Thailand: Bargaining & haggling

haggle
Pronunciation: /ˈhag(ə)l/
dispute or bargain persistently, especially over the cost of something

In Thailand there are 2 ways to buy things:

• buying them at asking price or
• haggling over the asked price

If you opt for the first option you're letting someonerip you off. The Thai expect that you reduce the asked price and even hand you over a big calculator with the asking price for you to reduce.

It's all a game, one that certain tourists are not good at. I for instance tend to be shy to reduce the price drastically but towards the end of the holiday I changed my attitude. I started to start halving the asking price from the start and suddenly I got good deals! We also had the benefit of speaking Dutch between ourselves to decide when to agree to a price, without showing our game.

Here's some tips I learned during this trip on how to get a better price:

• Decide in advance what you want to pay for an item and place your first asking price lower than this amount.
• Be ready to walk away. I didn't really believe in this but once I did it (by coincidence) the price of the item got reduced to the first asking price. It might happen though that indeed you walk away and 'lose' buying what you're interested in. Not to worry though most probably in 100 metres you'll be able to buy the same item.
• Don't worry about not speaking Thai. Most shop owners know basic English and if they don't they'll always come with a calculator
• Don't haggle over food or in big department stored.

A typical stall in Koh Phangan on the eve of a Full Moon party

At this point we have left mainland Thailand and will be spending the last week visiting some islands and relaxing in the gorgeous white sandy beaches. The plan is to go to Koh Phi Phi and from there also visit Maya Cove wich is the place where the movie The Beach of Leonardo di Caprio was filmed. From the pictures it looks like a place coming out from dreams!!

[Image Source: Chelsa Borup @ Pinterest]

It's a raft hut

And today we'll be sleeping in a raft hut! Wish us luck!!

[Image Credits: Khao Sok Explorer]

Sleeping in a tree hut!

We planned to go on a 3 day jungle tour in Khao Sok and today we'll be sleeping in a tree house. Most probably this was something I would have loved to do as a kid!! I doubt its going to be very comfortable but I'm really looking forward to it. And tomorrow we're going to sleep at another strange place! You'll see....

[Image Credits: Dee Dora @ Pinterest]

It's time

It's time. It's time to start reading travel guides before going to bed instead of my beloved fiction stories. In 2 months we're off for a long trip to Thailand. Going out of Europe is always such a different experience. Everything is so different from what we're used: the culture, the food, the people, the architecture. So now it's time to read a lot about the place so once I'm there I can just relax.
Anybody who visited Thailand in the past years and has any tips, pleas drop a comment!!

[Image Credits: Erin Long @ Pinterest]