SSU Travels the World

I should start by saying that I really love Asia. I mean what is there not to like, the food is great (even if i can’t quite imagine what it is), always an amazing landscape of ocean and mountains, the most amazing climbing trees only imaginable in my most euphoric dreams. And of course, the cheap everything that surrounds you on every side. At the market you can engage in a wonderful game they call “bargaining”. This includes many tactics that have been learned through on-the-street-practice and passed down to me through word of mouth by fellow bargainers.  I will say outright that I have never been a fan of shopping, but when you make it a game with some type of competitive edge, I’m all in! I can recall a few nights where some friends and I would spend a significant period of time haggering down some eager vendor to sell his or her goods for ridiculously low prices, not with the goal of getting a deal but just to see how low the price will go. That may seem like the same thing, but if I really don’t want to buy a noisy wooden frog, what the heck, “I’ll give you one Baht for that whole box”. They laugh at you and tell you they’ll give you a good deal, a “special price just for  you- 40 baht!”, 1 baht, 30 baht, 1 baht, “25 baht- no lower!”, ” ok, 2 baht”. No deal, they laugh and walk away realizing that they have been wasting their time. But it’s all in good fun, and even more so when I really do want to buy a certain item. It always involves a ritual, and both players know that for the most part its simply a formality. I ask the price, he/she gives me a ridiculously high starting price, and then the real game begins. I need to figure out its general worth and I need to play it smart and not ask too high a price. I usually start slightly lower then half the asking price and go from there. Here is where the seasoned veteran shines. The vendor offers me a special deal to which I will say ”too high!” and complain about how poor I am. This usually brings down the price considerably, but that’s not enough for me, I’m in the game to win. I remind the vendor that every other stall offers the same thing and they will surely give me a better price. The price goes down again. My competitive edge has kicked in and I start to walk away pretending I don’t care anymore.  The vendor comes after me pleading and begging me to buy their merchandise, they have had a change of heart and will give me another deal. I have suddenly regained my interest at a much lower price, if they give up on going lower it is often possible to ask the vendor to throw in another item to make it worth while for me. Or, in some cases it works to hold out an amount of money just lower then what they ask for and sort of taunt them with the immediate cash waving in their faces. This is pretty much victory for me, I have explained the ideal game play. But it doesn’t always go this way, sometimes I win and sometimes I may be taken in for an extorted price. But that is the nature of the game, and you get better at it, you trade secrets you have learned and learn new ones. Who knows, maybe I’ll come to Asia  someday and join the other team, see what it’s like to be a vendor. Man, shopping is so much fun : )