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Published: February 12th 2007
Big Teapot
Ahmed needs to cut back on his tea intake. Have you ever wondered where you can buy jeans, spices, cheese, lingerie, thread, toys, fast food and every animal from Noah's ark? Well, I have the answer for you - - - Souk Gomma (Friday Market) in the City of the Dead! Holy cow! Yikes! Ewww!
I have been hearing about his insane market for a while, but Ahmed was not willing to take me there until I "threatened" to go it alone. His only condition was that I wear a scarf, and I didn't have a problem with that. So, off we went with my friends Doug and Evelyn (from my Jordan adventures, minus the kids - thank goodness!), and Evelyn's sister, Kathy. After hearing stories about women being groped in this market, we kept Evelyn and Kathy in between the rest of us, and all was fine.
The first part of the market, away from the train tracks and bridge, was fine and quite enjoyable. You can buy anything - did I mention that most of it is stolen? Even cars! People were friendly and curious, but since they are tucked away in their stalls, they can't follow you like at the Khan. We had fun
practising our Arabic morning banter (well, Ahmed could do more than just banter). Then we got to the bridge and tracks - yes, this part of the market is UNDER the autostrad bridge, and along the train tracks. This is where the clothes are in huge amounts, and apparently the car area is after that. However, I didn't just come here to see lifted jeans and socks - I came to see the zoo!
We first saw dogs - it was really like a nightmare puppy mill. I don't know who buys these things, as most Egyptians do not have pets, and there are like no foreigners down here. Anyway, we checked out some puppies. Then we went to the snake man - lots of disgusting little snakes, and yes, a cobra too! Near the snake man is a little food place (fast Egyptian food - we avoided this), and the killing table. Yes, around here, too, are chickens, ducks and lots of bunnies, grown and small. The killing table was for these fellows. I saw a lady boiling dead chickens, feathers and all, to take the off easier, I guess. The worst thing I didn't really see. Out
Spice man
This man is sifting some sort of spice. of the corner of my eye, I saw a lady bring a cleaver down on some animal, then saw the animal take off! Doug and Evelyn saw it - it was a rabbit running away with part of it's leg missing!!!!! I guess the lady needs to improve her aim :-( Later, we moved on to another aisle, where I pet some baby ducklings in a box. Oh, by the way, another woman died of bird flu late last month - the 12th so far......Hey, I just pet the little ducklings clean head and back. I asked Ahmed if we could by the box of them all and set them free in Digla Square fountain by my house, but he said maybe another time :-)
We also saw bats, lizards and fish. I might go back for some fish (pet ones, not the smelly dead ones to eat).
After sending Doug, Evelyn and Kathy on their way back to Maadi, Ahmed and I strolled around some other areas of City of the Dead, to see some beautiful mosques from the 14 th and 15th centuries! The woodwork on the ceilings was exquisite. After hitting a bakery for some
Scary Spices!
Maybe they really didn't want people coming into their shop... snacks, we headed to Seyeda for some more walking and food, a fruit drink at my dad's favourite place, the apple, and then we went home and slept!!!!
Whew, what a day.....
Oh, the pictures on this blog are from my other wanderings around Cairo. Since I'll be here for a long, long time, I'm surveying the city for the good, the bad, the ugly and the amazing, not to mention the just plain silly stuff! Ma'as salama!
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