Zahle, Sans Kidnapping

Megan, standing in the middle of Zahle's main boulevard. Where is everybody?

On somewhat a spur of the moment, Wade and Megan decided to drive to Zahle on Thursday evening. Zahle is Lebanon's third largest city and is located the edge of the Bekaa Valley. We had Friday off of work. The plan was to spend the Thursday night in Zahle then wake up early Friday and explore the Bekaa Valley with friends. We booked a room at an old hotel, rented a car, and were ready to go after work on Thursday.

But our friends backed out at the last second.

It takes a little over an hour to get from Beirut to Zahle, but to get there you cross over the Mount Lebanon Range, making Zahle feel much more remote.

Why? Why pass up on such a great opportunity to see a beautiful part of the country?

Seven Estonian bikers were kidnapped on Wednesday, and of course, they were taken just outside of Zahle.

Yes, we knew about the kidnappings. We woke up Thursday morning and saw the headline from The Daily Star which read, "Search is on for kidnapped foreigners: Seven Estonian bikers abducted in Zahle after crossing Syrian border hours earlier". Even The New York Times picked up on the story. Click on the links, in case you're curious.

It's interesting to note that the Lebanese newspaper mentions Palestinians, Syrians, and Libyans as possible suspects (although we're not sure how that could work with Libyans). It does not mention any Lebanese groups. The New York Times, meanwhile, implies that Hezbollah had something to do with it (most people here assume that Hezbollah got out of that business years ago).

Our hotel, the Akl.

As you might have guessed, we weren't going to let a little thing like kidnappings ruin our weekend. Besides, visiting Zahle right after a kidnapping was probably the safest time to do so. We noticed a few extra army patrols at night. We were even stopped at two army checkpoints; normally, the army just waves you through those things.

Note: Megan thinks that our getting stopped had nothing to do with the kidnappings but was instead because Wade was acting extra awkwardly. Who knows?

The famous river that runs through Zahle, without any of the crowds.

With or without a crowd, Wade and Megan had a relaxing evening. The hotel was a quirky place, built in the early 20th century and run by the same family for seventy-five years. That family doesn't do much to keep it up, though. The paint was falling off, kerosene stoves provided the heat, and the magazines in the lobby dated from the 1990's.

But the lady at the reception desk was friendly and we had the place to ourselves -- except for a young, bearded and lonely European backpacker (we hope he wasn't Estonian).

Megan, relaxing in the cold, dark second-floor lobby at the Akl Hotel

Kidding aside, the kidnapping brought back a lot of terrible memories for the Lebanese. Let's hope that the Estonians are found soon.

Knowing how painful some of those memories are, perhaps Wade should not have asked about a half dozen people about the missing foreigners. At dinner on Thursday night, Wade started a conversation with the waiter. Pointing to the headline of the paper he was reading, Wade asked the waiter what he thought.

"This country is crazy," he said with a genuinely loud exhale.

"And where are you from?"

"Syria."

"Which part?" Wade has a tendency to be nosy.

"I'm from that town." The waiter pointed to the headline underneath the story about the kidnappings, a story about Daraa, Syria. Daraa is the spark of Syria's current revolution, where dozens of people have been killed in just the past few days.

"Is everyone back home okay?" Wade asked.

The waiter responded in with a monotone, "Everything is fine," then walked away.

Even a large scale kidnapping seems to pale in comparison to events taking place in the rest of the Middle East - a refreshing change.