STAR refugee craft bazaar- on till the 18th

Sorry for disappearing suddenly. I just lost my grandmother - an absolutely wonderful woman - I went back home for the funeral and haven't felt up to writing very much since it happened.

I did get out of the house yesterday to meet some friends in Zamalek and decided to stop by the STAR refugee craft bazaar.

The bazaar is being organised by the STudent Action for Refugees and AUC at the Reida Gallery (opp AUC Tahrir campus, 31 Mohammed Mahmoud St., next to Cilantro) Reida gallery is on the 7th floor, so take the lift to the 6th.

The number of stalls this time is extremely limited compared to the last 2 years at the refugee bazaars in AUC and All Saints Cathedral.

There is a stall from Tukul Crafts and a few others selling some bracelets and jewelry and clothes. Total of about 8 tables.

There is Ethiopian coffee being served daily for 2LE and Ethiopian food on Saturday and Sunday.

The bazaar is on until the 18th if you want to pop in for a look.

Chinese New Year & Cooks Day off at CSA

26th of January will be the start of the Chinese New Year of the OX.

In honor of this, there was a mini Chinese bazaar at the CSA yesterday. Some interesting Chinese food items from an embassy consignment like red beans flavored noodles and other hard to find Chinese ingredients were on sale.

There was also a stall by China Treasure which offers a selection of interesting curios from China.

There was also some home cooked Chinese food including dumplings, stir fried vegetables and meat in sauces. Some food was being prepared hot on site, including pan fried dumplings, Chinese stuffed bread (like parathas) and kebabs.
Yesterday was also Cooks day off, which is held every Thursday & Sunday between 9am & 1pm on the premises. Normally the food on offer is of the home cooked variety and more reasonable than restaurant food. Over the last few months I have seen Egyptian, Indian, Brazilian, Phillipino, Italian among the variety of cuisines on display.
From past experience, some foods keep well in the fridge for a couple of days, but some of them have to be eaten the same day as the food is packed very fresh and without preservatives.

Maadi Women's Guild Christmas Bazaar

One of the Best Bazaars that I have attended in Cairo. This was a mammoth effort. Around 80 stalls. There were the usual suspects from the Tupperware/jewelry designers/shawls/sweaters/candles brigade.
But what was truly unique was the sheer number of charities and NGO's that were given the opportunity to present the handiwork of their wards. Some beautiful work was exhibited by the nuns of St Barsoum Monastery - Toys, decorations, embroidery, lace, knits, Coptic Icons, Stained Glass and needle point made by underprivileged families in the Helwan area. They have a wide variety of handicrafts and I would highly recommend visiting their workshops at El Maasara in Helwan.


Other Charities that exhibited work of wonderful quality (which is so hard to find in Egypt) were House of Charity (3381 1063), Woodwork Center of Hagaza (012 759 9479), Touch her World and Tukul Crafts.
There were products created by orphans, young girls, prisoners, refugees and other marginalised groups. This was an excellent opportunity to pick up Christmas gifts in one location while contributing to some great causes.

Entry was 30Le which was completely worth it, unlike the over priced bazaar at Narmer American College

There were stalls that had activities of finger painting, wax hand impressions, decoupage etc. for the little kids, like Art Cafe


There were quite a few Food stalls too. Chinese by Peking and Dragon House, Shawarmas from Bistro, Smiley, Max's Restaurant and a few others.
Amera was offering some excellent hot dogs (I wonder where they buy their sausages from, but they are the best quality and consistency I have eaten in Egypt)

Jared's bagels were making fresh waffles and corn dogs on the spot. I'm not sure if corn dogs are on the regular menu at their Road 9 outlet. I'll have to check the next time I'm there.

If you attend only one bazaar in the Christmas run-up, then this should be it!

Handmade - Hobby Space & Craft Item Supplier in Cairo

Handmade
39, Abdel Moneim Riad Street
Mohandaseen

3749 7242

I saw a stall that the people behind this store had organised at one of the Christmas Bazaars around town.

They sell knitting yarns, patterns, crochet hooks and a lot of other accessories.

They do have some embroidery kits that seem to be imported, they were a bit expensive at around 250LE, but I guess they can afford to charge a premium since I haven't seen these kits anywhere else in Cairo, yet.

They also offer courses in knitting, crocheting, needlepoint, drawing, painting and decorative crafts for adults, teens and children.

Call them for rates

Narmer American College - Christmas Bazaar

Narmer American College is situated in New Cairo. They had advertised their Christmas Bazaar quite heavily, so we thought it may be worth our while to drive all the way across town to check it out.

Big Mistake! We should have realized that, when they charged us Entry fee of 30LE each. (most Xmas bazaars charge 10LE and the few really good ones charge 20LE) My husband who has insider insight, mentioned that if the gate priceis too high, then it means they can't make money off of you on the inside.

There were a lot of stalls, but 90% of them were focused on kids toys and accessories. The only good stall around was The Bookspot run by 2 lovely ladies, but I normally pick up books from their store on Road 9 in Maadi and prefer to browse the wider collection that they have in store.

What was really irritating was that the snow and streamer cans were being sold for about 5LE and badly behaved brats from ages 6 to 14 were running riotously around the place spraying the snow all over the silk and pashmina items in stalls, the books, the food stalls and the live animals stall! Terrible behavior by the kids and complete lack of interest and control and respect for other peoples property by their parents! It was disgraceful!
The better behaved younger kids were occupied with the bouncy castle and slides and the wide open playgrounds while the older ones assaulted our ears with some off key and off beat blaring karaoke!

The senior class boys who were manning the bake stall were much better behaved, compared to the rest of the lot.
Not at all a bazaar I would recommend to anyone unless you had no time to visit toy shops to pick up Chritmas gifts. If the European Embassies Bazaar was a 7.5, this one was a 1.5

European Embassies Christmas Bazaar at the Nile Hilton

Visited the Christmas Bazaar organised by the European Embassies at the Nile Hilton yesterday. As was to be expected, the quality of goods on offer was way superior to most bazaars in Egypt as the goods had been imported from various European embassies.

We reached about 11am and the place was overflowing. We were wondering what the rush was about, as we haven't seen such crowds at any of the previous bazaars that we have attended in Egypt. People had even come with strolleys and suitcases.
When we went in, we figured that a large majority of the crowd was there to buy the alcohol that was freely available. A lot of embassies had their countries traditional alcohol on offer: Russian vodkas, Pimms from UK, Irish Whiskey, Gordons Gin, the range was much wider than you would ever see in the Duty Free Shop in Egypt. Prices were a little higher than the Duty Free Shops. We did not pick up any alcohol as we travel frequently between the 2 of us and normally bring our legally allowed limit in with us. But a lot of people were stocking up for the holiday season.

Alcohol was just the surface of the goods on offer. Traditional foods, home baked goodies, snacks on site, traditional embroidery, crystal, jewelry, souvenirs. All these were in plenty.

We picked up some Croatian pasta sauce which I have yet to try and fresh chocolate cake from Greece. The cake we got was charred on the bottom, and more like a chocolate flavored bread.

On location we had a European Union brunch ranging from cheese toast from Holland to crepes, waffles, Hungarian Goulash and Slovenian burgers, British Pimms based punch to Irish coffee. The Swiss cheese Raclette smelt a little too strong for our taste but plenty of people were enjoying that with potatoes and gherkins.


Children's Christmas Choirs provided background music and there was even a Santa's grotto for the younger ones. Entry at 20LE was a bit more than most other bazaars, but all the money was being collected for Egyptian charities.

An enjoyable start to the day.

Where to you can buy/shop for cheap used and new books in Cairo

My friend Allison of Cairo compiled this information and since it was so interesting and comprehensive, I requested her permission to re-post it here, which she graciously allowed. Thanks Alli.

Buying books in Cairo.

Went downtown yesterday and went to check out Attaba for books since someone was mentioning it previously.

Take the metro to Attaba Station. Take the exit named Attaba Sq or Attaba Garage. Walk out the exit steps and you will be right next to the booksellers.
There are around 100 new kiosks all with arabesque designs and each has good lighting installed. They are the same size as the previous ones, but now each has an address to make it easier to locate a favourite [Big Grin]

The book kiosks are open every day including Fridays from 10am till 9pm, best time to go would be around 12ish to make sure that they are all open and plan to finish before 7ish as some start to close around then.

Types of books
Thousands of Arabic books.
Medical Textbooks ( in English )
Engineering books
IT books
All sorts of Arabic textbooks
Islamic books , tapes and CD's
All kinds of magazines, and periodicals

Stacks of English books mostly used including thousands of novels in both hardback and paperback, the stuff you see in every bookshops at home. Lots of trashy novelettes [Razz]

The classics i.e. Shakespeare, Dickens, Bronte.

Books on learning English and teaching English.

English magazines like Chat, OK, Readers Digests, Cosmo, Good Housekeeping, National Geographic, Bella, Computers, Cars, Body building, Health, etc etc. Both used and new but maybe a few months old.

Miscellaneous Books and magazines i.e. biographies, technical,Politics, History etc.
Tolstoy, Solzenitzen stuff.

There is a fair selection of French, German, Russian,Greek books dotted around, with more languages.

Old rare book kiosks.

Childrens books.

You can find fairly recent books and very old ones too.

I would say that only 1% of the book keepers will hassle you. The rest will let you browse in peace and if they dont have what you want they can direct you to another kiosk who might. [Smile] They are mainly older men who are friendly, but in a nice way [Wink]

Prices vary.
I found one guy who was a real darling. Very polite, helpful who has 2 shops. I bought a load of books and he charged me under 10le a book.

He is at numbers 83 and 84 kiosk.
name Mahmoud Kasem tele:0101218948.

I told him that I would put his name on ES and if any member goes to him and wants to buy books, he will give them a fair and honest price. [Wink]

All you do is tell him the word (ES) he will then know I sent you .

Enjoy your books folks

Dusshera/Dashera - Indian Celebrations in Egypt on 10th October

A couple of people had asked me about this last year:

To those who were concerned, at the community gatherings there will be absolutely no religious symbols or ceremonies being performed, it is just the party part of the celebration. Especially since these are not the actual dates of the festivals. So please do not be worried on that issue.

The Dushera function on 10 October is reasonably informal with traditional Indian dance (garba & dandiya) being performed by anyone in the crowd who is interested, the more colorful the clothes you wear the better you will blend in (see poster) There is also a high pre-disposition to wear clothes with mirrorwork on them.

The Diwali function will be a more formal sit down dinner at the Mena House Oberoi, which will also be colorful, but in a more understated way.

Dashera will be all about colors, food, dance and fun. Oh and in the dance, men and women may dance in different circles if they feel more comfortable with that or you can just dance in your own group. Or you can just eat the yummy food from the stalls (there will be non spicy food available) and watch the myriad colors swirl and turn. I personally fall in the second category :)

For those who can't read the poster too well. Entry is 20LE for members and 40 for non members. Kids are at half price. This is just entry charge.

You can sign up for membership on the spot (if you are an Indian or married to an Indian)and avail the discounted membership entry for the function. Membership is somewhere between a 50 and 100LE, but we paid up for a family membership a while ago, so I don’t remember the exact amount.

The admission fee includes admission and a few freebies and the chance to dance, enjoy the music etc. The dandiya sticks you can bring your own, or buy on the spot (which may be expensive, since they have to be imported from India and they are heavy) Food pricing depends on individual stalls, because they can price it to their convenience. A lot of home made Indian food will be on offer. I think last year prices per item started from 15LE. I would roughly say that prices would be similar to anything in a food court in Dandy mall or city stars. The Karvin hotel and the Oberoi hotel might have stalls and they may charge a little higher but not as high as eating at the hotels themselves. I have to highly recommend the jelebis made on the spot by the Oberoi chef if he turns up this year and the motichur laddus that the Alexandria Carbon black group distributed last year (don’t know if they will do it this year too)

Do come along, its pretty informal, you can either mix with the Indian community or stick to your group of friends, we are pretty welcoming of everyone

Below is the message from the Indian Community Association in Egypt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Community Members,

Further to our last mail on Dushera celebrations in Cairo on 10th October, we would like to thank everyone for the tremendous response. We have got a lot of inquiries from people who want to put up food stalls, and also from talents who want to perform on stage. We would like to remind you that if you are interested either in having a food stall or exhibition stall, this would be your last chance to register. Also, if there are any more talented people out there who want to perform on stage, do call us immediately.

Detailed maps to help all of you get to the Dushera venue is attached. One map is for people coming from Nasr City/ Heliopolis area. Second one is for people coming in from Mohandeseen/ Downtown area. Maps will also be on our website www.desiegypt.com. A Dushera poster is also attached,with more details.

Also just to mark in your calendar, the festive annual diwali nite in Cairo will be held at Mena House Oberoi on 14th November night. This is going to be a very grand dine and dance function with exclusive entertainers flown in from India, tickets will be on sale at the Dushera venue. Further mails would follow on Diwali.

Warm Regards,
Infodesk @ desiegypt . com
www.desiegypt.com

Camel Market at Birqash

Egypt's Largest Camel Market - Birqash Camel Market is 35km away from Cairo. The best day to visit is supposed to be Friday, when the market is most lively in the earlier parts of the morning 7am-9am. The market is open till 1pm but most of the trading happens before 11am.

This market used to earlier take place in Imbaba, but as the city expanded, the camel market was moved to the suburb of Birqash which is at the edge of the Western Desert.

Hundreds of Camels are sold here everyday. But this is definitely not a market for the Animal lover. The animals aren't in pitiable condition, but they could be treated much, much better than they currently are.

Camels from Sudan are brought into Egypt on the 40 day road via Abu Simbel to the market in Daraw. The unsold camels are then loaded into trucks and brought to Birqash after a 24 hour drive. Camels also arrive from the rest of Egypt and sometimes from Somalia. These camels are traded for other livestock or cash and are mostly bought for farm work or consumption.

Photo opportunities abound, if you can get the angles right since the camels are almost monochromatic in color. The traders have wonderfully charactered faces and I would have loved to be able to take close up portraits and talk to them and listen to their stories. Unfortunately as a woman, taking close up pictures of men is not the sanest thing to do. And my Arabic is too limited to have had a proper conversation with them.

As an obvious foreigner, you will be charged entry to the market. (it has a gated entry) 20LE per person. Then they may try to charge you an additional 10LE per camera. Once you enter, you will not face any obvious resentment. The traders are pretty welcoming of foreigners and try to make a buck or so by posing for pictures with them. There were at least 10 other foreigners the day we visited.The only thing to be aware of is to not behave like an Animal Rights Activist and they will pretty much maintain their distance for the most part.

The market extends inside for a distance with sections cordoned off by walls for certain traders. Small single level constructions provide basic housing for traders. The roofs of which are covered with bales of hay. There are basic ramps built for loading and unloading camels from the trucks.

Obviously not all the camels are sold and some of them may not be worth carrying back. Some don't even survive the truck ride to Birqash. Their corpses are carelessly strewn about the desert as you approach the market. There are a few pictures of that at the bottom. Please don't scroll to the end, if you are squeamish.

Thanks to all my online friends who helped me find directions to the market. The best ones were provided by Karim who said Take Cairo/Alex highway to Abu Rawash road. You take a right onto Abu Rawash road which is right before the Carrefour/Dandy mall parking lot. You take this until you reach the end of the road where it intersects with the Mansouriyya Canal road. Take a left onto the Mansouriyya Canal road. Keep going for a ways and start looking for signs, either the suk il gamaal sign or Nimos Farm sign, on the left-hand side of the road. Take left onto small canal road and go until the end where you hit a midaan/circle. There will be a sign pointing towards the suk and it's only a little ways down the road from there. Leaving from downtown on an early Friday morning, this way can get you there in 45 minutes if you use the Mahwar.


Thomas also gave a good alternate route if you are closer to the pyramids

The road that leads there is accessed from right next to the Giza Pyramids, but I can't easily describe how to find it. (Kim's note : at the main circle take the road that goes to Kerdasa/ Mansoureyya) If you ask a couple people in the area, one should point you in the right direction.

Once on this road, you end up following it straight about 20-25 min and then you make a left at the camel market sign (in Arabic) and drive about 1-2 kilometers to the market.

Good luck.

Alex gave me a good tip. He said that the road would make the car smell and it would be better to take a Yellow Cab. While this is extremely true if you take the Imbaba canal route (the road was piled high with garbage on both sides for the most part and quite nauseating even with our windows up and the air conditioning on), the Pyramids, Kerdasa and Abu Rawash routes are more scenic and pleasant and can be done in a regular car.

The Drive through the Nile Delta makes you forget that you are surrounded by the largest desert in the world.

and is very reminiscent of the UP and Punjab fields. The River Nile in the background is of course, unique to Egypt

Some of the camels have one of their legs tied to prevent them from running away.

Walled Compound

Quality check of camels like horses is done by inspecting the teeth. This one showed us his teeth voluntarily.

Unloading of Camels

Sold camels being taken away in a pick-up

Some of the character filled faces

Warning: The pictures below are quite gory.
Please do not scroll down if you are easily upset.

Death is inevitable, but I wish, they could at least dispose the bodies in a less conspicuous and more humane fashion, rather than just leaving it out to the elements.

Some of the facts, come from the Lonely Planet guide for Egypt

Many of the pictures were taken by my husband

Also posted on desicritics.org

City of the Dead and Souk al Gumma (Friday Market)

Stop 1 on Friday morning was the Swiss Club Cairo

Stop 2 was the Korba Street Festival Heliopolis

Stop 3 was a quick halt on the bridge over the City of the Dead (an interesting concept, that I will cover once I actually manage to walk through that city) and where the Friday market takes place.

This Friday market as the name suggests is held once a week and is a place where you can find everything from genuine and "new antiques to used toothbrushes, animals and birds of many varieties, Toilet seats, car seats and many other things besides. Kinf of like the Chor Bazaar in Bombay.

Didn't have the big daddy with me, so contented myself with clicking pictures from above the bridge, hence all the following pictures are aerial views.

City of the Dead:


For more details on the "City of the Dead", you can also read el Moro's article in the Al Ahram

Souq al Gumma:

Korba Street Festival - Heliopolis

Last Friday was the annual Korba Street festival in Heliopolis - a residential suburb in Cairo.


Baghdad street was closed off to traffic and stalls were put up along the sidewalks. There were stalls from the Asean countries selling native food and some handicrafts.


The Indian stall just had posters urging visitors to visit India. Nothing else. :(


There were tables along the sides for families to relax and grab a bite and the main road was left free for kids to express their creativity on the road with chalk and paints.




Marriott's Bakery, Swiss Inn, Sultana Ice Cream had tables on the road and were serving food there. The Swiss Inn even had a buffet set up on the road. But the more exciting stuff to eat were the street stalls which were selling things like cotton candy,the hummus drink and beans.





I attended in the morning half and left by 1:30pm, before the crowds really started to pour in. This meant I missed out on the musical performances (by Wust el Balad among others) and the puppet show, but what I managed to catch was great anyway.

My friends tell me, there was a short parade later in the noon with flower covered floats and giant coke bottles. More of advertising than Spring flowers was a comment I heard.

What I got to see, kind of reminded me a bit of the Kala Ghoda festival in Bombay, but just a little bit. The concept is similar, but there is so much further that the Korba festival can go. Its a good start though, just to have an open air event in a residential area of Cairo.

I would definitely catch it again next year.

Also published on desicritics.org