As all good things must come to an end, we left Dahab at 7am in the morning and started the 10 hour bus ride back to Cairo. We said our goodbyes and then went our separate ways. Met quite a few interesting people during this trip, and really do hope to stay in touch with a few of them. Little thoughts here and there about people and their personalities, but I will save that for another time once I've thought about it more. Coming to Egypt has definitely opened my eyes to a different world. Aside from all the jokes about being able to live like a king with just a couple hundred bucks CDN (btw, its only 200,000 EGP for a marriage here...this includes the apartment!), there is a great disparity it seems... here I am throwing out pens cuz they don't write well, while in Egypt, kids're asking for pens and pencils like they're diamonds! The cost of living is so different... 20 EGP can get me through an entire day...WOW! Makes me think of how wasteful I am in Canada...
Other comments
1) For a country who built structures to remind people to pray 5 times a day, they ain't too honest at all. Everytime you ask how much something is, they have to overprice it by at least 100%!!! Sure we're tourist (since I don't think they overprice to locals), but where's the integrity? As well, this hassling business... I personally find that I stay in the shops longer if they don't hover over me like a ghost. So less hassle, I'd probably have bought more... If I am right, I don't think they hassle the locals, so wouldn't they be wise not to hassle the tourists as well?
2) Hotel security: metal detectors beep, tourists goes through.. its like if you're a tourist, then they assume you don't have bombs and you are OK... (not to mention they sleep sometimes, like the one at Luxor)...
Also, don't worry about the Cairo airport, they don't turn on the metal detector in the mornings it seems... haha... I went right through the detector with my 'always beep' metal belt, but it didn't beep the morning I left from Cairo... the airport security were more focused on making sure my name is on some list, rather than checking me for metals etc... haha
3) Am I Japanese or Korean? Majority of hasslers assume I am this, got sooo annoying after awhile 'Japanese? Korean? Konichiwa, blah blah blah'
4) Tipping: Still very awkward for me... so hard to figure out what to tip. 0.25 EGP is too little it seems to go to the washrooms here (I got a cut-eye from the guy when I did that.. hee hee)... but seriously... when I don't get toilet paper and no service, just what am I tipping for? It's almost like I need to pay cover for the washroom (since you pay before you enter the washroom, not after you are done your business)...
Btw, Only paid for the W.C. (aka washroom) once this entire trip... rest of the time I just 'watered the desert' or used the hotel facilities... wuhahaha.. it's great to be a guy!
5) My bargaining skills improved: The key is to act like you want the item, then after hearing the price, you completely look and act disinterested and walk away. The more distance you put between them and you, the larger the initial price drop!
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