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Q: What ordinary household goods do you find hard to find?

Still in the sticks with the in-laws and I'm having to compensate my lack of home comforts by knocking up a few simple favourites to fill my stomach when the sight of duck feet gets too much for me at meal times. I don't want to be rude to the wife's dad, most of the food he makes is great, but I'm too old to start snacking on shit I wouldn't feed a dog just to placate the fragile sensibilities of a grown man, and I don't do duck feet. So...I decide today to fix myself some tuna and onion sandwich filling, a simple task, I even brought my own tuna, but no tin opener. The folks don't have one, the neighbors don't have one, neither of two local supermarkets have one. Tomorrow I have to make a pilgrimage into the centre of town, about a half hour away, to pick up a tin opener, just because I want a sandwich.

8 years 8 weeks ago in  General  - China

 
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plunger.
it can be bought, but so many households and cleaning staff go without. even schools, hostpitals and government building go without.
in my first year, i blocked the toilet naturally, and i was shockedto see what kind of strange tools a worker came with to unblock it. when shower drains were getting blocked, i insisted that my wife buy one.
she was still completely confused what i was planning to do with it; it doesn't fit in a drain after all.
after use: wide approval from the MIL, lauding the introduction of this western magic. sigh.
turns out that handling a plunger is a skill many chinese can't learn. you need to put your back into it to get enough thrust force, and be quick enough to jolt the blockage loose.

mArtiAn:

Well....thanks for all that. I'm off to have breakfast.

8 years 8 weeks ago
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8 years 8 weeks ago
 
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A reasonable quality shoe horn. The ones that I have found are either made out of brittle plastic that snap the first time they are used or thin metal that just bends.

 

Decent bath towels are not easy to find either. The ones in the supermarket are thin and don't soak up much water. They also disintegrate after a few uses. The best bath towels I have found are in the high end hotels in China but are vastly overpriced if you wish to buy one.

expatlife26:

haha, I remember when I first moved here getting into an argument with my handler about how thick towels were bad and they would make you too dry;

 

in reality the reason not to buy thick towels here is because when it's really humid they won't dry out and start to mildew...fair enough. But when you're not afraid to run the AC it's a non issue.

8 years 8 weeks ago
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icnif77:

Towel has to be (mine) high % cotton. Look at the labels, before you purchase it. You can find 100% cotton in HK.

8 years 8 weeks ago
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diverdude1:

found good (8/10) quality shoe-horn from the street merchants, the guys who sell the fun nick-nacks, you know, pocket knives, fake jade, slingshots, brass knuckles, walking canes, crystal orbs, etc.  They have perfectly acceptable shoe-horns hand crafted from a nice Asian hardwood. give-away price compared to the West, like 40rmb. Check 'em out sometime.

8 years 8 weeks ago
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plunger.
it can be bought, but so many households and cleaning staff go without. even schools, hostpitals and government building go without.
in my first year, i blocked the toilet naturally, and i was shockedto see what kind of strange tools a worker came with to unblock it. when shower drains were getting blocked, i insisted that my wife buy one.
she was still completely confused what i was planning to do with it; it doesn't fit in a drain after all.
after use: wide approval from the MIL, lauding the introduction of this western magic. sigh.
turns out that handling a plunger is a skill many chinese can't learn. you need to put your back into it to get enough thrust force, and be quick enough to jolt the blockage loose.

mArtiAn:

Well....thanks for all that. I'm off to have breakfast.

8 years 8 weeks ago
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8 years 8 weeks ago
 
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I need a good chili con queso, some tortilla chips, hopefully some sorta salsa/picante sauce,  guacamole.   the price from any of the specialty food shops has done a lot to help me with my diet.  50kuai for a jar (454g) of con queso! 

*well, it's considered household goods where I hail from! Tongue

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8 years 8 weeks ago
 
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Decent stick-deodorant

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8 years 7 weeks ago
 
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Anti-stink for the house/smells. Something that kills the germs and neutralises the smells. Didn't really need it back home, but do here.

 

Oh, I just remembered what I've been looking for - a "double-adapter" - a small bit of plastic that has the 3 metal bits that go into the electric socket, and hangs on the socket with 2 outlets - so adapting from a single socket into a dual socket... instead of having a power board of 4-? sockets. Might sound odd - but sometimes you don't want to have all power board, but do want a 2nd plug!

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8 years 7 weeks ago
 
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