This lovely mountain resort town is perched above the eastern end of
the beautiful Kadisha Gorge and at the foothills of the Cedars of Lebanon.
It is the brith place of Lebanon's most famous author
Khalil Gibran. It has a small museum which pays tribute to him.
Beiteddine palace was built over a period of thirty years by Emir Bechir Chehab II.
It's architecture reflects the typical oriental architecture of the 19th century Ottoman Era.
It is remarkable for its glamorous
arcades, multicolored mosaic floors, reception rooms, harems, hammams
and even by its guest house "Diyafa" where passing guests were lodged
(French poet Lamartine stayed once there).
Detail of the Sarcophagus of Ahiram, king of Byblos, seated
on a cherub throne, before an offering table, 13th century B.C (National Museum of Beirut).
Around 1200 B.C. the scribes of Byblos developed an alphabetic phonetic script, the precursor of our modern
alphabet. By 800 B.C., it had traveled to Greece, changing forever the way man communicated.
Located in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon, Baalbek is an ancient city
that has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Originally
Canaanite (3rd century BC), the Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines,
and Arabs successively occupied Ba'albek and left their imprints on the
place, often modifying what existed previously.
www.kaftoun.com
Share this
Digg
Del.icio.us
StumbleUpon
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Googlize this
Blinklist
Facebook
Wikio
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
Guys – I am in love! Can anyone help me? - Friday, June 3, 2011
I am in love with the whole area of the Hills Track. Before I joined the group, I used to drive by the Hills Track and look in from the road and say to myself – how depressing it is to see all these people waisting their time. Why can't they do productive work or be with their families? These days I look at it in a much different light. This morning for example, worried about missing the new starting time for the Friday Morning Run, I was there early. I stood by myself at the bottom of the granite stairs stretching. I looked up to see the iron gates closed. I wondered - why are these gates closed? Would anyone close the gates of paradise? Beyond these gates is where my friends gather – each in their own way delivering themselves through hellish effort from nothingness to glory. If a jasmine flower was to grow for each drop of sweat that flew from these athletes, the Hills Track will be white and overflowing with fragrance - spilling to cover all of Dhahran.
This morning I started with the group and was soon trailing behind. I said to myself – wow these people are strong. Hay wait a second! I am also strong - so I started pushing up the hill to the first watering station on the golf course path leading to Duck Pond. I made it in record time. Nothing was hurting and I felt I had springs beneath my feet. I made it to BMX track in 25 minutes (instead on 34 last week). I continued springing away, at about 155 HR, not aware of myself , until all of a sudden the mirage to the Duck Pond watering station appears before me. Am I there already? It can't be? It was too easy. I was only 39 minutes into my run. There I saw Fahad as I was turning back to the watering station for some water. This time the young women with the dog, of last week, was not there – I miss her.
After the brief re-hydration stop, I started on my way back on the golf course path. At 50 minutes into my run I passed the BMX station. There I had to compete with a bee for water – I won. I pushed up the hill maintaining 150-160 HR, and was back home in one hour and 07 minutes shaving 10 minutes off the same exact run as last week. Why couldn't I have done the same in this week's 800m or the 1500m? I think I did not psychic myself properly for these events.
Melting – melting – melting...
This week, my wife came back from the US and she brought me with her one of these tight compression shorts and some proper running socks. I wore the compression shorts on my run this morning, but was too shy to ware them by themselves. So I wore another shorts on top of them. During my run, the upper shorts kept on slipping off a little bit, making me feel that I am slimming down, which encouraged me. Also the socks were great, as the bottom of my feet were starting to hurt with ordinary socks, and these ones are okay. I recommend them to everyone.
Also this week, I went to the doctor. From September of last year up to now I have lost 6.5 kg measured on the clinic scale. This is good knowing that I did not reduce my food intake during this period. Also my good cholesterol ,which has been 35-36 for years , jumped up to 45. This is a very good sign. I am confident I will be loosing some more weight, now that I am also watching what I am eating. Keep on encouraging me...
Thank you Coach! Thank you group!
