Negotiating.  Bargaining.  Easy to say. Never all that easy to do.  In Thailand, it’s part of the culture. It’s what they do, and if you don’t do it back, say it with me,  you WILL get ripped off.  Ripped off with a smile and a ‘khob kun ka’ (‘thank you!’)

I actually hate to bargain.  I just think it feels so awkward.  I know the golden rule of negotiating is “you have to be willing to walk away,” and usually I’m not.  I typically become disproportionally invested in whatever I am trying to buy. I quickly start envisioning my life with the item and all the happiness it will bring to me.

Thailand was a learning curve for us in the best way possible.  I never felt intimated by the process of negotiating.  The people are kind, friendly and didn’t put lots of pressure on us.  It was a back and forth until it worked for both parties.  At times, it was downright funny.

We would typically bargain with tuk-tuk drivers and at markets.  It would start by the person saying a ridiculously high price and us immediately cutting that price in half (halving the first stated price is a good general rule of thumb.) Next without fail, the person would laugh an over-emphasized big, hearty guffaw as if to say to themselves (or anyone else in the near vicinity) “these American girls are trippin!!”  Which we knew we weren’t, because we had done loads of research and knew the fair price of whatever we were after. We would then start to walk away, and more often that not, the person would offer us a more reasonable price. We didn’t ‘win’ every time, but all in all we did pretty good. The whole thing was just laid back, natural and easy with these smiley people.