Saturday 20 September 2008

The souk at night

Last night we went to the souks for 'experimental' shopping.Why 'experimental'? because it was my first time shopping at night and I just wanted to test the water... hehehe... The first thing that I noticed last night was the fact that there were so many people out there. There were a lot of people along the Nile river having picnics with family and friends. There was a carnival-like atmosphere everywhere (plus the fact that it was a weekend).

The first souk that we went to was Souk Alfredi, and it was full of men. I think Aliah and me were the only female around. It's actually a leather market, full of shoes, belts and other male necessities. My husband was in need of a belt and it was not so easy to find a belt that could fit his belly... hehehe... We were lucky because Haithem, the driver was there too, so it was not that expensive.

The second stop was Souk Arabi because I wanted to buy abaya, the long jubah. It was full of people, must be because Eid's just round the corner and people were doing their Eid shopping. As Heithem rightfully said, the souk was definitely not a good place for kids. It was hot and full of shoppers. My kids were thirsty, hot and very cranky. I did not have the time to choose to my heart's content because whenever I stopped at a stall, Aliah would say, "Can you just choose and buy it already?"... sigh... how can a girl shop without touching the material, browsing at the pattern etc...?

So, I ended buying just the one, something that I grabbed and bought just for the sake of buying... hehehe... at least the night was not a total 'lost'. Anyway, I'm definitely going again, maybe to Souk Omdurman?!! I have to make some kind of arrangement so that Aliah and Hadi could stay at home... hmm... The haggling process was not that bad because Haithem was there. It's definitely something to look forward to... hehehe...

On the way back, we were entertained with the beautiful view of the Nile river and the brightly lit bridges. It was a shame that we had left our camera at home. The moon was shining over the Nile and we could clearly see that it's approaching the last 10 nights of Ramadhan... It was a beautiful ride home.

4 comments:

nora muhammad said...

wah...u're buying an abaya? u'll go even crazier if u buy in madinah or mekah...like i did! tapi nyesal la... i should ve bought more abaya there! btw. do they sell tajines at the souk? if they have can u buy for me?

Ina said...

Dear Nora,
Ape kebende pulak tajines tu...? Explain dulu baru la aku boleh kata ya atau tidak... hehehe

RozIlah Kamarudin said...

ina, pls take more pictures of the Souk... at least if I dont go there, I get to see how its like...

and lagi satu, tgk Nile kat Sudan mcmane.. kat sini akak dah tgk..

nora muhammad said...

ina...tajines tu yg claypot tudung dia mcm tudung saji...muncung semacam je...