Even so, I return every week, in order to practice my bargaining skills, hoping that one day I will reach that halfway mark. The week after leaving the marketplace with my soul incomplete, I returned with the intent of buying a hookah for my room.
I had a plan. I would go to a few different stands that sold hookahs, look around for a moment, and not buy anything. I wasn't going to fall into the trap of being the "typical American" buyer, I wanted them to fight over me as a customer. But that plan failed miserably.
I walked up to the first stand with a friend of mine, and we tried to look uninterested. Immediately the seller handed me a hookah which was "very, very good" that he was sure I would like "very, very much." Everything in the Bedouin shuk is "very very good," even if it is something as simple as a pack of batteries, or a toilet seat cover.
I told him that we were just looking, but he insisted that I hold it for a moment to see its quality. Hell, if I know by holding a hookah what its quality is - but I figured I should act like I do. Wrong choice.
I took the hookah, holding it by the silver, metal neck with which he handed it to me, and stood there only for a moment before the blue glass base crashed to the ground shattering into thousands of pieces. I stood there without talking, my mouth gapped open. Friends of mine who were at a jewelry stand across from where I was fled the area laughing, leaving me and my friend to figure out what to do.
I apologized immediately, offering to pay for the hookah - 80 shekels was the price. He refused to allow me to pay, as I later figured out that the glass bases are only worth ten to twenty shekels (about three of four dollars). Even though he wouldn't let me pay, I felt I needed to buy from this man. After long, hard negotiations I came away with a hookah, of course paying no where near half the asking price - "next time," I told myself.
The Bedouin marketplace is an experience unlike any other. The description in one guidebook reads that "they will complement your eyes, while charging you double the price." Had I never visited the marketplace, I would have thought that description to be an exaggeration of sorts. I can assure you it's not.
I had a plan. I would go to a few different stands that sold hookahs, look around for a moment, and not buy anything. I wasn't going to fall into the trap of being the "typical American" buyer, I wanted them to fight over me as a customer. But that plan failed miserably.
I walked up to the first stand with a friend of mine, and we tried to look uninterested. Immediately the seller handed me a hookah which was "very, very good" that he was sure I would like "very, very much." Everything in the Bedouin shuk is "very very good," even if it is something as simple as a pack of batteries, or a toilet seat cover.
I told him that we were just looking, but he insisted that I hold it for a moment to see its quality. Hell, if I know by holding a hookah what its quality is - but I figured I should act like I do. Wrong choice.
I took the hookah, holding it by the silver, metal neck with which he handed it to me, and stood there only for a moment before the blue glass base crashed to the ground shattering into thousands of pieces. I stood there without talking, my mouth gapped open. Friends of mine who were at a jewelry stand across from where I was fled the area laughing, leaving me and my friend to figure out what to do.
I apologized immediately, offering to pay for the hookah - 80 shekels was the price. He refused to allow me to pay, as I later figured out that the glass bases are only worth ten to twenty shekels (about three of four dollars). Even though he wouldn't let me pay, I felt I needed to buy from this man. After long, hard negotiations I came away with a hookah, of course paying no where near half the asking price - "next time," I told myself.
The Bedouin marketplace is an experience unlike any other. The description in one guidebook reads that "they will complement your eyes, while charging you double the price." Had I never visited the marketplace, I would have thought that description to be an exaggeration of sorts. I can assure you it's not.
