The first beer

Today, I had my first beer. It was...pleasant! This place isn't really Belgium or Germany when it comes to beers. There's one main brand called Kingfisher and it has a few subcategories like lager, strong and blue. Well, what on earth is 'blue' beer? It's the lager that comes in a blue bottle. Of course. Logical.

This really isn't an alcohol country either. One small (0,33cl) beer in a bar (and there are not too many bars in the city) costs about 2 euros. In a alcohol store it costs maybe half of that. So, not too cheap, almost the same prices as in Finland. In general people don't really consume alcohol here. I'm not really sure why, as the percentage of muslims is not too big (around 10% maybe). Maybe it's just not their way? Many other countries in Asia provide much more alcohol with much cheaper prices, but would be interesting to know why these people really don't use it.

Yesterday's bar

I was led to the bar by this Finnish guy, Tani, who's working in the same office. (Not) surprisingly he knew the closest bar there ;) Slowly the bar started filling with locals, but there was one big difference between us two and them (besides that we were white): we consumed beer while they consumed a few portions of shee-sha (water pipe) per maybe 5 persons. And maybe a few glasses of water. I bet they didn't pay as much as we did, and obviously they either didn't have the money or didn't like beer that much. If it's not obvious for someone already, I happen to like beer.

I also discussed with Tani about the flat that he's thinking of renting. This being India, he had some huge problems getting the deal done. Such as the dealer just disappearing and not coming to the meetings. He also told me a bit more about the place where he lives: he's living in a family just like me, but he doesn't have a shower (uses a bucket for it) and his fans don't work properly. So his place really seems to suck. Aaaaand of course he's really tired of being treated like a little child with all the dinner times and hosts being worried if he doesn't come home etc. I think I pretty much understand him... And maybe starting to feel a bit similar. But we shall see.

My room

Today I had a late dinner and the hosts were really worried about me for being late for over an hour. I was adviced that I should always let them know if I will be late. When did I do that last time? 10 years ago? Oh, maybe a bit more. But, they still understood me and told that they are "ok" if I want to have breakfast later tomorrow as it's Saturday. So they told me that I can choose having a breakfast between 9:30 and 10:00! Maybe I could've personally chosen to sleep still a bit longer, but oh well. I will be leaving around noon, we will meet at 2pm and go see some sights and do other stuff. Before that I will try to organize a local sim card for myself which is not the easiest task to do. I need at least 1) passport 2) a passport picture 3) a certificate from work and 4) fill some forms. One Finnish girl just got her local sim card locked because the company decided that her signatures didn't match and thus she was a threat. Or something. Like, sure, having a local number is such a huge threat to everyone.

My bathroom

But, sightseeing tomorrow. And maybe a few beers. On Sunday the plan is to go to one hotel's pool where the international people have spent their Sundays the past 3 weeks. Will be interesting to meet more of them, so far I know very few (like...3). And I was again told that my hosts' son will come tomorrow or on Sunday, so if I'm lucky I will have a working internet here soon! This post I will try to smuggle to the office tomorrow and post it there. Yes, most of the local people are working 6 days a week at the office.