Hi, everyone! Anyone know whether the left or right side of the train will show us a more beautiful view on an Amtrak trip between Montreal and Plattsburgh, NY, which is on Lake Champlain and nowhere near the Hudson Valley? Asked by: Ikan Kekek (talk) 23:30, 29 May 2025 (UTC)Reply

Also, what about the leg from Plattsburgh to Saratoga Springs? And why can't I see any of this text except in edit mode? Ikan Kekek (talk) 12:20, 30 May 2025 (UTC)Reply

I can answer my own questions now. The conductor said both sides were good to the U.S. border and then the left side was best to Saratoga. The views in Canada were much nicer by train than by bus - we went through forests and farmland inaccessible by car. Plattsburgh is charming, and the train went right through or past Downtown to the station, which is not far past Downtown. More from me later. Ikan Kekek (talk) 22:10, 30 May 2025 (UTC)Reply

Sitting on the left while going south is best as far as Schenectady. After that, sitting on the right is best. However, if too many people get on in Saratoga Springs, you can sit in the dining car and get the view that way, though beware someone grabbing your seat in the car where you left your stuff.

I was impressed with my Amtrak trips on the Adirondack line between New York and Montreal. Every train arrived on time, according to the schedule, and the route is pretty and much more interesting than the bus route we took from Saratoga to Montreal because that leg was 2 hours or so shorter by bus. Other than a wish that we could have faster trains - which a staff member explained to my girlfriend is not possible on track Amtrak doesn't own, because they are subject to speed restrictions in each little village the tracks cross - my only complaint is that the bathrooms stank and sometimes had other problems like the flusher not working, the paper towels coming out all at once and/or the garbage disposal in the bathrooms being too full.

Our trip yesterday was 7.5 hours long and definitely felt long after Albany, but it was more comfortable than the 5.5-hour Greyhound trip from Saratoga, and the benefit of a train trip is that you can remember the scenery you saw and enjoy it again. Ikan Kekek (talk) 17:24, 1 June 2025 (UTC)Reply

I’m very interested to visit shopping malls in the Philippines? But is there a reason why mall are thriving in the Philippines, while the mall in USA are dying? And why are malls still being built in Philippines and opened here, while the USA malls are not in recent years?

Asked by: ~~~~ 2600:387:F:5719:0:0:0:3 10:42, 29 June 2025 (UTC)Reply

In general I don't find Philippine malls particularly interesting; they are not all that different from malls anywhere else. There are exceptions like Mall of Asia in Pasay which is huge & has extras like an ice skating rink, an arena big enough to be a concert venue, a theme park, ...

Differences USA vs Philippines vs other places? Different economies & culture are certainly factors. Perhaps climate? I'm currently in Canada & when weather is good I mostly prefer markets or downtown shopping streets to malls, but rain, snow, cold or heat will make me head for a mall. In the Philippines I really appreciate air conditioning. Pashley (talk) 11:14, 29 June 2025 (UTC)Reply

Yes, there are differences USA vs Philippines vs other places. And still wondering on why malls in other places like Europe and Asia thrive, while the USA malls are struggling and dying. 2600:387:F:5719:0:0:0:3 11:20, 29 June 2025 (UTC)Reply

Is online delivery less prevalent in Europe and Asia? Ikan Kekek (talk) 17:20, 29 June 2025 (UTC)Reply

You cannot get a meal online, other than a virtual one, so there needs to be somebody doing the delivery. I don't know about Asia, but in the Nordic countries, the awful pay (and sick leave etc.) have been very controversial. A few years ago, in Norway, some of the companies accepted that the deliverers were employed, not freelancers, subject to all associated benefits, and the Finnish supreme court recently decided so as well. We are not used to paying tips, and raising the fees to a decent level makes ordering food much less attractive.

Online grocery shopping over here mostly means that you go to the same supermarket, but get your purchases from a locker instead of from the shelves (we did have actual delivery in the 1970s and 1980s, but then you ordered groceries for a week). The cute delivery robots we have now don't bring any profit to the chain that has them.

–LPfi (talk) 20:32, 29 June 2025 (UTC)Reply

Yes, of course people are physically delivering things. Unfortunately, violations of workers' rights are routine in the U.S. Ikan Kekek (talk) 22:50, 29 June 2025 (UTC)Reply

@Ikan Kekek @LPfi Oh, that’s way too bad. I hope that there would be a good destination about US malls, one thing I assume would be Mall of America and American Dream. 2600:387:F:5719:0:0:0:3 01:51, 30 June 2025 (UTC)Reply

Malls in the US are very specifically poorly planned, particularly out west – they tend to be designed more as suburban shopping centres while in much of Asia (including the Philippines, presumably) are built to handle more foot traffic. I could go more into this but I assume y'all aren't nearly into city and regional economics as I am. ;-) //shb (t | c | m) 23:12, 29 June 2025 (UTC)Reply

I'm interested. Ikan Kekek (talk) 23:36, 29 June 2025 (UTC)Reply

The largest one by far and wide is what has already been mentioned, that outside the US (especially in Asia/Australia), delivery is nowhere near as widespread – in Asia/Australia, shopping malls contain some kind of supermarkets, things that you will have to go to no matter what. More foot traffic will generally mean more people visiting which leads to the chain effect of people shopping at shops that aren't a supermarket more (because more foot traffic).

The US also has the issue of its two major retail corporations of Costco and Walmart covering absolutely everything and situating themselves in a tucked away corner, draining money from local city governments for heavy use of infrastructure whilst not paying their fair share of taxes or infrastructure upkeep. Your average consumer will almost always go to whichever store works out financially more than anything else, especially in today's age.

The second one is that malls in Asia/Australia tend to be heavily oriented towards public transit access – suppose you're coming from work and you need to pick up a gift for your friend: it's a mild generalisation, but Asian/Australian malls are heavily integrated with public transit access in a way that you can exit the train station, easily walk towards the store you want to go to, and then hop back on a rather frequent train back home – on your way you might also stop by somewhere else (human nature I suppose) and maybe even pick up groceries. This is much less so true in the US outside the northeast corridor: building a shopping centre around private motorised vehicles will always mean there will be limited capacity. Your incentive to go to a mall in the US in a more car-centric city would be even less desirable when Costco and Walmart exist.

Then there is also the cost of delivery services. Delivery services simply aren't as attractive outside the US because a) they're considerably more expensive when the cost of actually travelling to such stores is not nearly as high or arduous; b) they're considerably less widespread. Why go to all the effort to try and enter a US mall when delivery services are simply so much so widespread.

Which leads back to the main point – when US malls don't have anything going for it with no incentives for greater foot traffic. With low foot traffic, it becomes simply unprofitable to run a store within a mall and many shops will close their physical stores. This too, is competing with giant retail stores like Costco and Walmart who are able to provide services for so cheap by exploiting loopholes to pay very little tax and also draining city resources at the same time. I realise there are some generalisations in my message, but overall it is to explain for the slow death of many shopping malls in the US while they continue to thrive in Asia or Australia.

//shb (t | c | m) 00:26, 30 June 2025 (UTC)Reply

@SHB2000 What will happen to US malls in the near future? Does this give United States a negative reputation? 2600:387:F:5719:0:0:0:3 01:26, 30 June 2025 (UTC)Reply

Many empty malls in the U.S. have been converted into housing. Ikan Kekek (talk) 03:43, 30 June 2025 (UTC)Reply

It depends on what local cities have in mind for them. As Ikan said, some of them were (quite skilfully) converted into housing; others will unfortunately decline and yes, it will give the US a bad reputation, but I don't think that's saying much when most of the US outside the northeast corridor (plus Chicago) already has a terrible reputation in the sphere of urbanism. I'm not fully aware of US legislation as I am for the rest of the Anglosphere so who knows if there are any local plans to incentivise malls once again. //shb (t | c | m) 08:39, 30 June 2025 (UTC)Reply

Also pardon me if I've gone way too in-depth: I am in the urban planning sphere IRL and I've made a concerted effort to avoid using planning terms but I may have missed one here or there. //shb (t | c | m) 08:40, 30 June 2025 (UTC)Reply

@Ikan Kekek @SHB2000 But for this reason, why would the most empty malls in USA be converted into housing, instead of continuing to build or construct new more malls in America, despite the malls opening in Asia, such as Taiwan, the Philippines, and Malaysia, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and Europe? I know that they are doing well in Asia at least with mixed-use. 2600:387:F:5719:0:0:0:3 21:42, 2 July 2025 (UTC)Reply

Malls are not profitable in the U.S. nowadays, because with unusual exceptions like urban malls in Flushing, Queens, they require someone to get into a car, drive, park, buy stuff, put it in their trunk, take it back, drive home, and unpack it. Ordering stuff to be delivered by someone else is much more convenient. And in really dense cities, the land is too expensive for there to be huge stores, let alone dedicated malls with no other uses. People who live or shop in places like Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn either walk to different stores or take a subway or bus to one particular store. Ikan Kekek (talk) 22:28, 2 July 2025 (UTC)Reply

This, precisely. //shb (t | c | m) 22:56, 2 July 2025 (UTC)Reply

In the UK, some malls are in decline. The decline in retail has probably affected shops on streets more than those in malls, and there is a big variation in impact between town centres. The rise in online shopping is part of the reason, but expansion of supermarkets and Covid restrictions have also contributed. Some malls have suffered when an anchor tenant department store closed. I expect that the situation is between the extremes of the USA and Asia. Many smaller shops on side streets have been converted into apartments, but conversion of malls is unusual.

Another factor to consider is the appeal of "getting out of the house". Although it is a big generalisation I think the average house is bigger and more comfortable in the USA than those in many part of Asia. If your family is in a tiny apartment in somewhere like Hong Kong, then walking to a nearby mall is an attractive way of spending an afternoon off. Similarly in Europe, at the moment, escaping a too hot house to go to an air-conditioned mall is attractive. AlasdairW (talk) 23:06, 2 July 2025 (UTC)Reply

Most Americans have air conditioning in their dwellings, and cities like New York have cooling centers operated by the city where people who don't can go during the day. Ikan Kekek (talk) 23:16, 2 July 2025 (UTC)Reply

@Ikan Kekek @AlasdairW Although I enjoy visiting the malls in the Philippines more than United States of America due to variety of options, what about the malls in Canada, Puerto Rico, and Guam? I seen one in Vancouver, Canada and surprisingly, the malls are still crowded in weekends and holidays. Are the malls still thriving in Alaska and Hawaii, as well as Las Vegas? Hawaii is just a small island with dense cities. Las Vegas have recently opened shopping malls as of late 2000s with walkable paths and transportation system, and I visited here and it looks okay to me. I have not seen these apartments in Hong Kong, but I heard on some YouTube videos about the living. Overall, I definitely agree on most Americans have air conditioning in their dwellings. 2600:387:F:5719:0:0:0:3 02:53, 4 July 2025 (UTC)Reply

I haven't been to Hawaii since 2012, but it is not just one small island with dense cities: you are thinking of Oahu. I've spent about an equal amount of time on the Big Island, which is in fact rather large, has no large cities and is largely countryside with small towns. But if you think Oahu is really small and just has dense cities, you didn't get very far from Honolulu, because even there, that's not true.

I was in Canada (Montreal and environs) in May and saw some car-centered malls in the suburbs which weren't too different from typical American malls. In Montreal, the striking difference from New York is that there is a large area downtown with shops and food courts that are all directly connected not only to the Metro but to a bunch of other buildings by walkways, so as to make it easier for people to shop and eat out on frigid winter days, but at least in May, those interiors and corridors were pretty desolate, and my girlfriend, who went to McGill University in the early 2000s, felt that they had fallen on hard times. (I understand Minneapolis has a similar setup downtown, though smaller, but I haven't been there. I also haven't been to Vancouver, Puerto Rico, Guam or Las Vegas.) Ikan Kekek (talk) 03:07, 4 July 2025 (UTC)Reply

No, your expert view backed by links is much appreciated by at least some of us. Pashley (talk)