So Nicole and I went to the Khan. We went partly as tourists, and partly because we needed some things around the house. Nicole was looking for a decent (but cheap) chess set and some new spoons, and I needed a mattress pad, a small rug for my room, and a lamp. Thankfully, there is a subway station a (long) block from our apartment and it dropped us about a half a kilometer from our destination. Khan Al Kalili is the largest market in Cairo. "Market" isn't really the best word for it as the Khan is an amalgamation of many different marketplaces smashed up against each other with no set boundaries. It's the kind of place that is impossible NOT to get lost in. It's streets collide at odd angles and each new corner beckons one deeper to new discoveries. The Khan has evolved over hundreds of years into a complete tangle of busy streets, raised highways, narrow alleys, and miscellaneous buildings all packed with thousands of shops selling anything you can imagine.
The afternoon was delightful. Haggling is truly an art form--something the shop owners and patrons both can enjoy if it is undergone with a mixture of humor and walking out of the shop a few times. I haggled a rug salesman down to about quarter of his asking price (He wanted $35. I got it for $10). Nicole bought a wonderful chess set (after about a half hour of working on the guy) for about half. About the only bathrooms available are in the Mosques and these with a small bagsheesh to the hamam keeper. I was glad to pay! By the end of the day, we really didn't walk away with a bunch of stuff, but as the Khan's sellers were shuttering their shops and the tour buses were lumbering away through it's impossibly narrow streets, we left with the certainty that we would be back. We had spent the afternoon in but one corner of the vast maze of wares, and there remains much to explore. The market is truly a Cairo experience. The best time I've had here so far.
Relaxing at the ar'wa shop at the end of the day
Left: Chai Bi Na'Nha Right: Ar'wa
(Tea w/mint & Turkish coffee)
2 comments:
Khan Al Khalili looks like it is quite the expierence. I am glad you were able to find your way out ok.
Yeah. Our back up plan was to find a taxi and just tell him to take us to Midan Tehrir (by our home) if things got too bad!
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