Camel Souk visit

This past Thursday we visited the Camel Souk, a huge market on the outskirts of Riyadh where merchants are offering camels of all shapes and sizes for sale. Obviously we were not in the market to purchase a new camel to add to our herd, but more to show the camel souk to my sister-in-law visiting us for a week. At first, the children were not too keen on going there, as they don't appreciate the pungent smell of camels, but they were good sports for their aunt and came along, not like they had much of a choice, as we were all going. Along for the ride came another family from the compound, with their three daughters, for whom it was the first time coming up close with camels. The children were fascinated by the camels, offering their hands to come closer to the enormous beasts.

The enclosures where the camels stand are higher than the dirt road. The only explanation I can gather would be after years and years, layers after layers of straw, sand and poos have accumulated, rising the bottom level and making the already pretty tall camels look even taller and more impressive. While my two chidlren were stand-offish, the three little girls were all into the camels: getting real close to them, touching them and giving them blades of grass growing around the enclosures.

As much as we were interested in the camels, the camel owners/workers were even more interested in us, as not many tourists come by the camel souk. All three women had covered their hair, in order to not attract even more attention with our flowing blondish locks and also by respect for the local customs. The workers there greeted us, in Arabic, as they didn’t seem to speak English. With gestures they made us understand it was OK to look at their camels or that we had to leave, as we were disturbing camel mothers and their offspring. One even offered to carry one of the children so she could get closer to the camels.

In moments like these, we get to see real Saudis, hardworking and living in less than humble adobes but they tolerated us, or at least didn’t chase us away. Some were curious as far as our nationalities were concerned… I could hear them say “Americana” but I was quick to say that we were from “Belgica”, which really was the truth as 8 out of 10 of us were Belgian passport holders. Funnily enough we used English to speak to each other, as my Dutch is a little rusty and my compound neighbors are Dutch speakers from the North of Belgium while I'm a French speaker from the South of the country.

So, our Camel souk visit was interesting. Each time I've seen a camel up close, I'm just fascinated by how beautiful they are. Machala, camels have the most amazing eyelashes! And they are so gracious when they move. They remind me of the Death Walkers from the Star Wars movies, as they always look like they're going to fall but they move steadily and sure-footed every time! Their coats come in a variety of colors: some are beige, brown, dark brown and even most surprisingly black. And their hair sometimes is curly or straighter, but I’ve yet to see a straight haired camel.   We had the best time observing one chewing his food, with his jaw going left to right and back the other way.  Imagine a cow chewing on grass, but with the mouth open.  That camel had to have the coolest teeth I've seen in a camel...