01 December 2009

Lebanon Rocks
















Since the Civil War in Lebanon is over,  Rock climbing is gaining popularity. There are about not more than 20 serious climbers in Lebanon and tourist have not yet discovered the finger grapping virgin rocks. Unfortunately there are not that many bolted routes yet and the exciting once are not rated over 6b, anyway I was fortuned to be a pioneer on the Lebanon Rocks!


Avedis invited me for some serious rock climbing; I was exhilarated, since I never heard about rock climbing in Lebanon!

I was picked up in the empty morning streets of Beirut by Peter, an ambitions man with the dream to be a part of the  first Lebanese team to conquer The Seven Summits.  I was too tired to enjoy the silence and the salty morning breeze while waiting.  I fell a sleep at 4 o clock, since  I was writing about the cognitive psychology of photography and as complement to subject, I forgot all about time. However I knew that the mountains would give me energy and the rock-climbing would pump me with adrenaline, so there was nothing to worry about, even though my eyelids were like lead.

As we drove in Avedis’ Jeep through the escalating traffic,  I laughed of the trilingual fact of the Lebanese. Avedis was frustrated by the tragic traffic jams like everybody else ,he honked his horn and shouted “Yalla monsignor, come one”.   Most Lebanese are basically fluently in English, French and Arabic, they often mix their the languages in their conversations, which is very entertaining and a multi cultural experience, some also mix their body expressions, which means you can end up in a conversation where the body language goes though several cultural stages, like an American rapper with Arab humble gestures and ending with french  chin kisses.

As we went past the military checkpoint entering Tripoli,  Peter gave me a hint on how you pass the checkpoint without any hassle. The trick was simple, greet them in French. “Bonjour” Avedis said, I followed with a shy “Bonjoour” and wanted to test the theory with a “Cha va”, but restrained my newly found trick. Avo and Peter had no theory behind the trick just that it works.  I guess the French educated aristocratic accent does not sound as suspicious a foreign American accent or the native Arabic.







We turned east from the coastal road and almost instantly we were in the mountains, my mouth went wide opened as we went into the valley of rocks. My fingers felt the need to squeeze my body close to the rock giants. I stuck my head out of the window and felt the fresh air and as predicted, the 2 hours of sleep had no longer any impact of my energy. The scenery was revitalizing with its stunning beauty. 













The scenery changed from luscious green to a dry mountain landscape  after we  drove through the idyllic village Douma. A place I definitely will spent some more time in!















We finally reached our destination in the Tannourine natural reserve, 1700 meters above see level and we faced a majestic limestone rock with a peachy dry fur surface that made the stone perfect to grab on to. I was amazed by the short distance, two and a half hours from Beirut and we were in Mother Nature’s finest.  

            Avedis and Peter
















Climbing is like physical chess. You have to think, feel and sense your next move, besides that, you have to overcome the mental stress of losing your life or seriously hurting yourself. Sometimes, when the muscles are overheating and the cracks too small for a finger, you are checkmate and have to perform a controlled fall, jumping out and into the rock while soften your impact with your legs, its pretty simply and not as dramatically as it sounds, although its 1-0 to the rocks. 
















As we finished our last climb, the clouds came rolling in with a tremendous speed into the valley. It was overwhelming witnessing the rapid clouds conquering the valley like  slow motion waves. Before we knew it we were covered in clouds. 






Partners in Climb





21 November 2009

Peace Peaking





Three yeasr ago I visited my friends in Nepal. We went on a trip into the Himalayas where I meet a Tibetan Lama, he gave me a blessed silk cloth and told me to" bring it to a place where there is a need for  peace". As a prime mission of my Lebanon trip, I brought it to Qornet es Sauda. With its 3083 meters its the biggest mountain in Lebanon.  

The professional adventures and climbers Peter, Avedis and Joyce joined  me in my quest  in order to let the buddhist peace prayers spread across Lebanon and the middle east, transforming peace keeping into Peace Peaking.



 Maronite church 


Ceder forest, before our assent 


Snowshoeing





I have never tried snowshoeing before; I have walked and climbed with crampons, but I felt like Goofy.It took me a half hour to get into the rhythm and not stumble over my over my own legs and I probably looked like I was drunk in the way I concentrated in the beginning to get into the flow of snowshoeing.





Snowshoe Jogging 





A better man

The Sun was baking my head and I felt my skin getting tighter and put sun block factor 30 and continued on the plateau. The were only contrast of white and blue in the horizon and as I inhaled the fresh air and felt the natural energy steaming in my whole body. I always get high being high, were at 2500 meters and the view was magic. Peter stopped by my side and I expressed my thoughts.  “ I think I become a better man doing this”. He looked at the horizon as I did, towards the mountains and the ocean of clouds beneath and the at me as he replied with a smile “So do I” 


Peter becoming a better man




Avedis becomming a better man



Joyce becoming a better woman



Towards the top 


The Top











I took the Buddhist cloth and Avedis lid a Tibetan sandalwood incense. It was very difficult in the cold wind, but he did eventually manage to get it burning.

While tiring the silk cloth to the pole,  I made a short speech explaining the story of the Lama who “tasked” me to place it in a place where there is a need for Peace and we alle recited the mantra Om mani padme hum


Going down





I became dark really fast once the sun drowned In the horizon. So we rushed downed the mountain. At a point we got lost, we actually went to the wrong side of the mountain and we were heading down in the wrong valley






Avedis asked if anybody had any batteries for the GPS, fortunately I had some in my flash. We were way of track and it was hard not to blame ourselves for a short moment of getting lost. But the mantra of walking, thinking of the beautiful day and then gazing towards the stars in great company made the cold go away, the hunger to seize.

The Stars were magic, I saw Satellites fly by and could easily identify constellations. Eventually my mount went dry and neck became sore, because I was looking up all the time. 


A perfect cloud free night 




While going down the last slope , my phone suddenly rang, I was surprise to have connection,  people had been worried, since we were gone for such a long time and my friend told me that they actually had sent the military to look for us. I laughed and told the situation  and after the 12 hours we greeted the military who were waiting for us with a smile. 


What a glorious day.. 




2 days after in The Daily Star




I got my second standalone front cover photo in The Daily Star once I was back in Beirut: 
Peace summit Mountaineers scale Lebanon's highest peak to plant spiritual scarf
A Lebanese mountain climber makes his way up to the Qornet al-Sawda, the highest peak of Mount Lebanon and all of the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Danish photographer Janus Langhorn said he tasked the group of climbers to bring up a silk scarf blessed by a Tibetan Lama to " a spot where there is a need for peace". The climbers erected the scarf at an attitude of 3,080 meters on November 20. - The Daily Star

20 November 2009

Cigar in the Gaybar



My friend’s girlfriend’s friend, who is a lesbian, was celebrating her birthday in restaurant and bar of Bardo. 


I was happy to go with them, since I was in a party mode after the long day of mountaineering and going to a homosexual bar would just broaden my cultural view on Lebanon. I was told that the acceptance of homosexuality is improving. Like in many Arabic states, violence towards homosexuals has been quit common, the worst part however is that the violence in been done by the police itself.

The government does not allow homosexuality by law, which mildly put I find utterly grotesque; not allowing humans to live normal lives because of their sexuality is for me just the culmination of intolerance.

Fortunately the mentality is changing. One of the biggest NGO’s in Lebanon helem.net is gaining in public sympathy and it is just a matter of time till the laws and discrimination will change for the better.. 

The Cigar

I was happy to see all of the politics were not an issue at Bardo, It was a beautiful place with great music and stuning visuals on the wall. Since I had spent the last days being wild in the mountains and fulfilled a mission of mine I brought a Romeo y Julietta cigar to celebrate my victorious past days.

While drilling a hole in my cigar,  I naturally did not pay attention to the fact that I was situated in sanctuary place for homosexuals.  I lit big fire on balsam wood and started sucking on the cigar in order to get it lid and after look at the glowing tip while blowing out a big cloud of smoke to strengthen the fire.

This is a of course a perfectly normal séance while lightning a cigar. But after the clouds of smoke were gone,  my smile slowly disintegrated. I saw a row of guys starring at me and afterwards giving me exaggerated flirts. I laughed and turned to my friend “Not the best place to go a have a cigar of celebration,” He noticed the guys, my cigar and laughed even harder when we heard that  Frankie goes to Hollywood was pumping in background:
 “ Relax don't do it,  when you wanna suck too it…”





17 November 2009

Hiking in the Mist


I finally got at chance to get out of the city again. 


Avedis CEO at the adventure company Sport4life invited my for a reconnaissance hike together with a collegue of his in the forrest in north Lebanon, close to the Syrian border. 


I was up 5 o'clock in them morning at there was no trafic. It was really surreal to look at teh empty streets when they take so much focus in the daily routines. I felt like I was in a dream, no noise, no people and no cars. Reality hit me though, I had to get at taxi, so I placed myself in the middle of an intersection and moments after I was driving through the empty streets of Beirut to meet my new friend Avedis. We were on I way to the kobayat national reserve!


I looked back and gazed on the pollution covering Beirut like a sepia silk veil although there nothing soft about this mist of cancer. I wondered out loud why there were no railway or working buses in Lebanon and the guys told me that a half a decade ago, there was a railway going from Turkey via Syria, down the costal line of Lebanon to Palestine. When they told me about the buses, they laughed at told me that the late president Hariri committed an infrastural genocide so people would drive cars instead, so the economy would benefit from the car sales. This sounded naturally like one of the government corruption stories I heard all the time and I got use to the tone of sarcasm everybody had when talking about national economy or the government.. 



It did not take up long to get to the park, I often forget the that Lebanon is one of the smallest country in the world and when you drive from the coast and head straight up in the mountains, the changing scenery just made my smile bigger and pupils wider.

Before we entered the natural reserve we were stopped by a relativ big military checkpoint, all the way we have been slaloming out way through them, but being in the middle of a forrest there was a big checkpoint. What surprised me the most however, was the sloppy way the military were holding their sub machine guns and swinging them around. We got through the check point with no hassel though and we were about to start our hike. 







This little critter attacked my camera lens! 
Unfortunately I jumped back made a noise like a little girl, 
instead of being cool and getting a great action shoot. 




This Lady greeted us with at warm smile although she did not like 
posing for me. She told us about a secret Phonetician tomb 
and exhilarated like kids we looked for it.


The Secret Phoenitician tomb




This mule did not move as I approached it.


Still standing still?


Looking around, not caring.


The reason the mule did not move was because of a deformed leg
that seemed be to big. We were amazed that the mule so far had
 been safe from the wolfs and hyenas.     


We heard some bell in the mist, an eerie sound when you do 
not know what is approaching.


Eerie goats


The Ram, overlooking the head


The Ram looking at me.


Ahmad the friendly shepherd 


Mahmood the other friendly shepherd


Unfortunately the adventurous nature experience was at times tarnish by the extremely bad habit of the Lebanese. They love killing birds and the don't care about keeping picking up the shell or the water bottle, plastic bags, food etc