I taught Egyptians how to barter… oh dear…

I thought Hazem would be a natural barterer since he’s Egyptian.  However he’s a city boy and I think he might not have been prepared for the work it takes to barter.  So imagine yourself, if possible, in this situation.  You are on a side street where there are endless ‘shops’ selling all sorts of things like spices, perfumes, bags, tshirts, nicknacks, cottons shawls etc.  You want some of these things, others you don’t care for.  As you walk down the street (closed off to cars, filled with pedestrians like yourself) you are constantly accosted by new friends.  “Hey Canada!” (they know the flag on my daypack) “Canada Dry!”  (I have yet to see a can of ginger ale, but it sure beat “Canada? Celine Dion!”).  But let’s say you are not Canadian, or not wearing the maple leaf, if you are wearing a floppy hat, you are British, if you are tall skinny and scantily clothed you are Russian and they all have sayings to get the attention of each group….Not sure what they said if you are American because honestly I haven’t seen any.

Anyway, I digress.  You are walking down the street and getting approached by various vendors. If you express any interest in an item, they can give you a good price.  Special deal for the day.  Depending on the item, you can usually get it down to a third of the asking price, but if you don’t know this, you honestly think these men (usually) are giving you a great deal.
They say they bought it at this price.  They say they are working for their father and he would be mad if he sold it for less.  They say theirs is genuine and the rest are fake.  There are so many stories.  Since I’ve been through this in South America, I’ve heard pretty much all of them.  The trick is to get them to name a price.  You act shocked (well you are) and say no way and walk away.  Usually they say then ok ok name your price or they drop it automatically.  You should eventually way underbid a price (say you’ll pay 20, tell them 15 or even 10).  Never, ever buy it until you’ve left the store at least once.  If you leave and they don’t change the price then it’s usually the lowest they will go.  If you leave, look at another shop that is selling the same thing (there always are) then do the same process again.  You can eventually use the stores’ prices against each other, atleast you’ll be better informed.  Unfortunately, my friends didn’t know this game.  Hazem doesn’t like this game and I don’t blame him.  Honestly though, I handled it better than I thought I would and actually enjoyed the process this time.

I’m actually in Sharm el Sheik now and man what a resort I am in.  A salt water lake on land and a swimming pool in the ocean.  Crazy.  I don’t want to ruin anything so I’ll send an update Monday.

Salam!

Corinne