It was as if the world stood still when we arrived at Khan el-Khalili. It was disheartening to see this normally very crowded market empty. No visitors, no tourists, just the shop owners sitting outside their shops puffing on their cigarettes in despair. "Dali, could you crash me a cigarette?" one shop owner asked another. Dali gazed at us when noticed that we were following the dialogue between him and his friend. He laughed and asked my friend, who was very unhappy, "Why are you depressed?" She replied with another question. "How are you doing now?" She wanted to know about how they were coping with the recession. He laughed again. "As you can see, Massoud [the other shop owner] wants me to give him a cigarette but, because we're so short of money, I can't," said Moukhtar Dali, in his fifties, who sells brass goods in his two shops. Dali and his friend Massoud, whose shop sells similar things, have, typically of Egyptians, reacted satirically to the current recession. Egyptians are always known for their sense of humour, even in very hard times. Dali graduated from the Faculty of Law in 1980, but has never worked as a lawyer. He prefers to work in souvenirs. His two shops are strategically located. "My friends say my shops are on the sea, because they're very near where the tourist buses park. Yes, we were on the sea, but now the sea has dried up," said Dali. Of course, Khan el-Khalili is very different since the recent revolution. Islamic Cairo, with Khan el-Khalili in its heart, is a wonderful place, but life isn't so wonderful for the people working there at the moment. You wonder how they can buy their daily bread, when all they have to depend on is tourism, and there's no tourism just now. "I'm waiting for the Friday when there's no-one demonstrating in Al Tahrir, because I'm on the verge of starving due to the lack of business," said Dali. "The three demands of the revolution – freedom, democracy and social justice – mean nothing to us, because our revenues have fallen by over 90 per cent. "The workers should stop demonstrating, because we're making huge losses every day, as so few tourists are visiting Khan el-Khalili because of the lack of stability," he added. By now his satirical tone was giving way to anger. Dali added that one of the bad things about the revolution is a noticeable hike in the cost of the raw materials he uses for his souvenirs, such as copper. He used to pay LE56 for a kilo of copper; he now has to pay LE68. "The profit margin is now very slender, because raw materials have gone up and the selling prices has fallen, due to the decrease in the number of tourists," he explained, just as an Egyptian man and his wife came into the shop. He rushed over to the man, who asked about the price of something and then left. Dali called out to him to come back, as he'd reduce the price, but the couple took no notice. We felt sorry for him. We left Dali's shop to enjoy the walk through the narrow, safe streets of this ancient market. Khan el-Khalili was named after and built by Emir Djaharks el-Khalili in the heart of Fatimid Cairo. This area was known for its caravanserai – a rest house with storage rooms surrounding a courtyard for horses and camels, with the merchants sleeping upstairs. The caravanserai can still be seen where Sikka Khan el-Khalili and Badestan Street meet. The market was built in 1382 and quickly became a major trade centre. Its famous main gate still stands today, opening onto the original courtyard in the centre of Badestan St. We strolled past the famous el-Fishawi Café, a must see for anyone visiting Cairo. Regrettably, it was absolutely empty, with no tourists or visitors. El-Fishawi Café use to be frequented by artists and area celebrities. One of the café's most famous regulars was the Nobel Prize winning Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006). In Khan el-Khalili market, full of intriguing alleys and passageways, there are many areas specialising in just one craft. There is a brass area, a jewellery area, a spice market and so much more. But, like Dali and Massoud, all the other owners are also twiddling their thumbs. Last week, the shops owners in Khan el-Khalili and el-Hussein districts demonstrated peacefully, calling for more stability so that their business can bounce back. "I've got a lot of hope. Our demonstration was peaceful; we only wanted to express our feelings and hopes. We want an end to this instability that is destroying our business," Galal Youssef (40), who also owns a shop in Khan el-Khalili, told the Egyptian Mail. "I used to employ six assistants, but I've had to give three of them the sack, because the tourists have stopped coming.” A few yards from Khan el-Khalili bazaar lies el-Hussein Mosque, built in 1154 and named after the grandson of the Prophet Mohamed, Husayn ibn Ali, whose head is believed by some to be buried there. The mosque, one of the holiest Islamic sites in Cairo, was built on the cemetery of the Fatimid caliphs, a fact that was discovered during excavations. The mausoleum (dating back to 1154) is the oldest part of the complex. Outside el-Hussein Mosque there are several coffee shops. They are small and quite traditional, serving Turkish coffee and usually offering shisha. "We mainly depend on foreign tourists, but because of the recession our losses are huge," noted Ihab Heram, the manager of Layali el-Hussein, one of these cafés. "Since the revolution, I've lost about 99.9 per cent of my business. We must be reunited to boost the economic status of the country; if this doesn't happen, the Egyptian people will starve." The few foreign tourists we did find there were sitting with Egyptians or Arabs, drinking coffee and smoking shisha. Kathleen Sheridan, a foreigner living in Cairo, had her sister and her daughter staying here for a few days. "I'm very proud of the Egyptians. I followed the news every day during the revolution. I feel that I'm one of them," said Kathleen, who resides in Zamalek and works in water and sanitation. Kate Allocco, of American origin, said that she likes the fact that Egyptians are so friendly. "It's really amazing. I don't know how I'll be able to live in my city again. It will be boring," added Allocco, who lives in Tennessee and is staying in Egypt for a few days.
