Sheets of papyrus painted with scenes from temples or tombs are equally ubiquitous, though much of it is actually made from banana leaves - genuine papyrus should be able to withstand crumpling without cracking (though paint won't!). But the important thing is whether you like the painting. Prices range from around £E2 to £E80, depending on size, intricacy, the quantity of gold paint used and where you're buying: places around the Pyramids, in big hotels and the Khan tend to be overpriced; if you've got the stomach to bargain them down, itinerant street vendors give better deals. You can see papyrus-making demonstrated at Dr Ragab's Papyrus Institute.

Copies of prints by David Roberts and other nineteenth-century illustrators also make nice souvenirs. For cheap poster-sized or postcard editions, check out Reader's Corner and Lehnert and Landrock; costlier original engravings are sold at L'Orientalist. Old Egyptian stamps , coins and postcards can also be found at 33 Sharia Abdel Khaliq Sarwat, among other places.

Selling fake antikas (with spurious certificates) is an old tradition. Genuine pharaonic, Coptic or Islamic antiques cannot be exported without a licence from the Department of Antiquities. Old reproductions and foreign-made antiques are a safer bet. Dealers in the Khan include Lotus Palace (7 Sharia Khan el-Khalili), and Oriental Souvenirs and Ahmed Dahba (both at 5 Sikket al-Badestan).

Markets
Although the bazaars deal in more exotic goods, Cairo's markets provide an arresting spectacle, free of the touristy slickness that prevails around the Khan el-Khalili bazaar in Islamic Cairo. Watch how people bargain over the humblest items...
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Film and processing
Outside of big hotels, you can buy film fairly cheaply. Actina (4 Sharia Talaat Harb; Mon-Fri 9am-8pm; tel 757-5236) and Photo Greenwich (16 Sharia Adly; tel 360-6990) both sell Kodachrome and Agfa film for £E12 and also offer photo-processing and printing . Other outlets where you can get film developed include: Kodak Shop, 20 Sharia Adly (Mon-Sat 9am-9pm; tel 394-2263); and Best Foto/Misr 2000, 6 Sharia Alfi Bey (daily except Fri 9am-9pm; tel 574-3975). Developing is £E4 at the Kodak Shop, £E2.50 at Best Foto/Misr 2000; both charge 60pt per print (9x13), and £E2 extra to get them done in an hour. Don't risk your film at the Kodak kiosk on 26th July Street. For where to get passport photos.

Brass and copper ware
Egyptian craftsmen have been turning out brass and copper ware for over a thousand years, and aside from the tourist trade there's still a big domestic market for everything from banqueting trays to minaret finials. Amongst the items favoured as souvenirs are candlesticks, waterpipes, gongs, coffee sets, embossed plates and inlaid or repoussé trays (the larger ones are often mounted on stands to serve as tables). All of these are manufactured and sold within the Khan, particularly along the stretch of Sharia al-Muizz just before Qalaoun's complex, known as the Coppersmiths Bazaar ( Souk al-Nahhasin).

Although the Khan offers the best range of decorative pieces, it's cheaper to buy Turkish coffeepots and hookah pipes between the Ghuriya and the Bab Zwayla, along Ahmed Maher, or from workshops on Sharia Khulud and other streets around Ramses. Be sure that anything you intend to drink out of is lined with tin or silver, since brass and copper react with certain substances to form toxic compounds. Test waterpipes for leaky joints and remember to call them sheeshas or narghiles rather than hubbly bubblies (which signifies hashish-smoking). Two shops facing the Barquq complex specialize in waterpipes, backgammon boards and other coffee house sundries; proceeding north from there up Sharia al-Muizz, there's a passage on the left just before the Sabil-Kuttab of Abd al-Rahman that is full of shops selling pipes. Expect to pay £E30-70, depending on the size; the ones with stainless steel rather than brass fittings are better made and more durable.

Gold and silver jewellery
Most Egyptians still regard jewellery as safer than money in the bank; for women, in particular, it constitutes a safety net in case of divorce or bereavement. Pharaonic, Coptic and Islamic motifs, Bedouin, Nubian and oasis designs, work from Syria, Jordan, Yemen and Arabia - Cairo's jewellers stock them all, and can also make pieces to order.

Gold and silver are sold by the gramme, with a percentage added on for workmanship. Bullion prices fluctuate but Egyptian wages remain low. The current ounce price of gold is printed in the daily Egyptian Gazette; one ounce equals about 28 grammes. Barring antiques, all gold work is stamped with Arabic numerals indicating its purity: usually 21 carat for Bedouin, Nubian or fellaheen jewellery; 18 carat for Middle Eastern and European-style charms and chains. Sterling silver (80 or 92.5 percent) is likewise stamped, while a gold camel in the shop window indicates that the items are gold-plated brass .

Carpets, tent-making, appliqué and basketwork
Pure wool kilims and knotted carpets are an expensive (and bulky) purchase in any country, so serious buyers are advised to read up on the subject before spending hundreds of pounds on one. As most Egyptian kilims (pile-less rugs) and knotted carpets have half as many knots (16 per centimetre) as their Turkish counterparts, they should be significantly cheaper - especially the ones made from native wool rather than the high-grade imported stuff used in finer kilims. Prices posted in downtown stores like Omar Effendi (42 Sharia Sherif) and Abdou Moustafa (23 Sharia Sherif) can give you an idea of what to aim for in the bazaar.

Clothing, bellydancing costumes and leatherwork
As a cotton-growing country with a major textiles industry, Egypt is big on retail clothing . Smartly dressed Cairenes are forever window-shopping along Talaat Harb and 26th July Street (downtown), Sharia al-Ahram (Heliopolis) and Arab League Street (Mohandiseen), to name only the main clusters of boutiques (open till 9-10pm). For those who want familiar labels, there are branches of Benetton at 41 Sharia Qasr el-Nil and at 11 Sharia Hassan Saby in Zamalek, plus several more at other locations around the city. Staider threads can be had in department stores like Chemla and Cicurel on the downtown section of 26th July Street, or Omar Effendi at 2 Talaat Harb and 25 Sharia Adly (Mon-Fri 9.30am-2pm & 5-8.30pm, Sat 9.30am-2.30pm). The cheapest outlets for clothes are street vendors along the Muski.

Glass, ceramics and precious stones
Primitive factories on Haret al-Birkedar just outside the Northern Gates still produce Muski glass , a form of hand-blown glassware popular in medieval times, which is nowadays made from recycled bottles. Recognizable by its air bubbles and extreme fragility, Muski glass comes in five main colours (navy blue, turquoise, aquamarine, green and purple) and is fashioned into inexpensive glasses, plates, vases, candle holders and ashtrays - sometimes painted with arabesque designs in imitation of enamelled Mamluke glassware. In the bazaar, the main stockist is Saiyid Abd al-Raouf (8 Sikket Khan el-Khalili), but it's better to go to the factory, where you can see the glass being blown, and also get a better price. The main one is called Al-Daour, and can be found by leaving the walled city through Bab al-Futuh, crossing the main road (Sharia Galal) and finding Haret al-Birkedar about 50m to your right behind the first row of shops; the factory is more or less at the end of it.

A very different kind of glassware is the elegant handmade perfume bottles sold in the bazaars. The cheaper ones are made of glass and are as delicate as they look (£E2-10). Pricier versions (costing about four times more) are made of Pyrex and are a little sturdier (they should also be noticeably heavier).

Mashrabiya and inlay work
With little demand for the huge latticed screens that once covered nearly every window in Cairo, modern mashrabiya work is usually confined to decorative screens and table stands (see "Brass and copper ware"). Generally made of imported red birch or oak, they consist of scores or hundreds of turned wooden beads, joined by dowels and glue, without nails. The technique is also applied to Koran stands (which make splendid magazine racks), the fancier ones being embellished with mother-of-pearl, bone and other inlays.

Inlaid boxes come in all sizes, from cigar holders to multi-drawer jewellery caskets. Small boxes cost upwards of £E7; prices increase with size and quality of workmanship. Backgammon boards ( thowla - pronounced "dow-la") come in two broad varieties: very simple, with minimal (often poor-quality or plastic) inlay, for around £E35; and larger sets made of hard woods, intricately inlaid with mother-of-pearl, bone or ivory. A multiple box set can cost £E140 or more.

Many backgammon sets have chessboards on the back; chesspieces in every style and material are widely available, but good backgammon counters are hard to find. Now that Egypt has stopped legal imports, fresh supplies of ivory (whose sale is not illegal) are smuggled in from Sudan and Kenya, where poachers are decimating elephant herds. If that's not sufficient reason to boycott ivory products, numerous countries (including Australia, Britain, Germany and the USA) prohibit their importation. Inlaid or carved bone makes an acceptable, cheaper substitute.

Spices and perfume
As the world's main spice entrepôt from Fatimid times until the eighteenth century, Cairo remains the largest market for perfumes and spices in the Arab world, with some of its business still conducted in bazaars.

Musical instruments and recordings
Cairo is a good place to buy traditional musical instruments such as the kanoon (dulcimer), oud (lute), nai (flute), rabab (viol), mismare baladi (oboe), tabla (drum), ...
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Books and newspapers
Egypt is the world's largest publisher of Arabic books and newspapers, so those who know the language can find almost any type of Arab literature in Cairo. Aside from magazine and paperback stalls along the downtown thoroughfares, good sources...
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Booze and cigarettes
For those who enjoy tippling in their room or want a cache for consumption in "dry" parts of Egypt, there are several places which sell alcohol. Downtown liquor stores , run by Greek or Maronite Christians, maintain a low...
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