Yesterday morning Mom and I decided to make our way to Haraj bin Qassem Princess Souk. I heard through word of mouth that the Souk bursts with gorgeous clothing especially evening gowns and other items like antique furniture and kitchenware. There are many stores that sell second hand clothing, but there are also stores that sell clothes that have not been worn and still have the tag on them. I have been told that many of the clothes were likely cast offs from members of the Royal family. The clothes span from items for children, western dress for men such as business suits, dress shorts, casual clothes, jeans to traditional dress such as thobes, bischts, shemaghs, farwas and for the women, what an incredible selection! Here is where one will even find a large selection of wedding dresses as well as haute couture gowns in addition to skirts, day dresses, jeans, blouses and traditional Saudi abayas and jalabiyyas for women as well. The maximum price one would typically pay for an outfit such as a man’s western business suit or a woman’s haute couture gown is SR30 (less than US$10).
I also wish to point out to you that with regards to clothes, we are not talking about junk or out of fashion rejects. Many of these items are designer clothes, very well made and still in the height of fashion and many of them are brand new with the tag still on.Sadly a lot of Saudis when hearing of this souk have a stigma at the mere thought of going somewhere and looking at “second hand goods.” Well, then that is their loss and everyone elses gain! I have no qualms going to the second hand souk where I may find an Oscar de la Rente or Chanel gown in excellent immaculate condition or even brand new and IN MY SIZE for SR30 as compared to SR7,000 from an exclusive boutique.My Saudi friends however warned me from frequenting the Souk alone and insisted that if I do go to that area of town I should go in a group and its better if a male accompanied us. I didn't take their warning too seriously as I thought we would be visiting the Souk during the day in broad daylight so nothing could possibly go wrong....When we arrived at the Souk it was bursting with activities..
There were hundreds of people shopping,bargaining and there was a huge cacophony of sound coming from the hooting cars trying to make their way through the narrow streets.Mom I and started making our way through the various clothing stalls. Not even fifteen minutes had elapsed and the harassment started despite us being covered in an Abaya and Niqaab. I noticed groups of men trying to brush up against us in the narrow aisles.. One man went as far as trying to drop his mobile number
that he had written on a piece of paper inside my handbag. Naturally I shouted at him. Then we noticed a group of Filipino women being harassed as well. They were also screaming and shouting at the top of their voices and the one woman clobbered a man with her hand bag as he had apparently
groped her
.
The shocking part is that almost all of the men loitering around the souk were displaying such disgusting and ridiculous behaviour.Some of them were Saudi Arabs whilst others were from African, Asian as well as Middle Eastern origins.Not being able to endure the harassment any further, I called my driver and we simply left. Its quite a shame as the Souk had some pretty interesting items and we really wanted to explore the area.Mom said that she never expected men in a Muslim country to behave in such a despicable manner.She has traveled throughout the world but today was the first time that she had experienced such disgusting behaviour from 'so called' Muslim men. Islam has always upheld the respect and the dignity of a woman but its a shame that the Muslim men we encountered at the Souk today did not have respect for women at all.How can these same men who probably have wives, sisters and mothers treat other women in a degrading manner?
The strange part about the whole episode is that whilst I have seen the religious police frequenting the upper class areas of town,I was unable to see one religious police member frequenting the Souk. Perhaps that's the reason that the men prowling the Souk with roving eyes are given Carte Blanche to do as they please.I honestly think that the authorities that be need to put some system in place so that the women frequenting the area can feel safe whilst shopping at the Souk without experiencing any feeling of discomfort, fear or intimidation.
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