MT. RETREAT IN FEYOUM

 Before our trip, I found a 2nd cousin on FB. He sent a driver to our b&b yesterday am, and we took off to the Yaghi Family retreat in FEYOUM. It is much high elevation than Beirut and we wound ourselves up the roads with the help of Francois...who was also a cousin...no lie.  We were treated like family, with home cooked meals and a hookah! Yes, Francois had a hookhah, or sheesha, or water pipe or whatever. Anyway...I went first! Duh! I liked it ! A Lot! It was just tobacco flavored with apple or whatever flavor a person wants. Very big in Lebanon...most restaurants offer them on the menu...and they are used a lot.  We all did it!

Well when in Lebanon........

 

So cousin Mansour yelled at us to get in his car and off we went for a drive in the Mts. He showed us where he fought in the cilvil war, and he got shot, and he still had his guns, grenades, and machine gun...and not afraid to use them if needed.  We saw the ski areas and we saw snow...and then...we ran into Syrian  Bedouin camps...... we got out and they asked to come into their tents and smoke the hookah! I mean that is a social norm.  Instead, we went to pet their goats...then we found out they had fresh goat milk Lebneh....which is basically yogurt that is strained until the whey is out and then it is firmer and a bit more pungent. We bought a kilo, and brought it back to b&b. I had it for breakfast with homemade kibbeh.

After the mountain adventure..we came