Most people who come to Egypt will want to buy one of the following. with the money they have saved for this very special once in a lifetime vacation, some will take out a loan to get away from stressful jobs, and will be paying the money back over the following 3/10 years. thus doubling the amount spent on your vacation.
and what will you buy as gifts/ presents. Some the corny ones will buy a tee shirt. with a camel or I love Egypt , made from genuine Egyptian cotton, the best cotton in the world. but not actually made in Egypt most are cheap imports from China.
or how about a camel plenty on offer in the Souks, where they will offer camels for the gorgeous lady you are with whether its a girlfriend ,wife or mother , mother being the one they will play on . and at 70years old she is going to faint at all the attention the young men give her. and after you drop her off in her granny flat or old peoples home after the hols, she is going to come back on her own to grab one of these young men, Believe me it happens. time and time again.
Or are you going to opt for a seesha pipe, hubbly bubbly, photos on this page, where you can also purchase a whole different flavored tobacco to go with it ,
apple being the favorite flavour,
be warned if you do not unwrap your purchase and try it out first before you leave the shores of Egypt all that piece of rubbish is good for is an object to put on the mantelpiece as a reminder of how gullible you was on your expensive holiday in Egypt:- but it looks nice! only when shinning new once you get it home and its exposed to the humidity it soon starts to rust or the copper starts to show through and you will get the flavour in the water, I often wonder how many pipes are actually used that is if you know about how the pipe works. one little pin hole of air in the suction part of the pipe renders it useless. and unfit to smoke, then there is the charcoal I have seen people buy a whole box of the tablets, these are for use with camp fires made up of chemicals that burn to enough heat to boil a kettle for tea or cooking not a heat a b b q. and here is this guy going to smoke the nice easy fire for the sisha. ah well not my problem the guy packed up smoking 10 years ago. now he wants to smoke 10 cigarettes in one pipe plus a load of chemicals.the best pipes are made in Turkey and called hooka, some very few are made in Dahab a village on the red sea coast they are made of stainless steel and are quite expensive so most egyptians smoke cigarettes, or go to coffee shops to smoke the sisha, most of the tourist pipes and coves are made in China. then there is the papyrus ;;; a big con in egypt.
So you want a real papyrus painting, first you will not get real papyrus from street vendors and its hard to get from the stalls on the Souk's (markets) all these guys want is to sell you a fake, sometimes getting as much as a real piece, there are outlets that sell real hand made pieces , but if you go with a guide or taxi /bus driver be prepared to pay up to 70% more for your real papyrus. a papyrus takes at least one week to make depending on size, and of course with today's high volume of tourist who all want a papyrus to take home as a gift. ( better than a Camel) the real thing is hard to find, and most are prints made in China. so how does one know they have not bought a piece that is not a piece of shit.
Never buy one wrapped in plastic its important to feel the paper, then its a question of is it made from papyrus or dried and stripped banana or palm leaves or maybe sugar cane:- that is the other part to the feel of the paper, if it feels smooth. its not real, 9 months after you hang this in a place of pride on getting home all the paint will end up either on the floor or if its been framed the paint will be in a nice tidy pile on the bottom of the painting. the feel of papyrus is like embossed paper. and artists people who paint for a living do not use banana leaves to paint on?
these next two pieces are hung in one of the old coffee shops in Luxor these are all hand made made in 1964 . just one look at these and I knew they were genuine hand made pieces, most of the outlets display the real pieces but be wary after choosing the one you want . the seller will have a stack of the same painting and will say I have this one under the counter. say no I want the one I chose the real one.
Now look at it like this , say your local artist has hired a venue to display his paintings art work or whatever.
A painting you like is 56 ooo.ooo$ Like the van Gogh popppy vase or flower vase, so you have a word and it turns out they also made 100 prints or copies. and you can buy the print for 200$, but now you want the genuine piece, after the display is finished you get your masterpiece home. and find it to be a copy. I think someone is going to be charged with forgery.
Here in Egypt there is no comeback on anything they sell, first its sold knowing full well you are not going to be seen in that outlet again once you get home, its going to cost you more in airfare to make your point known.
and if you did happen to find out its a fake or you are not happy with it before you leave Egypt . You are going to have to prove this sales person knowingly sold you a fake. or you will get Ah" we no sell this piece now because its not real?
And at the end of the day, you get what you pay for, if you pay peanuts you get monkeys, and loads of them here. hear no evil see no evil and the ones who scam the tourists.
Your Nice tourist guide and his scams,
Most of the day trip buses are from Hurgada (Red Sea area) On arrival in Luxor at about 6.00 after a 3 hour drive across the desert and mountainous region between luxor and Quena. Where its been dark so cannot see anything
You get to travel along the Nile for 45 kilometers Quena to Luxor where its still dark so you miss the Nile scenery. You first come to Karnak Temple. 30 minutes stop. (Buy your own entrance ticket 50) this is the largest of all the temples see myegypt blog this temple really you need at least 4 hours to see the site alone. Then you are taken to a place for breakfast where you will have paid 45 to the tour company this will cost the guide 15.
Then you will need to cross the Nile the guide stops the bus and asks anyone want to go across on a boat ar stay on the bus it will take 1 hour for the bus to go the 25 kilometers over the new bridge, this trip across the nile has a very low price because the guide does not want any one left on the bus they have another bus waiting on the other side after the 5 minute crossing so has a charge of 2 $ the boat owner gets 2$ for the boat load of 25 person, guide making a nice profit of 46$ . first stop colossi of Memnon free. first visit top an alabaster factory browse as long as it takes here the guide will make up to 70% on your purchase, depends on the deal he has with the factory owner. Valley of the kings pay your own ticket but be back on the bus in 1/12 hours . on the way to Hatshepsut if its on your itinerary you will get to visit a rubbish papyrus shop. The guide knows this, but its all in the plan after Hatshepsut or one of the other temple visits . you get to see a good papyrus outlet with genuine pieces on the walls. The owner also owns the rubbish shop. That same rubbish he has under the counter. The guide is now brought into play earn your commission . so the tourist will ask the trusted guide what you think. And he will go through all the notions of being knowledgeable in papyrus. Not this not this this is good etc etc, but this guide would not know a piece of toilet paper from papyrus all he wants is his sale commission.
This happens in the gold shops the alabaster wherever he is paid to take the tourist. Then its lunch time siesta or whatever here the tourist will have already paid 15$ for the running buffet, the owner of the restaurant gets 5$ per head he does ok maybe a thousand head will pass through his restaurant during the course of daylight hours.
Our guide with the 50 person makes 10$ per head then there is the long wait outside Luxor Temple ½ hour in the temple tourist pay there own ticket once they are out of the temple they want to go to the souk we take you by carriage they are then taken at 5$ per head around luxor ½ hour and dropped off the one end of the souk where the guide is waiting to take them hassle free through the souk. At the end of this and before boarding the bus back to wherever they came from the will need refreshments and be sat in one of the many street cafes. And charged another fortune for drinks trying the bubble pipe. And of course the end of the day for the tour Guide so he says my treat for the seesha if you like to try. , isn’t that a nice tour guide he is going to pay for our seesha. Big clap all round . the seesha is 1egp to the guide that’s what I pay. And away go the fleeced tourist. And a very happy tour guide, with his bum bag bulging with dollars. At least 1500$ some he will not see until his next visit tomorrow to the factories. Because most tourist pay by plastic.
May 15 /2010 The last story will not happen to the next lot of people.
Seems we have some foreign diplomats who want to visit the Pharaonic Tombs and Temples.
Not one tourist about in this usually busy temple its busy from 6.00 in the morning until 9.00 in the evening, its about 50c and 2.30 in the afternoon sensible people are either having siesta or in the shade taking lunch, but for these diplomats the police say its a good time of day , because they have control of the area and that is a rare occurrence, but they must show these officials how nice and hassle free Luxor is so they can go home and say, Oh what a lovely time we had in Egypt. isn't it a pity no one goes to Egypt we must make adverts on tv for everyone to see what a nice place for a holiday, and that is the game they play on the diplomats. even when the egyptian president comes to luxor the streets are cleared even of tourists, http://nilelife2.blogspot.com/2009/12/president-hosni-mubarek_07.html
but the truth of who runs this area is on here! certainly not the police
another blogspot is about a guy in a wheelchair being hassled outside the Luxor Temple and cops watching.
this is the scene 1/2 an hour after the well looked after people left,
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