So off they went, moving swiftly through the cramped, narrow streets until they opened up onto a large, central plaza. At the corner of this space, as traffic whizzed by at hair-raising speeds, was a little shisha cafe facing directly into one of the entrances to the sprawling Khan el-Khalili bazaar. The wafting aroma of spices, the jingle of ornamental jewellery and the frenzied cries of the vendors competed with the array of colourful tapestries and prayer mats, and the inevitable pilfered archaeological artefacts on sale from rickety wooden table-stalls.