00:00
Lebanon is a really interesting very
00:01
small country in the Middle East that
00:02
I’ve actually wanted to visit for a very
00:04
long time and then the moment I booked
00:06
my flights it turned out that the
00:08
country was going through a full-blown
00:11
really big revolution when I went inside
00:13
the country I was pretty much the only
00:16
terrorist there because no one else
00:18
wanted to come and I drove a thousand
00:19
kilometers literally all around the
00:21
country that a lot of local people
00:22
talked with them about what was
00:24
happening you know saw all the crazy
00:27
protests happening everywhere and I
00:30
guess it was a very very interesting
00:32
experience this is my daily life in
00:36
Lebanon during the Revolution modern-day
00:40
Lebanon is the smallest recognized
00:42
sovereign state on the mainland Asian
00:44
continent that boasts a very long and
00:46
rich history the earliest evidence of
00:48
civilization in Lebanon dates back more
00:50
than 7,000 years predating recorded
00:53
history
00:53
you see Lebanon was the home of
00:55
definitions and their kingdoms the
00:56
maritime culture that flourished in the
00:58
Mediterranean for almost 3,000 years
01:01
fast-forward to 64 before Christ of
01:04
region came under the rule of the Roman
01:06
Empire later was conquered by the
01:07
Persian Empire then the strong Muslim
01:09
armies and eventually became part of the
01:12
Ottoman Empire that ruled these lands
01:14
for over 400 years
01:15
then the world was completely reshaped
01:18
the region and the future of Lebanon at
01:20
the end of World War one the country
01:22
came under the French mandate but in the
01:24
midst of World War 2 when Europe and the
01:26
world were tearing themselves to pieces
01:28
the various religious and political
01:30
factions came together in Lebanon and
01:32
declared their independence in 1943
01:35
despite its small size the country
01:37
developed a well-known culture and
01:39
became highly influential in the Arab
01:41
world in the 1960s Lebanon experienced a
01:44
period of renowned prosperity driven by
01:46
tourism agriculture Commerce and banking
01:48
the country became so rich that it was
01:50
even referred to as the Switzerland of
01:52
the East and its capital Beirut
01:54
attracted so many tourists that it was
01:56
widely known as the Paris of the Middle
01:57
East however everything changed in 1975
02:01
when long-standing religious
02:02
disagreements inside the country reached
02:04
a boiling point and became violent the
02:07
country found itself in a full-blown
02:08
civil war that divided
02:10
into Muslim and Christian factions that
02:12
actively fought each other for 15 long
02:15
years after the war relative stability
02:17
came back to Lebanon at a continued
02:19
growing every year slowly developing its
02:22
economy foreign investments in its
02:23
tourism industry however in 2019 right
02:27
before I came to Lebanon something very
02:29
important and very big was boiling again
02:32
the country was entangled in a
02:35
full-blown revolution okay so apparently
02:39
I just landed in beer it’s the capital
02:41
of Lebanon and there’s so many things I
02:43
want to check out here because I’ve
02:44
never been here before
02:45
and also they say there’s a potential
02:46
revolution going on right having left
02:48
the airport I had three taxi drivers
02:50
fight over who’s going to take me to
02:52
central Beirut and finally ended up any
02:54
car of this awesome guy by the name of
02:56
Ali who was apparently a big fan of fast
02:59
and furious have no idea how he’s
03:06
arrived the least driving but when I did
03:08
I found myself in Beirut the capital of
03:11
Lebanon and one of the largest cities in
03:13
the Arab world inhabited by over two
03:15
million people
03:17
Beirut is known for its beautiful
03:18
architecture museums they take you many
03:20
years back in time beautiful coffee
03:22
shops are inspiring mosques and churches
03:24
fairs like weekend markets gorgeous
03:26
natural sights and probably the best
03:29
nightlife in the Middle East as much as
03:31
I loved exploring the city though the
03:33
most interesting thing about it was that
03:35
I stumbled upon dozens and dozens of
03:37
protests absolutely anywhere I went they
03:40
have all these wires and all these
03:42
barricades all throughout the city
03:44
everywhere you go so you could you could
03:46
come to a really fancy restaurant really
03:48
fancy bang and right next to there would
03:50
be smashed windows wires
03:54
he’s military with the guns and stuff so
03:58
he did so much conscious look at that
04:01
the more I walked around the city the
04:02
clearer it became that literally
04:04
everyone was involved in the protests
04:06
especially the students who certainly
04:08
weren’t a living back as much as I could
04:33
about the protests so I spent quite a
04:35
bit of time talking to the people I met
04:37
on the streets who are all really happy
04:39
to talk to me especially this guy start
04:42
like a mess like the people are angry
04:46
about the government because they don’t
04:50
respect us respect our opinion they
04:54
don’t want peace they only want what I
04:58
hope we are going in the right way and
05:03
we are we will win at the end because
05:08
the God is with us and the good people
05:12
is with us thank you so much Amir food
05:16
everything works out everyone seems to
05:20
be really peaceful but walking around
05:22
the city I also run into places that
05:24
seem to be a little bit more
05:25
intimidating just Kim – newly
05:27
constructed building here in the
05:28
downtown area and apparently all the
05:31
glasses of the first floor are
05:32
completely shattered to pieces and then
05:35
I came to this site it says in case of
05:39
revolution break glass and so apparently
05:41
everything about
05:43
feeling a little confused about why the
05:45
protests had started and what that meant
05:47
for Beirut and Lebanon as a whole I
05:49
decided to go a short day trip with this
05:51
awesome tour guide called shall we shall
05:54
we is a 26 year old legend from Beirut
05:56
who is a recent university graduate that
05:58
speaks three languages fluently has a
06:00
girlfriend from Paris supports the LGBT
06:02
movement in the Arab world and looks
06:05
like a bloody rock star at the start of
06:07
our day trip we spent quite a bit of
06:08
time in the car before we reached our
06:10
first destination and I asked him lots
06:12
of questions about why the protests had
06:15
started this is what I learned
06:17
shall we told me that the protests were
06:19
initially triggered by the government
06:20
announcing new taxes on gasoline Tobacco
06:22
and online phone calls through whatsapp
06:25
which the people really didn’t like the
06:28
proposed laws were scrapped right away
06:29
but the protests continued and quickly
06:31
expanded into a countrywide condemnation
06:33
of stagnant economy unemployment and
06:35
lack of basic services such as
06:37
electricity water and sanitation he told
06:40
me that a big recent Lebanese people
06:42
weren’t happy with their leaders was
06:43
because of this unique sectarian
06:44
political system Lebanon employed you
06:47
see under Lebanon’s political system
06:48
leadership posts were apportioned based
06:50
on confession the President must be a
06:53
Maronite Christian the Prime Minister a
06:55
Sunni Muslim and the Speaker of
06:57
Parliament a Shia mosque this system was
06:59
created in goodwill so that all of
07:01
Lebanon’s 18 official religious groups
07:03
would be represented in the government
07:05
but it also led to certain inefficiency
07:07
since the jobs weren’t always given to
07:09
the people who could handle them best
07:11
shall we also told me that even though
07:13
the protesters we’re demanding a
07:14
sweeping overhaul of Lebanon’s political
07:16
system and literally the whole country
07:18
was involved they were all very peaceful
07:21
the Bursar’s do not carry guns and do
07:23
not fight the police they also clean up
07:24
after finishing your protests and want
07:26
to inspire other countries in the region
07:28
to follow their lead knowing this made
07:31
me very very very happy
07:34
having explained Lebanon situation to me
07:37
shall we took me to see some incredible
07:38
sights in the region first up we visited
07:41
Jada grotto the most famous cave system
07:43
in the country that’s 9 kilometres long
07:45
and looks absolutely spectacular
07:48
having admired the cable we were taking
07:50
thousands of years back in time by
07:52
visiting the town of dubrow’s a famous
07:53
unesco world heritage site that’s been
07:55
continuously inhabited for over 7000
07:58
years now and looks absolutely unreal
08:00
however even here in one of the most
08:02
risky coastal towns of Lebanon the
08:04
people were very vocal about their
08:07
wishes okay so I’m currently chilling at
08:09
one of the oldest inhabited cities in
08:12
the whole world that’s actually super
08:13
just to suit the peaceful super calm and
08:14
there’s hundreds of students protesting
08:17
here as well there’s the military the
08:19
police they have trucks and everyone’s
08:21
shouting the country definitely seems to
08:23
be an A in a in a pretty interesting
08:26
state I guess then we once again hopped
08:28
into our car and arrived at the
08:29
beautiful coastal city of June yet is
08:31
home to a world-famous pilgrimage site
08:33
and probably the coolest viewpoint in
08:35
the country called Our Lady of Lebanon I
08:38
spent a long time admiring the
08:40
magnificent views all around me and kept
08:42
thinking about how interesting it was
08:44
that one minute I could find myself
08:47
surrounded by thousands of people
08:48
protesting and the next I’d be
08:50
overlooking a gorgeous bay from the top
08:53
of an incredibly peaceful place this
08:55
experience made me realize that Lebanon
08:57
truly is a very beautiful country full
08:59
of mind-boggling contrasts
09:03
[Music]
09:07
later that evening I eventually came
09:09
back to Bay Road for my one final day
09:11
which turned out to be a day of some of
09:13
the biggest protests throughout the
09:15
whole time today is a really big day
09:17
because from today all the banks in
09:19
Lebanon are gonna be closed and that has
09:21
huge implications for the Lebanese
09:23
people and that is why today there are
09:24
so many protests all throughout the city
09:26
yes literally the whole city was
09:28
protesting that day and hundreds of
09:29
thousands of people were out on the
09:31
streets students office workers doctors
09:34
musicians and even grandmas who didn’t
09:36
want to miss out on the action
09:42
[Music]
09:43
the more of the protests that I saw the
09:45
more relaxed I became about the whole
09:47
situation because despite the
09:49
intimidating graffitis everyone was so
09:51
incredibly peaceful I could hardly
09:53
believe it
09:58
[Music]
10:03
[Music]
10:16
early next morning you rented a car and
10:18
went on a road trip all around the
10:20
country first up I went into the
10:22
mountains and met up with an awesome
10:23
follower of mine called Elias Elias took
10:25
me on a beautiful hike around the places
10:27
he was born and raised in the future
10:28
lots of all the buildings built during
10:31
the Roman times and eventually showed me
10:33
this beautiful Christian monastery
10:34
founded in the 17th century in addition
10:37
to its notable collection of icons and
10:39
library the monastery is also known as
10:40
the site of the Middle East’s first
10:42
Arabic printing press was original
10:44
publication appeared in 1734 I really
10:48
enjoyed walking around the monastery
10:49
learning about its interesting past but
10:51
I honestly never expected to find myself
10:53
playing ping-pong there what ok quick
10:56
status update so it turns out they have
10:58
a ping-pong table here at the monastery
11:00
and we were talking with father Fatih
11:03
and he agreed to play a match with me
11:05
which is incredible
11:07
[Applause]
11:09
[Music]
11:15
after our world-class ping-pong match it
11:18
was time today some of the monasteries
11:19
famous sweet wine with father Fani okay
11:29
we just had half a bottle of holy
11:32
Christian wine and we’re gonna go
11:36
somewhere else now yes yep
11:38
then we hopped into my car and continued
11:40
exploring until we reached this crazy
11:42
abandoned hotel man we just came to one
11:56
of the most incredible places I’ve seen
11:58
in Lebanon so far apparently it’s a
12:01
hotel that used to be one of the
12:03
fanciest and one of the most luxurious
12:05
hotels in the whole country yet during
12:08
the Civil War it was taken over by the
12:10
Syrian army who completely destroyed a
12:13
demolished it took everything you know
12:15
somewhere else even like bathtubs and
12:21
and since then it’s been it’s been
12:23
standing here like this yeah the hotel
12:25
certainly was a really interesting place
12:26
to visit as it was so big it seemed to
12:29
never end
12:30
also alas told me we can even go up on
12:33
the roof which is of course exactly what
12:35
we did when we climbed on the roof we
12:38
ran into a group of awesome Lebanese
12:40
students who were all incredibly
12:41
friendly okay I’m going to the very top
12:46
of the coolest abandoned place in all of
12:48
Lebanon right now
12:51
yeah they’re really really awesome
12:55
okay this rock is moving to parently
13:03
nice
13:08
[Applause]
13:11
nice very did you see the mountains all
13:16
around me the epic roof right there
13:19
super beautiful villages small towns and
13:22
stuff amazing then we have a very tasty
13:31
late lunch and went even higher into the
13:33
mountains in search of an epic sunset
13:35
spot man this census boat is so
13:38
beautiful I can see so much around me
13:40
all these mountains villages tiny houses
13:43
there sheep
13:45
absolutely no people whatever the Sun
13:47
still setting in Sochi every ride there
13:49
and these rocks are incredible there’s
13:51
so many Wow the next morning we
13:56
continued exploring the area by checking
13:58
out the betadine palace that was built
14:00
in the 18th century and was an important
14:03
administrative place for both the
14:04
Ottomans and the French during their
14:07
mandate these days it’s been turned into
14:09
the president’s summer residence some of
14:11
which is actually open to public we just
14:13
came to a really beautiful super thristy
14:14
sites somewhere here in the mountains
14:16
however there’s absolutely no people
14:19
here right now dude what why it’s
14:21
revolution revolution or not my boy
14:26
Elias and I kept exploring all the
14:28
awesome places in the area including a
14:30
very recently built modern castle what
14:33
this is one of the most inspiring place
14:35
I’ve seen in my entire life apparently
14:36
there was a guy who only passed away
14:38
just a couple of years ago but when he
14:40
was little during World War two I think
14:42
he came up with his dream to build
14:44
himself a castle and absolutely no one
14:46
believes him but he spent over 70 years
14:48
of his life building this castle with
14:51
his own bare hands and apparently it’s
14:55
here it asked for different floors lots
14:58
of beautiful embroidery lots of
15:00
beautiful
15:01
statues and and and and stuff portraying
15:04
the Lebanese culture they have a lot of
15:05
they have a huge collection of swords
15:08
jewelry bracelets arms literally
15:11
everything it’s it’s incredible so so so
15:15
inspiring this was our last evening
15:16
together so we decided to drive up a
15:18
tall mountain in the area and go on a
15:20
gorgeous hike while the Sun was setting
15:23
in the horizon at the end of our hike my
15:30
boy
15:31
Elias wanted to tell you a few last
15:33
things hey guys I invite you to join
15:35
Lebanon and visit all these places and
15:38
travel all around the country and while
15:41
you coming to the banan bring with you
15:43
the Explorer t-shirt that you can find
15:45
in the description box below next
15:49
morning I was on my own again but now
15:51
that I was trying to go to a completely
15:52
different area of Lebanon I faced some
15:55
pretty big problems okay so today the
15:57
strike is continuing big time apparently
16:00
yesterday the president went on TV and
16:02
said that there’s no problems
16:04
everything’s okay and you should stop
16:06
protesting so today everyone’s
16:07
protesting even more and all the roads
16:10
in Lebanon are closed including some
16:12
mountains like this yeah no problem
16:15
thank you thank you thank you thank you
16:17
I think they’re letting me pass yes yes
16:20
look at that
16:22
oh that’s the blockade right there boss
16:29
both exactly what thank you thank you
16:33
amazing okay so I’m gonna go in some
16:37
sort of an off-road or something that
16:38
looks like this but hopefully I should
16:42
reach the place that I need to reach
16:45
today apparently I had to take these
16:49
really tiny intricate country roads that
16:51
made my trip much longer and a lot more
16:53
complicated but eventually I reached my
16:55
first destination of the day the largest
16:57
winery in the country called kisara SATA
17:01
was founded in 1857 by Jesuit priests
17:04
and is currently Lebanon’s oldest
17:05
largest and most visited winery that is
17:08
also home to these tracking underground
17:10
tunnels that are over two kilometers
17:12
long Cheers having loved the winery I
17:18
had a few other places I wanted to check
17:20
out in the area but once again the roads
17:23
were blocked check this out
17:27
[Music]
17:29
I found a virus right here you’re saying
17:36
no go home Beck I’ll be back okay well
17:44
that move I wrote guru good it’s a
17:48
Muslim gadget
17:52
once again these guys are blocking the
17:54
road but they’re so nice I can’t really
17:57
be angry let’s go my progress was very
18:01
very very slow because of all the
18:03
traffic everywhere due to the blocked
18:05
roads however I persevered and
18:07
eventually arrived one of the most
18:08
famous ancient sites in the whole
18:11
country called Baalbek Baalbek is home
18:14
to a huge temple complex which includes
18:15
some of the largest and grandest Roman
18:18
temple ruins in the Middle East that are
18:20
of course very well known UNESCO World
18:22
Heritage Sites the following morning I
18:24
felt really happy because I was
18:26
successfully led through the roadblock
18:28
here and went up the tallest mountain
18:29
pass in the whole country which
18:31
completely took my breath away I think
18:34
it just might be at the top of one of
18:36
the highest mountain passes in all of
18:39
Lebanon the views around me are
18:41
incredibly incredibly beautiful the only
18:44
problem is that in less than a month
18:46
this whole area will be completely
18:48
covered in snow and that means is
18:51
already incredibly cold here and I’m
18:53
standing with shirts and stuff
18:57
it’s so cold so windy when I got down
19:00
the mountain it was time to check out
19:02
the pride of the Lebanese nation the
19:04
world famous setter trees
19:06
apparently the national tree of Lebanon
19:08
is the setter tree right and they have
19:11
quite a few of them now not as many as
19:13
before but but still a lot and on the
19:15
Lebanese flag you can also see huge huge
19:18
territory turns out that the centre tree
19:20
on the flag is actually this tree right
19:24
here it’s 1,300 years old I think and
19:28
it’s by far the tallest that our tree in
19:30
the whole country it felt really good to
19:31
be back in the nature breathing in the
19:33
fresh air admiring the gorgeous trees
19:35
around me and feeling very free and
19:37
alive I really didn’t want to go back to
19:40
a big city just yet so I decided to
19:42
change my plants and do something a
19:45
little bit different I spend quite a bit
19:47
of time driving my car which was
19:50
obviously quite beautiful but at the
19:51
same time I really miss being out into
19:53
nature and obviously into the mountains
19:55
so today I’m going on a really epic six
19:57
hour long hike in this valley that’s
20:00
called kadesha Valley the very first
20:02
steps of the hike absolutely took my
20:03
breath away and made me realize that
20:05
this valley could have easily been a
20:07
good location for the filming of the
20:09
Lord of the Rings however even in place
20:11
as heavenly as this has some downsides
20:19
I am somehow trying not to fall down but
20:23
it’s almost impossible I’m trying to
20:24
save the camera and my clothes and stuff
20:26
but it’s also quite impossible so just
20:29
see what happens but it’s so slippery
20:31
here it’s crazy the muddy path ended as
20:33
quickly as it appeared and I continued
20:35
hiking this gorgeous valley taking in
20:37
every second of my high the reason
20:39
kadesha valley so well known in lebanon
20:41
is not only because of its soaring rocky
20:43
hillsides but also because it is home to
20:45
historic Maronite monasteries and
20:47
chapels that are all very old and
20:49
interestingly built into the mountains
20:52
having spent the whole day hiking i was
20:54
walking towards the tiny town i stayed
20:56
in and all of a sudden found myself in a
20:59
huge mountain rainstorm so apparently
21:02
began raining really really really
21:04
heavily it’s thundering all around
21:07
there’s clouds all around it’s super
21:09
cold because I’m so high up in the
21:10
mountains I’m completely completely I
21:13
didn’t really know what to do then and
21:15
so I decided to go in in a random shop I
21:18
saw and it turned out that it was run by
21:20
the most hospitable woman in the history
21:23
of the world or sad me by the far gave
21:25
me free food and drinks and even a dry
21:28
t-shirt not only that she made her 40
21:31
year old sand hop into his truck and
21:33
take me all the way to my town which was
21:35
quite a while away incredible you’re the
21:38
best the next morning he finally got
21:43
down the mountain and entered Lebanon
21:44
second-largest city called Tripoli man
21:48
absolutely hate being back in a city the
21:51
traffic is completely crazy
21:53
I’ve been I’ve been sitting here in this
21:58
traffic for over an hour now only did
22:00
one kilometer or so and it’s crazy again
22:03
I can’t go anywhere there’s so many
22:04
scooters cars everyone’s beeping
22:07
everyone so in half it’s crazy
22:09
despite the hectic traffic triple is a
22:11
beautiful ancient port city that was
22:13
established over 3,000 years ago it’s
22:16
famous for its medieval Mameluke
22:17
architecture including a bustling and
22:19
labyrinthine souk in the off town the
22:22
city is also blessed with handsome
22:23
examples of ottoman and Crusader
22:25
architecture and it’s also home to the
22:27
largest crusader fortress in Lebanon
22:29
that was built a thousand years as much
22:32
as I enjoyed getting lost in tripolis
22:34
ancient streets the most interesting
22:36
part about visiting the city was
22:37
observing its never-ending protests
22:39
where all the locals welcomed me as if I
22:42
was a long-lost brother of theirs
22:47
and everyone so clearly here there’s
22:53
people performing there’s a lot of music
22:54
they have a DJ it’s sort of like a party
22:57
but also furnished really exciting and
22:59
everyone wants to make friends it’s
23:01
incredible at that point of the trip had
23:09
very little time left and pests made the
23:11
most of it by visiting lots of exciting
23:13
places such as the coolest waterfall in
23:15
the country that drops 255 meters as
23:18
well as the largest artificial lake in
23:20
Lebanon that was surrounded by really
23:22
beautiful nature all around just a
23:25
regular Lake here in Lebanon what so
23:30
good eventually I made my way to the
23:33
village of Cana at the southern tip of
23:34
Lebanon where some people believe Jesus
23:37
performed his first public miracle by
23:39
turning water into wine making this a
23:42
holy place for the many thousands of
23:44
Christian people living in Lebanon I was
23:47
the very last person to visit Cana daddy
23:49
and I said they’re admiring the
23:50
magnificent son sit in front of my eyes
23:52
feeling happy and grateful for
23:55
everything that I experienced in Lebanon
23:58
you see before coming to Lebanon I
24:01
didn’t tell my parents or my friends
24:02
that I was going because they are all
24:04
seeing the massive protests happening in
24:06
the country and would have been very
24:08
worried about my safety however having
24:10
driven over a thousand kilometres all
24:12
around the country
24:13
I faced absolutely no problems on the
24:16
contrary every single person that I
24:18
encountered was incredibly friendly and
24:20
Hospital the Lebanese people also showed
24:22
me that you don’t need to get file and
24:24
to successfully fight for your rights
24:26
and that it is possible to solve any
24:28
kinds of disagreements peacefully thank
24:30
you to the wonderful Lebanese people I
24:32
encountered during my trip I wish you
24:34
peace and happiness in whatever you do
24:37
you
24:38
[Music]
—
Have you read the original anthology that was the catalyst for The Good Men Project? Buy here: The Good Men Project: Real Stories from the Front Lines of Modern Manhood
◊♦◊
If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project and want to join our calls, please join us as a Premium Member, today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—