my friend

Nice to be back on the computer. The power to the computer tent has been out for a couple of days.

So whenever I go somewhere for a substantial amount of time, I like to get some nice momentos to remember my experience. We have decked out our home with interesting pieces of furniture from our time in Asia, my office has plaques and knick knacks for me to remember my past commands. Unfortunately, my choices here on a base in Afghanistan are limited. I can chose from copy infringed DVDs, knockoff sunglasses, hookahs, or carpets.

I bought a couple of nice carpets for Liz earlier in the deployment (Take into account that I am a military man with no fashion sense picking out carpets). You can buy wool, silk or a wool silk combo. In a nutshell, the wool ones are more wear resistant and are meant to be on the floor for use, the silk ones are for hanging on the wall (and are usually from Iran, not Afghanistan) and the wool/silk blend is somewhere in between. I have learned to look at the carpets closely to assure not machine made, to look for single versus double knots and approximately how many knots per square inch.

So, I guess that I did okay with the first batch of carpets, because Liz has requested a runner for the hallway. Problem is that she has been a bit tardy telling me what color or size to get. Today I came across a new bazaar and came across a vendor of carpets. I decided to go ahead and look at what carpets he had and ended up doing a impulsive buy of a runner. Anyone who has traveled has a story about haggling for a price. I thought that I would give you a rundown of how my encounter with this carpet vendor went.

Vendor (V) “Hello my friend (even though we just met), how I help you”
Mark (M) “uhm, I am looking for a carpet, a runner, you know what I mean”
V “I give you good price, just for you (we now have known each other for 90 seconds), come here, look, hah, good carpet”
M “I like this one, how much?”
V “You pick good carpet, very good, see, look, feel, see, very good carpet, last forever”
M “How much is good carpet?”
V “$320, is good price, just for you”
M “Sorry too expensive”
V “Wait, how much you want to spend?”
M “A lot less than that…….how about $100?”
V “Ahhh, ohhh (look of horror), ahhh, nooo, this good carpet, take one year to make, feel”
M “I can see it is good carpet. What is your best price?”
V “Since you good customer, I give you special price, $260”
M “I can stretch to $120, but that is still more than I want to pay”
V “I go down $60 and you just go up $20”
M “Maybe we are too far apart, I will think about it, thanks”
V “Wait, $250, good price, lets shake” He holds out his hand. I do not shake because I do not like the price and I cannot remember which hand is used for eating and which for the bathroom.
M “Still too much, thanks”
V “What is your best price?”
M “$140”
V More cacophonous sounds “ahhh, ohhh, nooo, this too good carpet, take one year to make, feel”

Anyhow, this keeps back and forth until we are like $150 versus $180 and making no ground. I pull out $150 cash and say he can take it or leave it. He accepts and everyone happy. “You come back and buy more carpets” are his last words. This carpet is from Herat which is along the Iranian border and is made of wool. Hopefully Liz likes the carpet as well.

One last bargain story. I needed some cheap sunglasses and I picked up a pair and asked how much. Vendor says “$15”, “how much???”, “$10”, I hold up 5 fingers and he says “yeh yeh okay”. Quickest negotiations I have ever had.





Shopping at Camp Leatherneck















Runner purchase



















Up close design












Previous buys