Gerhard's thoughts

One of the things that I found interesting was the price of gas, about 40 cents a gallon which is about 1/10 the price in the US.  Another thing that's interesting is that almost everything is new.  There's very little that's old.  It was either recently built or is still being built.  For example they recently finished a tall high-rise building that is totally "green" using all solar energy.  We live on top of a shopping mall which includes a Wal-Mart type store directly underneath us.  The mall is bigger than any mall we have (a lot bigger) and it's getting an addition built on to it which is half again as big.  It has five floors.  The top floor is an amusement park and the bottom floor is a cultural center.   We live in a two story hotel on top of the mall complete with swimming pool.  Where I work is in a compound and there are lots of compounds here, which is like a walled-in community where they set their own rules and standards.  They have stores, post-offices, recreation centers, and one compound has an ice-skating rink.  Most foreigners live in the compounds because the clothing restrictions are generally relaxed.  Anyway, it's all interesting, fun, and good.