Monday, February 11, 2008

Friday night at Souq W@qif

I took my friend to Souq W@qif last Friday and my my was the souq vibrant with live music and there were so many people. It was almost like walking in one of the cerita P. Ramlee arab bazaar.

Souq waqif is one of the traditional markets (recently uplifted) here in Qtar. A typical Arab traditional market with many branches of little streets leading to more shops. Its almost like a maze. The walls in the old times are most likely made of clay. I suppose now its rebuild with plaster with uneven texture to make it look like clay. The doors are made of wood. If all of them are closed you would have to mark X to know which shop you went to earlier. he he. Teka macam cerita apa?

I have never really bought anything much here but seriously there are so many things to buy. Mostly house ornaments especially if you are looking for Arab feature. I think I might get one of those glazed glass lamps. They sell pistachios, nuts, raisins and the likes. Paintings and souveniers too. What makes it lively are the shisha and coffe shop in arab settings. And on certain days they have women selling things at the sidewalk. Some doing mehendi, traditional fabric, food and gold.

Last Friday we went, and the souq was at its most vibrant. There were live shows. I enjoyed it tremendously. I recorded one of the ghazal (?) show. Betul-betul best pada pendapat sayalah. Tapi panjang amat. About 8 minutes. Tapi the gendang, the music semua best betul. The best part is when some youth clapped to the rhythm of the music. Sharp shrilling loud clap. Rasa amat exciting bila dengar. Until of course we are asked to move to the ladies section. Oh sorry, I didn't know.

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6 comments:

Ummi said...

The Waqif souq nampak lagi bersih dari Mutrah souq yang lembab gelap dan basahkan..and i think by looking at the photos the varieties of things to buy are better. I definately love to see them.

Anonymous said...

Lollies,
Salam perkenalan. Found your site while blog-hopping.
The photos and the ghazal are just so beautiful.
Thank you for sharing. And, mesti best nyerrr shopping kat situ... :)
I enjoyed reading some of your other entries too.

Izzat

Unknown said...

:-) oh dah datang ur fren tu ye..

tulis la sikit pasal perjumpaan dgn ustaz hasrizal tu di Doha....u pergi ka?

dengarnya, hingga 100 ORG....

idham

Lollies said...

ummi - hmm I thought so too. And it is bigger and airy. Tu yang boleh buat live music tu.

izzat - sila sila izzat. Your name is very familiar actually. I wonder if i do know you actually.

Tak apa marilah minum sikit mint tea and makanlah baklava ini.

idham - heh heh dah datang dah dia.

Nak suruh tulis pasal ustaz tu. Malu pulak I. Macam tak terer aje. Insya Allah I tulis. Memang ramai pun. Sebabnya pun banyak session kot. Tapi eh pintnya lebih kurang samalah. he he

k.d said...

Oooo....I love going to those bazaars. Not so much to buy pun...just walking around and looking at the stuffs and soak up the atmosphere.

Can get lost in there kan. Have you mastered the souq?

Unknown said...

Lollies...:-) baru kejap tadi baca his entry di saifulislam blog - sungguh bermakna!!
Nampak satu masyarakat yang muafakat!
ada juga baca komen dari Ibu Haziq ..hehehehe...boleh tahan anak teruna awak tu ye!!

aBU aDLIl.