A market in Cairo

Today I will talk about our experience visiting “Khan el Khalili” which is a popular market in Cairo.

We took a taxi from the hotel and barely 2 minutes after our ride had started another car hit us. Both drivers stepped off their vehicles, shouted at each other and then returned to their respective cars  to continue their journey. The thing is, in Egypt streets are so crowded that it is almost impossible to move. There are cars and buses running in the highway and at the same time people are trying to cross in all directions. Oh and most of the taxis (not all of them though) drive like crazy! Really you get to see the other vehicles around you in 3D, I'm not kidding! One word of advice: make sure you bring insurance if you come to Egypt.

Anyway we made it safe and sound to the market and it was worth the scary ride because we found all sorts of interesting things like papirus, tradicional Galabiyas, statues of cats and scarabs, gold jewelry, carpets, colorful bags, scarfs, spices, perfumes and essences, etc.

Bags and cushions

Spices and incense

Lamps

This market is very interesting and you can spend the whole afternoon just looking around, but if you decide to buy something then you need to be aware of the 'process of bargaining'. What happens is:
-The shop owner will tell you he likes you and therefore will give you a good price.
-But before telling you the price he will kindly invite you to a cup of mint tea (this tea is sweet and delicious and it sort of sets you in the mood to say yes to almost anything).
-Then he tells you the price.

To bargain you need to be patient and willing to spend 10 or 15 minutes negotiating.

A few tips for bargaining:

• Start at a very low price, because once you have stated the price you are willing to pay, you can't get any lower than that.
• Tell them that even though you would be willing to pay more, you don't have more money with you. In many of these shops they only take cash, and so if you tell them your cash is limited they will have no other choice but to accept your deal. (Although it may not always be the case).
• Sometimes if you walk away they may come after you and chase you saying they will settle for your price (happened to us twice). If they DON'T come after you it means you were probably getting closer to the real price.
• Tell the person you have seen the item in a previous shop at half the price. They will say it's ok and will sell to you for half the price.

Usually the price they will tell you is ten times the real price. Not two times, not four times, but TEN times the price, got it? Which of course means that you have to bargain. And the lower you get they will say things like they will be losing money or their families won't eat...not true.

As you can imagine we learned this the hard way, meaning we bought something from one of these 'friends' and two shops later discovered the exact same thing 10 times cheaper.

All throughout the market you will be encountering the same things again and again, so if you don't buy it in one shop you can buy it in the next one. However, if you see something that you really like, don't wait for the next shop to see if you can get it cheaper, just buy it. After all, you are not here everyday are you?










How to get there:
The easiest way to get there if you are going from your hotel is to tell the receptionist so that he can tell the taxi driver. The market is a well-known site but if you don't pronounce it correctly, taxi drivers may not understand you, that's why it's easier to get some help from the hotel staff.