Tag Archives | hadath

Bid Farewell to Long Queues at The Mecanique Centers

By Rami on October 3, 2017 in Lebanon

No matter how smart you try to be about timing your car inspection visit to the mecanique center in Hadath, it is almost always guaranteed to be like a trip down to hell. I personally utterly hate to take a day off for the sole purpose of waiting endlessly in long queues to get that stupid task done. And I dare call it stupid because all cars end up driving on the Lebanese roads regardless whether they pass or fail.

However, a new service by “Blink My Car” (the app that made car washing a tap away) seems to have found a workaround for that as it currently offers sending one of their officers to have your car inspected.

I got in contact with them and was informed that the process takes an average of 3 hours and costs 50,000L.L (in addition to the 35,000L.L inspection fees). To benefit from it, all you have to do is to request an appointments through the app and provide the officer with the car registration license.

Once your car passes you will of course have to pay the mecanique fees which can be done at Naf3a, Banks, and some certified centers, but if you wish them to pay it on your behalf then you can pay an additional 25,000L.L and also have one of their officers pay it within 48 hours.

I believe this is pretty convenient for employees especially those with strict working hours, and the service fee is both fair and absolutely worth it.

For those who are not familiar with the app, the cool people at “Blink My Car” were kind enough to provide me with a free promo code for people to try their car wash service when I was inquiring them about the mecanique thing. All you have to do is download their app (for either iOS or Android) and enter the code “plus961free” to benefit from a free wash. There’s no limit set for the code so feel free to tell your friends as well!

What’s All The Fuss About Automotive Inspection Fee Hike?

By Rami on October 7, 2016 in Automotive, Politics

Have you ever been through the horrible experience of taking your car to one of the “mecanique” inspection centers in Hadath or other areas? The last time I went there 2 years ago I spent 6 hours there waiting in endless queues. The whole experience makes you pray for your car to pass the inspection not because you hate going to your mechanic, but rather because you want to avoid wasting another day over such silly task!

A while ago, it was announced that a new company called Autospect won the bid for running the existing inspection centers, and that part of its plan over the next year is to increase the number of inspection centers from 4 to 17 across the country which will help reducing the time needed to go through the inspection to 15 minutes, with the possibility to book your appointment online. This however will be at the cost of increasing the current fees from $22 to $33 out of which $5 are a new government tax.

Next thing we know, public transportation drivers started protesting the price hike by closing vital roads around Beirut every week or so. Disregarding how much I hate it when a group of people start blocking streets to make their points, I found their protests to be utterly weird.

Out of all the fuck ups in our country, this $11 or 16,500L.L increase is seriously the reason why these drivers are wasting their precious time to organize these protests? I bet each and every one of these people earns more than that amount per day, but given how sensitive they are about such increase, how on earth can they afford sacrificing their income by going to such all day protests?

I personally think it must be one of two things, the protesters are either not public drivers but rather people who for some reason believe the new developments are not of their interests, or the transportation unions are simply controlled by some influencing figures/businessmen who didn’t win the bid.

Either ways, whoever is willing to reduce the inspection time to 15 minutes can take my money because I’m tired of finding a “simsar” each time I have to take my car to the Hadath center! Protesting against such progress is ridiculous, and no please don’t demand for the government to handle the inspection process instead!

Beautiful Aerial Photos of Dahyeh by Mahdi Skafi

By Rami on August 27, 2016 in Photography

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I always enjoy watching aerial photos and videos from around Lebanon especially that some photographer and drone operators have been doing a great job exploring cool places around the country.

Over the last couple of years, I think I came across photos/videos from almost all around Lebanon except for Dahyeh due to it being considered a security stronghold for Hezbollah, so taking photos there is usually a big No-No and can even get you in trouble. But that was until I recently stumbled upon some photos taken by Mahdi Skafi with his drone over Dahyeh and Hadath, and found them pretty cool as they were taken at night with a long exposure.

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Mahdi also have a lot of other photos from various villages and villages and cities around the country and the ones below from Kfarsir, Tyr, and Sawfar.

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You can check more photos from Mahdi on his Facebook page.

And as hard as it may sound, I also feel curious about aerial footage of the Palestinian refugee camps be it in Shatila, Saida or Naher el Bared, as well as the Syrian refugee camps and conflict zones in Arsal and Jroud Arsal.

Australian 60 Minutes Show Crew Arrested for Documenting Children Abduction in Beirut

By Rami on April 7, 2016 in Lebanon

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News outlets reported yesterday morning that two kids were kidnapped in Hadath by gunmen while waiting for the school bus with their grandmother. As hours went by, the police claimed that their Australian mother was behind the whole thing since she was separated from the father and the two were apparently fighting over the custody of the kids.

Such affairs are not unusual in Lebanon and they sometimes get eventually settled between the parents at a police station, but I was quite surprised this morning to read that it wasn’t really that simple as it turned out the mother planned the abduction in coordination with some private child recovery agency from Australia that helps recover parentally abducted children, and wanted to get them out of Lebanon through the sea to Cyrprus. And it doesn’t end here, she even got the Australian 60 Minutes show involved to film the whole operation as it happens.

The Lebanese police however uncovered the whole thing and ended up arresting the abductors and 60 Minutes crew including presenter Tara Brown (the Australian media is currently buzzing about it by the way) while the mother managed to escape to the Australian embassy along with her children.

I’m not sure how legal this children recovery thing and if journalists are even allowed to document such operations, but it definitely sounds baffling! Let’s see how things will unfold for those in custody right now.

Lebanese Army takes over the LU’s cefeteria in Hadath

By Rami on January 11, 2013 in Lebanon

According to this article from Now Lebanon, the army took over the Lebanese University’s cafeteria in Hadath after it has been controlled by the Zeaiter clan for a long time now.

NOW also reported the Zeaiter’s had their own office inside the university which apparently contained some stolen electronics!

I just hope the campus will be controlled for good now, even it takes a special force to remain there permanently to keep the Zeaiter’s away forever.

This whole issue by the way started a while ago after several media sources started reporting about the malpractices in Hadath campus.

The wonders of the Lebanese University in Hadath

By Rami on November 16, 2012 in Lebanon

I can understand the images of March 8 leaders at the Lebanese university faculty of science in Hadath, as it became the norm in Lebanon for the dominant political party at a certain Lebanese University branch to control the student council, and of course put up the images of their leaders all over the place as a way to mark their territory.

But what I really find it disturbing is allowing some people to set up a cellular shop inside the university campus and even worse, remain silent over the occupation of the university’s cafeteria that currently offers shisha! And this is what is actually happening in Hadath.

The below video was shot by a journalist in Now Lebanon who was threatened for taking photos inside the campus, but fortunately she had the balls to publish them online. You may read her article about the whole thing here.

Make sure to also check this additional article published in Al-Akhbar shedding light on similar breaches in the same campus which actually seems like it exists on some other planet where police is never heard of!

With these two articles, I now believe we should never act surprised next time a family announce their own military wing, because a government that cannot control a single campus definitely cannot control 10,452Km2 of land!

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