I Just Learned Something New

The electrical appliances here in SE Asia have a very large event at the end of the cord. The power is is 220, unlike my home where it is only 110. I figured there was some reason for this big thing but whenever I asked anyone I got a shrug. Well. I have a nice ikea floor lamp that has quit on me twice. It was purchased in Malaysia so I was sort of confident the power was not the issue. I had a nice electrician visiting a neighbour come over.  He fixed it by replacing this big end plug. It worked and then suddenly after a few weeks of use I turned on the lamp and poof. The bulbs went out again. Thinking they were burned out I went shopping and bought new bulbs. Home again and replaced them and no power again. Drat. I convinced the shopkeeper downtown to take my lamp and see if they could see what was wrong. On my way there I saw a brightly lit shop touting itself as electrical business. Near my home, I figured I should give it a shot. By the name overhead I was pretty sure we could converse somewhat. It was a Chinese name, and I have discovered that the Chinese are pretty good at English here.  I was not disappointed. They took that plug off the end after I gave history. Well there is a fuse in that big event. The fuse was shot. Replacing the fuse and putting all back together and again it works.  Nice. Why does the fuse blow? Why does anything odd happen here?  Not to question. Only accept. And don't leave the computer plugged in unnecessarily. Could cost more than a fuse to fix that. Power surges are the norm. Maybe the gatekeeper of power sources here gets behind in flow when he takes a nap and then has to make up for the loss of kwh we are paying for so just gives a little push. So if you have had appliances quit on you, maybe it is just a little fuse hidden in the plug.