This short retrospective note from holidays time is related to autumn. Days are now much shorter, and even if the weather has been surprisingly good so far, the lack of sun may already start to affect mood. A common Finnish weapon against this kind of weather (rainy, cloudy with not enough sunny days) is so called aurinkomatka - sun travel. The travel destinations are countries that are still warm and sunny at this time of the year.
One of those countries is Egypt for example.
I have visited some of the tourist places, so my further remarks cannot be generalised. Just wanted to share some observations now.
Coming from Finland, where people are reserved, to Egypt, where people (men mostly) are more open and want to be friendly (asking a lot of questions) was quite a shock. The trip started with a funny event, when one of the airport guards wanted to send me to men's toilet because of my very short haircut. The situation repeated at some point of the trip again :D
Then while walking through the streets I was almost dragged into the shops by the salesmen - they were so eager to sell. After 200m walk I was already tired by answering questions "Where are you from?", "What is your name?" etc. It was nice in the beginning but after a while it might be tiring. And it is an experience which almost all European tourists are given :)
Also haggling was a must. There is usually no information about prices in shops. The salesmen informs the price and the haggling is a natural process. Initial price usually can be lowered by minimum 50%. For those who would rather avoid this process there might be some "European" shops with price tags, but there is no fun ;) Personally I have found the process of haggling interesting experience. I heard also that this way you gain respect of the other party.
One more difference between Finland and Egypt are tips. It is very popular and normal to give so called "bakshish" for variuos services. Even though you have paid for your hotel you will get better treatment if you leave some small tips for the hotel boys, waiters. It doesn't have to be loads of money (1$ is way enough) but it does work :) Even though they are trained that they should work well without the tips.
Some of the local people can almost force you to give "bakshish". They have perfected to use reciprocation rule. First they give you a hand with something (e.g. take a picture for you, correct the way you have wrapped your shawl around your head) and they stick out their hand for bakshish. They gave you a favour so theoretically you owe them. But the trick is that they do that, even if you didn't ask for this kind of service at all!
After around one week I started to get the feeling that for the locals I was one walking dollar, which wasn't nice at all. Instead of getting to know Egyptian culture and habits I got to know their business behaviour. Still - I have learned something new.
One last remark from visit in Egypt. Only during this visit have I realised how important the problem of lack of water is. The Egypt is lucky enough to have Nile river. But there are many other African countries that the lack of water is even more serious. One can probably fully understand it and appreciate the value of water while being on the desert. Here in Finland there are so many lakes and forests that this problem seems to be very distant. In Egypt I experienced it on my own skin and I feel embarrassed to be such an ignorant even if theoretically I read about it in newspapers. There are many initiatives to help to solve that problem, so luckily there are people who are aware and active and wells are being built. On the other hand to many wells are lowering the ground waters level... This is definitely difficult case and there are many smarter people that try to figure out the best solution. I will keep my fingers crossed.
Anyway I managed to manufacture too long post again. But if you still feel like you would like to know more don't hesitate to drop a comment. I'll try to answerr ;)
Until next time!
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