The first word Wikipedia uses to describe baksheesh is “charity.” Ha! Another site translated the word as “tips,” or “gratuity.” But really the author Leo Deuel was right on when he described it as “lavish remuneration and bribes, rudely demanded but ever so graciously accepted by the natives in return for little or no services rendered."
Let me give you two examples, the first of which highlights the tipping portion and the second the rudely demanded bribe:
1. After visiting the temples of Luxor our tour guide suggested an appreciation of 5 Egyptian pounds per couple (~$.90) for the driver who had driven us there from the cruise ship, waiting for us and drove us back. Though we did not buy the drivers overpriced water (marked up to 8 times the market price), we gladly gave him baksheesh for his services.
2. In a country where a good hourly wage for a college educated individual is $6/hour, our cab driver charged us $35 for 3 hours of service, a rate which we accepted because he waited for us while we ate dinner and because someone else had paid baksheesh to his friend to get us this nice car. Upon arrival at the airport we paid the driver his $35 and added on an overly generous $5 tip (thanks for ripping us off!) at which point the driver yelled at us and demanded more baksheesh. His limited English paired with our non-existent Arabic led to the involvement of 2 security guards. If you know Jen at all you know that she is not one to mess with when it comes to contracts and payments, however informal they may be. Needless to say, the driver got no more baksheesh.
Paul and I tried to pay only the “tipping” kind of baksheesh – though the corruption got the best of us on several occasions where we were tricked into paying a hugely inflated tourist price. The tourist cab is 70 Egyptian pounds, the local is only 15lb. the "Official" government cap on the ride is 30lb, but everyone just laughs at that. The guide books say you'll be lucky to bargain it down to 40lb.
You are expected to bargain EVERYTHING which gets really tiring as in American culture a low bid is an insult. For example, a handmade piece of art would cost $30 in the U.S., the guy is asking $50 but he is hoping to make $5 or $10. Do you offer $10? In the U.S. that would be an insult, but if you offer fair value of $30 he will sell it to you for $40 and be up $30 on his expected revenues. In other words, to be safe by American standards and not risk insulting the guy, you pay an extra $30 on the value of the product. “Oh, but my friend, you have baksheesh for me too, no?” And he wants baksheesh for the heck of it.
Another funny aspect about the baksheesh was that reputation means so much in Muslim cultures and you try to avoid “losing face” at any cost. This means that you don’t want to be the taxi driver who demands more baksheesh only to be rejected in front of other Muslims; you’d much prefer to be the bus driver who gets baksheesh from the tourists without asking for it. The American way of loud confrontation is very insulting here, so on two occasions when someone was demanding excessive baksheesh and we had to just walk away. In the U.S. if a taxi driver told you $20 for a five dollar ride, and you paid $10 and walked away, he might call the police and say you owe him $10 more…but in Egypt they just let us walk away. That is when we really knew that they knew they had already gotten more than they should have.
We have many examples of men who tried to show us some site within a temple, walked with us to the entrance of a tomb, carried our bags, or made us laugh – all in hopes of getting baksheesh. Jen waited a good 5 minutes for the entrance of a temple to clear so she could get a good picture. As soon as it cleared an Egyptian in traditional dress (who did look really cool) walked into the photo and posed – hoping she’d pay him baksheesh. “Get out of my photo! I’m not paying you baksheesh for ruining this shot!”
Last example: Paul and Jen are trying to buy Egyptian outfits for the Egyptian night on the cruise. They have 20 minutes and know what they want, but there are 15 stands all selling similar things, all trying to get the most money from us for their $2 Chinese made garment. So as we approach the first stand a man comes up to us and asks us what we are looking for. We point out a few things that we do and do not like and he says “come with me.” He takes us to a second stand, pays the owner a 5lb baksheesh and we browse the store. We’re not biting, so he takes us to another store where he thinks the owner has what we want. He pays another 5lb baksheesh to the owner and we browse…bingo! Jen finds what she wants and the guy buys it at a low price, getting baksheesh from the owner for bringing in business. Once all of the pieces are together – Jen’s dress, Paul’s shirt and Jen’s scarf – a price is negotiated between the middleman and us. Of course one of his selling points is that he has to now pay baksheesh to everyone else for showing us around. We pay him for the outfits, plus 5lb baksheesh for helping us, he pays 5lb baksheesh to each store owner and that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the market works in Egypt.
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Egyptian "Fashion"
We're back from our honeymoon in Egypt which was great!! There are several things that we want to post about and share - and Paul is going to write a recap of the whole thing, but I'm going to start with what is one of the most noticeable aspects of Egyptian culture (because I would do that instead of write about the camels and the pyramids!)
One of the most striking aspects of Egyptian culture was the fashion. I’m not talking about New York or Milan runway fashion, I’m talking burkas and hijabs – the various Muslim head-coverings for women. This post really needs photos, but my camera battery is dead so I can’t get at mine and I’m not sure I took that many anyway because I thought it might be rude. So you’ll have to just imagine…
From what I gathered there were 5 different levels of women’s coverings. We’ll give them completely arbitrary names because I really have no clue what they would be called. The first is the most liberal, modern and “Western” of them all: the simple scarf covering the head, possibly pinned around the face to keep it in place. (There is no hair showing with any of these.) The women in this group wear what we would call normal clothes; jeans, long-sleeves (arms are covered), and cute shoes. There is some fashion in this as the scarf usually matches the shirt, can be many fabrics including cotton or silk, may have a pattern or design, and the outfit is completed with a cute purse. This outfit was not new to us as we had seen it a few times at universities in the States – although then we thought that it meant they were VERY conservative…quite the opposite. In fact – this head covering is really quite practical when you are in the dessert as it keeps the wind and sand out of your hair and keeps your head out of the sun. Imagine Mary riding the donkey, head covered, this might have been at least in part because of the weather. It is brutal! (PS – she rode the donkey to Cairo…that is a really long way! And it is all dessert and mountains!)
The second level is the hijab. This scarf is more tightly wrapped and pinned in place, almost always a solid color, but it can be a more lively color. The woman has her arms and legs covered like the first more modern dress; but the distinction is that she is wearing a long skirt. (This is strikingly similar to orthodox jews or Amish women, but with a head covering all the time.) These women also had purses and noticeable shoes – meaning they seemed “normal” and didn’t stand out in a good or bad way (although we did see at least 2 younger women in this category sporting some Converse shoes!).
The third level is a woman with a hijab, long sleeves and a “dress.” The hijab is one solid (usually more dull) color and wrapped tightly, resting on her shoulders like a scarf. This time the dress is one solid color and very loose fitting. In the first and second levels the clothes still take some shape. You might get a glimpse of pants as she walks or sits down, but she is fully covered up and the only skin you are going to see is her hands and her face. You might see a purse, but you won’t notice the shoes.
The fourth level is very close to the third, but a little bit more conservative. The hijab is longer and draped down the back, almost to the elbows and down to the stomach. The woman has no shape as everything is very loose and flowing (this also helps with air flow underneath as it is SOOOO hot!). These are outfits are solid colors, usually dull or dark with the most frequent color being black. You won’t notice her shoes and she doesn’t have a purse.
The fifth and final category is completely covered in black cotton/polyester cloth, with a burqa or niqab that has only the eyes showing. According to Islamic law these women can only go out with a male escort – either their husband or brother or cousin (note: I am note an expert…this is what I’ve heard). They don’t have a purse or if they do it is black like their clothes. We saw one woman in the airport who even had on black gloves! And we saw another in the market with a black purse…on top of her head. I really wanted the picture but we were in a car and the battery was dead.
Now I consider myself to be a pretty conservative dresser 90% of the time - but even I couldn't wear the cute clothes I'd brought along because they were too scandalous! Black shorts, a sundress, heels, and tank tops were out of the question unless we were on the cruise ship. So imagine me in my skinny jeans (this means they are tight) with a blouse and a scarf walking through the market in 100 degree weather. Hot! I felt like the princess from Aladin covering up my head as I bumped into the sword-swallower in the market...except he was trying to sell me a lamp and not swallow a sword.
It was really interesting! I can definitely say that we do not live in the Middle East – but we went to the Middle East for our honeymoon. But that isn’t really true. We technically live in the Middle East but it is much more like New York or Miami, and we technically went to Africa, but it was the North Africa and the capital of the “Muslim world,” so much more Middle Eastern. More stories to come...
One of the most striking aspects of Egyptian culture was the fashion. I’m not talking about New York or Milan runway fashion, I’m talking burkas and hijabs – the various Muslim head-coverings for women. This post really needs photos, but my camera battery is dead so I can’t get at mine and I’m not sure I took that many anyway because I thought it might be rude. So you’ll have to just imagine…
From what I gathered there were 5 different levels of women’s coverings. We’ll give them completely arbitrary names because I really have no clue what they would be called. The first is the most liberal, modern and “Western” of them all: the simple scarf covering the head, possibly pinned around the face to keep it in place. (There is no hair showing with any of these.) The women in this group wear what we would call normal clothes; jeans, long-sleeves (arms are covered), and cute shoes. There is some fashion in this as the scarf usually matches the shirt, can be many fabrics including cotton or silk, may have a pattern or design, and the outfit is completed with a cute purse. This outfit was not new to us as we had seen it a few times at universities in the States – although then we thought that it meant they were VERY conservative…quite the opposite. In fact – this head covering is really quite practical when you are in the dessert as it keeps the wind and sand out of your hair and keeps your head out of the sun. Imagine Mary riding the donkey, head covered, this might have been at least in part because of the weather. It is brutal! (PS – she rode the donkey to Cairo…that is a really long way! And it is all dessert and mountains!)
The second level is the hijab. This scarf is more tightly wrapped and pinned in place, almost always a solid color, but it can be a more lively color. The woman has her arms and legs covered like the first more modern dress; but the distinction is that she is wearing a long skirt. (This is strikingly similar to orthodox jews or Amish women, but with a head covering all the time.) These women also had purses and noticeable shoes – meaning they seemed “normal” and didn’t stand out in a good or bad way (although we did see at least 2 younger women in this category sporting some Converse shoes!).
The third level is a woman with a hijab, long sleeves and a “dress.” The hijab is one solid (usually more dull) color and wrapped tightly, resting on her shoulders like a scarf. This time the dress is one solid color and very loose fitting. In the first and second levels the clothes still take some shape. You might get a glimpse of pants as she walks or sits down, but she is fully covered up and the only skin you are going to see is her hands and her face. You might see a purse, but you won’t notice the shoes.
The fourth level is very close to the third, but a little bit more conservative. The hijab is longer and draped down the back, almost to the elbows and down to the stomach. The woman has no shape as everything is very loose and flowing (this also helps with air flow underneath as it is SOOOO hot!). These are outfits are solid colors, usually dull or dark with the most frequent color being black. You won’t notice her shoes and she doesn’t have a purse.
The fifth and final category is completely covered in black cotton/polyester cloth, with a burqa or niqab that has only the eyes showing. According to Islamic law these women can only go out with a male escort – either their husband or brother or cousin (note: I am note an expert…this is what I’ve heard). They don’t have a purse or if they do it is black like their clothes. We saw one woman in the airport who even had on black gloves! And we saw another in the market with a black purse…on top of her head. I really wanted the picture but we were in a car and the battery was dead.
Now I consider myself to be a pretty conservative dresser 90% of the time - but even I couldn't wear the cute clothes I'd brought along because they were too scandalous! Black shorts, a sundress, heels, and tank tops were out of the question unless we were on the cruise ship. So imagine me in my skinny jeans (this means they are tight) with a blouse and a scarf walking through the market in 100 degree weather. Hot! I felt like the princess from Aladin covering up my head as I bumped into the sword-swallower in the market...except he was trying to sell me a lamp and not swallow a sword.
It was really interesting! I can definitely say that we do not live in the Middle East – but we went to the Middle East for our honeymoon. But that isn’t really true. We technically live in the Middle East but it is much more like New York or Miami, and we technically went to Africa, but it was the North Africa and the capital of the “Muslim world,” so much more Middle Eastern. More stories to come...
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