hi mark yes i got my brother inlaw to inquire about me sending my yamaha thundercat back to the philippines and he inquired with a few people (lets just say high in the transport office) who said it would cost me to much,,plus the red tape and papers to register the bike there with new plates,,,,,type into google about bringing a car or bike to the philippines ,,the answers are bad ,,,i like you mark would love to have my bike there even for holidays,,,plus as my brother inlaw said although my bike would be worth 1800 pounds here in the uk it would be worth about 4000 pounds back in the philippines,,,,,,,,as for the balikbayan boxes we have sent computers tools,,deep fat fryers just about everything you can think of in them with no problems at all and we have been sending boxes back from jan 2006,,,,,,mark you will find the ace hardware in the Shoe mart shopping centers also the sell car parts as well,,,i bought a bosch 9 inch angle grinder there 220 volt think it cost 8'000 peso thats about 85 pounds brother inlaw is still using it,,,yes mark ace hardware is something like B&Q here but you will only get it in the shopping centers,,,,,we have our own house in antipolo city and there is loads of small hardware shops but we only use them for tiles wood and angle iron and bathroom fittings anything else we go to,ace hardware ,,,,,,,,,,,mark type ace hardware philippines into goole and you will see their outlets hope this helps you ,,,,,john and karen