Baksheesh
Baksheesh (or bakshish) refers to small sums of money, tips, or gratuities given in the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa. Originating from Persian, it covers a range of payments from legitimate tipping for services (guides, hotel staff) to small bribes or "sweeteners" used to expedite services, bureaucracy, or provide alms. (Thanks to The University of Google for this definition) Of course I knew about the phenomenon of baksheesh long before visiting Egypt. Over there it seemed that every Egyptian you encountered was after a tip or backhander. I guess it is an endemic feature of their culture. When we visited The Aswan Museum on Elephantine Island, I paid for two entrance tickets. To tell you the truth, I do not think we were given official tickets and suspect that the fellow at the gate had a little fraud game going on - depriving the museum of much needed funds. Once we were in, another Egyptian man just latched onto us to guide us around the small museum...