Welcome back to Beirut.

"At a Halloween party at the C-Lounge in Beirut, some danced on the bar and competed in a contest for the title of sexiest woman."

Katherine Zoepf writing in Thursday's INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE on the diminishing population of men in Beirut:

BEIRUT: This is a city of nightclubs, but the night life is something else these days, and not just because of the feverish edge sharpened by the war last summer.

By 8 p.m., women in their 20s and early 30s are prowling in packs of five and six, casting meaningful glances at any and all passing men. In the bars the women dance for hours - often on top of the bar - and legs, midriffs, bare shoulders and barely covered bosoms are offered for public admiration.

Samir Khalaf, a professor of sociology at the American University of Beirut, said the scene astonished his American colleagues. "They are just shocked," he said. "'This is Lebanon, the Middle East?' they say. They can't stop talking about all the belly buttons, about all these highly eroticized bodies. You see it everywhere here, this combination of consumerism and postmodernism and female competition."

The full story is HERE, which made me want to be several years younger and go to school HERE.

So I have a question for UAE bloggers who are either Lebanese or spend time in Beirut: do you think this article accurately reflects the social scene in the city?

DISCLAIMER: the above photo is the one that ran with the article...