Damnoen Saduak-The colourful floating market
Juvenile taut or future best saleswoman?
We had to walk along a wooden walkway that was supposed to lead to the tour buses. Along this covered walk way, there were many people hawking jewelery, handicrafts and all sorts of souvenirs-anything that allow the tourists to bring back some memories of Thailand. This is obviously a tourist trap!
A wooden set of chopsticks and place holders caught my eyes. It would be a perfect gift for my friends who have just moved into their own love nest.
It is quite amazing how the little girl (probably around 10 years old) quickly realised what caught my eyes and quickly handed the set to me, and punched the price into a calculator. 1500B! Wow, that was really expensive! I was put off by this rip off, and quickly put the set back. What ensued made me uncomfortable.
“How much you want, tell me”, she held on firmly to my arm. I was quite take aback my this aggressive approach. I just said “No, thank you”, as firmly as I could. “1000B?” “No, thanks. I shook my head and tried to walk away. “750B?500B? Ok, ok 350B.” At this point of time, our eye balls almost popped-out of our eye sockets!
Ok, we were poor bargain hunters. Instead of grabbing this relatively good deal (I am sure she could offer 250B as well), we shook our head, said our “No, thank you, and walked off”. We are more indignant about the rip off than recognizing the good bargain. Oh no, we failed to apply the basic principles of negotiation!
Read more about my experience in Damnoen Saduak:
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