Down to important business - Shopping…

Shopping in Egypt is great!

You can buy cotton clothes, shoes, costumes, Bedouin rugs, trinkets, Islamic lamps, leather goods, handbags, music cds, henna, spices, apple tobacco, perfume bottles, perfume oils, Arabic music, DVDs, shishas, fabrics, weavings, ramadan tent fabric and so much more! Khan el Khalili is the best place for trinket shopping, but there are fixed price shops around too.

Tipping

is a way of life in Egypt. It is polite to give 1LE to toilet attendants in hotels, shops and road houses. Porters usually get 10le ($2) for carrying bags to the room. Guides and drivers are also tipped as their wages are low, the easiest way to do this in a group is for each person to give

5le ($1). A small tip goes a long way in Egypt and the people are grateful. It is customary to give a tip of 10% of the bill at a restaurant. It is a good idea to try and keep small change in your wallet at all times for tips.

Bargaining is easy!

Practice your Arabic, smile, have a joke with the shop owners before you start bargaining. When they give you a price, cut down to a third and say - "but its much cheaper in that other shop". If you still don't get your price, say thank you and walk away. This usually works. The trick is to not look too interested. Keep a sense of humour when bargaining at the markets and aim for 50% of initial price. Use your intuition, its usually right. Try not to gush over gorgeous things and give away your enthusiam….

Service charges and taxes

Dining out? Food at restaurants and hotels often carries an additional 22-25% service charge and tax, often this is not shown on the menu price, so be sure to add it in - often it is written in fine print.

Currency

You can withdraw money from most atms with your bank or credit card, in LE (Egyptian pounds) converted at the daily rate. There is usually a bank fee involved. You exchange foreign cash at any bank. Hotels have safes.

Being kind and cheerful always gets you further!

Please "Min fad luk" and Thank you "Shokrun" will get you better service and the Egyptians will say "Ah! You speak Arabic!" At cafes - to call a waiter, say "lau samahkt". Egyptians are friendly, open-hearted and like to joke.