JensenZ

Well, I must have scant regard to my finances as I have used the local ATMs at my local 7Elevens for many years. I haven't had a problem with it since 2005 when I started using ATMs in Thailand. Any skimmers or fake touch pads attached to the machines should be quite obvious, but you won't find these down as your local 24 hour store where there are always people. If I needed a large amount, I would use an ATM outside my own bank. The only scam I've come across so far is a 10 baht ATM fee which started a couple of days ago at a Bangkok Bank ATM, and earlier this year at the yellow Krungsri ATMs.

I know the problem - my glasses are always fogging up too.

I went for a walk in a public park last night at 9:30 pm. It was deserted (no one else walking) as it closes at 10pm. Later on, I saw some Thai people in the park wearing masks. It's insane. People on motorcycles wearning masks with no helmets takes the cake though.

If you consider this literally, Thailand is the 2nd biggest rice exporter in the world, so they are reaping very well.

Really? In case you didn't know, covid is a worldwide problem, and things are much worse in many other countries. Using covid as an excuse to bash Thailand? Shame on you!

Just to be clear, you're talking about married Thai men. Use your imagination. It's a great way for the husband to get her out of the house and free up some quality play time of his own.

No account for the air spaces around the mask? It doesn't matter what your mask filters, air will bypass your mask, around the edges.

What are you talking about? Is this another Farang bashing moment? Do you walk around town watching foreigners? Most foreigners and Thais wear them. Conformity is very high in Pattaya however you'll see more Thai people not wearing them than foreigners, but of course there are more Thai people in Thailand than foreigners, so it's not surprising.

it doesn't matter what you wear if it is not sealed tightly around your face. To test your confidence in your mask, ask yourself if you would walk into a room full of covid infected people wearing it? Cloth masks are bad news for other reasons. It's usually hard to breath in them. I threw mine out the other day in favour of a medical mask. It was nice to be able to breath properly again. I don't wear masks to protect me against covid. I wear them so I can get into shops and other establishments. Wearing them out in the fresh air on my motorcycle is just plan silly, but I need to have it on to protect me from the police, not covid. It's hilarious to see people wearing masks on motorcycles, without helmets.

You're still keeping it personal and not debating the topic. Your use of puerile expressions (get all cry baby hurt) matches the "14-year old" comment by your companion, in fact it's exactly what you're expect a 14-year old girl to say. There was no need to re-read your only comment about shopping, because I had replied to it, and still remembered it. If it makes you feel good that I remembered it, enjoy the moment. Some people still have functioning memories, despite old age.

You do have a companion, and your support of him defines where your head is at. Hint: he mentioned that mall shopping is for 14 year old girls. You have only replied to me to bait and back up your companion, with no discussion of the topic whatsover. Your only offering on the topic of shopping so far was about how no one shops in malls and everyone shops online. You are not in a position to be grading debating skills.

I don't know if today and yesterday (28th and 29th December) would be accepted as evidence by the "no one buys anything in malls" crowd, but I spent about 7 hours at the mall over these 2 days, buying stuff, grocery shopping, dining and generally having a relaxing time out with the wife (dragging me around LOL). It was packed with people, and people were buying sh*t... unfortunately they won't accept this week as evidence that malls remain popular, even without many tourists. They will demand evidence of people in quieter times of the year. Regarding the myth that if no one can be seen in a store, it must be going broke. High end stores generally don't profit from window shoppers. The people who have money to buy their products go especially to buy them when they want them. For example, window shoppers don't generally pop in to PowerBuy to buy a new big screen TV, or washing maching, or refrigerator. They go there when they need to buy these appliances. Another example - high end sunglasses. People don't usually walk past Gucci sunglasses and grab a 20,000 baht pair just because it's there - they go there when they are looking to buy. My wife bought a pair earlier this year. We knew were to go, how much they would cost, and went there to buy. The Studio 7 is busy because people who like Apple products go there to see the best selection in town. It is important for high profile brands to maintain a mall presence to be competitive. Some franchises do not have online stores in Thailand, specifically to protect their store's interests. For example, you cannot buy Victoria Secret stuff online. Louis Vuitton is another example. You cannot buy it online and need to visit a branch. The high end costmetics counters in the department store are another good example. They always seem quiet, all year around. You don't see people lining up to buy Chanel makeup or perfume, for example, but rest assured they have plenty of customers popping in over the week to keep them afloat. We have never had to wait in line to buy Chanel products at Central and it's probably the only place in town where you can buy them. There's a reason why top brand makeup counters can afford the premium rents of the 1st floor in malls.

Perhaps not raw meat. Scientists claim fire was used as far back as 1 million years ago (found microscopic traces of wood ash). So now people live in concrete canyons and watch TV or their phones. It's not that much different really, expecially during lockdown. The increased personal communication between fellow humans living in caves before cell phones were invented might have made for a happier existence. One thing is for certain - they lived by the day and were not stressed out about some uncertain future.

Why don't you visit them and give us an informed opinion. Would you like directions?

You're actually baiting, and only to back up a companion on here with the same opinions as you. Why don't you get lost, or at least reply to the topic instead of trolling?

Of course this same argument has been brought up ad nauseum on this forum since Central Festival opened in January 2009. This was one of J-sixpack's favourite topics. "I don't see people buying stuff, so these (shops and malls) are going out of business" people would say, and he'd have some eloquent and funny replies LOL. I miss him - where are you? My reply was a comment purely on how many people you will see, not how much they are buying. The economics of the individual stores is not my concern. I will say this. I have been in the Studio 7 store 4 times in the 6 weeks (since the lockdown ended), to buy Apple products, and I had to wait in a queue at checkout to pay. The store was very busy each time I visited. I don't live there, so perhaps it was just a coincidence that the 4 days I went there and at the time I went, it was busy. They definitely won't be going out of business any time soon. I also had to wait at the checkout in PowerBuy. The good news is we do not need to stress about how the stores are doing financially. We can just enjoy the mall for what it is, while it is.

Online shopping is useful when you're buying things you cannot buy in a physical shop, but it can be a very troublesome experience (I do buy a lot of stuff online). It's hard to see the quality of clothing and all types of stuff when viewing photos online. Broken and/or damaged stuff arriving. Packages going missing. Customs duty and VAT. The wrong items arriving. Inferior quality arriving. Difficulty returning stuff. Clothes which don't fit (the wife buys a lot of clothes online and a lot of stuff never gets worn for many reasons which I won't bore people with here).Things that aren't as described. Waiting for refunds... the list goes on. It's not all fun and games and it will never replace the real shopping experience for most people (Mr Treetops excluded). If, however, I lived in the US where everything you need is already in the country, with cheap shipping, then online shopping would be a lot more pleasureable.

However, that could be a clear indication you're as bad at it as the person in question. Your last post is evidence of that.

It's hard to believe holiday spending was lower in 2009. As you say, it might be a 50 year low, or at least the lowest since the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

and never has. How do you place the military under the control of a fairly elected government? It's the military that created the first government (a Constitutional Monarchy), so they will always have the ultimate control. It's pretty hard to imagine any scenario that can change this. It's hardly worth discussing it. It's how things are and how they will stay.

You'd have trouble making it worth your while whatever you drank after a huge lunch.

Did they stop you? I've never driven by checkpoints as they normally pull everyone up. Where were they and approximately at what time?

Any chance of a quick summary of the "usual places". I haven't been going out much lately and would appreciate the heads up, and also, what time of day are these checkpoints usually set up?

Are we still going on with this after a week's break? I see a lot of people in Central. A suprising amount actually. What people call "busy" and "a lot" are subjective, so your comment carries no weight at all.

How so? You mean in the event that an immigration officer of a foreign country can read Thai? I suppose it's a very, very low risk unless he's visiting Laos or Cambodia.