Visit to Tesco Lotus

Helen at Filtered Water Kiosk

We are feeling more comfortable in our new surroundings and made our first attempt to find the filtered water kiosk, whose location was generally defined by an expat as being "over there by that building."

After a little searching we found the kiosk on Ratchaphuek Alley outside the Green Market and across the street from the other Pansook Urban Condo.

The filtered water kiosk dispenses water for one baht per liter. Bring your own containers.

Success!

Our next adventure for the day was to go to the large Tesco Lotus supermarket. Tesco is a British supermarket chain. Lotus, we understand, is a Thai supermarket chain. The two supermarkets merged in 1998.  The store we planned to visit today is of the "hypermarket" class (vs. Express markets that compete with 7-11's.)

At 11:30 am we hit the road with Google Maps directing our backstreet walk to this hypermarket. Our estimated ETA was noon. The actual journey took an hour. The roads we walked, although off the main highways, were filled with cars and motorbike traffic. Sidewalks were marginal or non-existent.  We also needed to frequently check Google Maps to keep track of where we were.

Before beginning our shopping we went to the food court for lunch. By observation we noticed that purchases were paid to the food vendors via a cash card. We had encountered this cash card payment method at our local Tops supermarket food court. We now needed to find the cash card counter. Helen chatted by Google Translate with some young gals and we eventually found the cash card counter.

Typical of food courts, vendors present their offerings in pictures. All the pictures have Thai explanations but a number also provided an English translation. We have discovered that pointing to a picture regardless of the language explanation is the best way to communicate our selections.

Rimping Supermarket at Maya Shopping Center

We then hit the shopping floor. This supermarket is huge. We found the selection of goods was "good" and prices were "okay." In addition to food, they carry kitchen gadgets and appliances, clothes, bicycles, and more. After scanning the aisles,  we concluded that our local Tops and Rimping supermarkets were serving us well. The distance from our apt. is too great for us to make the effort to return.

One discovery we made at the checkout was the restricted times that beer and spirits can be sold. Alcohol sales are restricted in Thailand to the hours of 11:00 am – 2:00 pm and from 5:00 pm – 12 midnight every day.

After paying for our purchases with a credit card, we summoned an Uber for the trip home.

As we waited for our Uber, we encountered another Uber rider who gave us some pointers on the use of the Uber App. We learned how to call or SMS our driver via the app by tapping on the driver's information located at the bottom of Uber app.

We were back home by 3:30 pm.

Travel Tips

• The Tops (Kad Saun Kaew Shopping Center) and Rimping (Maya Shopping Center) supermarkets near our apartment provide good selection and prices.
• Tesco Lotus has a wide selection for everyday needs as well as food.  One of our neighbors in the Pansook purchased items online (minimum 1,500 Baht) from Tesco Lotus and had them delivered for no extra fee.
• Alcohol sales are restricted to the following times 11:00 am – 2:00 pm and from 5:00 pm – 12 midnight every day.  
• Once you have a Uber driver assigned, the Uber driver's name, make of car and last three digits of the driver's license number are displayed at the bottom of the app.  The three digit license plate number is very helpful in identifying and confirming your Uber driver.
• The Uber app allows you to contact your driver by tapping the driver's information at the bottom of the Uber app.
• You can cancel your "confirmed" Uber ride by tapping on the driver information at the bottom of the app and selecting Cancel.