Bartering, Mummies, and Flare!

I did a lot of bartering today and would have to say I’m pretty good at it. We told the taxi man, Ali, we wanted to go to the Egyptian Museum then the market and I through out 100 pounds. Before going out we had already discussed we would pay 150 so I started it super low. He then explained just to the museum would be 100 but for both it would be 150 which was exactly what I thought he’d say! I spent the day with Christy and Robbie which was a different group for me.

Today the big group was going to the Pyramids, Egyptian Museum, and Market but I had already done the pyramids so I just wanted to do the last two. When searching for someone to go with Christy and Robbie were the only one I could fine interested.

The museum was filled with coffins, mummies, papyrus, and statues. I really liked looking at the papyrus covered with intricate hieroglyphics. I wish I knew the stories they told. Everything is just so detailed; all the carvings in the mummy cases and in the stones and just so awesome. It is crazy how much details the put into something for a dead person. In one room Robbie asked if he could take pictures. The guard said yes so I snapped a few shots as well.

Turns out photos you are not allowed but he just said yes, let us, and then asked for money!

This sign was on the wall which I found highly amusing:


The mummies were pretty creepy and disgusting but cool seeing at the same time. They had some mummified animals too which were also creepy especially since you could make out with it was. There were dogs and a random crocodile.

I got to see King Tut’s coffins and mask which were pretty awesome. He had his own room to showcase his fabulous treasure. They were so much fancier than the rest of the things in the museum and were in such impeccable shape. They looked flawless as if they were just made.

After two hours of gazing at mummies we were done so we called up our chauffer to pick us up. We then had him bring us to the market. It was extremely hot out so walking in the blazing sun was pretty killer. It is definitely worthwhile to wait until night time to go to the market. He dropped us off on the other side of the street so we had to brave crossing a very busy road. Man, was it scary; the cars just come so fast and don’t show any signs of breaking.

Christy is too nice and had trouble dealing at the market. She had a hard time responding in a firm manner that she didn’t want things. I was leading and when little children would come up and offer me a necklace or something, I would say no and they would move on. She would be like, “Oh well it is very pretty but I don’t think so.” Or “You are really cute but I don’t need that.” She showed weakness and they picked up on it so they would then walk with her for like 10 minutes. She kept saying how bad she felt for them all. She ended up buying a scarf from one of these children!

The first part of the market is neat and has lots of Egyptian looking trinkets and souvenirs but the bulk of the market is just really seedy and full of low budget crap. Also as you walk you just grow tired of pushing through the crowd on the dirty street with men hissing at you and as the merchandise grow less interesting. So we turned around and went back to the good section.

This guy sells things right off his head!
We walked by a couple stands selling scarves. I wanted to get some new ones but up close I was disappointed to see that they all looked so crappy and not that pretty. I stopped at one stand and found one that I thought was nice. The man wanted to sell it for 65. I told him I would give him 20. He acted slightly insulted by this price but it was what I was willing to pay. He lowered it to 50, 45, 40, 35 and said that was his last offer. I said no thanks then and started walking away. As I was walking he started yelling 30 but I shook my head. He then went down to 25 and finally 20. I turned back with a smile because I won.

Then I wanted to get some of the mother of pearl boxes. They have them at so many palces and I was being so picky. I went to probably ten places to see each ones selection. I just wanted to get the best ones. Some of the patterns just weren’t as colorful or pretty or had imperfections.

So after that Robbie and Christy wanted to go to the mall to eat at an American place and do a movie. I was starved since we hadn’t ate all day since we’d been out and it was now 4:30 so I said that was fine. Then Robbie wanted TGI Friday which wasn’t my top choice but I just wanted to eat. Turns out it was just put in and wasn’t even open yet. The hostess explained to us that they were doing test run so if we were interested they could try out their services on us and we’d eat for free! Sweet!! Can’t beat free food!

I was super excited because they had on the old school striped shirts and suspenders with buttons that I thought were the coolest when I was little. The whole staff also would be fun dances. The food was very mediocre but free so I can’t really complain.