CoL: how has your currency fared against the Baht ... ?

[Smiles]

'Things' in general Thailand are getting somewhat more expensive. I can see/feel that everytime I buy something here (which is pretty well every day :-? ) I can vaguely remember that this or that was cheaper some years ago. That's quite normal really, in fact the slow, in-control, inflation one experiences in Thailand signals a rather economically healthier country: i.e. Thai people are ~ in general ~ still able to afford and buy 'things'.

How are off-fees going in gogo bars these days? What were they in 2000? Pot's taxi service from Hua Hin to Suvarnaphumi is 50% higher than in 2006. A beautifully cooked sea bass in our favourite restaurant (not in any way fancy) was 185 baht in 2007, now 300 baht. A large Leo at any bar in 2007 was 65 baht, now 100 baht.
I'm not complaining at all, we still buy what we bought seven years ago.

For myself, although my Canadian dollars go less far than 3 years ago, the CA$ is still decently above the level it was in 2000, the year I first came to Thailand.

Oddly enough the Euro is in the same scenario ... i.e. getting somewhat more Baht for the Euro than in 2000. The Euro is much more volatile ~ and probably will continue to be ~ but still net up over 2000.

The US dollar has taken the biggest hit over the longest period of time, and although it has risen lately, at 32 Baht it's a long way from the 40 baht it was in early 2000, much less the 53 Baht it reached ~ for a few minutes ~ during the Asian Crash. The British Pound has not performed very well.

The included graphs measure from 1997/1998 (the year of the Asian Meltdown). Plug your own currency into the historical converter here: ( http://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/ )

The graphs are easier to read by clicking on them.

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[fountainhall]

I do think the comparison between 2000 and today is skewed, if only because the effects of the 1997 economic crisis were still being felt for several years after 2000. Thailand did not pay off the last of its IMF bailout till mid-2003. You just have to look at the SET index to see that it climbed from under 400 in 2000 to over 1,500 today. Everything in 2000 was still pretty cheap.

Even if you take 2005 as the benchmark, though, external factors screw up reasonable comparisons. That year ┬г1 purchased around Bt. 75. Now it hovers around 50. тВм1 got around Bt. 50 in 2000. Now it's a sinking ship at around Bt. 39. Even the US$ has gone down from around Bt.42 to Bt 33. As I understand economics, that should result in cheaper imports with even cheaper ones on the way due to the oil price crash. Yet I rarely if ever see the price of imported goods drop!

It reminds me of the boom in Japan in the 1980s. The Japanese loved expensive gifts - both to give and thereby gain face, and receive. A regular bottle of XO cognac in Japan in the early 1980s was ┬е50,000 - the equivalent of around US$200. Thanks to continuous badgering from the Reagan administration to increase the value of the ┬е, the currency rose by around 50% (and was to rise further in the 1990s). Yet the price of that bottle of cognac remained at ┬е50,000 making its equivalent almost $400. At a meeting with a senior executive of the importer, I asked him why the price in Japan had not dropped to reflect the ┬е's rise. He told me that Japanese would regard the quality as having been diluted if they dropped the price!

However, most Thais are clearly far more interested in locally produced and sourced goods. I can only assume it has something to do with supply and demand, as well as mandated rises in minimum wages. As for bars, I can only speak for Bangkok where the fall-off in custom over several years has perversely put up prices where western owners would normally cut prices to attract more custom. In the last 2 or 3 years, the advent of gay Asian tourists with money to spend has resulted in very considerable increases in the price of drinks, off fees and tips. Plus the share to be given to the bib is substantial. The owner of a beer bar in Soi Twilight told me about 18 months ago that the tea money for a go-go bar had gone up to Bt. 160,000 per month and for an outside beer bar Bt. 40,000 per month. That requires a lot of customers regularly buying several drinks rather than hanging around with just one! I haven't offed anyone for several years, but on a recent visit to Classic Boys drinks were 350. I asked before entering, refused to pay that amount and was told my first drink would be 250! So it clearly pays to haggle a little. I read in another thread that minimum tips in Bangkok are soon likely to hit 2,000 for short-time! This from Christianpfc who knoows a lot more about current pricing than I.

I have heard/read about other bars in Soi Twilight steering towards 2000 short time.

[Smiles]

Yes, the year 2000 was used by me, arbitrarily, as that was the year I first stood on Thai soil, had any experience of Thailand ... or bought anything.

Certainly in 2000 Thailand was still in recovery mode from the 1997 Asian currency crisis.
As a matter of fact, in the taxi cab from the airport to my hotel in Bangkok on my very first holiday here I noted the incredible number of seemingly new-but-derelict buildings everywhere along the road from Don Mueang.

Actually, in the images above I used 1998 as the first year on the graphs, on purpose because it would have included the damage wrought currency-wise.

[fountainhall]

I wish I could recall the prices during my first visits in 1979 and thereafter through the 1980s when prices seemed to be pretty stable. I don't remember any set guidelines on tipping and boys seemed more than happy with Bt. 500.

Late 1997/early 1998 was a great time to visit Bangkok. Many importers had been slow to adjust their prices. I remember strolling through Siam Centre and wandering in to the Robinsons Piano showroom. A full-size Steinway concert grand piano could be had (for those who might wish one and had room for a 9-foot long monster) for the pre-crash price - i.e. at 50% discount. Unfortunately the IMF bailout meant that taxes on many imported luxury goods were soon to be massively hiked and some of these have not come down much, if at all - good wines for example.

I see that building has finally commenced on one of the last empty construction sites arising from the crash - the space between the Grand Hyatt and Peninsula Plaza on Rajadamri.

[christianpfc]

I haven't offed anyone for several years, but on a recent visit to Classic Boys drinks were 350. I asked before entering, refused to pay that amount and was told my first drink would be 250! So it clearly pays to haggle a little. I read in another thread that minimum tips in Bangkok are soon likely to hit 2,000 for short-time! This from Christianpfc who knoows a lot more about current pricing than I.

I have heard/read about other bars in Soi Twilight steering towards 2000 short time.

An interesting approach, the former owner of this board did the same and I followed his advice about two or three years ago and got into Hotmale for 200 (?) Baht instead of 250 (?); current price 350 (?).

The question is: do the Thai think you are a cheapskate or do they think I am a fool (because I pay these prices) and how does that affect the performance of a boy I might off?

I talked with a friend about boys in Screw Boys, and he offed the same boy I had weeks before, he paid 1000 for short time, I paid 2200 for long time.

When I see a price displayed, I take is it is (like in 7/11, I wouldn't get the idea to haggle), but it seems in gogo bars there is room for negotiation.

Don't take the 2000 for short time too serious, when I wrote that I was influenced by reading reports by a generous tipper on gaythailand forum.

(Post about any subject, and sooner or later we get to drink prices and tips for boys.)

[Smiles]

Just FYI: in my OP I was addressing the 'off fee' at any given bar, which is more stable over time and more competitive ... not the later charges for companionship.
The price the boy charges for services rendered once in The Room is much more fluid, esoteric and nuanced, and is thus not the most reliable of comparable metric points.

[scottish-guy]

.... The price the boy charges for services rendered once in The Room is much more fluid....

"The more fluid, the better" has long been my motto.

=P~

[Smiles]

.... The price the boy charges for services rendered once in The Room is much more fluid....

"The more fluid, the better" has long been my motto. =P~

Thanks S-G, I've been waiting 6 or 7 years to get 'bodily fluids' into a seemingly innocuous topic, without appearing to be mistaken for, er, Latinxxxpro.