JensenZ

You must have had some fun separating all my comments. Most of these brand outlets are targeted for Thais and only exist if there are Thai customers. You see the same outlets in Bangkok Malls that seem deserted too, but they continue to exist, year after year. Some go out of business, but most of the ones I mentioned have been around for many years. Have you ever seen a busy Calvin Klein store anywhere in Thailand? What a mystery it must be - they continue to exist in Pattaya and Bangkok Malls. What happens after covid is anyone's guess, but everyone is in the same boat. Is it possible that you spend all your time at street food vendors, so you don't really know what is going on in malls? Apple phones will be delivered in the same numbers they were delivered every other year and possibly even more volume. The point is that they make plenty of sales of expensive phones in Thailand and will continue to do so. There is still plenty of money around. T21 will continue to exist post covid. People have been talking about the demise of Central and now T21 since they were both opened.

Is there nothing to see now? Why not board up the windows? Surely some daylight still gets through? I haven't been there for quite some time since covid-19 became a thing.

People are going to the food court mainly to eat cheap, so the view is not important. No other restauarants in the mall have a view.

Australians do talk to random people. I've had random conversations with Brits too, so not everyone in your country is stuck up LOL. I randomly acknowledge other foreigners and may say hello if we have eye contact. In 16 years here no one has asked me for a loan, but I don't hang out in bars where that type of person might be more common. Being alone does not necessarily imply lonliness. Some people enjoy it. I do. Each to their own.

That doesn't make gold a bad method of storing wealth just because you did well on bitcoin and stocks. Your bitcoin was risky speculation. It's a different ball game. Holding gold is not an investment as it doesn't return interest, but it's a safe haven asset and most balanced portfolios would have a percentage tied up in gold and silver. I still regret selling over 2kg of gold in late 2003 when it was super cheap. With national debts skyrocketing, the value of cash could crash at any time (as inflation picks up, it's already starting to), along with the stock market. It might be a good time to buy some again. Edit: thanks, but I didn't really need to see a chart. I'm very aware of what has happened with crypo. It might also become worthless overnight as goverments seek to regulate it. They already have in China. It also dropped nearly 50% in May this year - nearly $30,000. It's highly speculative trading and I'm glad you did well.

It could have been a lot worse. It's lucky no vendors were hurt or killed.

I bet you didn't think that last year in August when the price hit $2070 or so.

Of course there are 99.99% gold traders in Thailand. Gcap Gold is one. https://www.gcap.co.th/gcapgold/productgold9999.php They sell 1kg imported bars of 99.99% gold and their own bars produced in Thailand. A translation from their website: Gold Bar (Bullion)99.99% pure goldThere are both imported from leading producing countries such as Switzerland. Australia's LBMA (London Bullion Market Association, global benchmark) and GCAP 99.99% pure gold are produced from the region's largest refinery that is ISO 9001 certified and recognized for Keep It is the country's reserve fund in the Bank of Thailand's treasury.

The computer shops seem to be doing ok in general as everyone is at home online these days. They might have moved somewhere with cheaper rent. They have a lot of options right now. I noticed that a 7Eleven on the the corner of Khopai Road and Pattaya Tai 1 has become a Banana IT store (since last year).

Unfortunately it's only an Apple reseller, not an Apple store. They won't be gong anywhere as Apple sells itself in good times and bad. In fact, due to covid, cell phones are more important than ever, becoming one of the sole sources of entertainment for most of the population.

Most of the big chains will probably survive. It's the small shops that have disappeared. I'm pretty sure they did some tough bargaining with the Mall management to get cheap or free rent, because they are the backbone of the malls.

These name brand shops target Thais too, and maninly Thais actually, who do like the products. They are the stores you'll see all over Thailand in the major shopping malls. Let's go through a few of the prominent ones which come to mind. H&M, CCdouble0, Jaspal, Misty Mynx, Aldo, Guess, Addidas, Puma, Nike, Apple, Samsung, Oppo... and many, many others. Do you think there aren't sufficient Thai people with money that can afford name brands? These stores would not exist if not for Thai customers. Here's a good example, Apple is bringing the new iPhone13 range to stores early this year (October 8) and the consensus is they will run out of units. That's not foreigners buy iPhones. We're talking about a range of cellphones costing 30k and up. Same thing with Samsung when the new lines come out. Of course business is very low now as most shops have been closed for a long time due to lockdowns, but every mall is in the same boat in every part of Thailand. Pattaya cannot be singled out.

If they don't spend the money on fireworks, would the hungry, unemployed and homeless see any of it? I don't think so. Rich people saving money doesn't help the poor. The world's 2,365 billionaires enjoyed a $4 trillion boost to their wealth during the first year of the pandemic. An increase in wealth of 54%. The rich are loving it.

68 cubic meters is the water in a small swimming pool (a round pooi of 6.5m diameter x 2m deep or under 3% of the water in a standard Olympic sized pool). Surely they mean 68,000 cubic meters?

Yes, the situation was not great even before covid. A good example was Terminal 21 where tenants were struggling to stay afloat.

It wasn't about going to buy the item at the shop, but about searching for the best price before you decide where to go to buy it.