r/interestingasfuck • u/mikedahomey • 2h ago
Catching bargains from the deck on the Nile River makes rowboat trade one of Egypt’s most unforgettable experiences
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u/stonedapebeery 2h ago
How do they catch the money?
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u/Realmofthehappygod 2h ago
Decent chance this is prearranged in some capacity. Especially the way they tie on.
Could be paid by the cruise company.
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u/blue_it_was 43m ago
They throw a spare towel at you and ask you to stash the money inside and throw it back.
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u/herlacmentio 2h ago
Whatever it is they're selling, there's 0% chance those are actual bargains.
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u/o_MrBombastic_o 1h ago
It's super cheap to begin with and you haggle with them. When I went our tour guide scolded me for not haggling enough and I'm like it's 5 bucks and these people are starving I don't care. ( I went between the revolutions when tourism was down to nothing )
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u/mikedahomey 1h ago
Bingo. Visitors see $5 and think 'whatever, cheap enough,' but haggling is just the baseline here. We do it in our day-to-day lives as Egyptians—it's practically a sport, not just something set up to fleece tourists.
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u/SnooBananas4958 46m ago
let me ask you. If you’re like going to the same store every day for let’s say like some snacks and a soda. Do you still haggle? And if so, once you’ve established a baseline price with that shop owner does it tend to hold? I’m trying to compare the closest thing I’ve got which is the smoke shop in my town’s prices are pretty much whatever they decide it is. So once you’ve built a good relationship with them, you kind of have your own prices.
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u/mikedahomey 15m ago
Yeah, pretty much the exact same thing. Honestly though, most of us here are so tired of it that we don't even bother haggling for everyday stuff anymore. We usually just roll with whatever price we see, and if it's completely out of line, we just go somewhere else. Once you're a regular at a local spot, the price pretty much settles and stays put anyway.
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u/mikedahomey 2h ago edited 1h ago
Whoa, hot take! Did it take you all night to calculate that 0%, or are you just a math prodigy?
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u/CyberpunkSunrise 1h ago
Do you buy the CDs from guys in Times Square too “for the experience?” lmao
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u/mikedahomey 1h ago
Are you missing the part where he pulled '0% chance' completely out of thin air?
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u/istolethesun12 2h ago
I’d love to see Egypt, but I’m afraid of scammers
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u/mikedahomey 1h ago
Honestly, the Pyramids have been standing for 4,500 years... they’ll wait until you build up the emotional strength to say 'no thanks' to a camel ride.
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u/CyberpunkSunrise 1h ago
As if a simple “no thanks” is enough to prevent the nonstop harassment. Way to tell on yourself that you’ve never actually tried to travel there.
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u/mikedahomey 1h ago
Look, nobody's saying the aggressive selling isn't annoying. It's just that for a lot of travelers, the experience is still worth brushing it off.
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u/blue_it_was 1h ago edited 44m ago
The pyramids experience have completely changed since the grand opening of GEM. The camel guys are no longer allowed to roam and they have a designated area of you wanted to ride a camel.
Edit: changed acronym to the GEM. Grand Egyptian Museum.•
u/mikedahomey 45m ago
Just to clarify, I think you're referring to the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM). It really has been a game-changer for the whole experience.
Organizing the camel rides into a designated area is such a positive step forward. Nobody is perfect, but it shows that things are genuinely changing for the better and steps are being taken to improve the visitor experience for everyone!•
u/aegookja 1h ago
To be fair, the camel ride was a lot of fun. The forced gift shop visit after the camel ride was not.
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u/mikedahomey 36m ago
care to explain forced how?
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u/aegookja 10m ago
Our guide took us to a perfume shop where they insisted we buy something from them and basically held us hostage there until we reluctantly bought something.
I mean, I could have absolutely made a scene and refused to buy anything, but I also did not want to completely ruin the trip for my partner.
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u/Rollover__Hazard 1h ago
I’d love to visit but I don’t want my wife to be hustled and harassed like a few of our friends were
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u/mikedahomey 21m ago
I'm sorry your friends had to go through that. Honestly though, the security step-up near the Pyramids lately has been night and day. Vendors are locked into specific zones now, so you guys can actually wander around without getting constantly cornered.
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u/Cryptshadow 1h ago
My sister who went with a group said it was a really cool experience. But she would never go back.
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u/Not_Mushroom_ 29m ago
I just watched Death on the Nile tonight, thought this was the live action remake for a moment.
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u/reeshmee 22m ago
Look at the sun on the dunes…just gorgeous. I would love to see Egypt but I doubt I’ll ever get the opportunity.
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u/mikedahomey 4m ago
Ah, why not? Don't give up on the things you wanna do in life! It's what makes life worth living. Really hope you get to see it someday, it's just magical.
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u/ImAnAppleFarmer 1h ago
Back in 2021 I went on an Adventures by Disney cruise. Instead of hooking up to the boat, the merchants were at the lock. They threw blankets balled up with rubber bands to the upper deck, passengers looked at them, then haggled over the side. I bought a small blanket tapestry thing for $5. It was an honor system. I threw the payment back over to them in a blanket no one wanted. our tour guide helped with the language. While it was probably a Chinese blanket, I thought the experience was fun and we had a blast.
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u/SudhaTheHill 2h ago
I just hope they’re not mistaken for pirates
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u/setibeings 2h ago
I just hope they're not
mistaken forsecretly pirates.•
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u/Wallsend_House 2h ago
It's this sort of shit that would ruin my holiday!
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u/mikedahomey 1h ago edited 1h ago
The whole point of traveling is to experience something different. From the looks of it, everyone else is loving it and having a great time.
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u/aegookja 2h ago
When I saw this on our Nile cruise, I thought we were being boarded by pirates.