Is Cm Getting More Expensive?

[nokia]

dear CM folks,

I was just wondering whether CM is getting more expensive? Is it the oil prices, rental increases or just my imagination?

3 years ago, i could have a decent meal at JJ Cafe(Thapae Rd) for 40-60 b, last month, it's 65-120 b for a meal/sandwich. 3 years ago, most hotel buffets were below 200b, now usually above.

I hope my experiences are isolated ones because an increasingly expensive city is not so 'charming' after all.

Cheers!

P.s. even the recent increase in sugar price has caused street vendors' desserts to be less sweet albeit at the same price.

[Ajarn]

dear CM folks,

I was just wondering whether CM is getting more expensive? Is it the oil prices, rental increases or just my imagination?

3 years ago, i could have a decent meal at JJ Cafe(Thapae Rd) for 40-60 b, last month, it's 65-120 b for a meal/sandwich. 3 years ago, most hotel buffets were below 200b, now usually above.

I hope my experiences are isolated ones because an increasingly expensive city is not so 'charming' after all.

Cheers!

P.s. even the recent increase in sugar price has caused street vendors' desserts to be less sweet albeit at the same price.

Of course it's getting more expensive. Any place in the world getting cheaper??

Hopefully, your income level has been keeping up

[groo]

P.s. even the recent increase in sugar price has caused street vendors' desserts to be less sweet albeit at the same price.

something positive for a change!. now lets get a little less sugar in carbonated drinks.

[Diablo Bob]

I thought it was getting more expensive then I realized I was just spending more!

[Ulysses G.]

dear CM folks,

I was just wondering whether CM is getting more expensive? Is it the oil prices, rental increases or just my imagination?

3 years ago, i could have a decent meal at JJ Cafe(Thapae Rd) for 40-60 b, last month, it's 65-120 b for a meal/sandwich. 3 years ago, most hotel buffets were below 200b, now usually above.

I hope my experiences are isolated ones because an increasingly expensive city is not so 'charming' after all.

Cheers!

P.s. even the recent increase in sugar price has caused street vendors' desserts to be less sweet albeit at the same price.

Of course it's getting more expensive. Any place in the world getting cheaper??

This is exactly what I thought.

How much have prices gone back up in San Francisco since I've been here?

However, we are also getting better restaurants like the one at the D2 Hotel, The House, The Dukes, etc. and better recreation facilties like great movie theatres and fitness centers and also good bookshops and DVD stores.

Chiang Mai is becoming a pleasanter place to live. I have no complaints.

[thebear]

dear CM folks,

I was just wondering whether CM is getting more expensive? Is it the oil prices, rental increases or just my imagination?

3 years ago, i could have a decent meal at JJ Cafe(Thapae Rd) for 40-60 b, last month, it's 65-120 b for a meal/sandwich. 3 years ago, most hotel buffets were below 200b, now usually above.

I hope my experiences are isolated ones because an increasingly expensive city is not so 'charming' after all.

Cheers!

P.s. even the recent increase in sugar price has caused street vendors' desserts to be less sweet albeit at the same price.

Of course it's getting more expensive. Any place in the world getting cheaper??

Hopefully, your income level has been keeping up

A very valid point but the increases are not that great. IMO CM still has a basic problem inasmuuch as people visiting expect to pay half what they freely pay in Bangkok without a second thought. I'm not advocating closer to Bankok prices but realistic prices might help CM business grow and prosper by putting more back in the local economy - maybe?

[Ajarn]

dear CM folks,

I was just wondering whether CM is getting more expensive? Is it the oil prices, rental increases or just my imagination?

3 years ago, i could have a decent meal at JJ Cafe(Thapae Rd) for 40-60 b, last month, it's 65-120 b for a meal/sandwich. 3 years ago, most hotel buffets were below 200b, now usually above.

I hope my experiences are isolated ones because an increasingly expensive city is not so 'charming' after all.

Cheers!

P.s. even the recent increase in sugar price has caused street vendors' desserts to be less sweet albeit at the same price.

Of course it's getting more expensive. Any place in the world getting cheaper??

Hopefully, your income level has been keeping up

A very valid point but the increases are not that great. IMO CM still has a basic problem inasmuuch as people visiting expect to pay half what they freely pay in Bangkok without a second thought. I'm not advocating closer to Bankok prices but realistic prices might help CM business grow and prosper by putting more back in the local economy - maybe?

Unrealistic prices? I don't buy it. I think the prices in CM are just fine, thanks

[nokia]

Of course it's getting more expensive. Any place in the world getting cheaper??

Hopefully, your income level has been keeping up

Well, Japan had deflation for more than ten years during the 1990s, oil producing countries like Brunei had deflation for a few years, and most developed countries had steady inflation of 1-2% annually but with crazy oil prices, this is going to be history.

As a developing country, Thailand's inflation has been 4-5% annually since 2003, energy price increased about 20% annually, raw food about 10% annually, so it's amazing that we are still able to get 20-25 baht meals from street vendors.

Let the commercial rents increase some more, western food prices etc to go up another 50-100%, and i'm sure the finicky tourists, backpackers will move the northern tourist capital elsewhere which has more "realistic prices" perhaps like CR?, and CM will become a mere transit point.

[Ulysses G.]

Let the commercial rents increase some more, western food prices etc to go up another 50-100%, and i'm sure the finicky tourists, backpackers will move the northern tourist capital elsewhere which has more "realistic prices" perhaps like CR?, and CM will become a mere transit point.

Something about prices. The owner of the Duke's had another restaurant in Chiang Mai called the America Restaurant in 1991. He was looking at his old menus and claims that, according to the dollar, food prices have stayed almost the same since then.

He also said that foreign restaurants here in Thailand used the collapse of the baht in 1997 to gouge customers and artificially raise prices because tourists were all converting to their own currencies and didn't realize how out of line the prices were.

That's how he can sell an excellent Greek salad with feta cheese and olive oil that is twice as big as anywhere else for half the price of his competitors.

[Ajarn]

He also said that foreign restaurants here in Thailand used the collapse of the baht in 1997 to gouge customers and artificially raise prices because tourists were all converting to their own currencies and didn't realize how out of line the prices were.

I was around here during 1997 (while Duke was in California?), and I don't remember any price gouging...Only petrol going from 10baht to 15 baht per litre.

That's how he can sell an excellent Greek salad with feta cheese and olive oil that is twice as big as anywhere else for half the price of his competitors.

Now, truthfully, isn't the reason because very few places sell an excellent Greek salad with feta cheese and olive oil, and of the places that sell it, all have marketed themselves as being more upmarket, hence, more expensive?