The simplest things...

I am amused by what can be hard to find in a new country, as well as those things that are easy. If you want fresh vegetables, tea of all descriptions, clothes from super-cheap (賤) to super-expensive (貴), mobile phones and at the moment, Lunar New Year stuff, then this is all easy to find.
Two things that have surprised me by being hard to find, are sink plugs, and matches. They seem ordinary-enough items, things you should find quite easily, but not so. When I go looking for plugs, what my eye stumbles upon are many many things that look like plugs, but turn out to be suction hooks, of which there are a huge variety sold in Hong Kong. Perhaps because there are so many tiny apartments, and because so many people rent, there is a big market for cheap and easy storage, such as a hook on a suction cup. Sadly, I do not know how good they are at stopping water from flowing down a drain, and the hook might be annoying in a bath or tub of dishes. I can only assume that most sinks have built-in plug units, which means that ordinary plugs are not much needed, or perhaps I am looking in the wrong places - though where would these be?
And matches... Do people not need to light all the incense, the joss sticks, and the candles that I see for sale. They also seem quite big on barbeques here, and you see charcoal and firelighters for sale, but not matches. Is this a cultural thing? Do Hong Kongers have handy fire-breathing pets that I do not know about? Perhaps they are in touch with other ancient wisdoms, such as rubbing two sticks together?
I am very happy to be enlightened on these matters. If anyone has come across simple things that seem hard to find in other countries, I would love to know about them.