today's adventure was the khan el khalili. it is a vast 600 year old market. the tourist crap has misplaced most of the local stuff (one could argue a different kind of crap) so that it extends a pretty long distance in multiple directions. M and i grabbed the metro and rode out to real cairo (maadi where he lives is rich egyptians and ex-pats) and followed the throng of people in the direction of stands on top of stands across from the looming bus station.
i thought we had entered the khan. i was wrong.
more walking, winding down streets with stuff and more stuff and we finally arrived at a narrow alley so swelled with people and boxes and pants and galibayas and tea and and and…you get the picture…that it looked a little like someone drinking from a fire hose – people going down, others erupting from the opening of the alley.
initially i ignored the "ssssss" sound i heard coming from various directions. long years of famu men hissing at me has made me immune but i finally figured out that is the sound for get the bleep out of the way or get hit with something large and potentially debilitating.
so much to look at, and everyone vying for attention, "hello" "america" "obama" "sister" and yes…on multiple occasions "brown sugar". i have no words so i'll just let that hang out there.
one of the more amazing things i saw, however, was a woman in full black galibaya, head covered, face veiled, breast feeding her child. it took me a moment to figure out what she was doing but i was struck…if a people as modest as the egyptians can be comfortable enough to breastfeed in a place as crowded as the khan…can american really use modesty as a reason to not?
plunging deeper into the maze of tables and shops, mosques and city gates we eventually emerged on the tourist side of things. more lekgowa's (foreigners) and cheap "egyptian" stuff made in china. someone attempted to sell me turkish coffee- why i would search out turkish coffee in egypt still escapes me, and another tried to feed me a sense of belonging by asking me -in english – if i was egyptian!
throng of people aside the old crowded streets hint at a time long past and yet still right here and now. the mosques with their quiet beauty…metal-worked windows, arabic carved into stone, minarets rising above the noise and madness in the streets…the residences with intricate latticework on their windows…metal workers creating copper lamps…butchers carving up slabs of meat that were only moments ago sheep living in the alley next door.
this is an interesting place.
one of the more amazing things i saw, however, was a woman in full black galibaya, head covered, face veiled, breast feeding her child. it took me a moment to figure out what she was doing but i was struck…if a people as modest as the egyptians can be comfortable enough to breastfeed in a place as crowded as the khan…can american really use modesty as a reason to not?
This may make it into my next column for the DMN, I assume that is OK with you?
no worries…i thought of you immediately when i saw it. i also have some cool photos you may want to see…with the pharoh suckling.