Place
Cairo
A perfume seller who won't give back the change, a shoe clean paid at thirty times the going rate, a Salah shirt bought at the factory for £10, and a camera left unattended for twenty minutes that nobody touches.
Cairo
The capital of Egypt, and the city with the reputation Harry has come to test. His first impressions, a few hours in, are that it is not as bad as he was expecting at all — loud, bustling, architecturally striking, and rough around the edges in a way he says he likes. His comparison is India.
Obs: the video carries an eSIM sponsor read. Only the travel content is recorded.
The perfume shop
The first thing that happens to him, straight out of the hotel, and he calls it some of the craziest bargaining he has ever experienced.
The sequence, which is worth having in order:
- A man on the street gives him a business card and two passers-by independently vouch for him. Harry goes in.
- Lotus flower oil, sold as the ancient flower of Egypt. The quoted unit price is 10 Egyptian pounds a gram; a 30-gram bottle is 300.
- He is talked down to 250 — with “money is not everything” repeated throughout.
- A second bottle is opened before he has agreed to anything, then a third — gardenia — poured while he is saying no.
- “No money more” — the second bottle is declared free, then priced at two for 500, then two for 400.
- He pays 400 and 150 change is owed. The seller offers 100 back plus the extra bottle.
- Harry refuses, repeatedly and calmly, and asks for the whole 150. He gets it.
His summary afterwards is admiring rather than annoyed: he has never seen selling like it.
The shoe clean
He asks the price and is told to pay whatever he likes.
- The going rate is around 70 Egyptian pounds.
- Harry pays 2,000 — because they offered him the honest price, so they get the honest reward.
- It backfires immediately. Others in the group want a share, and when he tries to split the money the argument that follows is about who actually cleaned the shoes. Harry’s line: this is what happens when you try to be nice.
Obs: the shoe cleaner tells Harry he is fifteen. He is not identified further here.
The same conversation contains the flattest exchange in the video: asked what he thinks of England, the answer is that he doesn’t like it. Harry’s response is that he’s allowed his own opinion, and moves on.
The market
Khan el-Khalili and the streets around it — old cobbled lanes now given over almost entirely to tourist goods.
The Salah shirt. Harry asks for a Mohamed Salah top and is walked several streets to what the seller calls the factory.
- 600 Egyptian pounds, about £10, described as one price and no discount.
- Harry says it is more than the local price and takes it anyway, because it’s still £10.
- Everybody in Egypt supports Liverpool, because of Salah.
The fried lotus dessert. Pastry deep-fried to order and drowned in whatever sauce you name — Nutella, white chocolate, strawberry, caramel, Lotus.
- 75 Egyptian pounds, which Harry identifies as the tourist price and pays.
- Flour and oil, and nothing more complicated than that.
- The seller gets through around five kilos a day.
- His verdict: soft inside, crunchy outside, and unlike anything he has eaten.
A note on filming: he says on the way in that he tries not to film any woman without her permission.
Street performers
A group with drums call him over, play for him, and tell him it is free. Harry insists on giving them 200 Egyptian pounds. His comment is that he wasn’t expecting an honest one and got it.
It is also where he makes the general observation: Egyptians do not take no for an answer. He watches them spot an opening and go for it, and treats it as persistence rather than as a con.
The name necklace
Silver, with his name in Arabic, made to order.
- 250 Egyptian pounds, which he says is far more reasonable than expected.
- Thirteen minutes, and he is sent for a coffee while it’s made.
The detail he flags afterwards: he left his camera out and unattended the entire time and nobody went near it.
Harry’s tips
- Insist on your change. Politely, repeatedly, and don’t accept a bottle instead.
- Nothing handed to you is free. Say no before it’s opened, because after it’s opened you’re negotiating.
- Pay properly when someone says “whatever you like” — but expect the crowd that follows.
- Buy the football shirt. £10 at the factory, and it’s the fastest way into a conversation anywhere in the country.
- Accept the tourist price on street food. It’s a pound.
- Ask before filming women.
Source
Videos featuring Cairo
Linked from
- Giza Place
- Egypt Country
- Be assertive with touts Tip
- Insist on paying Tip
- Reward honesty and hard work Tip
- The gift that isn't free Tip