Given the choice between accomplishing something by going out and getting it done or by tapping a few keys into your pc, it's obvious what many people would prefer. Especially if it involves some bureaucratic hassle which Egypt is famous for, and which takes more of your time than you ever thought possible. Everybody who's lived here for even a little while knows that. You clear a morning to get something done, and red tape ensures that you have to go back again. and again, ad nauseam. Even if that isn't what you're looking for, the Internet offers a plethora of things to buy, barter and trade. Pretty much everything if you think about it. If you want to find anything - and I mean anything - there's the infamous ebay. However, as it's an Internet community selling all sorts of wares, the products are second hand. And you have to bid for them. The highest bidder is the one who buys the auctioned product. You also pay the shipping costs. For the brand new sparkling stuff, there's Amazon. Books, music, clothing and electronics are all available. Unlike ebay, there are no auctions here. You buy what you want for the price on display plus shipping. Bear in mind that for both ebay and Amazon a credit card is required. And you must submit your credit card number online, so be careful. It's advisable that if you are to purchase items online using a credit card, that you do so from a secure computer, with antivirus and antispyware software installed and ensure that your pc is not infected by malicious software. Returning to our bureaucratic dilemma, if you want to avoid the hassle of dealing with harried government employees, then may I direct you to the Egyptian Government Services Portal on the Internet. Through it you can renew your car license, request a birth certificate or replace your national ID card, and it comes to your door for a fee. However, the portal as yet lacks consistency; it's a bit of a hit and miss. Sometimes you'll request something and confirm it and it'll never materialize. But for the most part you will get what you ordered. What started off as a site to order fast food has evolved and developed into another order-it-all online haven. Otlob.com (Order in Arabic) was known as the Internet site for fast food delivery, and that is still its biggest draw. Otlob has the menus for almost all restaurants in Egypt. To encourage customers to do it through Otlob rather than by phone, they even offer discounts. The rest of the site has not yet developed as comprehensively as the food section or anything like Amazon, for example. Its online catalog would be a great source if only they'd expand their product range. But be forewarned of the pitfalls of having entire product lines available at your finger tips: Some people (I mean all you shopaholics out there) can't control their habit. It's one more avenue to indulge some peoples' shoe fetish. So in addition to their four-hour shopping sprees they'll end up consuming online for hours and hours. Don't forget, the credit card bill also comes to your doorstep every month.
