I think I am suffering from either allergies or smog inhalation.  Ugh.  Anyhow, since today is a Sunday, and Sundays are equivalent to Mondays in the western world, lots of things were closed.  So that meant that we got all ready to go to the Kahn Al-Kahlili, an ancient souk from I think the 14th century, just to learn that a lot of shopkeepers don’t open their shops on Sundays.  So instead we decided to go to Dar El Salaam, which is only a few metro stops away.

If I was feeling more consumer-y, I would have probably had a hay-day at Dar El Salaam.  There were tons of clothes, scarves, shoe stores, and of course… food.  We bought some sweets called bah-laa’wa.  They are basically balls of dough that are deep fried until golden brown and dipped in a syrupy honey/sugar glaze.  So basically a doughnut hole, but the honey glaze seems to soak into them a little more.  Yum!

The biggest turn off to market shopping is the meat.  I honestly have nothing against raw meat… when it is refrigerated.  Big hunks of all kinds of meat, sausages, fish, squid, and eels and no refrigeration equals some pretty rank air.  Mix that with the smog and basically it’s just all around gross.  Makes me appreciate the neighborhood Brandon lives in a little more.  I’d sacrifice the charm and convenience of fresh, local, organic food for more tolerable aromas.  And there is a great produce market close by, so that’s really all I need.