Dry Land: The Old Souk

Last night we ventured out of our neighborhood and headed downtown to check out the Old Souk. It was definitely the most interesting thing we've done since we've been here, and I only wished we could have spent more time. Here are some photos of our short visit.

We were immediately lured into this store by it's gorgeous displays of bottles. Raven and I both bought some of the containers seen above which are from India and made of leather. You can also see some on the shelf in the lower picture holding oils. Some of these were crazy expensive - KD 100 for 2oz. Pure patchouli oil, pure musk oil, pure rose oil, etc. (most of them smelled pretty foul by themselves). I left covered with perfume (since when does anyone need 6 sprays of anything?) and by the time I got home I had the worst headache ever and couldn't wait to shower.

Hookah vendor.

Prayer/Meditation beads. Really gorgeous and surprisingly really expensive. The few we asked about ranged from KD 70 - 90 (around $250).

Just chillin'.

Pakistani men are incredibly affectionate with each other - something that takes awhile to get used to seeing. As I mentioned before, about 60% of the workers at our job site are Pakistani, and it's not unusual to see them holding hands like these two men above or laying somewhat cuddled up to each other during naptime.

Notice the lack of women in all these pictures? Especially uncloaked? Needless to say, I stick out like a sore thumb in this country.

The Souk equivalent of a food court.

The mist you see in the background is coming out of those lines that string across the eating area. There are also giant fans that blow mist onto the patrons. Pretty handy when you're eating dinner at 9pm and it's 93 degrees.