Buying gold in a foreign country may seem a bit daunting, but believe me it’s about the most fun I can imagine.

Two summers ago, I came down with a terrible case of kidney stones when Kelly and I were in Istanbul. I had planned to buy some 22 kt. earrings for a friend and in the middle of bargaining at the Grand Bazaar, I had an attack and had to spend the next two days in bed.

On our recent trip to Egypt, I saw that my flight was going through Istanbul and I thought, “well, why not stop there for a day or two and get those earrings?”

By the time the trip came around, I had a list of items friends and family wanted and a few items for myself.

Here are my six tips for buying gold.

1. Be ready to spend some time shopping. This is not a quick in and out. You will need to wander around the bazaar – which is huge — and look in windows to see what you want.

2. Bargaining is required. You are not going to pay the price they first quote. You need to chat, smooze and haggle. Don’t be intimidated.  It’s really fun and a great way to get to know the culture of the bazaar. You will find some nice folks, some sleezy salesmen and some people you will want to come back to trip after trip. And yes, they are mostly men.

3. When you find something you like, ask for one of the store’s cards, have them weigh the piece and give you a price. Write that on the card and take a picture of the piece. Then you can shop from store to store and compare what you like. All the pricing is based on weight, no matter what they tell you. So use what you learn as you shop to compare equal weights.

4. Find out the karat gold. You’ll find 14 kt, 18 kt, 22 kt and 24 kt. Of course prices will get more expensive as the karat goes up. So compare like to like.

5. When bargaining, be kind, firm and smile. It is a bit of a dance and the sellers enjoy the game. So work them.

6. Don’t limit your shopping to the main corridors of the bazaar. Some of the best bargains are at the smaller stores located off the main drag. I found a great “wholesale” chain guy there. I had been shopping for a chain in several of the bigger stores and finally when I couldn’t find anything, I was referred to the chain guy. My salesman took me directly to the store and I found what I wanted – a 40” chain — for about a third what I would have paid in the States.

I had a full day at the bazaar, came back to the hotel and texted my sister a pix of what I bought. She saw the chain and said, “was it pricey?” I said, “no, do you want one?” And back to the bazaar I went to buy one for her. When I got there, I knew I’d never find the chain guy on my own, so I went back to the original store and asked them to take me to the chain guy. They did and another purchase was made.

An interesting aside, while shopping for gold, I found two miniature paintings I bought for $200. I asked the shopkeeper for his card. Since he had just moved into his shop, he didn’t have any. So I gave him my email address so he could send me contact information. When I got back to the hotel between runs, he had emailed me and told me I overpaid him by $50. (I had given him crisp $50 bills and one had stuck to another.)

He wanted to give me my $50 back.

How often does that happen? So this guy is a keeper and I eventually found my way back to his store and got my $50 bill back.