ohmigoodness, uploading pics is taking forever! so i'm gonna blog another one...

in traveling southeast asia, you have to be wary of people trying to take advantage of you, overcharging, etc. it's kinda a tough line to draw...how to be firm and get a fair price, but also be gracious. i've realized that i really dislike it if i feel like i'm being taking advantage of...so it's something that can set me off at times (evil-lyn - it can get bad...like when i was buying my car...eesh, i still cringe when i think about that incident). so anyways, it was kinda bad in vietnam. there was this one time when i was shopping around for plane tickets to bangkok, and the tour agent practically held me hostage when i told him that i wanted to think about it. he was pushy from the get-go, and he started getting annoyed when i was hesitant. eventually, i said that i wanted to think about it and come back later, and he said, "you book now?" and i said i'd think about it, and he said, "ok, you think about it here - sit here," in an annoyed manner, and as if he didn't understand that i wanted to leave the office. so i sat there for a few minutes, then i thought, wait a sec, i don't need to take this, so i said, firmly and standing up, i'm going to think about it. at this point, i think he realized that i meant it, so he said, more nicely, "ok, you come back?" then, i couldn't help it, i said, "probably not," and left.

in most cases, the price may be a dollar or two more than normal, which by our standards isn't too bad, but by southeast standards, is quite a bit more. so while sometimes i just think, whatever, it's just a buck, at other times, i get a bit angry. but then, what should i expect - to them, tourists are rich and can afford to pay more, and i'm sure that they get many tourists who do pay more, so why should i expect them to treat me any differently?