Luxor Tourist Trap Tips by chigna

your guide, taxi driver or new best friend will take you to one or both of these places at least once on your visit. They are interesting but intimidating places.

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At Least Do This: papyrus 'institute/museum/factory'
first they will show you how the stuff is made. This is the best bit..enjoy it if you havent managed to get out of entering the place by claiming you have all the papyrus you could ever need. Unless you actually want to buy any, and they do make nice souveniers and they are genuine, not banana leaves, here, claim the above...you have some....

alabasta factory.
the only place i ever felt pressured into buying anything, then the sales man moaned i hadnt spent very much and then complained i hadnt given him a big enough tip.
i did not unpack the carefully wrapped package of stauettes until i returned home. There were 3 missing and the remaining ones were not the ones we had choosen. Nefatiti's nose was straight on the one we chose!
Advice. Stay in the van/coach/taxi and if you do buy anything, check them wrapping it, or unwrap it before you leave the shop.
Alternative: the alabasta is only a few pence dearer from the shops....and if all else fails, buy it and any other soveniers from the airport departure lounge...its fixed price and wonderfully easy...lol

Nubian Tattoos or henna tattoos are a big con!!!!
Anyone remember the hair wrapping craze a few years ago...well this is the new one.

The tattoos are not pure henna as they are black...henna is dark brown/red. They also fade really quicky and are grossly overpriced.
They seem to be everywhere in Luxor, even at the airport.
The tattoo artist at the hotel was over chargin but putting a smaller amount in his receipt book for the hotel. He mispelled my daughters name (Naomi) in arabic so that it read Nomi, a name she hates and was called by all and sundry who read her arm. She also had a dagger through a rose that looked like a skewer through a cabbage...all for £7.50/75LE. Another girl was charged £30/300LE for a large unwanted tattoo which faded the next day. The 2 girls had also been forced to put their hands on the mans thigh, the boys got to put theirs on the table!
After complaining to the manager, the man was fired, especially in light of his fiddling the books and inappropriate behaivour.

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At Least Do This: Easiest thing to do......dont get a tattoo.
This is a lesson we should have learnt but we repeated our mistake at the airport on our journey home and got conned again!!! Having agreed to pay £3/30LE, the artist drew a large cobra in black paint as requested and then announced that it would be £5/50LE as it was a 'new design' then he started to repaint the faded henna tattoo without us asking...and demanded another £5/50LE!!!!!! i paid a further £3 and shouted at him!!!!
This put off several people who had been waiting for their turn....hehehehe
Alternative: Get a friend to use a marker pen