Ankur and Genny’s Meandering Tour

It doesn't make sense to me that drinks costs so much here. 

I went into an Indian restuarant yesterday and ordered.  Well, maybe not so much as ordered, but got vegetables.  The choices were fish, chicken, lamb, or vegetables.  They asked me if I wanted rice, so of course I said yes.

I was given rice with three different vegetables, naan, and some curries.  I got a 7up also (being that my stomach is Ameri-wimpy, I'm not drinking tap water yet).  The bill?  5 riyal. 

3.65 Riyals = 1 Dollar. 

5 Riyals = $1.37

I couldn't even finish half of the food. 

Later I met Diego at the hotel bar.  He is here on business from Italy, where he lives 100km from Torino.  He can't speak English, and I can't speak Italian.  So we end up with a hodgepodge Spanglish/Italianglish communication.  I think it might be better if we gave up words altogether and played charades.  Anyhow, back to the point.

I ordered one beer (CL = 500 mL = 16oz).  It was a good sized Heinekin.

The 1 beer bill came to QR 30.24 = which is like $8.24.  Or in other words, dinner for 6.

While an $8 beer is considered expensive (including tax and tip), it's not insane - especially if you're at a swanky place in the States.  But over here, it just seems so relatively high for food/drinks.  With all the amazing juice drinks I may start having those instead of a beer with dinner - it's probably healthier anyways.

I bought a pair of Jorduns on Saturday.  They have the "And 1" logo on the front, Adidas stripes on the botton, and a Nike look.  They came in a Reebok box.  I thought it was funny that they chose the name Jordun, so I decided to buy them. 

Other options were the always popular Adiboss or Reebock.  They actually had shoes with the spelling and design dead-on, but they wouldn't be as funny to me. 

Here's the kicker - I didn't buy them from a shady alley, but rather from a department store.  I knocked off 33% of the price, but I probably paid too much still. Although, for 20 bucks I'm not gonna complain.  Hopefully they'll last longer than a few months.