going for that Jesus on the cross look

: F’n Efren!!!

: An Iranian-style mosque down the street from the ruins in Baalbek

: “Khameini!” – said in a Jerry Seinfeld “Newman!” sort of way

: Weird light-up camel camp scene in front of the mosque

Saida

: What’s left of the Saida Sea Castle

: According to Wikipedia, this castle was built by the crusaders in 1228

: Castle entrance

: Muslim family exiting the ruins

: Inside of the castle

: Looking out over the Mediterranean

: A mosque along the shoreline as seen from the top of the castle

: Another mosque in town seen from the same spot

: Shoreline

: Walking the streets of Saida, the third largest city in Lebanon

: Bunch o’ Aflac lookin’ asses

: Lingerie store. It gets me curiously aroused seeing young Muslim chicks in burqas with really sexy faces walking in and out of these shops. The Forbidden Fruit!

: Local man selling books

: If you can flip the image in your mind, one of the Islamic books for sale looked like hands doing a SUCK IT! just above a penis

: Church?

: Skid row

: I wish my name was Dick so I could’ve sent a postcard to all my family and friends saying “Hey, look everybody, Dick’s in Saida!!!” – a phrase which sounds a lot like what I did to yo momma last night!

: Homeboy smokin’ on that good shisha

: Saida streetz

: Lauri lookin’ around

: A pleasant Saida facade

Tyre

: “TIT” – Almost as funny as the “FAG” sign in Beirut

: Roadside war hero shit?

: The ruins of Tyre

: Not too special in comparison to the ruins of Baalbek

: Meh…

: House built right up next to the ruins

: Sundown

Byblos & Jeita Grotto

: Strange sculpture outside Jeita Grotto

: Same

: Gettin’ head at Jeita Grotto

: Stony baloney

: Flags

: …

: I found Jeita Grotto to be an amazing place. However, they made all visitors put their cameras in lockers before entering the grotto which wasn’t cool. So, these lunch boxes or whatever the fuck they are happen to be all I have showing the grotto’s interior.

: Byblos shoreline

: Byblos tunnel

: Another Byblos tunnel

: Roadside nationalism

: Statue Boy! C’mon!

: Little chapel

: On sale: Generic Michael Jordan shirt with a drawing of sneakers in between the legend’s first and last names

: Weak-ass ruins which made Tyre look like Baalbek