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

ओं मणिपद्मे हूं, 

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

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…”

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

Running at the riviera II

My daily routine of running at the Rivera has expanded.

Running down to the coast has become an adventures challenge, where I have to zig-zag through the crowds and in between the slow moving traffic.  Often Taxis drive beside me  and lean over to the passenger seat while trying to persuade me to jump in. One taxidriver  drove right up next to while intensely looking at me for a while. Hey suddenly laughed and shouted

“Hey Mister you sweat to much let me drive you.” I just smiled with the thought that I would jump in and say “ Thanks -  please take me around my jogging route 3 times, well on  second thought  Im actually  a bit hung over today,  so just to rounds“ and my workout is completed..

Timing is the keyword while crossing the street

Red lights does not necessarily mean stop.  

I jump over beggars, while thinking "next time bring some money 

and do a fast donation while speeding ahead.."

Stairway to the Mediterranean Sea

When I get to the Riviera a lot of people are exercising,  virtually it is the only place where there is space for a jog in the Capital of Lebanon.

Power walking has become a big trend in Beirut, strangely most of the people do not jog, they swing their arms like Russian soldiers and walk with at firm paste back and forth the coastline. 

I didn’t  that many guys jogging or power walking though, there were literary on the rocks, bathing, fishing, praying and socializing.

Since had to train for rock climbing I went down to them, running on the rocks, jumping behind them and did some bouldering on the wall in order to train my balance, coordination skills, strength for the upcoming rock climb.

Ghazi Abdel Baki Concert

I was supposed to cover the Missy Elliot concert for The Daily Star, unfortunately it was cancelled.

Instead I went to the Ghazi Abdel Baki and Friends concert in the worlds 4th best bar at BO018

Read The Daily Star article