Ahh, the mall: The meeting point of teenagers across America. Behold, the food court, laden with burgers and Tex Mex! Witness the fountain full of pennies! And the stores! So many cool outfits, so few credit cards.
But shopping malls are tres American. In many other countries, the average teen hipster visits different kinds of shopping plexes in addition to or in place of malls. Like so:
Egypt: The Egyptian souk ("sook") is like a giant campground full of merchants. Tents and stalls line the narrow streets, and they offer everything imaginable: Bowls of dates, racks of robes, guitars, TVs, you name it. Each souk in Cairo is like a maze. But you can't just buy stuff there: Merchants are offended if you don't barter.
Thailand: The city of Bangkok is full of "floating markets"—merchants pile their spices and fish into little wood boats and row them into harbor. Thousands of these boats clump together, and customers reach them by crossing bridges and planks. Some markets only operate at night!
China: China has some of the biggest shopping malls in the world. Some are as tall as 10 stories, with colossal open courts and vast, colorful billboards. These malls are almost always packed with people, so they can get a little overwhelming.
Africa: Lots of merchants across Africa bundle their wares into sheets. They spread out these sheets on the sidewalk and wait for customers. Yes, there are little wooden statues of safari animals, but there are a million other things as well—T-shirts, radios, CDs, and sandals made of Firestone tires. When one street isn't busy enough, merchants pick up their bundles and move somewhere else. In many parts of East and West Africa, men rarely do the shopping because women are considered tougher hagglers.
Mexico: Mexico City is one of the biggest cities in the world (about as large as New York). There are over 20 million potential shoppers in Mexico City, and that doesn't even include the tourists, so each neighborhood runs its own mercado, a market of hundreds of colorful stalls. You can find useful things (like silverware), or tasty treats (tamales and sugary atole drinks), or goofy souvenirs (wrestling masks, maracas). Cleverly, the merchants color-coordinate their stalls, so people can recognize them easily.
Have you ever been on an exotic shopping spree?
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