Biking in Paradise

For quite some time I have wanted to follow our road South and visit the Wednesday vegetable souk in the village of Balat. It's a whole new world in that direction.


One fellow perched himself high among the fronds to trim the tree, while his co-worker at the roadside sheared off the leaves from the long stems of the cut fronds. The stems will be used to make vegetable baskets and outdoor furniture. Maybe tomorrow I will find a workshop making these baskets and share some photos.


Looking across the canal from the market I spotted a couple of donkeys getting a shave. The barber uses a foot-long blade. Some are very adept with the blade and create designs in the fur. I laughed remembering market days in my youth that included a stop at Tony's barbershop for my dad and brother. I wonder what the link is between markets and barbers? I suspect it is a very long tradition.


This fellow didn't seem too happy to have a plastic lei wrapped around his neck. But his family obviously thinks very highly of him because sometime before his recent shave he had been decorated with henna, hence the orange tint to some of his fur.


Returning home I made myself a tall glass of lemonade. Egyptian lemons are small, round, and packed with flavour. A tool that looks like a garlic press effectively squeezes all the juice from the fruit.