I am now in a country known as the “Pearl of the Orient” whose term originated from the idea of Spanish Jesuit missionary Fr. Juan J. Delgado in 1751. This country was under Spanish colonization for 3 centuries before becoming an American colony.
Destination: Philippines
One of their popular mode of public transportation is called Jeepney which were originally made from left over military Jeeps used by the Americans during their liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese.
I went to one of their malls with the family and my Time Attaxi.
Here is an outside view of the mall
Now the fun part. This is probably where most of us LaLDers would like to do during these trips. Checking out die cast shops and I so happened to spot a ‘ToysRus’ located inside this mall and let me tell you their selection of die cast stock beats my ToysRus over here hands down.
Just check the Hot Wheels selection. How long do you think it will take to browse every single one of them?
They also have Matchbox as well. Although less than the number of Hot Wheels but more than what my Walmart or Target ever place on the pegs. They also have the Jeep anniversary but were more expensive than the others and was surprised that it was priced the same as Tomica. I asked a sales person for the discrepancy in the price and was told due to their more detail look. Although we all know there’s no difference in the price here in the States I’m guessing it must have been the packaging due to the different look which earned it a premium price. I called that marketing gimmick.
Ready to look at some Tomica selection. Check these out.
My Time Attaxi having a chat with some of the Tomicas.
Of course besides Tomica they also have others like Jada, Bburago, Majorette, Siku, Greenlight but only a few M2.
Here is what I came home with on the first round.
Time Attaxi also discovered a new Oreo flavor which I have not seen in the States.
I also went to another mall and it was not as big as the previous one but was in for a big surprise.
It so happens the mall was having a Tomica exhibit.
They also have these 1:1 cars. I’m not sure if they symbolize models made by Tomica.
Almost forgot this exhibit which I don’t think was made by Tomica. Can anyone shed some light?
My hawl below is both from this mall and ToysRus from another location.
I got a good deal on the Tentmushi as it was selling it as imperfect or damage box but content still new. Since they have more than one they allow me to choose the better condition box. As for the Tomica Event model stay tuned for my future blog. By the way this one was more than twice the price of the regular Tomica.
On our last day of stay in the Philippines we were invited by my friend for breakfast in what has now become a household name among die cast bloggers.
Yup, a UCC coffee house, the same company that included the Nissan skyline set and the more recent Mercedes Benz set when you buy their cans of coffee and in which a lot of us have ordered these cars online.
Unlike Starbucks, they provide hot breakfast meal. When the waitress came over to take my order I nearly told her that I would like 5 Mercedes Benz and 5 Nissan die cast set with my French Toast and coffee please.