Kabul carpet shops are all the same. Cool dark rooms, with stacks of folded carpets lining the walls. Dim fluorescent lights obscure the carpet’s true color…and likely its flaws.

Once you’re in the door, the carpet dealer begins his sale by pulling carpets at random from different stacks. The dealers are masters at reading faces and without you haven spoken a word, will quickly narrow the search down to the one or two styles that you most like. Then they bring out carpets of varying qualities. Of course they throw in several expensive pieces knowing that you’ll be more drawn to them.

When you’ve seen 15 to 20 carpets, the dealer then has you sort the stack into “NO” and “maybe”  piles. I’m sure it’s all the art of the sell, but of course it does helps to narrow one’s focus. Then you go through the maybe stack… My maybe stack had at least 4 real possibilities. I walked away with 2.

Once piece I love, the other I’m not so sure about not that I’ve seen it in the daylight. Time will tell if I will trade it in, but at least I’m shopping… finally!!

* Note: These pix were taken with a cell phone in a dark room and have a lot of color in the translation. Most are NOT the traditional Afghan style carpets – more pix soon.