"The art of travelling is learning to behave like a chameleon." So said a woman friend of mine on her second year around the world and I don't believe a truer word was ever spoken. Blending into the background is not only a prerequisite to understanding and observing a different culture, it also keeps you out of trouble.

Indecent exposure

For women in particular, how you behave and especially how you dress can be construed as camouflage or an open invitation; it can make you one of the crowd or a moving target. This may be an unfair state of affairs but it's a fact of life and in someone else's country one is in no position to rail against it.

Dress is the first line of defence and the most immediate symbol of respect. If you get that wrong you are starting your travels with a glaring disadvantage.

Of course codes of dress differ wildly from country to country. In southern Africa and part of the Indian subcontinent short sleeves and hemlines not far below the knee are fully respectable. In Iran and strict Muslim countries, the body must be totally covered, usually by a black chador which drapes you completely from head to foot. A woman not wearing a veil risks flogging or imprisonment, although as a foreigner you are likely to be let off with a caution and forced to cover up.

There are legally enforced dress codes at home as well, though they're so familiar we may take them for granted. But it serves to show that though conventions may differ, they are universal. In London, or Paris or New York, you would be a fool for walking the street topless, let alone racing across a cricket pitch, and not expecting to be arrested. In rainforest tribal communities from Sumatra to the Amazon, on the other hand, bare breasts are de rigeur.

A culture's standard of dress has a lot to do with what parts of the body are considered sensuous or provocative. In China the feet are still thought erotic, while in many countries direct eye contact can be as promiscuous as the offer of a spare key to your hotel room. In Papua New Guinea you can bare your breast to the world, but your thighs must be covered at all times. Not only that, but the space between your legs is so sexually suggestive that trousers can be as much of a turn-on as wearing nothing at all.

It pays to be prepared for the dress sense of your destination before you head off for a pre-holiday splurge in the high street, but clearly this is not always possible. As a general rule it can be said that tight and skimpy clothes are inappropriate for most countries outside Europe and the United States, and that generous, loose-fitting clothes are not only more comfortable to travel in, but less controversial.

If you don't want to wear dresses and skirts, you can't do better for propriety's sake, especially in tropical heat, than the kind of cool, cotton pyjamas worn by Chinese or Kashmiri women, or a Moroccan jalaba. However, in places like Burma, Thailand and Vietnam, particularly in the cities, this may be too casual. Asian women take a great deal of trouble with their appearance however poor their background, and while torn jeans and a tattered T-shirt may seem relaxed and inoffensive to the Westerner, it can seem dirty and disrespectful in Bangkok or Singapore.

If conventions are strict on the street they are doubly so in places of worship. I once met a French woman who had been stoned in Turkey - one of the most relaxed of the Muslim countries, for being dressed inappropriately in a mosque. In Greece you may be provided with frumpy, elasticated skirts to hide your trousers or miniskirt when entering an Orthodox Church. You may even be asked to cover your head. Never enter even a remote chapel on a beach in anything else than full daily dress. You may get away with it, but the distress you will cause a worshipper who stumbles on you wearing a bikini in the crypt is indefensible. In all these cases, a simple length of wrap-around cotton, like an Indian lungi or a sarong, or an African kanga or kikoi, is a handy extra to have.

The hands-off approach

Perhaps the most persistent and aggravating problem a woman has to deal with, particularly if she is travelling alone, is male harassment. Satellite TV and black market videos have a lot to answer for. In Third World countries Madonna and Sam Fox are seen as the archetypal western woman; while the steamier side of Swedish exports, now providing a boom business for the black market in Asia, gives the impression that American or European women have an indiscriminate and insatiable appetite for sex. Black western women fare even worse than blondes because they are considered 'exotic'.

The sad truth is that you can be dressed modestly and impeccably on a bus in Lima or Tangiers and still feel a hand on your bum. Ironically it is often in Catholic or Muslim countries, where impropriety is most despised, that local men feel they can take liberties with foreigners. Most self-defence experts advise: 'Never create a 1:1 confrontation'. "Get your hands off my bum, you filthy expletive," can exacerbate the situation or even incite a violent response. The best solution is to make a scene and enlist the support of other passengers. "Did you see what that man did to me?" creates a sense of moral outrage and people, when directly appealed to, will be more eager to leap to your defence. The same attitude that implies that Western women are 'loose', can work as an effective antidote to harassment when the groper, having been sprung, is hounded out of the bus and given a going-over by the other male passengers.

In general, the first rule of self-defence is awareness. Be alert, listen to the advice of locals and fellow travellers, develop a street sense and try not to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Good judgement is every traveller's personal responsibility and the chances are, if you find yourself alone, late at night and being pursued up a dark alley, you could have avoided being there in the first place.

It is politically incorrect nowadays to suggest that women should ever play a 'passive' role, or - heaven forbid - that they could court disaster. But avoidance and weak- minded submissiveness are two completely different things, and the distinction is one that is crucial to survival, especially in foreign countries where the threat is an unknown quantity.

A woman is rarely a physical match for a man. And even if she is a black-belt in the martial arts, it would be unwise to launch into front kicks and elbow strikes if the man confronting her is just after money. Hand over the wallet and have done with it. Your pursuer may be armed, crazy or drunk and there is no need ever to find out if it can be avoided.

Most confrontational scenarios must be played by ear to a great extent, but there are a few universal rules. Don't turn a scary situation into a dangerous one if you can help it. Don't panic, don't show fear and don't allow the person accosting you to get the upper hand. Try to gain the psychological advantage by throwing him of his balance. In most cases a man who is attempting to intimidate a woman believes himself invulnerable and a strong show of resistance will unnerve him enough to make him back down. Never be persuaded to try and resolve the situation by moving to another place, like a car, a hotel room or someone else's house.

If you do find yourself in a dangerous, enclosed situation, try to anticipate the aggressor's next move and plan ahead for it. You may only get one chance to defend yourself - the earlier the better - and you won't want to miss it. As the innocent one in confrontation you have the advantage of surprise, but if you are forced to strike back physically, make sure it is a crippling blow that gives you a chance to escape. The last thing you want is to provoke a more serious physical attack. As one London-based martial arts master recommends: "There is only one thing better than a kick in the balls - and that's two kicks in the balls."

If you are worried about your ability to gauge dangerous situations and to defend yourself if they get out of hand, a few classes in the basic strategies of awareness and self-defence before you travel can boost your confidence immeasurably.

Warm receptions

Stay alert and these 'worse case scenarios' should never arise. I've travelled most of my life, some of it on my own, and though I'm certainly no Kate Adie, I've been caught up in anti-British demonstrations in Peru, tear- gassed in Czechoslovakia and Papua New Guinea, been ambushed by tribal warriors in Indonesia, and never had a hand laid on me in earnest.

Appreciation of the dangers should never stop you from sharing in the action, or making friends. One of the great advantages of being a woman is that men and women find you more approachable. Sometimes the offers of hospitality and kindness can be overwhelming. And any woman who has travelled with a child or a baby can regale you with stories of such warmth and tenderness that it melts the heart and restores all your faith in human nature. These are the moments one travels for and that stay with you for ever.

Contraception and feminine hygiene

Contraception is often difficult to come by abroad and should be acquired before you leave home. Time changes should be taken into consideration if you take a low dosage contraceptive pill. Stomach upsets and diarrhoea may also reduce or neutralise the effectiveness of oral contraception.

Condoms are not as freely available, especially to women, as they should be, and packets that you do find in clinics or chemists in areas off the beaten track may be past their sell-by-date and the rubber may break or corrode. Always take condoms with you, however remote the possibility of sex. AIDS and other sexually- transmitted diseases are, thanks to the ease and popularity of travel, a universal threat.

Women should be aware that the physical stress of travel, jet-lag and time difference can upset the biological clock and throw even the most regular period out of kilter. Sanitary towels and tampons are also often difficult to buy abroad, especially in the Third World. A form of Tampax, with plastic or cardboard applicator, is perhaps the most hygienic and convenient to take with you, as on some occasions you may find it difficult to find clean water and soap to wash your hands. If you do prefer to take the more discreet-sized tampons without applicators, carry a sachet of disinfectant wipes to clean your hands which will guard against the transmission of germs.

Be sensitive about cultural attitudes to menstruation. In some places, especially tribal areas, men are really frightened of the powers a woman has when she is menstruating. Some cultures believe it is contaminating, and will not allow you to touch or even walk near their food. Of course, they need never know, but be careful how you dispose of sanitary towels and tampons in this situation.

In brief conclusion, don't be a loud tourist, keep an open mind, stay cool and be wise, and travelling, especially if you are a woman, will be a fulfilling and exciting adventure.