Moving Day - Some Facts about MacDara

As today is the last day on this site and the first day on my  here are some things to know about MacDara.

 Macdara is from The North side of Dublin. More specifically he was born in a Nursing home just opposite where the Big Tree pub is on North Circular road. The nursing home is no longer there but there is still a plaque.

He was saved from a possible death at a young age by a picture of Eamon De Valera

The picture was hanging in a hallway of the house he lived in, the picture fell from the wall this one day and the glass shattered making enough noise to make the people in the house go to see what happened, while in the hall they decided to check on baby Macdara who was sleeping in his cot, it was fortunate that they did as they found him hanging form the cot with his head stuck between the bars choking. Some may call it propitious co-incidence but MacDara knows better.

He Went to School in Glassnevin and has had a fascination with graveyards ever since but has no wish to be buried in one yet. He especially likes old Graveyards and will walk through them while on holiday. He played Football and hurling up until his peers told him he was not good enough and still blames his 4^th class teacher for hindering what could have been a promising career playing for Dublin. That same teacher spent every Friday afternoon reading MacDara’s class the Hobbit which did instil a love of reading in MacDara for which he is still grateful. He had his first pint of beer in Slattery’s on Capel Street when he was 17.

MacDara new what his choice of Career was going to be from when he started Secondary School; it was all down to a good looking woman and a flashy car. On leaving school he went to a private institute for training, during this time he also fell in love for the fist time, it happened on Aran Island off the coast of Donegal. Up until then MacDara was a drinker of Furstenberg , but that first night on the Island with the wind blowing from the Atlantic and snow lightly falling on the beach side pub windows he had his first Guinness.

After two years of training MacDara ventured into the real world where he gained experience in Mining, Construction, making things stick and lots of travel and of course he found his own beautiful woman.

In 1998 on one of his many travels he went to Lebanon and was immediately fascinated by the country the people and the history. His time there was short but it left a big impression on him.

Back in Ireland he was happily progressing along in his career and in the evenings was happy drinking in some of his favourite pubs, The Palace Bar , The Half penny Bridge and O Neills to name a few. But world events contrived to upset his career path and what started in September 2001 ended with MacDara moving to the Middle East a year later.

Since moving to Lebanon he was enjoyed life to the full and travelled to many wonderful countries. Jordan, Dubai, Syria, Cyprus, Palestine, Serbia to name a few.

At the moment MacDara is at a crossroads and the next few weeks will see what road he takes.

 Seeing as today is the first Day of the New Blog if there is anything else you want to know ask.

Drum roll please……..  

U.S. President Bush lifted a ban on air traffic to Lebanon.

The ban has been  imposed since the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jetliner to Beirut.
A press release issued by the White House said Bush was determined that the “prohibition of transportation services to Lebanon … is herby further amended to permit U.S. air carriers under contract to the United States Government to engage in foreign air transportation to and from Lebanon of passengers, including U.S. and non-U.S. citizens.”

So it is official MacDara works in one of the most undesirable places in the world. It seems that Beirut is 179^th out of 215 cities in the world. Compared to other Arab capitals it came out the worst except for Sanaa, Khartoum and Baghdad. To make it worse it also seems that MacDara is getting paid badly as the same report suggested that pay packages in Lebanon are typically 40-65 percent behind compensation in the Gulf area.  

I hope my wife does not read this or we may have to move, Dublin came in 27^th by the way, Longford was not ranked but we can assume it would have been in the Top ten if it was. Of course the War last year has mostly likely affected Beirut’s standing but given Macdara is hearing that Hezballah are preparing for another round then it probably remains a factor.   (what I really think)

It seems as if Iran are not happy with India getting all the attention about kissing and so not long after Effigies of Shilpa Shetty and Richard Gere were being burned over his DISPLAY of indecency the President of Iran is in trouble.  

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was accused of "indecency" on Wednesday after he publicly embraced and kissed on the hand his old school teacher.  

Now just to be clear the elderly Lady in question was wearing gloves a long black coat and head scarf and Madinthe head kissed her hand only through the glove however it is not good enough.  

"This type of indecency progressively has grave consequences, like violating religious and sacred values," seethed the ultra-conservative Hizbullah( No connection to Lebanon)newspaper. 

The man the west think is ultra-conservative just does meet the required standards I mean he even thinks that women should be allowed watch football.

MacDara is back in the Leb, Back in the land of the Sit In/Sit Out the land of Its there fault not ours and the land where nothing changes on the political front. Lebanon must be a politicians Dream as all you have to do is speak about how bad the other side is, and how it’s all there fault. This has been going on so long that the people believe that is the job of politicians and so they never have to actually try to make the country better.  

Here in Beirut the sit in/Sit out is now in its 138^th Day, MacDara may not agree with The Hezballah led opposition but they do deserve more than just being ignored, then again so to the Government and pro Government supporters.  

The world is a strange place while in Serbia MacDara went to the Parliament building where a mass demonstration resulting from the president trying to ignore the elections led to the ousting of Slobodan Milošević. In Serbia it took one day to sort things out in Lebanon after 138 days there is still not even talks. The mass demonstration that started the protest in Lebanon was condemned by most western govenrments while the Serbian one was welcomed. and encouraged.

To MacDara's delight in Serbia drinking beer (Pivo) is enjoyed, and is done a lot and at all times as far as MacDara could see.  MacDara had plenty of time to sample the local brew including the following beers Lav,  Jelen  Pivo,  MB,  Weifert . They are all drinkable but Lav and MB went down better. There was also Niksicko Pivo – which is a Montenegro Beer, it was very good but only two were sampled and it’s hard to make a judgement on such a little amount. 

MacDara believes that it is always preferable to drink local beers than imported crap except of course when it comes to Stout. Anyway in one restaurant A local beer was requested and the waiter informed the table that the only local beer they had was Beck, thinking he had not sampled it before it was ordered, however it turned out to be actually Becks which although is German and is good it could not be called local just because it is brewed in the country, Its like calling Bud and Irish beer.  

MacDara did get to sample some Guinness but not in the Three Carrots which it turned out was the worst pub in Serbia as they had no Guinness, ( Warning :Just because a bar is pretending to be an Irish pub doesn’t mean it is, The Three Carrots is crap a bit like Molly Malone’s in Lebanon is crap).  

But a bar called Veprov Dah or The Boar’s Breath came to the Rescue and ensured that MacDara had plenty of Guinness until they ran out of course which did happened before his last night in the country. They did have bar Girls wearing kilts and women dressed as Jockeys so all can be forgiven.  

Below is an Advertisement for one of  Belgrade's favourite snacks , can you Guess why ?  

Some of the Apartment blocks are huge and they cannot be pleasant places to live but the suburbs are lovely with tree lined avenues and nice houses. Belgrade feels very safe and there seems to be little crime but there is graffiti everywhere.  

Anyway while I am here I won’t be able to blog a lot as there is much to be seen and to eat. They do love their meat here.  

One of the first things we did pass was bombed out buildings, which reminds you that it is not long since this country was at war. Nato were the bombers at the time and it seems the buildings are being left as a reminder of the bad days. But to counter that there is also some nice country shots from a trip To Novi Sad which is a city to the North east of Belgrade.

In Ireland we would use the phrase “It’s not what you know, It’s who you Know” to describe WASTA. And as we all know in Ireland the use of pull and contacts is prevalent, from getting advance knowledge on bidding for contracts, to quicker planning permission to getting that all important interview.  

Basically it is human nature to use what ever pull you have no matter what country you are in so why should it annoy me here in Lebanon. Well the reason is that In Lebanon and the wider middle east Wasta is not just the minority way it’s the only way, and its not just for the big things its for everything.  

Conversations go like this: I need a new Visa for Staff ,Oh don’t worry I have Wasta there I’ll get it sorted. Now most times the person only thinks he has it and I end up having twice as long and twice as much hassle as a result of the fool trying to quicken it up.  

But the real problem lies with people that do have real WASTA, in Ireland it might get you an interview or between two competing Builders the one with the pull might get the contract.  

In Lebanon is there was a Chemist and a Surgeon going for a Job as Chief Surgeon and the Chemist had the WASTA he would get it, and although he would not be able to do any surgery it would not matter. Even when people started dying the Chemist /Chief of Surgery would be immune and he could also care less due to his WASTA. 

Anyway getting back to me, WASTA has now forced me to accept a new Assistant that was not the best suited to the Job, Was not the best Qualified but also does not speak English and so is of Absolute no use to me as an assistant. MacDara is now looking for an Assistant for my assistant so that I can ask the Assistant’s assistant for what I want and they can translate and inform my Assistant.  Is that why WASTA AND WASTE are so similar.

Of course I should just start my Arabic classes again.

Anyway thankfully I am off to Singidunum otherwise know as Belgrade in Serbia for Easter. We will be staying there for Nine days and the break from Lebanon is needed. MacDara and Eadaoin have been back here for over five months with out a break, most of that time we have been living behind barbed wire fences and so a break is needed.  

Before I go to a place for the first time I like to find out something about it and see what I would like to do while I am there apart form the obligatory drinking and eating.  

It turns out that Belgrade has Celtic roots, The first evidence of primitive fortification came in the 3rd century BC, with the settlement of the Celtic or Thraco-Celtic tribe, the Scordisci, who picked the strategic hilltop at the meeting of the two rivers as the basis for their habitation. The name Singidun was mentioned for the first time. The second part of the word is Celtic, dūn(on) meaning "lodgement, enclosure, or fortress".  

Later on Singidunum was conquered by the Romans. ( Didn’t they to that everywhere).  

There is a rumour that the Scordisci met with Alexander the Great, It took the Celtic delegation only a couple of day's travel to reach Alexander. And as such there may have been many interactions. This might explain where Alexander the Great got his Irish Accent. ( So Colin Farrell was just good casting)  

There are other links That I like as well , one of the Gods Of the Thracians ( See Thraco –Celtic above)  who were in the area before is none other than Dionysus( Bacchus). He is course is the god of wine and is celebrated during Bacchanalia. Of course we have mentioned before the connections between Bacchanalia and Lebanon and Ireland.

MacDara has no passport, well he has a passport but it is expired and so a new one is required. That poses a big problem as it means he cannot leave the country quickly if something bad happens. Of course he could get a Travel Document from the Irish Consulate but given their past record that might be difficult. (During the war last year the Honorary Consul flew the coup taking the keys of the safe with him, all the documents were in the safe, very Clever)

Anyway the new passports application forms require very specific Photograph size and so a trip to the photographer was required. The one I go to happens to be in Dayhie , there is still a lot of work to be done there from last years damage.  

Anyway I get the picture taken ask for the correct size and expect a quick print job. But that is what happens in Ireland not Lebanon; here they must improve your picture.  

It seems I did not look good enough for my passport and so they set about photo shopping it. First they removed all my blemishes including an annoying spot that I got, they then shaped my eyebrows and got rid of any loose hair on my forehead. Finally they removed the bags under my eyes.  

The picture is still a perfect resemblance but just of somebody that works in Hollywood and gets 12 hours sleep every night not a heavy drinker that is stressed about where the next bomb will be and whether Ireland can beat England this Saturday.

But at least I will have a good looking passport photo.

This time it’s not because of the bombs even though the three rockets that were fired near his apartment on Saturday night certainly put the cat among the pigeons.

I mean he had been living with the delusion that he was living in the safest part of the country. Not only is he near the British Embassy but is also a stones throw from the Prime Minister’s offices, UN house and the pride of Beirut “Down Town”. The area is crawling with Army, Internal Security Forces and more private security than you would see in Bogotá and still at 2.30 on Sunday Morning with the night clubs packed a Car pulls up, A man gets out and completely conspicuously takes a rocket launcher from his boot , kneels down and fire not one but three rockets in the general direction of either UN house or Buda Bar , end result six people injured and the sense of security gone form Down Town. And no he was not stopped or even chased by even one of the thousands of security; I guess he just got lucky.

Security concerns skyrocketed early Sunday when three grenades were launched at a commercial building in Downtown Beirut, just meters from the United Nations headquarters. Six people were slightly wounded in the attack.

"The recent attack on Riad al-Solh Square was more than an attack on the security forces, as it is a sensitive political and economic location," the statement added.

But don’t worry the politicians have their finger on the pulse of international opinion.

"The latest rocket attacks give Lebanon a bad name," said Tourism Minister Joseph Sarkis in a statement released Sunday.

No the reason Macdara is leaving is the weather it has been pouring rain here for the last four days and to that the thunder and Lightening and you have one major storm. It has been raining since Saturday and Macdara has had enough I mean what’s the good of living in the Middle East if you are going to get drenched every time you go out. Back to Ireland where at least the rain is normal and it also just happens that his sister is getting married so that’s good timing.

Eid el fitar marking the end of Ramadan is most likely going to fall next Monday and there will be three days of Celebration and MacDara’s Muslim friends can start drinking again. I will raise a few back in Dublin to mark the occasion.

Cheers next post from Ireland.But in the meantime here's a picture of the Beirut coast line I bet its making you wnat to eat fish!

R day has arrived.

MacDara flies MEA from Cyprus via Amman and landing in Beirut some time tomorrow afternoon. Are we nervous going back NO Of course not says Macdara while he quivers behind his Key board? And if he hadn’t enough to worry about he then receives this lovely piece of news: Qatar Airways to defy Israeli blockade on Beirut

I mean that’s all we needed the treat of an airplane being blown out of the sky by the Israelis while trying to land in defiance of one of the best armed countries in the middle east. I guess the only thing in Macdara’s favor is that the Qatar flight plans to land well after MacDara’s so the burning wreckage should not effect him of course it may prevent him being able to leave again so lets hope everyone see sense before the time comes.

One last thing that made MacDara smile was the news that Lebanese MP’s were having a sit in until the blockade is lifted. Now MacDara believes that the blockade should be lifted immediately and that what Israel is doing is completely wrong and continuing to damage the economy of Lebanon but seriously a SIT IN.

As Twenty Major says in a way only Twenty could: The main problem I have with them is having an 'in'. It doesn't really matter how you try and dress it up an 'in' is fucking pathetic.

Macdara is glad to see that his suspicions about the usefulness of Lebanese politicians is now confirmed in that they are only good for sitting on their asses while other people decide how their country will be run. Hope they all get piles.

Talk tomorrow from are old location. 

Macdara was driving on the Highway between Saida and Beirut when he passed the vehicle in this picture. He had to do a double take to confirm that he had just seen what he thought he had seen.

Normally you hear Parents says that their kids are driving them crazy but these Lebanese Parents have an alternative shorter saying.

 While it’s a good photo and is a good story Macdara would like to confirm that he realises that this was a stupid and completely reckless thing for the parents of this baby to be doing. A sudden slamming on of the brakes which in Lebanon could be required at any moment would have ended in disaster. We say in Lebanon that you should expect the unexpected but nobody expects this level of stupidity form parents. 

Beirut gets ready for space tourism

'We need to inform people ... it has now become affordable'

Macdara thought he was still drunk this morning when he read the above headline but it turns out he was sober.

The Lebanese are know the world over for their entrepreneurship and I guess this was just one opportunity they could not miss.

But will their be a duty Free on the way?

After seeing the Treasury ( Al-Khazneh) one could be forgiven for not believing it was worth going any further such is the magnificence of the sight before you. Others of course including nadge would question why continue jut to see more of the same? The fact that the treasury was built or carved out of the mountain around 100 BC is one thing but the fact it remains in such great condition is a testament to the nabataens that built it in such a protected area. ( It is protected from the wind , sand storms and the rain to a great extent from the surrounding mountain.)

Macdara has to agree that the Treasury is fantastic but he would not have missed the rest of the sights despite the three hours it took to get to the highest point and the scorching heat of the Petra sun.

For those less inclined to walk there was also the choice of taking what the locals called an air conditioned taxi we of course refer to them as donkeys.

From the Street of facades and the theater which sat an approximate 3000 people and was later extended by the Romans around 100 AD you come to the royal tombs words cannot encapsulate the size of these buildings or their beauty when seen from a distance. The rose colored rock is fantastic in the sunlight and when you get closer the different colours are unbelievable.

There is a point of view that great effort makes anything wore worth while and if you believe in that then you should venture up the Monastery however if you are like nadge then stay away and spend you time by the pool. The trek to the Monastery takes about one hour and is all up hill; actually it is up around 800 steps in a steep incline that got the better of kec 300 meters from the top. Kec you see suffers from vertigo or laziness depending on your point of view and so nearing the top (of course we did not know at the time how near) we heard a shout form behind us “lads I cant go on I’m going to collapse” we all looked around to see Kec gripping the rock face with his hands as if his life depended on it. Nothing we said could convince him that we were near the top or that he would not fall and so it was time to make a decision. Stay and help him down or tell him to cop on and leave him. It was a three to one vote. Only nadge said we should help him down , democracy won and the remaining four went up to some beautiful sights and low and behold a refreshing beer literally 200 hundred meters further on. (he did make it back safely on his own)

The Monastery is so worth the climb Macdara will merely say this you will never see anything carved from rock this size or this beautiful again.

But also you will probably never have a cooler or more refreshing beer either.

After it was a long walk down and a well deserved few hours by the pool at the hotel drinking beer  and Even Nadge could not stop talking about the day although she also said she would never do it again which could cause some difficulties if Macdara has his way.

So it was back on the road towards Dana and the Dana reserve. This of course has nothing to do with Dana International the Israeli singer or even where Dana (Rosemary Scallon) went after losing the irish presidential election (both Dana’s have of course something in common with each other and that is winning the Eurovision). No the Dana reserve is that rare commodity in the Middle East a Nature Reserve. The reserve has been in existence since 1993 had is home to over 240 species of birds and mammals’ 25 of which are endangered. The reason for the endangerment is the usual over hunting and over usage of land; the Reserve is an ambitious project which provides jobs and sustainable living to the local villagers of Dana.

Most of the reserve is accessible only by hiking if that is your thing and there are a number of campsites within the reserve to stay in. The problem with this of course is that Germans like camping and hiking and so the place had many in residence. Anyway as MacDara has mentioned Nadge does luxury and camping is not Luxury. So we settled for a drive down to a viewing point where Dec was hoping for a sighting of an Arabian Oryx of which there are very few left in the world. Unfortunately he only spotted some German campers. We did however get offered some sweet black tea by one of the wardens who was happy to see non Germans for the first time in a month. We repaid his hospitality by buying some lovely apple and plum locally made jam.

Two spot did suggest staying in one of the Hotels in the old 15^th century Stone village of Dana but it had been taken over by an Italian film company that was using the village as a back drop for their film called the Holy family.

So back on the road to travel the short distance to our penultimate destination of Shobak and another Crusader Castle before Petra. It was built in 1115 by king Baldwin 1 and withstood many attacks from Saladin’s armies (Saladin was one of the main characters in the Movie Kingdom of Heaven and of course was a most honorable warrior. We visited his tomb later. )

Macdara liked Shobak because it is well preserved but also out in the middle of no where unlike all of the previous castles he has visited and thus more solemn. Of Course Two spot just ranted and raved about Krak Des chevaliers again.

Just as night fell and Nadge was ready to kill all four of her male companions we moved on the Wadi Musa and the Crown plaza which was at last a five star bit of luxury that we would be residing in for Two Days. Or so we said!

As I mentioned the Kings Highway is the best road in Jordan to take if you want to see more than just petra and the dead sea. After setting off from Madaba we passed over the Wadi Mujib Dam. The valley forms part of the wadi Mujib reserve drops from a height of 900 mtrs to four hundred below sea level and as mentioned provides great views. After passing the valley our next stop was Karak back up at 900 mtrs which was an old crusader town where a impressive crusader castle is well preserved.

It used to be one of the many castles spreading from Aqaba all the way to turkey and is the most impressive Macdara has seen ( he has previously see them in Byblos, Tripoli,and Tyre)

Of course Two spot couldn’t stop telling us that

Krak Des Chevaliers in Syria is the most impressive of all the crusader castle remains and that he had visited it.

Anyway it seems that budgie is a budding photographer as he had us doing all sorts of poses inside the dungeons. After Karak it was a quick bite to eat in a restaurant that was chosen for its proximity as Macdara was in need of facilities. Being in a servere rush he chose the first available cubicle which turned out to be an African hole. It was only after finishing that he realized that the next cubicle provided a western toilet and what would have been a more comfortable solution.

Next stop was the Dana nature reserve and shobak castle.