# Buy it or it's gone



## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

I found the most awesome Japanese Surplus foldable type bike and it was in mint condition the wife worked the price down to 3,000 it started out at 4,500. Here's the kicker and this has happened to me several times, I'll try something out and my attention gets shifted or I feel the item will still be there "NOT"... I started to notice the same old thing that happens to me when I don't pay attention, someone will buy the bike or item and sure enough a guy on a motorcyle wanted the bike and he wasn't the only one and older looked like retired Philippine OFW man wouldn't leave and he still stood in the same spot which was about one foot from my bike until they put in my car, bike is like a Cadillac for me in the municipality took it for a spin to pay bills today. 

Another recent incident was in the mall I was trying on some cool sandal type shoes, newest looking ones with the holes in them black color and they fit but I seen another style and wanted to try them out, nobody but the sales lady was next to me and those shoes didn't fit and so I was sticking them back in the plastic and a lady popped out of nowhere and asked the sales lady behind me to get the side 44 shoes I originally tried on, "GONE".  :doh:

If you see it buy it or hold on to it because it will be gone, if you like it's probably something worth buying and I feel the citizens are very thrifty with what little money or pension they have, much less than we and they actually have a longer process of purchasing and working down that price but I feel they then go into panic mode when a foreigner shows up and takes notice of something they had been looking at, hold on to it. :spy:


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

Also if you see a brand in the supermarket you like, clear the shelf because it may be months before it returns, if ever. They don't seem to have worked out the concept of restocking popular lines.


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## Tukaram (Dec 18, 2014)

I don't have a problem with people buying my size shoes - the problem is finding any big enough! I only wear an 11 US (but a 46 or 48 Euro?). Almost nobody stocks it. I never thought that was particularly large. 

I know an expat that buys all the Capt Morgan rum that SM gets in. It is only 6 or 8 bottles at a time. I told him that now we an S&R he does not have to do it. They stock cases of it! 
...and just in time for our annual fiesta.


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## DonAndAbby (Jan 7, 2013)

M.C.A. said:


> I found the most awesome Japanese Surplus foldable type bike and it was in mint condition the wife worked the price down to 3,000 it started out at 4,500. Here's the kicker and this has happened to me several times, I'll try something out and my attention gets shifted or I feel the item will still be there "NOT"... I started to notice the same old thing that happens to me when I don't pay attention, someone will buy the bike or item and sure enough a guy on a motorcyle wanted the bike and he wasn't the only one and older looked like retired Philippine OFW man wouldn't leave and he still stood in the same spot which was about one foot from my bike until they put in my car, bike is like a Cadillac for me in the municipality took it for a spin to pay bills today.
> 
> Another recent incident was in the mall I was trying on some cool sandal type shoes, newest looking ones with the holes in them black color and they fit but I seen another style and wanted to try them out, nobody but the sales lady was next to me and those shoes didn't fit and so I was sticking them back in the plastic and a lady popped out of nowhere and asked the sales lady behind me to get the side 44 shoes I originally tried on, "GONE".  :doh:
> 
> If you see it buy it or hold on to it because it will be gone, if you like it's probably something worth buying and I feel the citizens are very thrifty with what little money or pension they have, much less than we and they actually have a longer process of purchasing and working down that price but I feel they then go into panic mode when a foreigner shows up and takes notice of something they had been looking at, hold on to it. :spy:


Yes, if you discover a hidden gem, you have to jump on it. Surplus type stores can have some gems.

We only have one Japanese surplus store in our area, and they have some very well built, high quality furniture. We have bought a few things there.

Another to watch, if you have one nearby, is HMR "Surplus". Most of their stuff is junk returns, damaged goods, or hotel furniture, etc. I can't believe people buy most of the stuff. However, once in a while, you can find a good deal. I had been looking for a decent price on a gasoline power washer for a few years. HMR almost always has them, but they are obviously used returns, and not great brands, and the prices are high. A few weeks ago I checked in and they had 3 Diamond brand 2600 PSI power washers with Honda gas engines for only p14999. The one I got was absolutely brand new with all the parts still factory wrapped, no dirt on it, etc. I have been using it the past few weeks and the Honda engine, as always, runs perfectly.


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

DonAndAbby said:


> Yes, if you discover a hidden gem, you have to jump on it. Surplus type stores can have some gems.
> 
> We only have one Japanese surplus store in our area, and they have some very well built, high quality furniture. We have bought a few things there.


Haven't heard of an HMR surplus but I do need a very tall bar type computer chair but heavy duty, I did buy from one of these smaller surplus stores a heavy duty chair and it's indestructible and cost me 1000 pesos. I have an adjustable bar stool I bought in the department stores about 5 years ago but it's been repaired several times it cost me 3,000 pesos, I'll never buy that again it has to be surplus or if all else fails I'll have one made.

We have a local market that sells things on Monday and I found some quality used clothing or Yukay yukay, they had my size 36 khaki and dress shorts for 20 pesos each and not just one but they had 7 pairs and I found some more comfortable work out Nike brand pants and a brand new shirt for 5 pesos, the sister in-law told me to get there real early next time. In the past I was charged 250 pesos for these shorts, I usually would walk away from that price but sometimes I'll pay it because the local clothes just don't fit me in the chest or upper leg areas, I was a Navy Rescue Swimmer and I need a little more room.

Tomorrow I'm going to buy an electric full sized oven made by Hanabishi, it's only 4000 pesos, first time I've seen this oven so hopefully tomorrow it's still there at the grocery store going to finally get an oven that's not gas, I'm using less and less gas now and doing much better on electric, want to start baking my own bread I can't take the local bread anymore.


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## pagbati (Apr 9, 2014)

*Electric Oven*



M.C.A. said:


> Tomorrow I'm going to buy an electric full sized oven made by Hanabishi, it's only 4000 pesos, first time I've seen this oven so hopefully tomorrow it's still there at the grocery store going to finally get an oven that's not gas, I'm using less and less gas now and doing much better on electric, want to start baking my own bread I can't take the local bread anymore.


M.C.A., How did you get on with the Hanabashi Electric oven? What model were you thinking of? Did you make the purchase and if so, how's the bread-making coming along? Thanks.


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

*Hanabishi oven*



mabrouk said:


> M.C.A., How did you get on with the Hanabashi Electric oven? What model were you thinking of? Did you make the purchase and if so, how's the bread-making coming along? Thanks.


I decided to wait, I bought a brand new 32" LED TV recently ... so later on this month I will get it eventually.

The Hanabishi oven was still there. I think they have extra's but? then again I should be able to order this from any appliance store, I need to learn how to bake bread again, make my own cake or fudge bars, cookies. Unsure of the model number but it's new I've never seen this before and it had on the front a photo cooking a turkey, it's more than large enough for a turkey but not as big as a conventional oven with a couple racks.


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## pagbati (Apr 9, 2014)

*Ovens*



M.C.A. said:


> I decided to wait, ... so later on this month I will get it eventually. The Hanabishi oven was still there. I think they have extra's but? then again I should be able to order this from any appliance store, I need to learn how to bake bread again, make my own cake or fudge bars, cookies. Unsure of the model number but it's new I've never seen this before and it had on the front a photo cooking a turkey, it's more than large enough for a turkey but not as big as a conventional oven with a couple racks.


MCA, Here’s my two penn’orth re ovens for bread making before you take the plunge. We’re renting and an oven came with the property. The first was a La Germania gas oven, quite an old model with 3 gas hobs; however, the hobs were so close together that it was difficult to use 2 decent size pans at the same time, never mind 3. The oven was small and had difficulty in retaining the heat. The landlord recently replaced this contraption with a separate double burner gas stove (which is fine) and a separate La Germania Gas Oven SL 100-10. My understanding is that La Germania is an Italian outfit and they do appear to sell decent quality products in some places. However, both the old oven model we had and this new oven are rubbish. I’ve checked the prices online and they seem to cost between Php 8,000 to 10,000.

The capacity is good at 49L, but whilst the controls for the ‘new’ SL 100-10 show that it reaches temperatures of 572F, we found that in reality, this doesn’t happen. The max we could get was 400F and as soon as you open the door to put your bread in, the temp drops dramatically and it’s difficult to get it back up. As you probably know, most breads benefit from being baked hot and fast and we aim for at least 450F.

Upon closer inspection, the reasons for the low temperature were obvious; the oven is poorly insulated with the back alone consisting of a sheet of metal with large ventilation holes. We devised our own ‘Heath Robinson’ contrivance to make it more effective by purchasing some oven insulation and aluminium tape to try and retain the heat. It has worked, but one shouldn’t have to go to these lengths to get the temperatures claimed by the manufacturers.

Sure, there are decent ovens out there such as the Bompani if you’re willing to fork out the cash, but if you’re budget is around the Php 4,000 - 10,000 mark, then you’ll need to exercise a certain amount of caution as in our experience, you cannot take the manufacturer’s claims of high temperatures at face value.

For now, the La Germania + our insulation is working, but if we moved to somewhere that didn’t have an oven and had to buy our own, we definitely wouldn’t buy that model. Hence I was interested to hear how you fared with the Hanabashi. By the way, if you’re going to heat up your oven to the high temperatures required for bread making, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting maximum benefit from it; hence we find it economical to bake at least 2 loaves at a time, each being approx. 1.3kg to 1.5kg. So bear in mind that capacity is also important. At Php 4,000, the Hanabashi really is a snip; but will it work for bread making? A final thought, the cheaper gas ovens usually release the gas from the base of the oven and rarely have a fan. The result is that the heat is not being circulated evenly around the oven but concentrates heavily on the base of whatever you’re baking. In the case of bread, this can burn the bottom of the loaf before the inside is baked. We had to devise yet another contraption to protect the bottom of the bread pans. Perhaps the electric Hanabashi doesn't have this problem. So, the cheaper ovens can still work, but you usually have to be inventive to get the best out of them. I’ll be interested to hear your comments when you eventually make your purchase. Good luck.


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

We purchased a La GErmania cooker when we first built the house. I don't think we ever used the oven once. When we selected it from the local.appriance store I just assumed all ovens where the same, either convection or fan, I wasn't aware of the third Philippine option of no therostatic heat control. There was a label saying run at this setting for 20 minutes and such a setting for 1 hour and then followed by etc. It was a complete pile of rubbish.


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