As a friend of mine recently coined the phrase “they think we are wallets on legs”. This phrase stuck with me. I mean it aptly sums up the tourist industry across the world to be honest. However, in a place such as Egypt it is very apparent because those who ask for money are so very unafraid of doing so, and are extremely persistent about asking you for more - to an extent where it simply becomes unbearably uncomfortable and quite frankly, irritating most of the time.
Up until my friend’s visit to Cairo last week I had been relatively well protected from the full force of the hassling by my boyfriend, Rami. I won’t say they left us alone completely as this isn’t true, but his status as an Egyptian man and his ability to answer back to the traders gives him a fighting chance at avoiding of the worst of it.
I, on the other hand, without Rami, simply join the flock of hapless victims in a tirade of sellers touting their goods relentlessly at every tourist point and beyond. To survive the sea of tradesman without going under takes wit and determination, but it can be done.
The rule to me seems simple. Business is business. If you don’t want their product, just say no. Forget about awkwardness or buying something just to stop them asking, it’s your cash and if you don’t want to part with it keep stubborn. I am well aware that this is incredibly hard for many foreigners to get the hang of. The reason I know is because I have only toughened up since living here! 6 months ago I would have folded under the pressure and if I had gone to the pyramids alone I would have definitely ended up on the back of a camel, sporting a ridiculous gimmick Pharaoh headdress and clutching a hugely over-price guide book, probably written in Russian! I am usually a complete pushover, but here I have hardened!
So the first method of defense is to just say no. Some words you can use for this are ‘La’ which mean No and ‘Shuckran’ which means ‘thank you’ or ‘mish aiza’ which means ‘I don’t want it’. These with a disinterested wave of the hand are a start but are clearly not going to throw them off straight away.
Another tip is to simply ignore the sellers completely. This is hard as a lot of the time these people will simply not stop following you until you talk to them. This is most evident at the places that rely almost totally on tourism such as the Giza Pyramids and Khan El Khalili Bazaar. Unfortunately as soon as you stop to talk to them they become like barbs and will not leave. So I urge you come hell or high water to simply remain aloof. Continue conversation with your friends, change your direction and walk away, or stare straight ahead and resist the will, at all costs, to turn around. They do, eventually, get bored… most of the time.
One more thing to remember is that nothing comes for free. What I mean by this is that you should be aware of tourist traps at all times! If a shop keeper offers you or your child a free gift before you have even brought anything, chances are he will then use your captive attention to guilt-trip you into buying a load more stuff that you didn’t want and will never use. If you are invited for a ride on a camel, bear in mind that the man leading the camel actually has a physical method of trapping you on top of the animal until you pay extra to be let down.
When my friend and I were at the Pharonic Village, we were lead straight into a shopping area by the tour guide and into a shop where it was suggested to us that the next part of our ‘Pharonic Village Experience’ would be to get dressed up in silly costumes and have our photo taken; all with ‘no obligation’ to buy… of course. It was clear that out of our little party of four, not a single one of us was the least bit impressed by this suggestion. Luckily two of us were residents of Cairo and so we were able to tactfully get out this part of the trip. Again, if you don’t want it, say so!
My favourite moment of all during my time with my friend was at the end of the week when I had grown more confident in my ability to handle the hassle. We were sat down to dinner in Khan El Khaili and a small boy came up to us with a bundle of scarves – they start young in this country. Well, it is naïve think that there is any etiquette telling people to leave you alone when you are eating and by this time I had endured the pyramids and the bazaar on top of whole week of touring Cairo so I was at the end of my tether. We waved the boy away once and then, of course, he returned. I saw that he was a cheeky boy so I figured I would try and give him a taste of his own medicine and picking up Rami’s scarf I held it up to him saying ‘maya guinea’ which means ‘do you want this for one hundred pounds?’. Every time he tried to barter with his scarves, I tried to sell him ours - being just as persistent and I have to say, dropping my price impressively low! To my delight, my crazy plan worked and the child began to realise he was fighting a loosing battle and left us alone. I saw him around the bazaar a couple of times after that and it is safe to say that he did not try to sell me something for the rest of the night. Neither, I may add, did he purchase the scarf! This tip is one I will not recommend officially, however if you are feeling brave enough and you pick the right people it is fun to have a go!
If all else fails then getting angry sometimes helps. On the odd occasion both with my friend and even just alone in Cairo, I have felt the need to simply be rude. I wouldn’t recommend this either, as it is not looked kindly on all the time. But sometimes it really does get too much. The Giza Pyramids really are the worst. A couple of times up there I was genuinely frustrated and sometimes bordering on scared. One such incident was on the way up to the pyramids in the taxi when a man claiming to be tour police actually opened the door to the cab and got in the car with us! He was claiming that we were going the wrong way to the pyramids and that he “would take us.” Forgive me for sounding paranoid, but I don’t trust any man that simply climbs in the car with two females without invitation- especially when I know exactly where the pyramids are, and that we were going in the right direction! I flipped and got the taxi driver to pull over. As I didn’t have enough Arabic to handle the situation in the man’s tongue, I simply relied on the tone of my voice and said, in English “I have lived in Cairo for 6 months and I have been to the pyramids three times. I know where they are, I do not need your help and I do not want you in my taxi, Get out. NOW!” If his English wasn’t up to speed then he certainly understood my tone of voice and exited the car pretty soon after that. Another example was when we were joined at the Sphinx by a young guy who was claiming to be a trainee tour guide. He seemed OK so I thought I’d let him take us round. However, when he started to harass my friend by not letting her leave the Sphinx until she had had her photo taken, despite her obviously feeling very uneasy and showing it, I got mad again. I swore, threw 2.50 EGY at him and left. The man tailed me for a while hurling abuse at me but he soon left us alone; it isn’t nice and I don’t like doing it, but sometimes enough is enough.
If you are not accustomed to Cairo and especially if you are female, touring round can leave you feeling harassed, exhausted and paranoid. It really shouldn’t be this way and I wish that Egyptians would learn that they are more likely to get customers if they leave tourists alone; but they haven’t learnt yet, and chances are it will continue to be the tourists who have to fight and adapt.
You can avoid a lot of this with orgnanised tours like the ones arranged by IH Cairo ILI. I never before particularly liked or appreciated the idea of a full package tour which includes tickets, tour guides and buses. However, the less adventurous travelers will certainly benefit from a much higher level of protection in this country than those who try and do it alone. It also allows you the chance to learn something, as tour guides on the sites are less than adequate most of the time, barely even able to speak English sometimes! Organised tours, as long as you are with a legitimate company, are the best way to avoid hassle- although you may want to weigh the cost of being conned out of money against the added costs that tours like this incur. At IH Cairo ILI we have a good relationship with a reputable company so students can get out and about without needing to worry.
Living in Cairo I am constantly being surprised by how clever the tradesman can be. Just when I think I have seen it all, I am blown away by new levels of persistence and cunning. From taxi drivers spinning a yarn to make you feel sorry for them, to market sellers spending not less than a whole hour haggling with a foreigner over the price of two pashminas, it never ends. Because of this, despite all of the above hints, sometimes even I admit that you just have to give in and accept that if you book to come to a country like Egypt, you will get the whole Egypt experience, hassle and all. It is unjust, it shouldn’t happen, but even Rami, a born and bred Egyptian male, sometimes gives in just for the sake of a few minutes peace.
I think the thing to remember, for Westerners, is that the £5 or $5 that you may have spent on one sandwich back home translates to 25 or 50LE here and, at the moment at least, it may be some of the only income that many people get in their entire working day. So it’s subjective, but sometimes, if it is well earned, I feel it is ok to part with a bit of cash. For example, when going around the Pharonic Village, the tour guides were not expecting a tip. But they did their job well and I felt they earned a few extra pounds, so I tipped each one accordingly. In the street I will buy tissues from the tissue sellers because they are providing a product that I need. At Khan, if someone entertains me and sells their product well, I don’t see a problem in buying from them. I even paid a taxi driver far too much for a taxi leaving the pyramids because I was tired, my friend was tired, and we were just happy to have someone to help us escape!
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