Souk Waqif and the Corniche

We made it to souk waqif  this morning.  I wanted to go on a Friday morning so that it wouldn't be crowded, as most are sleeping or at mosque.  The downside is that not all of the shops are open.  Essentially, the souk is a labyrinth of corridors with little shops, selling everything from sweets to toys to jewelry to textiles and more.  We spent about 2 hours looking around, and then walked along the Corniche to look at the dhow boats,etc.  Here are some pictures.

We only went to souq waqif, but there are loads of other ones too....gold, textiles, construction materials, etc.

A Karwa taxi...much less expensive than a driver.  We were is a blue one right next to this one.

Examples of some of the stores are the main drag of the souk...

Handmade replica of a dhow...very expensive and impressive.

These may be a bit tacky for the living room, no?

From inside the labyrinth

An actual puffin fish from the gulf that was taxidermied

Forgot the name of this little gem of a juice bar...we'll definitely return.

mango and banana with ice cream and honey;  mine was multi-fruit with strawberry juice

Wheelbarrows lined up to carry your stuff if you buy too much to carry.

End the far end is a mosque that allows non-muslims to visit for true arabian cuisine, a tour, etc. while explaining Islam.  Even traditional clothing is worn.  Men and women have to be separate, so I'll have to go with some friends, so that Sergey can go with the men. 

Poor parakeets waiting to be sold...they did have food and water at least.

Not sure what kind of birds, but as soon as I approached, the pair of them puffed up their feathers...

This I do not like....baby chicks are not meant to be colored....

The baby turtles were cute...there were also large ones, and I turned around and Sergey had one in his hand.  He said it was flipped on it's back.  Off to a rest room we went...who knows what diseases they may carry and we still need our 2nd Hep. A shots as soon as medical cards come in.

These birds were just covered with a net...I do believe they were being transported to cages, but I didn't like this either.  It was way too hot for them to be so tightly held together.