We paid an additional E£1,000 ($US 55.35) on top of the regular E£100 admission, for a 10-minute visit to this extraordinary tomb. A worthwhile visit but sadly, marred by the aggressive tomb "guard" who tried to bully us into paying baksheesh for the pleasure of having him stop following us around. The extra charge to enter the tomb is astronomical in Egyptian terms, marking us as rich Americans. I suspect he decided 2 women were fair game for a shake down.
He miscalculated. He did not expect both of us to shout back, calling his bluff. You want a piece o' me, punk, do ya?
Some days you just run out of patience with this crap.
However, after this downer on an otherwise fascinating trip, I think it's time to sign up for a self defense class. I want to learn kneeing any future bozos like this in the nuts. It's no wonder Luxor has a dubious reputation as "hassle capital" of Egypt. The desperate economic times is being used as an excuse to fleece tourists by whatever method works.
Too many touts are demanding money for absolutely no service beyond annoying us. We've been told that it's "only a dollar" and constantly met with whines of "Why you no buy?" The typical crap you face in countries where a woman saying no politely means so little. So I eventually stopped being polite and just told one guy that it was none of his business. I also wanted to tell him, for good measure, to go to hell, but I didn't. This is my vacation. I don't need to explain anything to intrusive men. You don't see them trying this tactic with the large tour groups of Chinese tourists. I guess the Chinese don't take kindly to touts, nor do many speak Chinese.
It's been great to have a traveling companion on this trip. Doing this trip as a solo woman traveler would've worn me out a lot faster. However two independent women travelers can tag team the irritant and neutralize him.
Sent from my iPhone
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