Drinking and Dining during Ramadan

Yes, Ramadan is still going on and it does make it a little tougher on people who don't celebrate Ramadan. For instance a few of us were out from 10:00am yesterday until 5:00pm or so and in that whole time there was no where open to get something to eat or drink. Some places allow you to purchase food, but only for take out then you have to find a private place to eat it, like your home or if you're out in public a restroom. We did see a couple of Burger King drive thru's and think they were open, but were not able to pull in there.

For instance one of the people with us bought some chocolate at a chocolate store because she was hungry and she actually took it into a stall in the restroom and ate it. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Another option is most if not all of the nice hotels can and will serve food during fasting times which are essentially all day. Since they cater to mostly westerners they are allowed to serve you food and alcohol even if you don't have an Alcohol Commission card. So if you have transportation or want to hop in a cab you can go to a hotel and there are lots of them and sit down and order something to eat and drink even in the middle of the day. Muslims are fasting from about 4:30am to 6:30pm.

This next statement almost borders on heresy for me to say, but I found a bookstore yesterday that may very well be better than Barnes and Noble. "Books by Kinokuniya" was a huge, phenomenally well-stocked place with almost anything you could want in a book and in English and Arabic. http://www.kinokuniya.com/



Wayne