The Controversial Two-Tiered Price System
I have just finished reading blogs of foreigners living or visited Thailand – and I have to admit, I am sick and tired of the whining and complaining about the 2-tiered pricing system in my country. Harsh words like “scam”, “lowly”, “dishonest”, “exploitation” – was generously tossed in by members of “apparently” superior race. *superior my ass!*
Two-tiered pricing -- it is the system that charges two different prices for local people and foreign tourists. An entry to a public swimming pool would charge locals 50 Baht, for foreigners, 100 Baht. A boat trip across the mighty Chao Phraya River will cost a local 3 Baht, for foreigners – 10 Baht. Thais can get into the Grand Palace complex for free, but foreigners should pay 250 Baht. These prices are not at all verbal; it is posted in bold prints at the entrance.
Just like any other rules, it can be bended. If you’re a foreigner but not white, chances are, you pay the Thai price. Especially when you look like Thai (SE Asians) and speak acceptable Thai – you may get in for free depending on how friendly you are or how good you show “Thai-ness” (the smile, the gestures, the type of clothes you wear, etc.). Trust me, we can tell whose Thai or not just by the way they smile.
Books, magazine articles, newspapers postbags, online forums, blogs are inundated with discussions on the issue – but I never participated, until now…
Here’s what I have to say to you fucken “superior” whiners:
Do you have any idea how hard it is for a Thai (or SE Asian) to get a visa to get into your "superior" country? How much time our people spend under the scorching heat of the sun just to get a fucken application form for a tourist visa to your "honest" country. Have you got any idea?
And when we get an application form, do you know how much we spend to get it reviewed in your "non-scamming" embassies, pay thousands of Baht, Pesos, Rupiah and we are not even sure of the result?
And do you know how much we put up and take the demeaning looks, insults and degradations we get from the "non-exploitative" staffs at your embassy?
AND YET YOU…with all your holiday mood, smelly shirts and filthy shoes
can get into our country FOR FREE. -- the nerve to complain!
Who's the "scammer" now? And who "exploits" who? Ha!
Take that!
****
Two-tiered pricing -- it is the system that charges two different prices for local people and foreign tourists. An entry to a public swimming pool would charge locals 50 Baht, for foreigners, 100 Baht. A boat trip across the mighty Chao Phraya River will cost a local 3 Baht, for foreigners – 10 Baht. Thais can get into the Grand Palace complex for free, but foreigners should pay 250 Baht. These prices are not at all verbal; it is posted in bold prints at the entrance.Just like any other rules, it can be bended. If you’re a foreigner but not white, chances are, you pay the Thai price. Especially when you look like Thai (SE Asians) and speak acceptable Thai – you may get in for free depending on how friendly you are or how good you show “Thai-ness” (the smile, the gestures, the type of clothes you wear, etc.). Trust me, we can tell whose Thai or not just by the way they smile.
Books, magazine articles, newspapers postbags, online forums, blogs are inundated with discussions on the issue – but I never participated, until now…
Here’s what I have to say to you fucken “superior” whiners:
Do you have any idea how hard it is for a Thai (or SE Asian) to get a visa to get into your "superior" country? How much time our people spend under the scorching heat of the sun just to get a fucken application form for a tourist visa to your "honest" country. Have you got any idea?
And when we get an application form, do you know how much we spend to get it reviewed in your "non-scamming" embassies, pay thousands of Baht, Pesos, Rupiah and we are not even sure of the result?
And do you know how much we put up and take the demeaning looks, insults and degradations we get from the "non-exploitative" staffs at your embassy?
can get into our country FOR FREE. -- the nerve to complain!
Who's the "scammer" now? And who "exploits" who? Ha!
Take that!
****
