Trip Report: Surviving Shopping Malls On The Weekend.

[PATTAYAPUNTER]

I’ll start by saying I’m glad I’ve renewed my life insurance as shopping at Carrefour and Big C on the weekends is maddening at best.

Thais & Indians appear to shop in generations. Not shocking to see 3 generations walking the aisles together. An odd habit is that the 3 generations often walk side by side so I often had to change aisles altogether as I’m too polite to expect the entire row to part and break up the family.

My only gripe would be that the kids are allowed to roam and/or lie down wherever they wish and the parents don’t seem to care if it disturbs or obstructs anyone. Little land mines on each aisle.

Carrefour has about 20 cashiers but seldom uses them all. Weekdays is usually just 3 or 4 cashiers and the lines reflect that but weekends are better and the lines move swiftly (foreign management in da house!).

Thank Buddha for speed bumps in the car park! I have a motorbike so I park outside, (so I can live to have grandchildren) but the car park is dangerous. The lighting is very poor and close-to-the-door parking is at a premium although there are 2 entrances in the parking area at Carrefour.

My goal was to buy shirts: T-shirts, tank tops, and dress shirts. Big C and Carrefour were similarly priced between 60-120 baht. Black is more expensive than white. XL is more expensive than M. I’m not fat fat but I’m fat by Thai standards so I played it safe by going to the change room and trying on an XL t-shirt. XL fits me fine in my home country but the XLs from Japan are made for dolls. The shirts are packed in sealed bags. One must see the label to know the size of the shirt but because the bag is sealed, it's practically impossible unless you rub the the label with your thumb and forefinger for awhile until it's displayed.

On the bright side, razor blades were 75 baht for a 4 pack in both malls. More expensive at Boots. Boxer were shorts in the give-away bin were just 39 baht! I'm stocked for winter now

And the traffic lights on Klang and Arunotai are out again! Weren’t they just fixed 2 weeks ago?! Was that a trial period?! Does anyone have the mayors telephone #?!

Happy shopping but if you see a farang in a tight tank top driving by you on Pattaya Klang, it’s probably me.

Edited October 1, 2006 by PATTAYAPUNTER

[barryofthailand]

If you are talking about today, then it was a madhouse. The reason being is today is payday the first of the month and for people that work their money is automatically deposited in their bank account. The stores were jammed.

Barry