ABU AND UMM Literally "father of" and "mother of", Abu and Umm are used both as honorific titles and also figuratively as a nickname, picking out the salient characteristic or a person or object. They can also be used metaphorically, as in "The Mother of Battles".

ADDRESSES The words for street ( sharia), avenue ( tariq) and square ( midan) always precede the name. Whole blocks often share a single street number, which may be in Arabic numerals.

CHILDREN evoke a warm response, which makes travelling with them easier than one might expect. Most hotels can supply an extra bed and breakfast (which should be supplemented for variety), while baby food and disposable nappies are available at pharmacies and stores in all large towns. Children of any age should enjoy camel and felucca rides, snorkelling and (a few of) the great monuments. All the main resorts have discos and sports facilities. From an adult minder's standpoint, most hazards can be minimized or avoided by taking due precautions. Children (especially young ones) are more susceptible than adults to heatstroke, dehydration and tummy upsets. Traffic is obviously dangerous, and stray animals (possible disease carriers), fenced-off beaches (probably mined) and poisonous fish and coral in the Red Sea are also potential hazards.

CIGARETTES Almost the entire adult male population of Egypt smokes, and offering cigarettes around is common practice. The most popular brand is Cleopatra (£E1.50; £E1.60 in a crush-proof pack). Locally produced versions of Marlboro, Rothmans and Camel have a much higher tar content than their equivalents at home; the genuine article can be found in duty-free shops. Matches are kibreet; a cigarette lighter is a wallah.

DRUGS Unlike under President Sadat (who smoked dope himself), Egypt now has draconian anti-drugs laws that make hanging or life imprisonment mandatory for convicted smugglers and dealers (which could be interpreted to mean somebody caught with a few sachets of the stuff). Mere possession or use merits a severe prison sentence and a heavy fine (plus legal costs, upwards of US$1000). Despite this, bango (marijuana) is still consumed by Egyptians who can afford it, and by tourists in Dahab, Luxor, Aswan, Hurghada and Cairo. Providing it's done discreetly, the police usually turn a blind eye where tourists are concerned.

 

ELECTRICITY The current in Egypt is 220V, 50Hz. North American travellers with appliances designed for 110V should bring a converter. Most sockets are for round-pronged plugs, so you'll also need an adapter. Brief power cuts are quite common in Egypt.

FOOTBALL ( futbol) is Egypt's national sport. The two Cairo-based rivals, Ahly and Zamalek, are the major teams and contributed most of the country's 1998 squad which won the Cup of Nations as well as the Arabic Super-Cup. Clashes between the two teams can be intense - and occasionally have led to rioting - but games are in general relaxed. Should their team win, thousands of jubilant supporters drive around Cairo honking horns and waving flags attached to lances - beware of being run over or impaled. Two other teams currently on the rise are Ismaily and Masry, while Santa Katerina is a team composed entirely of Sinai Bedouin who train by running up Mount Sinai twice a day. You can find detailed information about all aspects of Egyptian football at www.angelfire.com/ak/EgyptianSports/

GAY ATTITUDES Male homosexuality is common in Egypt, but attitudes towards it are schizophrenic. No Egyptian will declare himself gay - which has connotations of femininity and weakness - and the dominant partner may well not consider himself to be indulging in a homosexual act. Rather, it is tacitly accepted as an outlet for urges that can't otherwise be satisfied: few men can afford marriage until their thirties, and boys have no other way of gaining sexual experience. Despite this, people are mindful that homosexuality is condemned in the Koran and the Bible, and reject the idea of Egypt as a "gay destination" (although male prostitution is an open secret in Luxor and Aswan).

In practice, this means that men travelling alone are liable to be propositioned (whatever their sexual orientation), but actively seeking partners can cause offence and lead to trouble. Egyptian law prohibits any "shameless or unnatural act" with a person of the same sex, and reserves even harsher penalties for cases involving the corruption of minors - while local citizens may take the law into their own hands in such cases. So far as propositions go, the crucial phrase to remember is " Anna (mish) elk " - "I'm (not) gay".

As emphasized under "Health", AIDS is a real threat in Egypt, despite the minuscule number of reported cases. There is some awareness of AIDS amongst Egyptians but most are steadfast in seeing it as a "disease for foreigners" and the concept, let alone the practice, of "safe sex" has yet to emerge.

There is no public perception of lesbianism.

LAUNDRY In Egypt no one goes to the laundry: if they don't do their own, they send it out to a mahwagi. Wherever you are staying, there will either be an in-house mahwagi, or one close by to call on. Some low-budget hotels in Luxor, Aswan and Hurghada allow guests to use their washing machine for a small charge, or gratis. You can buy washing powder at most pharmacies. Dry cleaners are confined to Cairo, Aswan and Hurghada.

MINEFIELDS still exist from World War II along the Mediterranean coast, and from Israeli conflicts in the interior of Sinai and along the Red Sea Coast. Do not take any risks in venturing into fenced-off territory, unless local people go there often.

SPELLINGS Arabic is notoriously hard to transliterate into Roman script. The existence of several systems, and the popular familiarity of certain spellings, make consistency a nightmare. Egyptians themselves employ English spelling loosely; basically, you get accustomed to different variations on the same Arabic name.

TIME is two hours ahead of GMT and seven hours ahead of EST, and a more elastic concept than Westerners are used to. In practice, "five minutes" often means an hour or more; bahdeen ("later") the next day; and bukkra ("tomorrow") an indefinite wait for something that may never happen. Besides hinting that it won't, inshallah ("God willing") can be a polite way of backing away from unwanted commitments - a game which foreigners can also play. Remember, too, that Western abruptness strikes Egyptians as rude; never begrudge the time it takes to say Salaam aleikum, or return a greeting.

TOILETS Public ones are almost always filthy, and there's never any toilet paper (though someone may sell it outside). They're usually known as Toileta, and marked with WC and Men and Women signs. Expect squat toilets in bus stations, resthouses and fleapit hotels; on sit-down toilets, beware of pranging yourself on the nozzle of the curly waterpipe, intended to assist the ablutions of devout Muslims, to whom toilet paper is anathema. Though it's wise to carry toilet paper (£E1.50 per double roll in pharmacies) at all times, paper tissues, sold on the streets (50pt), will serve at a pinch.