Of course I knew about the phenomenon of baksheesh long before visiting Egypt. Over there it seemed that every Egyptian you encountered was after a tip or backhander. I guess it is an endemic feature of their culture.
When we visited The Aswan Museum on Elephantine Island, I paid for two entrance tickets. To tell you the truth, I do not think we were given official tickets and suspect that the fellow at the gate had a little fraud game going on - depriving the museum of much needed funds.
Once we were in, another Egyptian man just latched onto us to guide us around the small museum. He never asked or anything and I found his presence quite irritating because it interfered with my reading of the explanatory labels. There were some mind-blowing exhibits from ancient times at a place that connected ancient Egypt with the Nubian region and Sudan to the south.
Obviously, our "helpful" guide was after some Egyptian pounds so I generously gave him £50 - the equivalent of about 70 British pence or one American dollar. He looked at this offering as if I had just put a sheet of used toilet paper on his palm but in spite of his discourteous grumbling, he was not getting any more from me.
The museum is right next to a gate that leads you into the site of The Temple of Khnum who was the "Lord of the First Cataract" and considered to be the creator of humanity, moulding souls on a potter's wheel. The temple served as the centre for his worship.It is now a ruinous site that has been investigated by various teams of German and Swiss archaeologists.
Annoyingly, at the gate, another Egyptian fellow latched himself onto us with one prime motive - money! To give him his due, he did take me to The Nileometer which I might otherwise have had trouble finding. I even took a picture of him with Shirley - standing at a timeless gateway that overlooks "the first cataract" of The Nile...
Sure enough when our little temple tour was over and I had just ascended the very ancient stone steps of The Nileometer, our friendly guide expected his baksheesh. Feeling especially generous, I gave him £100 Egyptian this time but like his pal at the museum, he looked at my offering as if it was mucky toilet tissue. The well-practised disdain made me want to laugh out loud and there was no way he was getting any more.
Our on-board educated Egyptologist Ayman was looking for baksheesh like all the rest. Staff inside temples. Men within the tombs at The Valley of the Kings. Our room cleaners, security guards, shopkeepers from whom you had just made purchases.
And linked to the baksheesh phenomenon, I would also like to share this about Egypt. Shopping there can be nightmarish to westerners because there are no prices on anything. It's all about negotiation - arriving at an agreed price but of course Egyptian traders are very well-versed in the art of price negotiation. It is in their bones - passed through generations. Here in Yorkshire we simply never play that game.
Once or twice, I found the haggling process to be great fun but Shirley seemed horrified by it all. At one Aladdin's cave inside the souk in Luxor she would not even step inside as I jousted with the shopkeeper before buying a carved stone statuette of three monkeys - hear no evil, say no evil, speak
no evil.
How I had previously lived without this remarkable object beside me in my study I shall never know...
Negotiating while shopping was like that in China but luckily, we had our Chinese Daughter-in-Law to do the bargaining for us. Oh, and I just got 10 out of 10 correct on yesterday's quiz! Yay!
ReplyDeleteI got used to that kind of shopping living in Morocco, but it can be tiring. We hired guides for the day to go into Cairo's medina and to the pyramids, and to a couple of other places too. They helped fend off any opportunistic latchers-on, but yes, baksheesh was involved!
ReplyDeleteBartering fills me with dread. Same thing with tipping, I feel the price stated is the price to pay.
ReplyDeleteI remember an Egyptian who I worked with described buying a cup of coffee in a cafe. I forget the detail now, but essentially if you wanted coffee you ordered and paid for it and then if you really wanted a cup of coffee, on top you would pay the barista to actually make the coffee.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Shirley, I hate haggling over prices, especially in countries where I know I have much more money than most of the population. I also know it's necessary. I guess it's good you enjoyed the haggling. Endless tips irritates me too, but I again, I get it. A necessary evil.
ReplyDeleteI could not haggle over things like they do.
ReplyDeleteIn Morocco I always kept a pocket full of coins (worth about 50p) to hand out to beggars, etc. Everyone wants a bit of tourist money; or they shout or spit at you. Best to be forearmed.
ReplyDeleteI'm not keen on bartering or haggling; if I am happy with a product and it suits my likes and needs, I am prepared to pay accordingly. Same goes for a service; when I'm happy with how I have been treated at a restaurant or hotel, I give a generous tip (even more so when I intend to go there again, because they do remember).
ReplyDeleteBut when someone like your self-proclaimed guides tries to get money from me for something I have neither asked for nor enjoyed, I draw the line.
When my Mum and my sister visited Egypt with a group of women from a belly dance school in Stuttgart, they were of course constantly being pestered for money (and always by men - they hardly ever saw women other than tourists like themselves). One time, a man was particularly insistend, claiming with a whiney voice "I have three children..." until my Mum turned around, looked him in the eyes and coolly said "I have twelve!" He was speechless for a moment and then broke into laughing. He never got anything from my Mum or my sister, but at least he had a laugh.
Baksheesh and bartering has put the kybosh on any plans I might have had to do the Nile Cruise if winning lotto. Sounds quite a bit like America with the constant tipping and haggling for a "better deal/upgrade"
ReplyDeleteWe had a brass three monkeys statue when I was a child, it probably affected my growing up;). Begging may be an irritant but probably it is the only way to make money.
ReplyDeleteI think I would find haggling very difficult. I'd cave in at the first hurdle. I suppose you have to look at it as a game and enjoy playing it.
ReplyDeleteWhen in Rome as they say. Some countries have a tipping culture others don’t. It annoys me when Brits go to the US and say they aren’t going to tip, thus depriving the servers of a chunk of their wages. As for paying the price on the sticker and no more…try going to a place where the sales tax isn’t included in the sticker price.
ReplyDeleteBTW YP are you sure that statue is carved stone? Have you scaled the bottom with a knife to check?
Sorry feeling grumpy today…blame it on the orange one!
I have been known to leave car salesmen in tears when negotiating.
ReplyDeleteI am like Shirley too, I hate haggling. When I was in Peru, I got one of my students who spoke pretty good Spanish, to haggle for me. I was buying a small Incan wall hanging. My student felt proud of herself for being able to negotiate in Spanish. I was just glad I didn't have to do it myself!
ReplyDeleteHaggling in Mexico is common too and honestly, I hate it when tourists who come in on the biggest cruise ships in the world find great pleasure in trying to get a better deal from people who probably live in a three room cement block house with no air conditioning and edgy plumbing.
ReplyDeleteThis is a subject I could go on about for a long time. I won't. I'll just say that if you do not want a service or an item, politely refuse. If you do wish a service or item, please consider how very little a few dollars might mean to you versus how much it might mean to another.
Must have made you feel wealthy, generously handing out hundred of pounds like that... ;) (Yes - I did read the exchange rate. "Pounds" still sounds like worth more, though, doesn't it!)
ReplyDeleteBaksheesh....the only time I remember coming across this word was in a favorite episode of Endeavour. I knew instantly what it meant by how it was used in a sentence.
ReplyDelete