Luxor Local Customs

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A very amusing incident happened during our visit to the Alabaster factory. After about 15 mts inside I came out from the shop and was watching the craftsmen, then the gentleman sitting with me in the picture came out and asked if I am not buying anything. He then asked me if I am a Muslima? I said I am a Hindu, from India. He again said if I am a Christian? I again said I am a Hindu. Perhaps he had no knowledge about Hinduism, by then a few people gathered and one of them introduced himself, that his mother is from India.
Then again they asked who my Prophet is. I said we have several Gods but the supreme God is Lord Krishna or Lord Vishnu or Lord Rama all the same person as he took several incarnations. Then they said, Isha ( Jesus Christ), Musa ( Moses) , Mohammad. I corrected them; it was Musa, Isha then Mohammad. I also said, I have read the Holy Quran and The Holy Bible apart from our Sri Madbhagwad Gita.
By this time they started taking interest in me and one of them introduced himself that his mother is from India and he has seen the movies of Amitabh Bacchan and Shahrukh Khan. By this time a few people gathered there and invited me to have Tea and Sheesha with them. Again a few people asked me if I was a Muslim after introducing me to a few people that I am from India. I again replied that I am a Hindu but I believe in all religion and have read the Holy Book Quran.
Then the veiled Lady of the house came with two kids and Tea followed by Sheesha, I told her “ Assalam E Aleikum” , and Shukran for the tea. She replied “ Waleikum As Salam”. Also joined an elderly religious man, who came out of the house after, afternoon Prayer. I told them that I remember a few lines of their Prayer and said “ Bismillah hi rahman e rahim”, they all said with me together. Then again I said “ La Ilaha Ill llaha Mohammad Ei Rasul Alllah”, by this time about 15 people all jointly said the prayer including the ladies and were convinced that I am a Muslim. They all shouted together Muslima, Muslima!!! The elderly religious man completed the prayer and we all recited with him. They were very happy and felt like I am part of them. People started embracing me. Then the elderly gentleman after embracing me offered to see my palm to read. He predicted that I shall become a rich man and shall come again to see them within two years. I wanted to know if I am going to get a bigger increment or promotion this year, he said I don’t need to work anymore as I am going to become a millionaire! He also said a few good things about me and my family. ( I deliberately did not take the picture of the ladies and the crowd as it would be rude to them besides I was engaged in getting my palm read)
After a while, our guide Dipti, noticed this and rushed to Rakhi and others in the bus and informed the incident.
Whether, I become a millionaire or not but I would surely like to visit the beautiful people once again. They were so nice people. My little knowledge of Islam, helped me to make new friends.

Its good to be a woman walking around in Egypt, especially Luxor or Aswan. I see men all came out to tell foreign women how beautiful they are.
Ha ha suddenly I was so popular in that place I could not believe it.
I think I got a few proposals while haggling with the merchants.
Most of the time I asked for marriage gifts like 20 camels or all the goodies from their shop plus a few more camels.
They always offer me discount instead & not marry me.
I think they do that as a hobby which I had seen them asking other single women traveling too.

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On our second morning in Luxor, while waiting for our car and driver to accompany us to the necropolis of Thebes, we stepped out of Hotel al-Moudira in the warm rays of the sun. To our surprise, we were happily greeted by a group of five beautiful Egyptian children playing together on the edge of the farm; one girl and four boys, seen in the attached photograph. Shoeless and possessing very little, they seemed the happiest children on Earth. They were keen to practise the few English words in their nascent vocabulary: "hello mister," they shouted, and were most delighted to be photographed. Ahmed, the little smiling one in the middle, was accompanied by his brother to his right and three cousins, whose names I forget. After showing them their picture on the display screen of the digital camera, we gave them a small bag of nuts we had purchased a day earlier. The gift clearly made their day, but our brief interaction with them was the highlight of our trip to Luxor.

Vendors can be pests at times, so a polite way to turn them away is to say "no thankyou" in Arabic. La="no" and "Shukron="thank you", so say, La Shukron. If someone says this to you for some favor, say at the close of a meal, say "Afawan", which basically means "your welcome". Incidentally, "nam" = "yes". The Arabic language is traditionally classified as a semitic, not an indo-european language, so many of the common words can be amusingly contrary to American/European sensibilities. La=no and nam=yes, are two such examples. A recent Arabic friend argues that Arabic is rooted in the same language family as ancient Egyptian.

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The flag of Egypt represents a panel with three equal horizontal strips of red, white and black color. In the middle of the white strip there is a State Emblem of gold color - the eagle with the head turned to the left and the straightened wings.
We saw Egyptian flags on check points of the militarized guard.

Entrance and departure in Luxor are decorated with the picturesque arch. Nearby there is a small park with fountains. There is a check point of the militarized guard. The channel is well visible along the highway leading to the bridge across the Nile.

The head of the state of Egypt is the president elected for 6 years by direct general election. The head of the state is nominated by large powers. He appoints and displaces the government. From 1981 after Anvar Sadat's killing the president of Egypt is Hosni Mubarak. I was interested in Hosni Mubarak's deals with the USSR.

Mubarak visited the USSR in 1950th many times where he was trained in flights on modern types of planes which the Soviet Union was delivering to Egypt. In 1959 he has been appointed by the commander of a squadron of bombers ÒU-16. I know this plane well and was trained in its maintenance in 1970th. In several years he became the commander of the brigade. He has received the high military education in the USSR, in the Academy of Frunze in which he studied in 1964-1965. He speaks Russian not bad, he high appreciates planes of the Soviet manufacture.

Portraits of Mubarak on streets have reminded me Soviet times when we often saw portraits of our states heads in the diversified places as well.

Although English, French, Spanish and German is widely spoken in Egypt it is still beneficial to learn some of the language. The language in Egypt is Arabic. I have got a couple of books on Egypt which have helped me with the pronunciation of the words... as they can be abit of a mouthful. I have got the Lonely Planet guide to Egypt & also the Eyewitness guide to Egypt. Both books have been fantastic.

Hello= As-salama alaykum

Hello (to respond)= Wa alaykum salam

Goodbye (person leaving)= Ma' al salama

Goodbye (person responding)= Alla salkmak (to a man), Alla ysalmich (to a lady), Alla ysalimkum (to a group of people)

Good morning= Sabah al-kheir

Good afternoon/evening= Masa' al-kheir

Good afternoon/evening (to respond)= Masa' an-nur

Goodnight= Tisbah ala'kheir (to a man), Tisbihin ala-kheir (to a lady)

Pleased to meet you= Fursa sa' ida

Yes= Na'am

No= La

Maybe= Mumkin

Please= Min fadlik (to a man) Min fadlich (to a lady)

Thankyou- Schukran

How are you?= Kef Halak?

And one of my favourite Arabic words is "No Problem" which is "Mish Mushkila"
Everything in Egypt is Mish Mushkila even the language.... Its very easy to learn once you've learnt a few basic words.

95% of Egyptian women wear the hijab (hair and shoulder covered) or burka (full body covered except the eyes... some have the eyes covered as well). Some of the younger women wear tight jeans and tops with color-coordinating hijabs, which actually looks pretty darn fashionable. But don't be fooled - Egypt is a strongly conversative Islamic country.

My guidebook said that, in Egypt, western women are basically viewed as being on the same level as prostitutes. And sure enough, at the tourist sites throughout Egypt there are women wearing revealing clothing, showing their legs and cleavage. While this is the sexy standard in the western world, it gives us a bad name in the Arabic countries.

Your best bet is to wear any sort of clothing that covers your arms, legs, shoulders and cleavage area. I heard advice not to wear tight clothing, but I could have definitely gotten away with tighter jeans.

Your hair is fine however you want to wear it. However, I tied mine in a bun and wore a scarf over it, knotted at the back. There are plenty of vendors selling beautiful scarves in Cairo and Luxor - don't pay anything over 20LE for one.

It is definitely possible to be stylish but still modest in Egypt. Do us westerners proud.