Mr. Senrick--Teacher/World Traveler

Mr. Senrick--Teacher/World Traveler
Educators to Saudi Arabia 2007

Friday, April 6, 2007

Souq and you shall find...



We spent one morning in old Jeddah. This part of the city has been around for hundreds of years and was/is an important place for the many pilgrims who visit the city as an entrance to Jeddah. As a result, there is a bustling market place there, or as they call it here, a souq. Practically anything you can imagine can be found in the souqs. Thus, they can be a confusing, bustling maze, overwhelming for the non-Arabic visitor. Fortunately, we had an excellent guide, Mohhamed, who took us around to get all of the Saudi gifts we needed: prayer beads, abayas, incense burners, scarves, as well as others. Enjoy the pictures: Prayer rugs are a common find.
Security for our groups was prominent.
The windows above the shop allow for people to look out, while keeping outsiders from seeing in.
The market has hundreds of shops, some separated by very crowded streets. (Two members of my group are pictured here)
You have to get the goods around somehow in the traffic!
I bought a silver ring from this shop for 40 Riyals (12$), bargained down from 50.
The market is kept very clean by the many non-Saudi workers, predominantly from South and South East Asia.

Spices like Frankincense and Myrrh are common.


Notice the hats on the right...50 Cent.
This man is weighing out some sort of mineral to be used in the incense burners.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You know for the 50 Cent hats, if you mean the rapper how much pop culture do they allow their citizens to see?

And since Easter is comming in the United States and is widley celebrated are their any holidays comming up for them that you will be able to experience?