Souq al Jumma

I have this new found passion for carpets. I suspect, large blank spaces on the floor, have probably prompted this desire, not to mention the absolutely gorgeous carpets that I saw in the Mall of the Emirates.

I have a friend who mentioned that there is someting called a Friday Market (Souq al Jumma) on the way to Fujairah that sells very reasonable carpets. They may not be hand knotted, pure silk ones, but for daily use, they are very reasonable.

Googled Friday Market to find a lot of posts and to discover, thankfully, that its not only a Friday Market. I suspect when it started out, it used to be a weekend market, and then over the years, it got institutionalised into a regular market. I was not sure of what to expect, but was hoping that it would not be an air conditioned mall but a traditional souk. There is a charm to a souq, dirt and heat et all, thats missing in a typical mall!

At around 11 this morning, my mother-in-law and I decided that we would attempt the trip today since we were at a loose end. The only catch was that my son comes back from school at around 3.30 p.m. and it would be a disaster if we were not home (the poor baby would've have to wait outside in the heat and, in any case, bus driver will not leave the kid till they see someone open the door and take him in). My driver, very enthusiastically, assured me that if was perfectly possible to do the trip, spend an hour there, and be back by 3 p.m.

Its about an hour and half drive from Meadows, which is where I stay. Just when I was begining to hyperventillate whether it would make sense for us to turn back to make it in time for the school bus, a big sign saying "Friday Market" loomed up and there it was. Stalls after stalls of carpets interpersed with plant nurseries and fruit & vegetables shops.

The carpet shop onwers are essentially Pakistanis or Afghans who speak fluent English while the fruit and vegetable vendors are essentially Bangladeshis - I guess this is their equivalent of a Farmers Market.

The nurseries have gorgeous plants at half the price that you would pay in Dubai. I bought this plant for AED 20

while I bought a really small version of this in Satwa (ostensibly more reasonable nurseries) for AED 35. They had some lovely money plants, draceana, petunias and some larger trees, so makes sense if you want to buy lots of plants and you must remember to take a SUV to load them all!

We stopped at one of the big carpet shops and found some gorgeous stuff!

...and another one...

The key to buying carpets here is bargaining. they are clearly hand-made and some element of synthetic mix but the shopkeeper will tell you they are pure silk and will quote a high price expecting to bargain. I think part of the charm, for both him and you, is the bargaining experience!

Unfortuantely for me, after being quoted AED 3000 - 4000 for carpets at the MOE, prices like AED 500 for a large 8 x 4 ft carpet seemed quite reasonable. However, bargaining is key, so start from the ridiculous, cos he will expect you to.. then you both do this dance of numbers where he knows he is going to reduce the amount, and you know that you will raise the amount.

While I ended up paying AED 350 for a 8ft x 4 ft carpet, I beleive you can actually get away with AED 250.

The way I looked at it was, I was happy with the price I paid, notwithstanding subsequent discontent :-), and, at the end of the day that AED 100 probably meant way more to him, than it did to me! But that's the problem with bargaining, isn't it? You are always left wondering, how much better could it have been?

Fujairah Friday Market: Daily 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. On the Dubai - Fujairah Road as you approach Masafi.

Google Earth