The only thing to do in modern Kunming these days is to go to a bar, or eat at a restaurant - maybe chat some nonsense on gokunming after a fake beer, and fake whatnot - so of course theres a market to cash in on this desperation taking place there. Can Kunming be livable without daily booze, a drunken laowai blues band, and some texmex with sour cream - probably not. The prices shall be put in relation with the dystopian index.
@Peter99
100% accurate.
We want more for less dammit!!
1. Mountain biking (there're several groups).
2. Hiking
3. Other sports - swimming, tennis, badminton, rugby.
4. gym/dance/yoga studios
5. shopping
6. Travel (bar life isn't for everyone)
7. Business (look for business opportunities)
8. Volunteerism (orphanages, schools, out of town (e.g. Ruili, etc) Salvador's runs some great programs.
9. Go out and make friends, get a girlfriend / boyfriend / married. That makes items 1-8 more fun unless they're psycho.
10. Have a kid - that will preempt most activities from 1-9 for at least a 3-5 years. Depending on perspective and maturity - item 10 is much more fun than 1-8.
Personally I don't think that Kunming's western food is that expensive. Brooklyn for example, their 'small' 14" pizza is enough for 2 people, and costs about 60-70RMB. So providing you don't order drinks, that's 30-35 per person. A good sandwich or burger at Aussie Bite costs about 35-45RMB. Sals is a little bit expensive but it's a KM institution and ALWAYS busy, so people are clearly willing to pay it. Perhaps what we are really saying is that imported beer and wine are expensive, but that's more of a import tax issue than a business decision. My advice is just drink less (you don't want to be drinking loads of iodine rich Chinese beer!). It'll be good for your body and your wallet.
i think peter99 is totally right, i mean michael2015 most of the activities you proposed can be done much better in a smaller place,possibly a village..the benefit of living in a city is to have a decent cultural/social life that can be inspiring and unfortunately it seems difficult to have it on km. the city has developed a lot but night life is way down the standard of other many other chinese cities.
Western food places are always too high and frankly not even that great.
Pizza is the most frustrating for me as the actual cost for a pizza is less than 5rmb and you often get charged 20 times that much.
Spaghetti too.
But growing up in the US, Chinese food was always for a special occasion as it was too expensive.
Simple - don't patronize these places - let them go out of business.
I agree. If they are over charging, go elsewhere. Let them die on their greed. Sal's was never cheap, see how they didn't last the greedy Capitalists even after being bombed.
A lot of people are throwing estimates around and completely ignoring the actual costs of running such a business, of which ingredients are often a small part. These places have to pay rent, which can be really expensive for a good location. They also have a lot of employees to pay. And let's not forget all the taxes and fees involved in running a public-facing business...
When you take the actual cost of doing business into account, these places aren't making nearly the margins you think they are.
I appreciate Xiefei's comments and, since I started this thread, I'd like to point out that I did not mean to imply that anybody in particular is into serious greed. I have no idea what the margins might be - I meant what I said: "...merely an impression." I don't think we're producing dollar millionaires, and I hope not.
