Lebanon VII

Surprisingly, I'm not sick and tired of Middle Eastern food. I am dearly wishing for some sushi and (can you believe it) dim-sum, but at least I'm not as tired of hummus as I was of paneer...
One of the things that is very odd here in the Middle East is the method of construction. I note here that people do not complete building jobs at all; sometimes they'll be missing the top floor of a building, sometimes one half of the building only has the scaffolding in place. It is quite odd. I had read somewhere it was due to the reluctance, and even prohibition of debt amongst Muslims. Hence, you build with as much money as you have; once that is gone, you wait until you accumulate some more, and then you continue with building. I was then told that was not necessarily true. Certainly, people do not necessarily complete buildings all in one go, but sometimes it is simply an issue of financing. Well, whichever way it is, it is quite interesting how many buildings have struts sticking out of them, in anticipation of further construction, whenever that is to occur...
That being said, Beirut is a relatively new city. That is to say, many of the buildings here have been constructed since the end of the civil war. There is a certain gracefulness (due to the French influence) and modernist feel to many of the buildings. Also, that means that many of the previous buildings that were pulverized during the war are hidden, or mostly disappeared. There are still many buildings with obvious bullet-holes and mortar shell holes in their walls, but the new buildings certainly out-number them.
Furthermore, I've been utterly unsuccessful retrieving photos of tanks, blown-out buildings and the like in Beirut. Due to the current simmering tensions here, for the lack of a President, there is heightened military security around the downtown. (Going through a check-point, I accidentally hit a soldier in the face with my hat as I was emptying out my bag to show him there was really only my hat in it... oops... I've never hit a soldier in the face before, but I didn't think that this was the best situation to have done that...) I've been denied to take photographs, and have not been allowed close enough to others to snap an adequate photo. Let me assure you though that the marks of the war still remain; it is quite something to note the mangled, twisted remains of the intersection where Rafik Hariri was blown up a few years ago. The road has been repaved, but the shriveled shells of buildings, with concrete sticking onto steel rods, curling over the edges of overhangs and previous windows is quite something; it is clear that 'they' wanted him good and dead...