THE CITY OF LUXOR
The city of Luxor is located in upper Egypt and was built on the ancient site of Thebes. It has a population of two hundred thousand people. All of them are hawkers or work one way or the other in the tourist industry. There are three distinct areas in the city of Luxor; Luxor city with the temple of the same name, the village of Karnak with temple and the necropoles of ancient Thebes.

Once we made it to Luxor and got off the plane and got our bags, we were met by a guide and were taken to a ship where we would spend the next five days sailing down the Nile and stopping off at different temples to look at them. All of the major temples are close to the Nile River. Since the airplane from Cairo was delayed we had a few hours before we were schedualed to do anything so I took the opportunity to take a walk and maybe take some pictures. I stepped out the door of the ship and felt the warmth of the sun immediately. I had on a hat and I had some sunglasses so I was prepared. I walked up the stairs to street level. Idealy this was the kind of day where you would want to stay inside and huddle around the air conditioner, but I was in Egypt. I just had to bear the heat and do some sightseeing. I started walking down the side walk when a guy across the street with a horse and buggy yelled over to me and asked if I wanted a ride. That sounded good. I wouldn't have to break out in a sweat and this guy would take me anywhere I wanted to go. I got in his buggy. The driver was a man of about forty years old
Tourist Boat on the Nile He was wearing the traditional garb that Egyptian men wear called a galabea. It is an ankle length, loose fitting, light colored garment with long sleeves. I told the driver that I just wanted to go around town a little so I could take some pictures and maybe stop somewhere and buy some Egyptian music. I seemed to be the only one from the boat that seized this opportunity when we had this unexpected lapse in time where we had a few hours of free time. I didn't see anyone else leave the boat. Maybe they were all unpacking. The driver wanted to take me to a bazaar. I said ok, that would give me a chance to buy a few souvenirs right off the bat so I would have to do it later. There were quite a few drivers on horse and buggy going passed us so I took quite a few pictures of them. They were all emptly. My driver felt good that he had a customer. He took me to a store about a mile away.

HAGGELING
I walked in the store and the place was literally stuffed with merchantise on every shelve from floor to ceiling but there wasn't a soul there except me. It was quite a big store. It had a large room in back and also a basement. There was a table between the two rooms near a door where three men in their thirties or forties and a teenage about fourteen playing some kind of a board game. I could hear them talking. The game must have been very intense because every once in awhile there would be a burst of excited talking followed by silence and consentration. Then the proprietor came over to me when he saw me. He looked to be a man in his fifties. I sensed that he owned the place.
"May I help you"?
"Yes". I said. "I'm looking for some Egyptian music".
"What kind of Egyptian music"?
I have recently been introduced to some music back in the States when I was anticipating coming to Egypt. Someone at an Egyptian store in Seattle recommemded the music of a female artist by the name of Um Kathum. She is a national treasure in Egypt. She used to hold a concert once every two months or so when she was alive, and during her concerts there would be no crime commited in the country. This is how popular she was and still is and how much people respected her. I bought a couple CD's before I came on this trip and learned to love her music.
"Um Kathum". I said.
He scratched his head for a minute and paused and told me that he didn't have any CD's, that he had some at his other store. He called into the other room and a kid about 14 years old came in.
He instructed the boy in Egyptian and told him to get a CD and bring it back.

So the kid left and the proprietor immediately began to try to interest me in buying some of his other merchandise while I was waiting for the kid to returen with the CD. First he offered me a cup of tea. I accepted. One of the men at the table was called over to get the tea. In a few minutes the tea came in a small decorative cup. I sipped while the proprietor began showing me other things.

From the way I see it the standard way to buy things in Egypt is they tell you a price and then you are supposed to make a counter offer. If they don't like your counter offer they may give another price. You go on like this until the buyer and seller comes to an agreement of what price the item will be sold for. This isn't the way we do it in America. We are conditioned to pay the price that is on the tag and that's it.

I had to be different and so I made my own way of bartering with him which probably ticked him off. He was trying to sell some little amulet of scarabs. They are beetles which are very sacred in Egypt. The price he gave me was too high so instead of giving him a counter offer I didn't say anything. I just let him keep talking. I wasn't playing by the rules and he didn't like it. Meanwhile the kid came back with the CD. I wanted to buy it so I pulled out my money and paid for it. When he realized that I was no longer interested in the amulets he gave me a very low price on the amulets. I bought them. I need practice on hagggeling. Maybe I'll get it right next time.

SCARABS
Here is a little bit of history about scarabs in Egypt. The scarab or beetle form of amulet was the most popular protective charm in ancient Egypt. It had powerful solar energy. The beetle lays its eggs in a ball of dung which it rolls on the ground with its four legs in motion the same way the sun follows its path through the solar system. When the eggs hatch new life springs forth from seemingly dead matter and life is renewed and continues on. The ancient Egyptians noticed this and the beetle became very sacred to them.

Scarab