Chapter 1183: Guide

Bedouins were ancient nomads who had lived in deserts for generations, chasing after water and life. They originally lived in an Arabian peninsula and were considered a side branch of Arabians, or “non-classical Arabian.” They’d started to expand towards other areas due to war or unrest, but they had kept to the deserts still.

There were mainly four kinds of Bedouins that resided in Egypt. First were the western Bedouins. They still maintained their ancient lifestyle and were closest to how they lived thousands of years ago. The second were those living near the Red Sea. They retained some of their habits, but they were influenced by current technology.

The third kind stayed in the northern shore of Egypt. They were more modern, living along the Port of Mersa Matruh and Alexandria Port, their lifestyle pretty much identical to the local Egyptians’. Lastly were the Bedouins that lived in the desert oasis, making a living through agriculture and occasionally as guides for recreational or expedition teams.

In summary, a portion of Bedouins insisted on continuing their heritage and had no intention of changing, while others had a longing for metropolitan life due to their exposure to modern technology.

Salem was clearly the latter. Having seen the prosperous outer world, he refused to go back to his primitive life back in the desert, where they kept their heads low and showed their backs to the sun.

When Zhang Zian heard that Salem was a Bedouin, a thought formed in his head. Professor Wei Kang had wanted to employ a Bedouin to be their guide for their expedition in the desert.

Salem was sitting on the rocks looking dejected. He complained continuously about how behind and lacking his tribe’s living conditions were, as well as how ridiculous those rules were for stopping them from keeping up with the times and how boring the repetitive days of primitive life were…

“Salem, you said you’re Bedouin?” Zhang Zian confirmed.

Salem raised his head, his features etched in pain. “Yes, our tribe stays near the Siwa Oasis, but I would rather not be a Bedouin or not have left the tribe at all.”

Zhang Zian had no time nor interest to listen to his teenage angst. He’d even been troubled by why he wasn’t the heir of a rich or powerful family. “Salem, I have a thing I would like to share with you—I’m not just some tourist, I have come here with China’s Binhai University’s expedition team to conduct a series of on-site and outdoor research.”

Salem listened, all ears.

“Two days from now, we’re entering the great desert of the west, and we want to find a local who is familiar with the desert to be our guide,” Zhang Zian continued. “So I wanted to ask you for a favor. Do you know anyone reliable who can help us?”

Zhang Zian didn’t bet all of his hope on this young teen, but he could at least have him as a reference.

Salem replied without even a thought. “Jeff, you saved my life, so I’m willing to do everything I can to help! If you want to enter the desert, any Bedouin in my tribe can be an excellent guide!”

It was better to just treat these words of self-praise with a grain of salt. They were just about as trustworthy as someone who said every single Chinese person could play ping-pong.

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Zhang Zian nodded. “Then what is your suggestion? Which person is more experienced? If you could give me a few candidates, that would be a huge help.”

Salem hummed, “If we’re talking about experience, my uncle Nabari is the most experienced in my tribe. He has entered the desert by himself countless times, and he has safely guided tourists like you into and out of the desert several times. People have said that he’s the only person that can enter the desert without any food or water and still come out alive!”

He was excitedly describing his uncle’s heroic acts, describing every bit of detail with a smattering of exclamations, going on and on about how amazing he was. Even though there were definitely exaggerations, he was able to speak clearly of the details, and it didn’t seem to be made up on the spot.

As for calling him “uncle,” there was no reason to think that Salem was trying to promote his own family member. Most Bedouins married within the tribe, and almost half of the people in a tribe were connected by blood relations. Any random adult male was Salem’s uncle.

Zhang Zian gave it a thought. As he didn’t know whether Wei Kang had already found a suitable guide, he decided it wasn’t too appropriate for him to override his authority and make a decision. So he let Salem rest while he sent a message to Wei Kang to explain the situation.

Wei Kang had just finished his exchange today with Cairo University and had just arrived back at the hotel. He explained that he hadn’t settled on a guide when he saw Zhang Zian’s message. He had planned to hire a Bedouin guide anyway, and this would save them a lot of trouble. But, for safety’s sake, he will ask his colleagues at Cairo University to understand more about Nabali. If he’s trustworthy, then they can officially hire Nabali as their guide.

Additionally, Wei Kang had decided that Zhang Zian need not come back to Cairo today. Instead, he could represent the expedition team and try to understand the Bedouin tribe near the Siwa Oasis. He could come back to Cairo and report tomorrow night or the day after.

With Wei Kang’s approval, Zhang Zian felt confident enough to ask Salem more information about Nabari’s age, personality, likes, and dislikes, and felt that this man was suitable enough.

Of course, they couldn’t just make the decision themselves. Nabari might have something important to do, so he couldn’t, or he could be unwilling to bring the expedition team into the desert. These were possibilities. Salem had been working outside for some time and was out of touch with the tribe.

Zhang Zian knew that Salem didn’t want to go back to the tribe, but he still hoped that he could recommend them. It would definitely be easier if someone they knew talked to them.

To make it more attractive, he told him the ludicrous budget that the team had for employing guides—like a daily salary of 200 USD per day after entering the desert, with all materials covered by the expedition team and additional bonuses after completing the expedition.

The moment Salim heard the amount of 200 USD per day, he immediately jumped off the rocks, his eyes wide as saucers as he exclaimed, “200 US dollars? A day? Are you sure it’s not 200 Egyptian pounds?”

Considering the risk and danger that one had to shoulder when entering the desert, 200 USD per day wasn’t a lot, but it was a huge amount in a Bedouin’s eyes. Besides, this was in USD, the globally-used currency, and not some Egyptian pound that always fluctuated to the point of worthlessness!

Zhang Zian answered affirmatively, telling him that he hadn’t heard wrongly. It really was 200 USD a day. This was actually the lowest amount that the expedition team was ready to work out. If the guide was extremely good, they could still discuss furthermore. Safety first.

Salim was so excited that he completely forgot about the fact that he had just escaped from the gates of hell, his head full of nothing but the green of American currency.

200 USD a day—that was 1000 USD for five days! In a place where the average monthly income was not even 1000 RMB, where four-star hotels were 180 RMB a night, how long did he need to work to earn 1000 USD?!