The telephone office is located just west of the New Mosque, next to the Hotel Arous al-Waha across from the new government hotel; no international calls. (Open daily 8am-10pm.) Across the street in a modem building is both the police station (open 24 hrs.) and the post office (open Sat.-Thurs. 8am-2pm). Around the corner and down the street is the brand-new tourist information office, the domain of the knowledgeable Mr. Mahdi Muhammad Ali Hweiti. A sociology major at the University of Alexandria, fluent English-speaker, and native Siwan, Mr. Hweiti can arrange sight-seeing expeditions and provide maps and information on Siwan events. Mr. Hweiti, one of the country’s sharpest businessmen, is largely responsible for the rapid growth of this isolated tourist sight. (Open Sat.-Thurs. 8am-2pm.)

New services introduced in Siwa recently include a 24-hr, hospital beside the Badawi Hotel (tel. 19), a pharmacy (open at the pharmacist’s whim) next to the Suleiman Mosque, and Hassan’s Handcrafts and English Bookshop, next to the phone office, which sells English books and traditional Siwan art. Hassan’s also rents bikes (LE4 per day).