PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
SYNOPSIS: THUMBS UP FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!.Here is how it goes:.You step out of the door of your apartment building onto the street and look for a car with a red license plate (official taxi). You tell the driver two things: "serveece" and the name of the place where you want to go. Since I can't pronounce diddly here, I always write down where I need to go. It's then up to the taxi driver to take or to leave you. If you want to pay a lot, you do it like everywhere else: You just hop into an empty taxi and go. But I don't need to waste money on transport. My budget is calculated along minimal lines, so I ask for "serveece" - which means that you are willing to share a taxi with anyone else who comes along. That also means that you might be going around and about and out of your way a bit. But with some patience you will get where you need to be: Cost LL 2000 ($ 1.33). If you go very long distances or if you are a foreigner, you might be asked to pay "two serveece" or LL 4000 ($.2.66) - still a far cry from what a full taxi would cost..This morning I went to "Cola" with my serveece taxi, one of three bus stations in Beirut. I imagined a bus station with some system to it. Far from it. Dozens of buses lined up under a highway overpass. Some marked, some not. Some big, some small. Ticket office? No such thing. Schedule? Where do you think you are?! So, I was completely confused and went to the first big bus with some people in it - a nice, new overland bus - and asked if they knew where the bus to "Beiteddene" left. Instead of an answer they said: "You can come with us". What? I am not about to board a bus with four unshaven guys who are telling me they are going where I am going! Just to be polite, I asked them what I would need to pay: LL 3500 ($ 2:33) Mind you, Beiteddene is 50 km up in the mountains. $2.33 Wow! I made up an excuse and left them to look for the "real" bus..Long story short, I finally found it. A dirty, old, loud bus with a smoking driver. LL 2500 ($ 1.66) The funny thing is that I overshot my town and had to circle back a couple of kilometers. And guess who passed me on the road, but the nice, new overland bus with the four unshaven guys in it. I was quite embarrassed. In my typical Western fashion, I had not trusted them. Just like they said, they would have gotten me there. Shame on me..On the way back, it worked as always: Go to the main road, wait until the bus comes, hop on and sit down. You pay when you leave. LL 2500 ($1.66) I even figured out which city bus goes from Cola to my district of Beirut. Without any official schedule or route map that is tricky. But as of tomorrow, I will not have to take the serveece any more - but can happily board the stinky, dirty, old city bus getting me to Cola for LL 1000 ($0.66) instead and enjoy the rush hour traffic - which means lines of honking cars, congestion up into every side road and smells that bring you to the brink of ... let's just say that I easily get car sick....But it isn't about the money I am saving. It is about part of the Lebanese life I like to experience. I am having a really good time getting to know the way "the locals" are getting around. I have traveled in the past with groups of teachers, or with my own private driver. This trip is vastly different. I like it. It takes quite a bit more time, but it works..Public transport is here for everyone and everyone can afford it. I paid LL 5500 ($3.66) for a single cup of coffee at the mall the other day. But I paid LL 2500 ($1.66) for an hour bus ride into the mountains. I could have lived without that coffee, but perhaps, as a local, I would depend on this bus service. Why can't we wake up to that? How difficult can it be?.It is striking that there really are no bus stops anywhere. The bus will stop for each and everyone at the roadside and will drop you off at any corner you want. It seems crazy. But it works.What about the mountains? I went to see two beautiful places. But more about them later. I have to be in bed early tonight to be out and about at sunrise. Heading South: Tyre and Sidan..My internet connection exists at subservient levels. No pictures for now. I am not going through this agony again. In a couple of days - when it rains again - I will plan on a few hours at a fast internet cafe and will upload. Promise. But the next two days will be without rain! Yes! Thank you St. Christopher - well done. I will come back with pictures when the weather turns..Good night.