A Gun in the Drawer.

Beirut, Lebanon.

The last time Lebanon saw open conflict was the 2006 war with Israel. The years before are checkered with civil war, more war with Israel and general awfulness.

The signs of the past can be seen everywhere. Buildings throughout the city are pocked with the distinctive scars of battle, there are bored teenage soldiers armed with M-16s dotted about the city and when the dude from our hotel reached into a drawer behind a counter to pass me a key, I could see the but of a semiautomatic pistol amongst the pens and stationary.

I got stopped at one checkpoint and had my bag searched by a baby-faced soldier with a huge rifle slung over his shoulder. He was fairly chilled out about the whole thing. I was probably a little more anxious.

Despite all this, there is a very positive vibe in the city. There are slick looking dudes with permed-haired girlfriends sitting in swanky cafes in the center of town, and there are hipsters and students drinking cocktails and smoking lucky strikes in the bars at night. I really love this place.

Beirut is armed, but it doesn't fell dangerous.

The city is pretty quiet on a Sunday. Most shops are closed so we decided to amble down to the corniche and watch the locals enjoy their weekend.

My two travel buddies were possibly the only tourists I saw all day. This makes us a real novelty.

While perched watching the sun set down by the water, a dude came up to me shook my hand put his arm around my shoulder, took a photo of the two of us, then offered me a smoke. He had no English, and I have no Arabic so that was the extent of our cultural exchange.

This happened to me two more times that afternoon. Beirutians, it seems, want to meet foreigners, or at least have their photo taken with them. 

There are sentry boxes like this all over the city. Some police told me off for taking this photo, but it wasn't too much of a big deal.

The abandoned Holiday Inn shows how fierce the fighting must have been. 

A wall on the ground level of the Holiday Inn. 

Traffic by the corniche.

There is a photo of the this guy and me on his phone.

This group of dudes asked me to take their photo.