This place is becoming like a ghost town

[FolkGuitar]

7 hours ago, HaleySabai said:

Did you go to 'The Giant'?

 

No. This was our first visit to the area and we were limited in time. Just a quick rece to get an idea of what we would like to do for our next visit.  We'll come back mid-week when it's not so crowded. We didn't even check out the waterfall this time as there were so many cars, vans, and motorbikes parked there, with 40-50 people gathered just around the trail head. God only knows how many were already around the falls.  It's less than a 90-minute bike ride from town, so easy enough to get there any time.  Frankly, the main goal of this trip was the Sai Oua! A friend told me how delicious they make it there, and I'm a real fan. He was right... It was the best I've ever tasted, and wound up bringing home a half a kilo!

[thaibeachlovers]

23 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Thanks for the photos, but I was struck at how rubbish C M looks. Nasty ugly dirty buildings, broken infrastructure, obstructed pavements. The question I have is why anyone would want to go there?

At least in one of the photos some rather attractive art work decorates the steel shutters. Why can't every shutter in C M be decorated similarly? A hub of artists, no less. That might be worth going to see.

The potential to make C M an attractive destination is there, while C M is closed, but I doubt the city council will seize the opportunity. IMO they have to be the worst city council in Thailand for allowing dirt and rubbish on city streets and almost no effort to beautify the city. They should be taken to Phrao to see how it should be done.

They took tourists for granted for too long and the chickens are now coming home to roost. Karma, IMO.

Apologies, I meant Phayao, not Phrao.

[ChakaKhan]

On 9/29/2020 at 3:34 AM, Bill97 said:

They are all yours.

I took a tourist dude I hung out with along there..LK rd....they all jumped him and I played coy.....they dragged him in, were all lovey dovey on the street..once inside and they found out we werent buying them drinks..hoo boy how quickly the mood changed..I started looking for an escape exit and played it cool as it just escalated in a heartbeat....in all of my 12 yrs I never hung out on LK other than No 1 Bar to get a nice import....but ya gotta love the fake ego boost if you are ever feeling down......not easy being "hansum too much" in the LOS  555....Oy! "clap" Hey You!

[ChakaKhan]

On 9/29/2020 at 11:27 AM, FolkGuitar said:

 

No. This was our first visit to the area and we were limited in time. Just a quick rece to get an idea of what we would like to do for our next visit.  We'll come back mid-week when it's not so crowded. We didn't even check out the waterfall this time as there were so many cars, vans, and motorbikes parked there, with 40-50 people gathered just around the trail head. God only knows how many were already around the falls.  It's less than a 90-minute bike ride from town, so easy enough to get there any time.  Frankly, the main goal of this trip was the Sai Oua! A friend told me how delicious they make it there, and I'm a real fan. He was right... It was the best I've ever tasted, and wound up bringing home a half a kilo!

Been to mae hia market?  sai oua shop on left side...thats been my pick locally  sai OOO-Ahhh!!!

[torturedsole]

18 minutes ago, ChakaKhan said:

hoo boy how quickly the mood changed

As an aside, I experienced two Thai sales ladies mood change in a matter of seconds when bartering for a big ticket purchase not so long ago.

 

I had the money and they wanted my money / commission but not before I coaxed them down to what the items were worth. Once we hit the magic number to ensure a successful transaction the atmosphere suddenly changed with no words, just the deadly duos death stare and an overwhelming sense that something evil was about to occur. I then realised I wiped out all hope of any commission on the items.  

[Damrongsak]

13 minutes ago, torturedsole said:

As an aside, I experienced two Thai sales ladies mood change in a matter of seconds when bartering for a big ticket purchase not so long ago.

 

I had the money and they wanted my money / commission but not before I coaxed them down to what the items were worth. Once we hit the magic number to ensure a successful transaction the atmosphere suddenly changed with no words, just the deadly duos death stare and an overwhelming sense that something evil was about to occur. I then realised I wiped out all hope of any commission on the items.  

Years and years ago, I was at the old Sanam Luang weekend market in BKK.  Watched a Thai gal buy a dozen oranges for maybe 30 Baht.  Then the seller saw me and offered some at about 3x the price.  I looked confused and said in Thai that the person a minute ago  got them for X price.  555.  I learned to take my time and figure out what things were worth.  That was all part of daily life.  Nothing better to do than being patient and cheap.  At the time I was making a good salary at 2,500 baht per month.  Why waste it?

[dingdongrb]

1 hour ago, Damrongsak said:

At the time I was making a good salary at 2,500 baht per month. 

That's considered a good salary? I know 13 year old rice cutters in Isaan make more than that.

[Dante99]

1 hour ago, Damrongsak said:

At the time I was making a good salary at 2,500 baht per month

Yep, that is a great salary.

 

[dingdongrb]

2 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

Yep, that is a great salary.

 

Sarcasm? (I'm betting)

[thaibeachlovers]

12 minutes ago, dingdongrb said:

That's considered a good salary? I know 13 year old rice cutters in Isaan make more than that.

Did you miss "at the time"?

 

When I started out I made $17 a week.

[dingdongrb]

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Did you miss "at the time"?

 

When I started out I made $17 a week.

Good point....  I guess one could determine 'years and years ago' as being back in 1948....  ????

 

When I first started coming to LOS it was 45 THB to the USD..... so $17/wk would still be better than 2,500 THB a month....  May I ask, what was your job making $17/week and when was that (year)?

[stament]

bands won't play no more.....

[thaibeachlovers]

6 hours ago, dingdongrb said:

Good point....  I guess one could determine 'years and years ago' as being back in 1948....  ????

 

When I first started coming to LOS it was 45 THB to the USD..... so $17/wk would still be better than 2,500 THB a month....  May I ask, what was your job making $17/week and when was that (year)?

I didn't say it was US$. Why do people always assume it's US$?

I would have had to take a ship to get to Thailand, and my job then is irrelevant to this discussion.

[Paul Catton]

Thanks for the photos, but I was struck at how rubbish C M looks. Nasty ugly dirty buildings, broken infrastructure, obstructed pavements. The question I have is why anyone would want to go there?

At least in one of the photos some rather attractive art work decorates the steel shutters. Why can't every shutter in C M be decorated similarly? A hub of artists, no less. That might be worth going to see.

The potential to make C M an attractive destination is there, while C M is closed, but I doubt the city council will seize the opportunity. IMO they have to be the worst city council in Thailand for allowing dirt and rubbish on city streets and almost no effort to beautify the city. They should be taken to Phrao to see how it should be done.

They took tourists for granted for too long and the chickens are now coming home to roost. Karma, IMO.

"Apologies, I meant Phayao, not Phrao".

 

Brother-in Law is the Pharmacist for the Phayao Hospital, his wife is a nurse at the same facility, my recollection of visiting them and going for a strolling exercise solo,  just before day-break had a small pack of dogs wishing to attack me.

Being a person undaunted, a forward rush towards the largest canine, along with a Soprano type of screech, left me without a need for Rabies vaccination or worse.

Phayao is not perfect, but is anywhere? Rhetorical

 

[Damrongsak]

14 hours ago, dingdongrb said:

That's considered a good salary? I know 13 year old rice cutters in Isaan make more than that.

Well, 2,500 was what I got paid in Thailand, plus a 500 baht housing allowance.  The Peace Corps also put away another $125/mo in the U.S.  That was 1977.  Exchange rate was about 20 baht to 1 USD.  Stuff was cheap back then. 

Edited October 1, 2020 by Damrongsak

[ChakaKhan]

13 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

Well, 2,500 was what I got paid in Thailand, plus a 500 baht housing allowance.  The Peace Corps also put away another $125/mo in the U.S.  That was 1977.  Exchange rate was about 20 baht to 1 USD.  Stuff was cheap back then. 

Ah the salad days...or perhaps the stiky rice days in LOS....Hiso Hippies!

[thaibeachlovers]

14 hours ago, Paul Catton said:

Thanks for the photos, but I was struck at how rubbish C M looks. Nasty ugly dirty buildings, broken infrastructure, obstructed pavements. The question I have is why anyone would want to go there?

At least in one of the photos some rather attractive art work decorates the steel shutters. Why can't every shutter in C M be decorated similarly? A hub of artists, no less. That might be worth going to see.

The potential to make C M an attractive destination is there, while C M is closed, but I doubt the city council will seize the opportunity. IMO they have to be the worst city council in Thailand for allowing dirt and rubbish on city streets and almost no effort to beautify the city. They should be taken to Phrao to see how it should be done.

They took tourists for granted for too long and the chickens are now coming home to roost. Karma, IMO.

"Apologies, I meant Phayao, not Phrao".

 

Brother-in Law is the Pharmacist for the Phayao Hospital, his wife is a nurse at the same facility, my recollection of visiting them and going for a strolling exercise solo,  just before day-break had a small pack of dogs wishing to attack me.

Being a person undaunted, a forward rush towards the largest canine, along with a Soprano type of screech, left me without a need for Rabies vaccination or worse.

Phayao is not perfect, but is anywhere? Rhetorical

 

Of all the off farang tourist destinations in LOS I enjoyed Phayao the most, except for the roads, which are terrible. Loved eating at one of the lakeside restaurants and riding around the lake ( did you know it is man made? ) to visit the forest wats. It's also ideally placed to visit the hills and the Mekong, and up to Chiang Rai ( now would be an ideal time to visit the White Temple without the horde ).

Those dogs are all cowards and picking up a stone usually sends them away, however, a pack may be more problematical. A piece of blue water pipe was my weapon of choice, but none ever came close enough to punish.

 

[sqwakvfr]

Noticed the Burger King near the Hard Rock Cafe was closed.  I thought the major chain locations would stay in it for the long run? Also, the large Pizza Company location in Maya Mall was also closed.  The last time I went into the McD’s at Thae Pae gate it was mostly empty during lunch time.  I think “Ghost Town” has arrived.  

[BobBKK]

Very, very sad to see over a virus 800 million had and only 0.12% died of. Madness.

 

PS source WHO:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-54422023?fbclid=IwAR0KXTWT_wUK5umynT9BuZeN0yr8oITkFguB3oE9DY5HDSA_SyZP-H4ApjI

 

Edited October 6, 2020 by BobBKK

[onebir]

5 hours ago, BobBKK said:

Very, very sad to see over a virus 800 million had and only 0.12% died of. Madness.

More people should have died??

[Trujillo]

The 7-Eleven just outside the moat down from Thaepae Gate is closed. They don't usually close.

[Lancelot]

Accepting reality (The world will always have diseases) vs. "safety" is the ongoing debate of our times.

 

I liked one Thai man's answer: "What good is it if we are covid free, a virus I have a 99% chance of surviving, if I lose my job and starve to death?" 

[Mickeem]

13 hours ago, sqwakvfr said:

Noticed the Burger King near the Hard Rock Cafe was closed.  I thought the major chain locations would stay in it for the long run? Also, the large Pizza Company location in Maya Mall was also closed.  The last time I went into the McD’s at Thae Pae gate it was mostly empty during lunch time.  I think “Ghost Town” has arrived.  

 

Franchises  mostly owned and ran by Chinese Thais ..

 

Maybe they will ponder who it is that has brought this upon them ..

 

 

[Dante99]

18 minutes ago, Mickeem said:

Franchises  mostly owned and ran by Chinese Thais

The whole Thai economy mostly owned and run by Chinese Thais for decades.

[BritManToo]

9 hours ago, onebir said:

More people should have died??

For this level of world governments reaction I would have expected 20+% of the population to have died.

[FolkGuitar]

8 hours ago, Lancelot said:

I liked one Thai man's answer: "What good is it if we are covid free, a virus I have a 99% chance of surviving, if I lose my job and starve to death?" 

 

One always has a chance of getting another job and NOT starving to death. It may be a slim chance, but it's a chance.

There is no chance if you die. None what so ever...

Which would you choose?

[Dalewhatdale]

17 hours ago, Lancelot said:

Accepting reality (The world will always have diseases) vs. "safety" is the ongoing debate of our times.

 

I liked one Thai man's answer: "What good is it if we are covid free, a virus I have a 99% chance of surviving, if I lose my job and starve to death?" 

You'll still be alive to get another job.

No such opportunity if you're dead, or have serious long-term consequences from COVID.

[Trujillo]

"One always has a chance of getting another job and NOT starving to death. It may be a slim chance, but it's a chance.

There is no chance if you die. None what so ever...

Which would you choose?"

 

People die on the job; I saw a guy near my house electrocuted just last month -- what were the odds of that? Your question is predicated on a false premise, or at best, a fantasy question. 

 

What are the chances of dying in Thailand on the highways? The chances of dying in Thailand of heart disease? Of cancer? Or lower respiratory infection (No. 3 cause of death in Thailand in 2017)? 

 

Life comes with risk. If you think 99 percent is not a good bet, you are in the wrong existence. 

 

"How many people die after being infected with the novel coronavirus?

Fewer than previously calculated, according to a study released Monday, but still more than die from the flu.

The research, published in the medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, estimated that about 0.66% of those infected with the virus will die.

That coronavirus death rate, which is lower than earlier estimates, takes into account potentially milder cases that often go undiagnosed — but it’s still far higher than the 0.1% of people who are killed by the flu."  -- CNN, March 30, 2020

[So the survival rates are 99.9 percent for influenza, and 99.33 percent for COVID-19; is that difference worth plunging in the nation into economic and social catastrophe?]

 

If you really make life decisions on less than one percent bad outcome, you will never take off your mask for the rest of your life to avoid possible flu or any other infectious, airborne diseases. Slather yourself for the rest of your life in alcohol gel and avoid others, don't visit crowded places like restaurants or bars or malls and live in anxiety. 

But is seems that some actually enjoy being frightened for no valid reason. Go for it; it's a free country, just don't bring down the rest of us.

 

On a tangent, isn't it funny that previously, we were told not to overuse alcohol hand sanitizer because ... "Sanitizers kills off the bacteria that are beneficial for our body, which in turn can wreak havoc in our healthy bacterial community. The only solution to this is that people should use hand sanitizer with caution and only when they don't have access to soap and water." YIKES! Now what???  ????

[ChakaKhan]

7 hours ago, Trujillo said:

"One always has a chance of getting another job and NOT starving to death. It may be a slim chance, but it's a chance.

There is no chance if you die. None what so ever...

Which would you choose?"

 

People die on the job; I saw a guy near my house electrocuted just last month -- what were the odds of that? Your question is predicated on a false premise, or at best, a fantasy question. 

 

What are the chances of dying in Thailand on the highways? The chances of dying in Thailand of heart disease? Of cancer? Or lower respiratory infection (No. 3 cause of death in Thailand in 2017)? 

 

Life comes with risk. If you think 99 percent is not a good bet, you are in the wrong existence. 

 

"How many people die after being infected with the novel coronavirus?

Fewer than previously calculated, according to a study released Monday, but still more than die from the flu.

The research, published in the medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, estimated that about 0.66% of those infected with the virus will die.

That coronavirus death rate, which is lower than earlier estimates, takes into account potentially milder cases that often go undiagnosed — but it’s still far higher than the 0.1% of people who are killed by the flu."  -- CNN, March 30, 2020

[So the survival rates are 99.9 percent for influenza, and 99.33 percent for COVID-19; is that difference worth plunging in the nation into economic and social catastrophe?]

 

If you really make life decisions on less than one percent bad outcome, you will never take off your mask for the rest of your life to avoid possible flu or any other infectious, airborne diseases. Slather yourself for the rest of your life in alcohol gel and avoid others, don't visit crowded places like restaurants or bars or malls and live in anxiety. 

But is seems that some actually enjoy being frightened for no valid reason. Go for it; it's a free country, just don't bring down the rest of us.

 

On a tangent, isn't it funny that previously, we were told not to overuse alcohol hand sanitizer because ... "Sanitizers kills off the bacteria that are beneficial for our body, which in turn can wreak havoc in our healthy bacterial community. The only solution to this is that people should use hand sanitizer with caution and only when they don't have access to soap and water." YIKES! Now what???  ????

*Stocks up on sangsom and hunkers down*

[BritManToo]

13 hours ago, Dalewhatdale said:

You'll still be alive to get another job.

No such opportunity if you're dead, or have serious long-term consequences from COVID.

I'm retired ...... I'll never have another job.

Doubt there's much chance for me to suffer 'long-term consequences' either, not that long left.

 

I'm taking my chances of being in the 99% that survived.

But I'm OK with you locking yourself alone in a room for the rest of your life.