Beirut in Beirut

Ok well not really but that city does have a strange energy or feel to it. I had to head up to Lebanon for 3 days for work but don't worry I did manage to squeeze in some time to check out the city. The city felt a bit depressing to me, I'm not exactly sure thats the word but its the closest thing I can come to this late at night. There are 5 star hotels next to some hotels which are war torn with bullet holes in them. It is crazy to think that a 15 year war went on in this country. The entire downtown was completely rebuilt after the war ended, so its beautiful and new looking but it doesn't exactly fit into the cities identity. I went to dinner one night with some friends of friends who live in Lebanon and got an understanding a bit more of the history and what it was like during those 15 years. It seems the perspective is that things are still a bit uneasy between two religious groups in the country. I guess that was part of what you could kind of feel when you are there...however Beirut does have one of the hottest night lives in all of the middle east just so everyone knows.