We are learning that tipping is a way of life here. It’s customary to tip for almost everything, even for toilet paper and they just ask for it. TJ didn’t tip enough when he was handed his toilet paper so they grabbed it back from him. We are slowly learning how much to tip and when to tip. When shopping we were told “spend your money here” and “how can I take your money.” Commision is also a big thing. Our guides all want to bring us to perfume stores, papyrus factories, etc.
Everywhere we go, the men make comments at TJ for having “two wives.” They are quite proud of him and even ask him to share one of them. He has been called a Casanova. Today when the comment was once again made about his “two wives” he replied “1 wife, 1 sister.” Their response was that they would give him 2000 camels for his sister so I guess that didn’t help that much either. At $500 a camel he thought this was a pretty good deal. We hadn’t even thought about how weird the three of us traveling together would look. We have now found out that it is customary for women to be out either with their husband or with a relative. It is much more culturally acceptable for us to say that TJ has one wife and one sister and that me, his sister is married. Then, the respect level for all of us goes way up.
Smoking is everywhere. My camel driver, carriage driver, felucca boat driver, etc. all smoked. There are sheesha bars everywhere too.
After a few days in Egypt now we are starting to learn some of the customs so we are able to better respect the way of life.
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