Haggling at the Khan El Khalili Bazaar in Cairo| Egypt Travel Blog: Day 09 (Part 60) 08D19
/Cairo Khan El Khalili Bazaar Tour | The Most Famous Ancient Market in Egypt
Egypt Travel Blog: 10 DAYS Egypt Explorer - Felucca Cruise & Red Sea
I started walking in the main lane of the Khan El-Khalili bazaar first to take some pictures and videos. Later, I would buy some miniature pyramids and T-shirts.
There was a bizarre variety of stores and products. I thought if I had time, I would spend 5-6 hours in the Khan El-Khalili bazaar going store by store, lane by lane.
While I walked, employees were calling to me from almost every store. Some of them were offering prices in dollars and shouting amazingly cheap deals. The amount of stuff and numbers of people browsing on the street were really amazing.
This place never sleeps. The more you go through the night, the more it gets crowded. I think this is a common pattern in the Middle East. People go out more in the night time than the day time. My guess is it has to do with the sweltering heat during the day.
I was looking for miniature pyramids and T-shirts with hieroglyphics on them. This was the time to put my haggling skills to test. After hearing their prices, I offered prices so low that the first two stores told me I was being unreasonable. Then I tried a few more and had no luck. I thought they were asking too much, seeing me a foreigner.
One store had both T-shirts and a variety of colored pyramids I wanted and they were ready to haggle prices with me. After spending some time going back and forth on a total price, as I was buying good quantity, we agreed upon a number. They even wrapped those little stone pyramids, so they wouldn’t break on the flight home.
I was heading to the restaurant where our group would meet and have something to eat before leaving the Khan El-Khalili bazaar.