A Few Shops in Our Neighborhood

(reminder - click on any picture to enlarge it)

I mentioned in a previous post that our neighborhood of Cairo doesn't look anything like the City Stars mall over near the airport. I was out shopping at the bakery today and took a few pictures.

Look this one over carefully. Can you see three businesses in the shot?


The one on the left is a Koshary shop. It is a "take-away" as take-out is described here. Next door on the right is an easily recognized beverage shop. You see many of these with the beverages and coolers out in the open. It probably belongs to the Koshary shop or a family member.

But what about the third business in the picture? Did you spot it? On the right, behind the Egyptian symbol for "Tires Sold and Repaired Here!"



The owner even wrapped the key tire in blue to call attention to it.

And here is another shop on a street near us. Can you tell what it is?

Right! It's a laundry. They are easy to spot too. Usually the proprietor is standing at the front counter with iron in hand, pressing a few items. This is a very good laundry where we have our clothes done. We spotted it late one night around 11:00 p.m. when we were coming back from a long walk through the neighborhood.

First we saw his competitor on the opposite side of the street ironing away. Then we saw this smaller shop. It is a bit closer to us so we took our clothes in the next day. No receipt. No need for one. He just keeps things straight and you come back the next day about the same time to pick up your clothes, neatly pressed and wrapped in plastic.

UPDATE 3/21/2009
Here's another laundry that we used when we stayed at the Sheraton. Having the Sheraton do your laundry probably costs more than just buying new clothes. So, we would go "down the street" a bit and have ours washed and ironed here. We'd also bring back a few cans of pop purchased for about 38 cents each at the same time.