Friday, February 25, 2011

Sri Lanka: Miscellaneous


See this plant?  It's beautiful isn't it?  I bought one of these last year in the Emirates.  Killed it in two weeks.

 Having been deprived of pork for three months back in the Emirates I ordered it three times in three days while in Sri Lanka.  Each time it was bad:  ridiculously salty.  I wonder if salt cured requires less refrigeration and/or keeps it from going bad longer.  Whatever the reason I'm crossing pork off the list on a future trip.

Etisilat was the monopoly phone and internet provider in the UAE until a few years ago.  (Now it has just a bit of competition from a company called du.)  Having made hundreds of millions (billions?) from their monopoly in this country they decided to diversify by buying phone companies in other countries, including Sri Lanka.

In the UAE, Etisilat has blocked Skype.  It is, in fact, illegal to use Skype in the UAE.  Skype allows people to make very cheap calls from one country to another over the internet.  If they allowed it in the UAE Etisilat would see revenue from international calls fall.  Remember:  80% of the people in this country are from another country.  International calling is huge.

In Sri Lanka, where Etisilat has real competition, they not only allow Skype they advertise its benefits.

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