Beiteddine, non-existing Chouf cedars and getting high off of mountain air

Renting a car in Lebanon is really cheap and you can just take off and go see some amazing scenery in a day...and there really are some spectacular sights around. It has to be said, despite my current rather negative attitude towards the country. So that's what I did last weekend with some friends. We first went to Beiteddine, which is an old family palace and is really pretty.





Next, we tried to find the Chouf Cedar Reserve, which is quite high up in the mountains. We did see about three cedar trees (the first ones I've seen here!!) behind a fence, but somehow the 'reserve' appeared to be closed and we couldn't go in. So we just kept driving up the mountain until we got to the top, where the lack of oxygen or something made us really really silly. Check this developing photo story:







To top it all off, we had a picnic in the Bekaa valley (after manoevring the car through the last remaining bits of snow on the pass road) and found this really bizarre sight in the middle of nowhere!