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Beirut Confidential

Anthony Bourdain (of Kitchen Confidential and No Reservations) has a fabulous essay in Salon today. Bourdain was filming in Beirut for his show on the Travel Channel when the bombing began, and was trapped in the city for quite a long time.

We love Tony Bourdain, so we're happy to see that he managed to escape unscathed. Because he got to spend the tiniest bit of time in Beirut before it was set back years and years when the bombing began, Bourdain is the owner of a last-chopper-out-of-Saigon snapshot of the city:

It's not about what happened to me that remains an unfinished show, a not fully fleshed out story, or even a particularly interesting one. It feels shameful even writing this. It's the story I didn't get to tell. The Beirut I saw for two short days. The possibilities. The hope. Now only a dream.

American tourists are often the last to explore an emerging destinations, so these harrowing experiences are rare for them. We like to joke that formerly war-torn countries are the new hotness, but ones that are currently so remain tragic.

Related Stories:
·   Watching Beirut Die [Salon]
·   Time Out Beirut Out of Time [Jaunted]