Word: rugs
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Imam Square is also where you'll find Isfahan's bazaar. Save your rials for miniature paintings, decorative tiles and - if you're feeling flush - a rug or two. When retail overload hits, head deep into the market and get a table at the delightfully clandestine Azadeghan teahouse for a pot of brew and a plate of sweets. Try the nabat (saffron rock candy) or the Moorish zulbia (twirly, deep-fried dough in syrup...
...bestseller list at number 5, for me that was the pinnacle, that was the moment. I never thought I would be there. And I keep having moments like that where you just stop and say, wait a minute - how is this still going up? I'm waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under me. I have from day one because I'm kind of a pessimist. But it just keeps being huge and no, I had no idea. I still have no idea...
...then there's Twin Palms. The Sinatra estate, designed by local architect E. Stewart Williams in 1946, has four bedrooms, ample areas for entertaining and one very thick shag rug. "You can sit by the piano-shaped pool and sip cocktails from the retro bar," says Kevin Blessing, CEO of Beau Monde Villas, which manages the house. Alas, Ol' Blue Eyes' recording equipment is not connected for use. And there's a $1,000 security deposit because, as Sinatra crooned, accidents will happen after...
...fringe benefits of being a Middle East correspondent is that my travels in the region have allowed me to start a decent little collection of Oriental rugs and, in the process, get better at the art of buying them. I bought my first one--a prayer rug, to celebrate my safe return from Iraq--at a suq in the Old City of Damascus. Carpet seekers flock to similarly byzantine markets in Morocco and Turkey, among other countries. But Syria is a particularly good place to pick up rugs and has been ever since Silk Road travelers from the great weaving...
...matter how good the rug selection, the endless variations in style and quality make bazaar bargaining a daunting exercise. And any transaction can conjure old clichés of naive Americans and wily, opaque locals. But such clichés are exactly that. Rug traders drive a hard bargain for the same reason everyone else does: money. And anyone who thinks Western capitalism is transparent should look to the subprime-mortgage-derivatives mess. Still, there are some useful lessons I've learned from buying rugs, which, when taken with a healthy dose of skepticism for metaphor, are also perhaps a useful guide...