Not unlike the ponies of Pattaya in your stable...Originally Posted by latintopxxx
Not unlike the ponies of Pattaya in your stable...
Andaman! (March 27th, 2021)
dinagam...why so bitter...
A nightclub special. Anyone wanna guess how many people work here?
And a little gentle balloon play.
An addition to the parklife series with a particularly odd Chinese pastime. The idea is to whip the chain and rope at the ground and make as big a noise as you can. In skilled hands the crack sounds like a gun and reverberates around bouncing off the buildings. Most odd indeed but strangely transfixing to watch.
China is moving towards being a cashless society. Almost every transaction is now done by phone. Except by me. See the horror on the cashiers (new title needed surely) face as I present her with a crisp red portrait of the Chairman. Watch the chaos unfold as the frantic search for change begins and handbags are searched. Assuming they have actual money in the till my transaction takes approximately 9 seconds. This compares favourably to a Chinese app based person who can clog up the checkout for minutes on end trying different apps to pay. KFC is so terrible for this that if there are more than two in the queue when I walk in then I leave because I can't watch someone take 4/5 minutes to buy an ice cream. I kid you not.
christianpfc (April 30th, 2021), gerefan2 (April 30th, 2021), goji (April 30th, 2021), snotface (May 22nd, 2021), TaoR (April 30th, 2021)
This afflicts not only China.
In Thailand paying by phone and/or redeeming some electronic vouchers is becoming more popular. So instead of the few seconds to handle the cash, we can be waiting much longer for people to work their phones.
In the UK, the main form of electronic payment is contactless cards, which are superior. Swipe the card and as long as it's below £45, the amount is debited from your account. Thankfully in 2021, one can have a banking app on the phone, so there's an instant notification for any purchases and the card can be switched off.
The contactless cards are usually faster than cash. However, a minority in the UK pay with their phones, which is slower.
Incidentally, I believe these QR pay systems in Asia typically bypass Mastercard, Visa, Union Pay etc, so are not paying fees to them.
I also believe the move to a cashless society should be resisted:
1 Governments could impost negative interest rates or transaction taxes in a cashless society
2 How does one pay prostitutes if there is no cash ?
Of course, in many parts of Asia, small bribes would also be traceable if cash disappeared. Expect some resistance.
I only carry can when I'm in Asia. I need it to tip the guys in the bars and massage places, etc.
But in Australia I never carry cash - in fact, I can't even remember when I last withdrew cash from an atm. It's 100% credit card. Tap and Pay only takes a few seconds and if the amount is over $100 I just put in my pin number.
Not having to wait for change from the cashier is a bonus and so is not having to carry coins around in my pocket.
Asians are generally tech-savvy so I can't see a future for cash there.
I like cash, and fortunately all places I have been to accept cash as universal form as payment.
I think having no coins (Myanmar, Cambodia) is advantageous over coins and banknotes.
In Cambodia (where I am now) and often in Thailand as well there is another problem: change. Pay an article that costs 3 USD with a 5 USD note, an the vendor has either to rummage through his bags and pockets, or even ask his neighbor, for change.
In Taiwan, I used the Easy card, and in Hongkong the Octopus card, which serve as payment for public transport (unified, everywhere uses the same card, unlike Thailand!) and small sums like in 7-11 or restaurants, and this is far superior to cash and change. However I wouldn't use any system that needs an app on my phone, or goes via internet banking or credit cards.
1 Some banks in Germany charge negative interest already.
2 Where prostitution is legal, there should be no problem to pay prostitutes via digital payment systems, traceable to both prostitute and john. But there are other issues like privacy, and how to hide such activities from your family. For illegal activities, a parallel payment system, probably based on precious metals (or bitcoin? but I like precious metals better), would emerge.
Off to one of the many hot baths that proliferate everywhere. Always a good few hot boys to ogle as they walk around naked. The staff too, get in the altogether when they Need to do a bit of cleaning or hosing down. Pictured below is the after lounge and for any lovers of that sort of thing, my feet.
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