CROSSING Cairo's busy main roads gives new meaning to the term "walk like an Egyptian".

It is less a belly dance than a dance with death. People take no notice of traffic lights. Getting from our hotel overlooking the Nile to Cairo's Talaat Harb Square involved taking our lives into our hands. We followed advice to attach ourselves to a local, some of whom hold their hands up like policemen to stop the cars, which surprisingly obey. No sign of road rage here. The first time I tried it I gave up and hailed a taxi. The one Cairo driver who did not speak English stopped passing pedestrians, one of whom spoke French but not English, to ask them to translate. He dropped us about a kilometre away after a hilarious ride in which we pretended to use seatbelts as police drove past. The driver blew me a kiss as we leapt out, about 12 lanes of traffic closer to our destination than before we hailed him. At least he did not propose to me – possibly because of the language barrier. But he charged about $10 for the trip, about three times the usual price. So we began our walking tour. As we turned one corner, a man rushed up behind us. "If you turn left at the next corner you'll be in the right area. Where are you from?" he said in a friendly manner. "Oh Australia. Come into my house, please. My wife is from Perth. Please accept some Egyptian hospitality. What would you like to drink?" We were then ushered into a room upstairs where we were shown a range of home-made oils (from flowers from his father's farm in the country) and small decorative bottles. And $40 later we left with our parcels. I hope the rose oil really is good for insomnia. Egypt and scams have become synonymous. Visitors need to be wary. The Egyptian Government and tourism authorities take this seriously and there are large fines and sometimes jail sentences for offenders. But that did not stop a tourism policeman at a temple on the Nile asking for "baksheesh" – a tip – after he took a photo of my son and me. Baksheesh, which in Arabic can mean alms, also calls for a wary approach. On our Nile cruise we were told to put a tip in an envelope and leave it with reception at trip's end. Of course, that did not stop the housekeeper, who folded our towels to make wonderful animals, from expecting another handout. At an alabaster factory on the West Bank, young, handsome staff pressed alabaster good luck scarab beetles into our hands and we paid outrageous prices for pottery "exactly" like that found in Tutankhamen's tomb. Amani Talaat Kamel, our guide in Cairo, said tips should be given only to people who serve you. "It is bad for Egypt's reputation, but some people make their living out of it," she said. "In the 1970s and '80s, some even made fortunes out of it. Some guests encourage them, so they will keep doing it." She said scammers usually asked tourists if they had a guide before they quote inflated prices for souvenirs. "We tell shopkeepers that if they leave the guests alone, they will probably spend more," Kamel said. Watch shopkeepers and money-changers carefully. Count your changed money before you leave and use reputable changers – there are banks in the bigger hotels. Before a short horse and carriage ride through the medieval town of Esna on the Nile, our driver asked for five Egyptian pounds (about $1). But at the end we were told: "No, five Euros." It is best to use a guide to negotiate the payment for camel riding at the pyramids, where drivers are known to charge exorbitant prices. But genuine tipping usually brings polite gratitude. One tourist went horse riding through the pyramids and was so happy with his experience he gave the horseman a large tip. The horseman asked him not to tell his boss, then gave some money back, admitting he had not taken the tourist to one of the places promised. Sunday Herald Sun