Dual pricing

As western visitors, we often feel being overcharged only beacause we are just that : farang. I can understand it when I have a to pay a little more for motosai taxis or a hotel room though even so I feel that I am being taken advantage of, and supposed to be much richer than I am. I dislike it when the difference is made not because of my passport but because of my skin color : I would like to be sure that these ubiquitous chinese tourists pay the same price as me. And I am on the verge of non accepting it (meaning : turning my heels back) when the difference is farang prices being 10 times higher, like in most national parks : this is blatant robbery, especially as the maintenance in these parks is often hardly worth even the thai price.

Until now I did not see this bad habit spreading among the boys. Street boys in Grand Palace area ask 500 bahts whatever the customer’s nationality (although I usually give more), and the massage shops have the same price list too. In the bars I never discuss the price before and will normally give some extra above the going rate if satisfied.

However when chatting with a boy online, the boy almost always broaches the topic of financial reward. So I was not really impressed when a boy I chatted with on Line, bluntly shown how natural double pricing was for thai people.

The 18 y/o boy was from Suphanburi, and was OK for coming to my hotel in Bangkok, but only for short time. There was no time lost as his brother had told me that he was OK for selling his services so I could skip the usual small talking, courting, convincing and agreeing sessions. When I asked for the price, he answered : "When I go outside, I usually charge 1500 bahts including transport, but for foreigners I ask 2000 bahts". I did not answer anything, mainly because coming from Suphanburi and going back would have cost probably more than 500 bahts, not counting three lost hours for the boy, so his final pay would have been rather low.

So I will keep his name for a later visit to Suphanburi, where I spotted an interesting cheap hotel with pool, as well as many attractions and places to visit – but there is so few interesting things to do in these provincial towns at night .... Or I will wait till next year when he will probably be a student in Bangkok.