International Living, Marriage & Travel

What are some rule you have to follow, which middle east country has the most striated rules. If I ever got in trouble there how can I seek aid.

Well each Middle Eastern country has its own local culture so it's hard to speak for all of them.
Also these things seem to change quite frequently, for example the Middle East was much more relaxed before the Arab Spring.

The people there are actually very warm, outgoing and humorous, known for their hospitality. But you cannot walk all over that hospitality, graditute from your part is a given and you are expected to respect everything you are given even if you paid for it. So don't go 'crazy tourist' and e.g. drunkenly destroy the hotel room.

There are some cultural good manners among all arabs. For example you're not supposed to use your left hand when doing important gestures, like saluting someone, handshaking or eating. Also if you like to sit crossleged try not to show the people across the table the soles of your shoes, because the sole of the foot is considered dirty and thereore it's rude to show it right at someone's face.

When buying something in the middle east the seller will often give you a steep price to get you to try and bargain with him/her. This is a commonplace interraction between seller and buyer and is an indirect form of socializing. Some sellers might get offended/worried if you immediately go for the buy without bargaining, both because it deprives them of this interraction as well as it might give them the impression that they should have given you a steeper price.

While they are very humorous and will propably forgive slight errors in your manners if you show you didn't mean offense, I wouldn't recommend trying to pull a religious joke.