A hobby I used to follow closely before I came to Lebanon was rock climbing. While it’s possible to rock climb here, the rocky walls are very hard on the hands due to their sharp and rough formation.

Anyway, I was invited to go for a short climb in Faqra, but mainly for the sake of a nice trip and some relaxation. Faqra is the home of a few ancient Roman ruins, and several natural wonders, one being the Jisr al-Hajar, whose name literally translates to ‘stone bridge’. It is a large natural arch high in the mountains, carved into the rock by a river from higher in the mountains.

When winter comes around, the entire area gets covered with snow, it’s really amazing. I need to get some pictures of that next winter.

We stopped for a breakfast on the way up, where we ate a variety of Sajj (wraps with Arabic spices). We reached our destination and climbed for a while, but mainly sunbathed on the rocks. I gave up after a few climbs because my hands were getting cut to pieces by the sharp rock, but I got to enjoy a wonderful atmosphere, so no disappointments for me!

Once we were done, it was back down the mountain for us, but not before we stopped to eat some delicious manouche (meat spread on a thin dough base).

It was a great trip… I really should be spending more time exploring this country while I’m here, there is so much to see. I want to go to Baalbek, where there are huge stone pillars and temples (all Roman architecture). You wouldn’t believe how big they were if I told you, so stay tuned for an upcoming trip!

In the meantime, enjoy the photos I took

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I want to talk about an awesome Facebook app called Graffiti… it’s incredibly addictive if you’re into drawing things, and it’s replay function is just awesome. I thought I’d post a few of my drawings that I’ve done over the past few years and you can watch how I made them… enjoy!

Have I got an awesome photo gallery for you this week!

So, I organised a bus tour at the last minute on Friday, and on Saturday I ended up going on a magnificent tour of a couple of spots. This time, we headed east from the city, towards the Bakaar Valley.

Once again, it was suprisingly warm for the heights we were reaching. Normally, the mountains would be covered with snow this time of year, but it seems that this is the exception to the rule.

On the way up, we stopped at a bakery called Wooden Bakery where we ate a type of herb-covered bread called zaatar for breakfast, it was delicious and filling.

Al Shouf Cedar Reserve was the first stop. It boasts beautiful flora, and has incredible panoramic views of the coast and nearby towns. I spent my entire time snapping pictures, and regret I couldn’t just slow down and relax. The cedar trees here are incredibly old (there was a huge one that was about 5000 years old), and it’s quite a haven from the busy city, which was only an hour’s drive down the mountain.

We continued, over the top of the mountain ridge, down into the Bakaar Valley. At the bottom of the mountain ridge was a town called Kefraya, home of Chateau Kefraya, a place renowned for it’s wineries. Their wines are exported across Europe and are of an extremely good quality. I had the pleasure of uh, testing a few of the different wines available, and then had a very relaxing walk through the vineyards, up to the actual Chateau (castle) overlooking the vineyards. Unfortunately it was closed to viewing on Saturdays, but I managed to take a couple of shots of it.

Then, it was a quiet and sleepy drive back up and down the mountain ridge into the city, where I ended up having the most comfortable sleep I could remember.

Enjoy the photos!

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The Kadeisha Valley is a small valley north of Beirut, and is rich with ancient history. In the rock faces of the sides of the valley, many old monasteries and chapels have been literally cut into the cliff face. Some of the things I saw were easily thousands of years old. Quite mindblowing when you’re next to it and absorbing the reality of it.

I joined a hiking team and we covered the valley, starting at one end of it, cutting down to the bottom and across to the other side, and finishing our hike at a village called Hasroun.

It’s supposed to be winter here, but temperatures soared on the hike. I’m willing to bet it was at least 30 degrees Celsius.

I found that hiking in general is a fantastic activity, but exhausting if you’re aren’t used to it (like myself). So hopefully I’ll get out into the countryside more often.

Hiking is great, but rock climbing, abseiling (there are some amazing rock formations that I will be sure to take pictures of, I recall seeing a massive stone arch at some point) and white river rafting are on the list.

It’s really amazing living here. The weather is fantastic and pretty stable, and the lifestyle you can have here makes it very hard to want to leave. Within a week or two, I will be able to snowboard on a mountain not far from where I just hiked.

Anyway, I took loads of pictures of our walk, and selected the best ones for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

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So, where was I? Ah… yes, HTML. The mothertongue of website languages. But it was limited in what it could do. More complex functions beyond simply displaying a webpage needed to be performed. Enter scripting.

What is scripting from a web design/development point of view? Well, it is basically a language that allows applications to be written. And by application, I mean anything from a simple maths calculation to storing your contact details in a database. HTML, therefore, is not a scripting language. Examples of scripting languages include Javascript, PHP and ASP to name a few.

When it comes to the history of how each of these languages evolved, that’s a whole can of worms that is way too detailed to go into on it’s own. However, scripting languages can be generally divided into two categories: Client-side, and server-side.

Client-side languages essentially make the ‘client’ computer (so in this case, your computer on this website) pull the computing load. So a classic example would be something like this. Your computer reads a short bit of script telling it to open a dialog box when you click the link. But as far as the server, or the website’s host is concerned, it’s just a bit of useless code that will never be activated.

Client-side scripting is not as common in modern web design, as it is very unnecessary, and it’s more effective to build a powerful server that can deliver flexibility to a large range of less powerful clients. Client-side scripting decentralises the transfer of information on a website, and that means a limited array of things can be done. Server-side, on the other hand, means that the server will be providing the computing power, which means that huge powerful servers can be installed, and almost any quality of client computer can connect to it and perform the same powerful tasks.

Server-side languages are now commonly employed, and allow much more powerful things to happen. In fact, this website is based on WordPress, which is heavily governed by PHP scripting processes. Each ‘page’ on this website is dynamically generated using PHP and given to you in HTML/CSS format, whereas older style websites were just a collection of static HTML files ready to be looked at. The power and flexibility of something like PHP introduces a huge variety of possibilities, and automates a lot of things that were never before possible.

In combination with the concept of a database (which I will cover in the next instalment), server-side scripting allows a huge range of sites to run smoothly, from a massive complex corporate site like Microsoft’s or AMD, down to a smaller sized establishment like this site. In fact, web designers wouldn’t be able to wield as nearly as much power as they can do now. It’s because of things like this that enable something as complex as a shopping cart system to run on any site.

Hmm… there’s so much to talk about in this area. I’m happy to take requests! Next up, the concept and implementation of the database, and why this is possibly, in my opinion, the most important thing to have been established in an online context.

Till then!

I am living in Lebanon. Many of my friends hear the word of this country, but little do they know what a unique and surprising country it is. This is part of the reason I feel compelled to include my experiences here in the blog, as I’ve been to a fair few countries, but none of them are as intriguing to me as this one. I’m here as an ex-pat basically, and while I’m aggressively trying to learn French and Arabic (it’s a dual language country, being an ex-French colony), I’m still very much an outsider.

It’s flag is the cedar tree, created in the 1940s when Lebanon gained independence from France. It’s got a population consisting of both Muslims and Christians, who live in surprising harmony. I was present during the 2006 Lebanon-Israeli war, and learnt quickly that the dealings that Lebanon has had with neighbouring countries in the past can unite people of very different influences.

Politics is a hot topic here, and people talk with a lot of passion, and identify very strongly with their opinion. When you see two people who are talking in Arabic about something political, it can be pretty jarring. But no, it’s just the passion in their voice. It’s quite a contrast, I feel, to my way of discussing things, but it’s inherent to the people, the culture. I’m getting used to it quickly.
I live at a place called La Marina, which is predictably, a marina. It’s close enough to the city centre of Beirut to the south, but because it’s in the middle of a few empty blocks of land, you get a sense of isolation as well. I have my apartment, and across the entrance is a club with various facilities and a bar. So it’s pretty good living, and with the internet, very comfortable for a Westerner to settle in.

Here’s me on the map (Zoom out to get a sense of the country and region, it’s quite interesting):

I think that’ll do for an introduction, I’ll start putting up some videos and photos soon! Stay tuned!

Oh, and if you haven’t already, login via facebook on the right panel. You can then comment on my posts, and you leave a picture of your pretty face on my side panel showing you’ve been here!

I will try to explain in a simple fashion, so people unfamiliar with this kind of thing can still read, learn, and appreciate where I’m coming from.

Onto HTML!

Back in the old days, before the internet was considered a mainstream consumer product, HTML described text and links, nothing more. For those unfamiliar with internet lingo, HTML (Hypertext markup language) is a language that describes how a webpage appears.

It has evolved and branched off more simplified versions like XHTML, and is still being improved. But back in the early nineties, even with it’s added ability to point to things like images and tables, it was very simple and limited. It wasn’t designed with multimedia and interactivity in mind, it was merely initially a quick way to transmit text over the slow speeds on the early internet.

In the mid-nineties, an entire website could be presented well with HTML, but it still required that everything be specified down to the letter in the code. Every table, every font change, every image, these were all coded in manually. High school Computer Science classes taught a bit of it, and simple webpages could be created literally by using a text editor like notepad to fashion the pages bit by bit.

The most complex purely HTML based webpage of the nineties could have some tables in it (tables are arranged into cells, think Microsoft Excel) to present information in an organized fashion. It could also be arranged into frames, usually dictated by a master HTML file like index.html (frames are essentially web pages in a webpage, a glorified table). There could be some flashy images, initially in the GIF format, but later used in the very useful JPEG format, which greatly decreased loading times for small losses of quality. Things like image maps were also possible, where an image was used and split into sections that could link to different URLs.

With the introduction of initially simple but effective site building programs like the aforementioned Microsoft Frontpage, sites could be built a lot faster, but ultimately, you had to deal with the limitations of HTML. Pressure was needed for more of two things: functionality, and artistic license. It’s these two things that have pushed webpages to adopt the mish-mash of languages that they have today.

So HTML was the foundation of modern internet information presentation, and to this day, is still ultimately what allows you to make sense of a web page. Any self-respecting web designer should be able to look at the HTML ‘source code’ of a webpage and find their way about it. It’s the end-product a server gives to your browser, and it’s what allows you to read this post and browse this site.

As far as I can see, it may evolve and expand in functionality (I hear that the next instalment, if it ever gets into the mainstream, will allow very interesting stuff to be supported, like direct audio/video streaming without the need for 3rd party plugins like Flash), but will always retain the same old HTML tags and standards web geeks around the world have come to know and love.

Next up, I will touch on something called scripting. In the meantime, read my random posts of life in the Lebanese culture, all coming soon! I’ll try to be frequent and keep some interesting stuff coming.