I scored some really decent incense when I went to the Lama temple. I do like burning incense, but the good stuff. Back home I had a selection of Japanese (the kings of good incense IMO) incenses, but I left them there for the trip with the idea that I’d buy some in Yemen. Well, that hasn’t worked out so well. Yes, I can buy frankincense and myrrh, but they are very simple, one note scents. They are nice, but I get tired of them quickly. The other problem is that you need to put them over some coals to burn, there’s no way I am going to have fire or coals in my room… I could buy some Indian incense in Sana’a, but I find the Indian stuff to be very heavy and thick smelling. Plus, it just isn’t my kind of smell.
I was probably the only one who walked into the temple empty handed and left with a bunch of incense. Everyone else made offerings… I got three simple, but nice versions, and one that is a real heady, complex one. The simple ones cost a little more than 2 bucks for a whole box (probably closer to 15 in the US) and the complicated one cost me just under 8 bucks for a box (as opposed to the likely 40 bucks it would cost back home). There were some really lovely smelling sticks that I just couldn’t bring back, they were huge! Some of the sticks looked like a type of firework they were so big and long, about 3 feet long! There were shops that sold nothing but incense, it was quite fun. Most of them leaned towards the earthy, pungent side, not my cup of tea. The Chinese and Tibetans ascribe a variety of health benefits to some of the blends. Sorry, I can’t imagine that inhaling lots of smoke is anything but bad for you….
Today I went back to “silk street,” one of the markets filled with crap that you can haggle over. I needed a cover for my comforter, but I didn’t want to spring for a silk one. Cotton is just fine. The local mall had them for around 750 yuan, just under a hundred bucks, ouch! Looking online I could order one in the us for around 50 bucks, so I used that as my baseline. It was actually fun watching the girl trying her best to make me buy something. They really have the “no one walks” mentality. I told her that the prices she was quoting me were more than what I could get in the US. Of course I wasn’t going to tell her that hers was a little nicer and I wasn’t paying shipping or tax:-). She started out right where the mall was, right around 700 yuan. I stuck to my guns and got it for 300 yuan. It’s quite nice. I went with a cream color as opposed to white. I know from experiance that white things become pretty dingy pretty quick in Sana’a’s water. I’m going to get a lightweight comforter for Yemen tomorrow, I’ll send the heavier one back home. The light silk quilts are only around 300 yuon, so why not?