Bargaining in Egypt

By Xie Tian

In Egypt, bargaining is the norm, and there is always one lesson worth remembering.

Haggling over Papyrus Paintings

On a sightseeing trip to the Great Pyramid of Giza, you should never miss a camel ride, or you'll find the trip rather dull and uninteresting.When the driver heard that I wanted to ride a camel, he took me to a farmhouse.An old man in the farmhouse promoted his camels to me with great passion.After hyping them up for a while, he offered me an unacceptable price, 120 US dollars for one ride.“It's too expensive.Give me your bottom price,” I said.

“That is the bottom price! Even if it was my dad who came out of his tomb, I wouldn't give him a discount,” he said, shaking his head resolutely.

Surely his father would never come out of the tomb, yet I knew that I could get a massive discount, so I began to haggle with him.After several feigned negotiation failures, we finally reached a deal: 140 Egyptian pounds (equal to around 70 dollars).

While the uncle was preparing the camel, I looked around the farmhouse.He was selling all sorts of handicrafts in the house.I saw some beautiful papyrus paintings hanging on the wall.Papyrus is the oldest paper in the world, and the papyrus-making technique was lost a long time ago.Later, it was an Egyptian ambassador to China who developed the modern technique of papyrus making.

At that moment, the man came to me, “These are very good paintings.Tutankhamen and Apollo.”

在埃及，砍價是一門必修課，而且總有一堂課會令人印象深刻。

殺價草紙畫

去吉薩看金字塔。駱駝總是要騎一回的，不然太沒風情了。司機得知我想騎駱駝，便把我拉到一戶農家。農家大叔很熱情地向我推銷他的駱駝，一番天花亂墜的介紹之后，給了我一個不可能接受的價格：120 美元騎一次。我說：太貴了，你直接說最低價吧？大叔很堅決地一搖頭：這就是最低價，就算我的父親從墳墓里出來，我也不能給他打一點折扣。

他父親根本不可能從墳墓里出來，我知道折扣可以大大地打，我開始砍價。雙方假意談崩幾次，最后達成一個妥協價：140 埃鎊，約70 美元。

大叔去備駱駝，我順便參觀了一下。他家賣各種工藝品。我發現墻上有幾張草紙畫很漂亮。草紙是世界上最早的紙，工藝失傳很久了，一個埃及前駐華大使重新摸索出來。

正看著，大叔過來向我推銷：這幾張不錯。上面畫的是圖坦卡蒙和太陽神。

我：多少錢？

大叔：這幾張都是精品，不賣的。來，喝杯紅茶吧，這是埃及特產茶葉。

我：（看到茶葉包上寫著“立頓紅茶”）喝茶就不用了，我只是想看看這些畫。

大叔：（想了一想）這些本來是不賣的，但你是我的朋友，既然你那么喜歡，那就1000 埃鎊吧，算是半送給你了。

我：（震驚）什么？1000 埃鎊？太貴了，我的預算只有200 埃鎊。

大叔：（嘆了口氣）咱們是朋友，200 就200 好了，千萬不要告訴別人我給你這么低的價。

我：（二話不說就打了兩折，看來還能更便宜）我說的是預算只有200 埃鎊，那可是我買紀念品的全部預算，200 埃鎊買幾張紙也太貴了。你看，我這里有個小禮物。

我拿出一支圓珠筆遞給大叔，大叔很高興。埃及人特別喜歡中國的圓珠筆和清涼油，這兩樣東西在埃及特別好用。

大叔：好吧，我的朋友。50 埃鎊不能再讓了，因為你是中國人我才給你的。你知道嗎？我有很多中國朋友，我去過上海、香港……

我：你去過香港？

大叔：是啊，那里的長城可真壯觀。

我：（半晌說不出話來，感覺50 埃鎊還是貴了）好吧，這是你的珍藏品，我也不是非買不可，10埃鎊我就拿走，不然就算了。

大叔：朋友，你太讓我失望了。你到底想不想買？

我：想啊，但我不會奪人所愛，如果你不答應，我就騎駱駝去了。

我開始向駱駝走去，大叔走上前阻攔：朋友，再考慮考慮。30埃鎊如何？

我頭也不回地走向駱駝。大叔急了：好吧，10 埃鎊全拿走。

“How much?” I asked.

“They are first-class, but not for sale.Come on, have a cup of tea.This is the local Egyptian tea,” said the uncle.

But on the tea bag, it read “Lipton Black Tea.”

“No, thanks.I just want to have a look at the paintings,” I said.

He thought for a second.“I didn't want to sell them.But you are my friend.Now that I know you like them, I can charge 1000 pounds.This is almost half price,” he said.

“What? 1000 pounds? Are you kidding? My budget is only 200 pounds,” I was shocked.

“Well, we're friends.All right, 200 pounds.It's a deal! But you should never tell others about the offer,” he said with a sigh.

Seeing that he cut down 80% off without any hesitation, I realized that I could get a better offer.“No, no.I'm saying that 200 pounds is my total budget.That's all the money I got for souvenirs.200 pounds for two pieces of paper? That's way too much! Look here, I've got a small present for you,” I said.

I gave a ballpoint pen to the uncle, which made him very pleased.Egyptian people particularly like Chinese ballpoint pens and cooling balm, as both of them are of great use in Egypt.

“Fine, my friend… 50 pounds.Final offer.I give you the offer because you're Chinese.You know, I have many Chinese friends, and I've been to Shanghai, Hong Kong…”

“You've been to Hong Kong?”

“Yes! The Great Wall there looks magnificent.”

I was dumbfounded for a while, still thinking that 50 pounds was expensive.“Well, since this is your valued treasure, and it's not that I must buy it.I'll take them for 10 pounds, or I'll pass,” I said.

“I'm so disappointed, my friend.Do you want to buy them or not?”

“Of course I do, but I don't want to make it hard for you.I'll go riding the camel if you don't accept it.”

So I began to walk towards the camel.“Friend, please wait.How about 30 pounds?” He tried to stop me.

I ignored him and walked straight to the camel.Suddenly, he became anxious, and said, “All right! 10 pounds! Take them away!”

At that moment, I was utterly stunned and depressed.Can you believe it? 1000 pounds was cut down to 10 pounds! So it seemed that even 10 pounds was not a bargain at all.And I was depressed because the rent for the camel ride was obviously a rip-off.Yet I had paid it already.

Camel Dowry

Not only do Egyptian people bid the price up when they sell things, but also when they buy things.The only difference in Egypt is that sometimes they use camels as their currency instead of Egyptian pounds.

Camels in Egypt are mainly imported from Somalia, with one camel costing around three to four thousand Egyptian pounds.That is a fair amount of money for Egyptians.As a developed country in Africa, camels can be measured by paper money in Egypt, while in some other counties where camels or cows are hard currency, it was the other way around.

Similar to the taste of the Chinese people in Tang Dynasty (618-907), the standard of beauty for Egyptians is for women to be plump and voluptuous, with the extra fat indicating wealth.At that time, I was visiting a grand bazaar in Cairo with two girls studying in the UK.There, a sharp-eyed dealer (hereafter refer to Dealer A) noticed that the chubby girl of the two was not wearing a ring on her ring finger.So he came to us, asking her boldly, “Are you married?”

The chubby girl, though inundated with all sorts of unsolicited chitchats and harassment along the way, was pleased somehow.Upon hearing the question, she replied honestly, “Not yet.”

Dealer A, delighted at the answer, asked immediately, “Will you marry me?”

我完全郁悶了。1000 居然可以還到10，看來10 埃鎊也不便宜，郁悶的是駱駝租金肯定貴了，而且都已經付過錢了。

駱駝嫁妝

埃及人不光在賣東西的時候會哄抬價格，買東西的時候也會哄抬價格。只不過埃及的情況比較特殊，有時哄抬價格用的貨幣不是埃鎊，而是駱駝。

埃及駱駝主要從索馬里進口，一頭要三四千埃鎊，對埃及人來說是很多錢了。埃及是非洲發達國家，還能用紙幣來衡量駱駝；有些國家，駱駝或者牛都是堅挺的硬通貨，可以用來衡量紙幣。

埃及人的審美標準和唐朝人類似，都是以胖為美。當時我和兩個在英國留學的女生結伴游覽開羅一處大巴扎。有個商人（這里稱為商人甲）眼睛很尖，看到兩個女生中一個胖胖的手上沒戴戒指，就大膽地過來問：你結婚了嗎？胖女生一路上飽受各種搭訕和騷擾，但也樂在其中。她聽到人家問自己，很誠實地回答：沒呢。

商人甲一聽開心了，馬上就問：你能嫁給我嗎？

女生問：為什么我要嫁給你啊？

商人甲：（非常激動地）你要是嫁給我，我就給你40 頭駱駝當嫁妝。

旁邊另一個商人（商人乙）看不下去了，憑40 頭駱駝就想娶這么胖的一個姑娘，想得美。他跳出來喊道：嫁給我，我給你50 頭。

商人甲：60 頭。

商人乙：70 頭。

商人甲：80 頭。

不到5 分鐘，胖女生的嫁妝已經上漲到200 多頭駱駝，是筆巨款了。她始終沒點頭，但是樣子看起來很陶醉，似乎在享受被人抬價的過程，自身價值感獲得極大滿足。

另一個苗條的女生快崩潰了，她被直接無視了，別說開價，他們連看都沒看她一眼，自身價值遭到徹底否定。激憤之下，她主動詢價，問了一個她一生中最愚蠢的問題：你看我值多少頭駱駝？

商人甲看了她一眼，沒有出價。商人乙想了一下，很勉強地說：20頭。

我們離開巴扎之后，她一天沒有說話，飯量猛增。

（摘自《一步一世界：我走過的最美世界遺產》機械工業出版社）

“But why?” asked the chubby girl.

“If you marry me, I'll give you 40 camels as the dowry,” said Dealer A enthusiastically.

Another dealer (Dealer B) nearby couldn't bear to watch it any more.“40 camels to marry such a chubby lady?! What a wishful thinking!” he stepped forward and said, “Marry me! I'll offer you 50 camels.”

“60,” Dealer A retorted back.

“70,” said Dealer B.

“80,” said Dealer A.

In less than five minutes, the dowry for the girl went up to over 200 camels.That's a real fortune.She looked quite pleased, but never said yes to either of them.It seemed that she was enjoying the price hikes, as if greatly satisfied by the appreciation of her value.

The other slim girl, receiving the cold shoulder all the time, was emotionally at the end of her tether.The dealers barely looked at her, let alone making an offer.Enraged by the fact that her value was utterly denied, she made an enquiry by herself, asking literally the silliest question in her lifetime, “How many camels do you think I'm worth of?”

Dealer A shot a glance at her, but didn't say anything.Dealer B thought for a while, and said almost reluctantly, “20.”

After we left the bazaar, she remained silent for the rest of the day, but her appetite soared.

(FromOne Step, One World: The Prettiest World Heritage Sites I've Been To, China Machine Press.Translation: Zhu Yaguang)