Falcons and Scorpions and All Around Awesomeness:Another Trip to Souq Waqif

I have decided that Souq Waqif is one of my favorite places ever.  Even if I am lucky enough to visit 100 more countries in my life, I think this will remain one of my favorites.  The architecture and the smells and the interesting people and the exotic things...for your Harry Potter people, it is truly the Diagon Alley of the Middle East.  Next time we go I'll try to get a photo of the narrow corridors of shops.  (Taking photos here is tricky--it is very rude to photograph women and children especially--and while the locals are generally rather patient and generous with visitors, we don't want to look like dolts.)

This Thursday (which is like Sunday in the US--Mosque in the morning and then family activities in the evening), we went out looking for a couple of small furniture purchases.  No luck on that, but we decided on the spur of the moment to go back to the main souq.  We arrived at about 4:45, which is perfect--parking is still available but the sun has moved to an angle where the heat is starting to subside and shade is more abundant.  It's still warm (~110 F in the late afternoon) but the heat is dry and after surviving highs around 120 during the day, it feels like some relief.

Here are some pictures from that adventure.

John grabbed this picture of the main "street" (no cars, just pedestrians) through the Souq.  The two women on the right have their backs to us, which is okay (not as rude for us to take the shot).  On this main central street/aisle are many restaurants and sheesha (flavored tobacco) bars.  It's where people come to hang out for dinner, smoking, etc.  The tobacco smells like flowers or fruits, with only a slight hint of the cigarette stench one is typically used to.  Hank doesn't like the smell of sheesha, but I think it's sort of an interesting part of the souq.  It's one of the smells that identify the place.  To the left and right off of this main passage are hundreds of booths and stalls lining dozens of much smaller interior passages.  The inside of the souq stays cooler both because of the construction materials/methods and because some areas are air conditioned.

This is the inside of one nice shop.

We are having some traditional Arabic seats made for our upstairs "den/playroom."  The seats/small couches have a wooden base, about 10 cm off the floor, and a back (I think the back is 50 cm tall?).  This base is covered in a traditional woven material (see the bolts of it on the left?).  Then cushions (another 10 cm thick) are made to go on the seats and back.  Additional rectangular cushions are made for arm rests.

Hannah, John, and a better shot of the fabric bolts.  Our seats will have a red pattern covering the wood with a complementary red solid for the seat/back cushions. Red is apparently the more traditional of the colors.

"Five thousand riyales for the bird.  Special today: crazy girlchild free with purchase."

Falconry is a traditional and popular (and expensive) sport here.  Souq Waqif includes a number of falconry shops, and most of them sell live birds.  The birds are very well cared for.  Hannah is actually touching the back on this one.  They removed his hood, so we could see the whole bird, but then recovered him for the close proximity to yummy little lollipop fingers... I couldn't get my phone camera to work, and a nice British gentleman took the photos and then emailed them to John.  Yea for technology and friendly people!

Also in the falconry shop were some live desert scorpions.  This one was really fat, and we wondered if it was pregnant.  Just looking at the picture gives me the willies.

And thus is the eventual outcome of a visit to the magical Souq Waqif...