Today we visited the Khan al-Khalili, also know as the Turkish bazaar.
It is a combination tourist trap and marketplace.
The main “streets” through the Khan are full of tourist crap and ENTHUSIASTIC hawking. Calling out to obivous tourists in several languages until you respond. Stepping in front of you in an attempt to direct you into the store.
One humours exchange I had was:
Hello sir, good prices come see.
La, shukran. (no, thank you)
What are you looking for?
Nothing
Sir! I have nothing! come see…
Answering to any of these questions or comments will result in lots more questions:
Where you from?
What are you looking for?
Come see. Totally free!
To answer any of these will result in further high pressure tactics.
However, if one ducks down an side street, it is more for the locals. One gets away from the constant hucksterism. It is stil there, but they won’t actually follow you down the street trying to get you to turn around and come in. It is more of a
“hey, look sir! come in”
Ignoring then works.
I seem to gather a LOT of attention, looks, smiles and even laughter and pointing. It is a combo of the hat and the pony tail that seems to draw the attention.
Today I was addressed as:
Cowboy! where is your horse? no horse?
John Wayne
Hulk Hogan (?)
Ali Baba and Alexander (while making beard motions with their hands)
Women seem intrigued by the hair, mostly giggling about it.
The bazaar is divided into sections. We stumbed from one to another.
We went through
- fabrics
- clothing
- shoes
- industrial metal working: spools of wire, blacksmiths, men completely covered in coal dust working the furnaces
- art/decorative metal working: cupolas with the crescent etc, wall hanging
- rugs
- crystal
- furniture
- pots and pans
- jewelry
- food, prepared and groceries
The crush of humanity in some of these areas was intense. There were men and boys pushing carts through the tight alley ways, rolling over the feet of people that were not quick enough to get out of their way.
Today was a reconnaisance mission. We did not buy anything.
We will go back.
There are a handful of photos taken today here.
5 replies on “KHAAAANNN!”
“I seem to gather a LOT of attention, looks, smiles and even laughter and pointing.”
you WERE wearing pants, right?
Jack: heh. yes I was wearing pants. I wore shorts one day as a trial. The amount of giggling, pointing and stares was too much. I may try the shorts again without the hat to see if that makes a difference. I think the long hair and the hat are more attention grabbing than the shorts are, based on my outings so far.
In TJ (tijuana) we always would hear “Free for *you* my friend!”, “99% off for you my friend!” and “100% off for you my friend!”. I don’t think simple math lessons would have helped too much.
Yeah, I found being called “Ali Baba” a little insulting.
Presumably they don’t mean it that way.
Jack: I was more insulted by the hulk hogan reference. But yeah, I assume they don’t mean to be insulting, they are either trying to be friendly or draw attention to themselves so you will stop and buy something. Or both
nice pics… you have an amazing eye for a grumpy guy (grin!). thanks for sharing your experiences. see you next year!
Jack: yeah yeah. we’ll see.
Looking at Yam-Man’s cart, it appears that the wheels were ready to fall off the axles. Real or an optical illusion? WTF was the oven for?
Hulk Hogan….hahahaha!
Jack: Those are roasted yams. The oven is for cooking them. They are a staple of the diet around here, apparently.
And no, the wheels are definitely not an illusion, although I don’t think the axles are parralel with each other, but still, the wheels are cockeyed.