Our Egypt/Jordan vacation

[SirJosephPorter]

Hello, I am back!!! I spent a most enjoyable two weeks in Egypt and London, soaking up the ancient culture.

I don’t think there is any point in boring you with Tutankhamen, Ramses II (he was a regular megalomaniac, another Saddam Hussein), Nefertity, Temple of Karnak, Temple of Horus etc. (well, Spade may be interested in Temple of Horus, he is interested in the ancient Gods, and he has posted many times about Horus). Besides, you can Google for all that anyway. I will upload some of the photos into my album in the next few days.

However, in Egypt I came across a truly bizarre method of bargaining, of haggling, probably unique in the world. I will describe that in the next post.

Anyway, it is good to be back. These exotic places may be great to visit (and I wouldn’t mind visiting Egypt and Jordan again, sometime in future), but there is no place like home.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

We cruised the Nile from Luxor to Aswan. We had to pass through a lock in a place called Asna, and the normal waiting time for getting into the lock is one hour. That is when the haggling takes place. The boat is moored inside the water, so where is the room for haggling? The peddlers come in their small boats and almost surround the ship. They throw the article they want to sell in a plastic pouch. If you are interested in buying, you haggle with them at long distance. If the two of you agree to a price, you throw the money down to them in the plastic pouch. If you cannot agree on a price, you throw the article of clothing back to them in the pouch.

Anyway, my wife went to the edge of the sun deck to take a photo of the boats. Somebody threw a couple of pouches at her (“Madam, this is for you”). The sun deck was five storeys above water; you need a good throwing arm to throw a dress up over five storeys. One was the traditional Egyptian dress (galabeya). My wife was interested in it, so I asked him the price.

He quoted 300 pounds. Now, the tour guide had warned us that they ask for outrageous, overinflated prices. So I offered him 25 pounds. He pretended to be insulted. He asked me to raise my price. I raised it to 30 pounds. He still wasn’t satisfied. I said, “OK, this is my final offer. 35 pounds and not a penny more”. He still wasn't satisfied. I said “here, take back your galabeya” and I threw it down in the same plastic pouch to him (although he easily threw it up to me over five storeys, I was nervous about throwing it down to him, for fear it may land in water).

I walked away from the edge of the deck, but he still was not done. He named his final price to my wife, 50 pounds (about ten dollars). My wife told me that she thought it was a reasonable price and she didn’t mind paying it. So I asked him to throw the galabeya back up again. He had also thrown up a scarf which she was not interested in, so I threw it down to him and put a 50 pound note in the same pouch.

I have no idea what the dress was actually worth. However, I figured that even if it was no worth more than 4 or 5 dollars, that means that I was gypped for no more than 5 dollars. Well worth the experience of haggling over a distance of five storeys.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Anyway, this business of bilking the tourists seems to be a big industry in Egypt. We had gone to visit a pyramid. There were a few camels and camel riders in the distance. Our guide warned us about them. He told us they would offer the camel ride for a dollar. When the ride is ended, they will ask 50 dollars so that you can get off the camel (and technically they would be right, the price was quoted for the ride, it didn’t say anything about getting off the camel).

Later the guide took us to a place where camel rides could be had for ten dollars (we had experienced camel rides in India and Australia, so we were not interested).

I was watching the news one day and they were talking to a deputy minister of some sort. She also expressed outrage at such practices. She said the tourist buys perfume, goes home and opens the bottle. She finds that it is not perfume, but olive oil. Such things are not good for tourism or for the image of Egypt. So evidently the government is aware of the problem (but they don’t do anything about it).

 

[TenPenny]

Thanks for the posts; feel free to post more of your experiences, they're interesting.

 

[Spade]

Did you go to Petra? And, if not, why not?

 

[darkbeaver]

Is he ever going to get to the ruins? Is this to be a serial SJP travelogue? He went to the pyramids to play with the camels?

 

[Avro]

Hello, I am back!!! I spent a most enjoyable two weeks in Egypt and London, soaking up the ancient culture.

I don’t think there is any point in boring you with Tutankhamen, Ramses II (he was a regular megalomaniac, another Saddam Hussein), Nefertity, Temple of Karnak, Temple of Horus etc. (well, Spade may be interested in Temple of Horus, he is interested in the ancient Gods, and he has posted many times about Horus). Besides, you can Google for all that anyway. I will upload some of the photos into my album in the next few days.

However, in Egypt I came across a truly bizarre method of bargaining, of haggling, probably unique in the world. I will describe that in the next post.

Anyway, it is good to be back. These exotic places may be great to visit (and I wouldn’t mind visiting Egypt and Jordan again, sometime in future), but there is no place like home.

Hope you had fun, I have a friend that lives there and I have been once a long time ago.

Generally a nice place.

 

[Mowich]

Welcome back, Joseph. Sounds like you had a most interesting and enlightening vacation. I too am enjoying your travelogue.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Did you go to Petra? And, if not, why not?

Indeed we visited Petra, that was the only reason to go to Jordan (there isn’t much else in Jordan). Petra is an awe inspiring site, it is a whole city carved out of the faces of the mountains. Again, I will post a few photos from Petra when I have the time.

Anyway, can’t stay for long today, too many things to do. I just wanted to say hello. I will post more impressions in the days to come.

 

[countryboy]

Welcome back, SirJP! It sounds like you had a great time over there. The travel posts are indeed interesting! Good to have you back...

 

[earth_as_one]

Did you meet anyone from Thunder Bay? My mother recently took the same cruise...

 

[talloola]

welcome back, thought about you on your travels.

good posts, looking forward to more.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Did you meet anyone from Thunder Bay? My mother recently took the same cruise...

There are several cruise ships on the Nile, some 400 according to our guide (interestingly, there is no commercial passenger traffic on the Nile, only tourist traffic). So it is very unlikely that I would meet somebody from Canada on the ship (it is possible of course).

There were of course a lot of Canadian doctors in our group. We also had two doctors from Australia. Apparently they don’t do this kind of thing in Australia. Presumably they get a tax break, even though the medical course was given by a Canadian company.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Is he ever going to get to the ruins? Is this to be a serial SJP travelogue? He went to the pyramids to play with the camels?

What would you like to know about the ruins, darkbeaver? Surely you can Google for that, I assume they have done a much better job of explaining about Sphinx, Old Kingdom, New kingdom, pyramids, tombs, ancient Egyptian Gods etc, than I can do here. I am just giving my personal impressions here (which you won’t find on the web).

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Hope you had fun, I have a friend that lives there and I have been once a long time ago.

Generally a nice place.

I am sure the pyramids, the temples and the tombs haven't changed much since then, Avro.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

I did have several misconceptions about Egypt before going there. Essentially I thought that it was similar to Saudi Arabia, a strict Islamic country.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Women there only wear a head scarf, we saw very few women in total veil or chador. Some Egyptian women go with bare heads (they may have been Christians).

Indeed, in places frequented by tourists (such as Cairo Museum) I saw some women in western dress (sleeveless blouse etc.), some were smoking. Egypt evidently has a very relaxed attitude, at least towards the tourists. There is also no prohibition against women driving (I saw several women drivers); on public buses men and women sit together.

Same thing in Jordan. We lived in Aqaba (on the Red Sea) for one night. I went to use the gym. The woman sitting outside smiled at me, asked me if she could help me etc. I didn’t think Muslim women did that, at least not in Islamic countries.

Anyway, it was quite a contrast from what one reads in the papers or sees on television. Probably that is more representative of countries like Saudi Arabia (we went very close to the Saudi border; Aqaba is just 20 km from Saudi border).

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Another big shock was alcohol (again, I had Saudi concept in my mind). I was surprised to see how liberal their policy is towards alcohol. Alcohol is available freely in most hotels and restaurants (at least those frequented by the tourists, I don’t know about those frequented exclusively by the natives).

Indeed, Egypt makes its own beers and wines (again, news to me). They make a beer, Stella, which I found quite adequate. They have fancy names for their wines, Omar Khayyam, Scheherazade, Obelisk etc.

Even more of a surprise, Jordan makes its own wines. They grow grapes around Nile in Egypt, but I fail to see how they can grow any grapes in Jordan (in greenhouses perhaps). Besides, I thought it would be against their religion. They make a cabernet sauvignon which is quite adequate (though it does not compare with the French stuff, of course).

I thought this holiday was going to be dry, but I was pleasantly surprised.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

It is understandable in a big city like Cairo (population 18 million). However, Luxor is a city of 300, 000. Even there alcohol is available freely. When we were driving through Luxor, I saw an advertisement for a British style pub. Not to be outdone, about 100 meters later there was an advertisement for an Irish style pub. So take your pick.

And yes, there is a McDonald’s in Luxor. That was another surprise, McDonald’s has penetrated deeply in Egypt and Jordan, it exists in many cities over there.

 

[darkbeaver]

What would you like to know about the ruins, darkbeaver? Surely you can Google for that, I assume they have done a much better job of explaining about Sphinx, Old Kingdom, New kingdom, pyramids, tombs, ancient Egyptian Gods etc, than I can do here. I am just giving my personal impressions here (which you won’t find on the web).

What does it feel like to stand beside the big stones?

 

[JLM]

Interesting stuff, the haggling you mention is not unlike the system I encountered in Tijuana 41 years ago. Down there about 1/4 of the original asking price was plenty.