"Do you want to buy some perfume? Arabian Nights, best quality! Do you know what price? Excuse me! Where you going? Come back! Look for free! Are you sure? Are you sure?"

Touts in Egypt are a slick bunch. Egypt is one of the oldest tourist destinations on the planet, and sometimes it seems like everything is set up to take tourist money. Takeaway stands rely on tourists not reading Arabic numbers and charge foreign prices. Scams abound from unreliable tour guides. Taxi drivers may surround you and confuse you while constantly yelling—whether or not you end up taking a taxi, it can be an awful experience.

The cost of living in Egypt is incredibly low—the lowest I experienced in the region. The huge disparity in comparing the cost of my hotel room to the cost of visiting a site relates to the industry's attempt to squeeze every last dollar out of visiting tourists. It's frustrating,,, but it's necessary for the economy, and when I'd imagine what drivers and salesmen went through during the low seasons, and how long the money made in high season had to sustain them, I'd try to be a little more understanding.

The pressure can be hard sometimes—I'd feel like I was a walking ATM to the locals, who were constantly pressing me for baksheesh. Baksheesh is a tip for someone who did essentially nothing, like a guard who points out an obvious hieroglyphic and tells you the name of the depicted pharaoh, or a shwarma meat slicer who will give you a better cut (of what? It's shwarma!) for an extra pound. I'd hand out a little bit here and little bit there, and it all adds up. Baksheesh can be seen throughout the Middle East to some degree, except Lebanon apparently, but I was able to avoid it for the most part outside of Egypt. It is impossible to escape in Egypt—almost everyone who does the most minor helpful thing expects payment.

The hassle from touts is intense, especially in towns with high tour-bus potential like Aswan and Luxor. Here I would experience the most outrageous pricing (although I could bargain down), and the most unrelenting touts who would follow me for blocks, assuring me I could "look for free!" Cairo was more relaxed because it's a city where people actually hold jobs unrelated to tourism. Dahab was the most relaxed, because it's just a chill place. People would attempt to sell me something, I'd say no, and they'd say "Eh. Okay." Shrug. Return to loafing.

I have never been to another country where tourism is as important as it is in Egypt. Tourism is one of the most profitable industries in this impoverished country, with almost 50% of the Egyptian labor force dealing with tourists on a daily basis and relying on them to survive. With terrorist attacks throughout this year on heavily-touristed sites, the tourism industry has taken a big hit, leaving salesmen and camel drivers to hang around tourists with an air of desperation.

After one guard at Luxor Temple had started "guiding" me before I realized it, I knew I would be stuck paying him. So I figured I might as well get a photo out of it. But after I raised my camera, he said "Wait! My friend in photo too!" Thus, I was stuck paying extra baksheesh to someone I hadn't even seen until that moment. One guard in Karnak who took me on an unsolicited tour of the Mut temple tried to get additional baksheesh from me by telling me he had two wives and five children. While I never let myself be guilted into more than 1 or 2 pounds for baksheesh(less if I was irritable), I did think it was possible that he was telling the truth. Egyptian families are big—not many women outside Cairo work, so they rely on a single income, and the salaries are very low. While it does get frustrating after a while, a little baksheesh here and there won't really hurt most tourists at the end of the day.

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