Enzian

4 hours ago, The Word said:

Is there any other reason for the existence of shopping malls?

Place to stand in the air con before walking home.

I've only been here for 10 years so I can't say I know Thai men very well, tho I do know a little about the women. And for both I suspect kinship is more important by far than what we westerners think of as friendship. I've been rereading some Shakespeare, and it is notable how often men in the plays speak of their "love" for each other, and though they used the term much more loosely than we do today, there is still something there in western psychology, like with the Italians, men and women, greeting with kisses on both cheeks before the pandemic.

I need the malls to open so I can top up the data on my AIS card at one of their shops. Their web site won't take my credit cards, and when I call the service number I just get a recording telling me to go top up.

I have three close farang friends here in Bangkok, and many acquaintances. I work at those friendships. I have been in therapy off and on my whole life, and it was imprinted in my mind when a therapist remarked that human connections are the main thing in life, in a general way nothing else comes close.

Back in the states I was a noted personage in a certain alternative/underground music scene for 20 years, and ended up with 650 so-called "friends" on FB (not many for some people though). All those people knew me and still know me by my first name, though there were only a few dozen I knew very well. Friends are important; do it.

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

Women are attracted to power, intellect, physical good looks, and money. Score 50%.

Well at least I have three out of four. You can guess.

Why not include condoms? You know, people stuck at home, bored, but not able to afford further offspring.

I keep suggesting check out the Din Daeng night food market over on Thanon Pracha Songkhro. That big formerly empty space in the middle is again filling up with food sellers, and the lane that leads away from the street is long and narrow and packed with people selling live fish and every other thing and people are jostling elbow to elbow, sure they have masks but so what? If any herd has immunity it must be those people, they wouldn't be returning to previous form if they all knew of people sick. And I'm seeing signs of places (shouldn't be specific) that should be closed that are wink wink nudge nudge actually open. What I'm saying is that there is this urge to return to normal because in some communities people just aren't feeling the crisis. And yes, I know it is a horrible disease.

15 minutes ago, Spellforce said:

Everyday I chat with some friends who are living in Europe, they all tell me that their dick is going to explode ! They are all waiting for the end of the confinement and going back to Thailand.

They never mentioned money issue.

Did the government close the FKKs in Germany?

1 hour ago, scotsdude said:

Porn as much stuff???

"porn as much stuff as they can" may not turn out to be a typo.

Misc.: I was in west central Germany last half of Nov. first part of Dec., staying about 200 yards from Cologne cathedral and it was overrun with Asian tourists. I went to a Chinese massage place. I could have been exposed then. I did have two cases of flu in Dec. and Jan. back here in Bangkok.

Another thing I noticed was that with the temp around 40F most Germans did not wear a hat. That seems common in a lot of Europe and the US. 

In Bangkok a lot of construction sites are still going, most of them probably. The workers a lot of them don't wear masks and are close together all the time and sleep in dorm-like accommodations. If all these people were being hit would we not hear about it? or would not those site close down?

Finally, I walk back in the poor areas of Din Daeng many nights. People can't afford air con, the fronts of their sweat shops and living quarters are always wide open. Traffic is less but life still seems normal, not like a plague is going on. People sit together, work at sewing machines two feet apart without masks, it's strange.

Of course the people who can "think ahead" will have stocked up and have supply, but it is precisely the people who can't think ahead that we should be worried about and hinder. I suggest that the ban also is psychological, it puts people on notice that this is all serious and they need to pay attention. It's ok with me (and I'm stocked up).

Why the dollar is holding up and still accepted is interesting. The simple answer is that money is just a medium of exchange, like seashells to aborigines. If you accept it from someone and later in the day someone accepts it from you for goods and/or services, it doesn't matter that it is backed by nothing. Also the US has never defaulted, and the reconciliation/clearing systems of the world are based on the dollar to large extent. Logically, there must be a tipping point where this all changes, but where?

7 minutes ago, cornishcarlos said:

 

Did you hear this from your wife's cousins sister in laws hairdresser, who over heard a conversation on the bus ???

What's your issue, dude?

Gentlemen, the classic definition of inflation is too much money chasing too few goods, and it still holds. Wage levels are secondary. "Goods" can include labor, and there is the crux. Globalization has provided access to cheap labor beyond our earlier imagination. This will eventually smooth out, but it could take a couple of centuries. Central banks providing liquidity from helicopters should cause inflation, but the supply of cheap goods to chase is still phenomenal, and by keeping interest rates close to zero they defeat their own attempts to ramp up inflation. So there should be inflation, but when? (But pure asset inflation is another matter, too complex for here.)

A meltdown is when a significant number cannot meet their calls. So the struggle in the US today is for the Fed to provide liquidity while the politicians try to get over the hump and get everyone back to work. I detest those who say the Republicans are trying to kill people, but it might work out that way if we have to accept a couple of hundred thousand deaths to get everyone back at work. Then no meltdown.

What I've noticed is a little different: they don't say goodbye when parting or leaving a room the way westerners do. They just turn and walk away, or walk out the door with their minds already somewhere else. 

My (probably ex) would tell me about going to temple for a few days of meditation and get to talking to the other women about her relationship with me and they would ask "how much allowance does he give you every month?" and "can you get me a farang boyfriend?" 

I've always said that old saying that "nature abhors a vacuum" has a version in Thailand that LOS abhors a straight white male with money who is single, they are going to fix you up and it may not matter much what you look like, as long as the credit cards work.

The OP seems to be getting close to clinical depression, which is very real but also treatable. I know. Doctors can actually help.

RE is always local. Where my interests are at in the Bay Area, things are soft in general, but it would take a near collapse for multi-family to soften much. I'd be interested in knowing if Thailand is a single market or many discrete markets; but I can't buy land, so why worry.

"The US CDC has its largest overseas office in Bangkok." That's extremely notable. Is it because of the history of AIDS, or what? Anyone have a clue?

OK, I'm going through the same right now, and she's half my age and I could write a book on all I've done for her these past five years, and yes she has returned value. They want SECURITY, whatever that means in any particular case, and in my case I could not take the step of marriage. I just drew the line finally when she asked me to cover a family emergency which did not seem appropriate from my western point of view. So it may be over, we're separated, no legal chains, I've never bet more than I was willing to lose. It hurts, a little. Suffer and move on; or don't.

Nothing ever lasts forever

Everybody wants to rule the world

(Tears for Fears)