I have been in many countries..But Thailand ,my homeland is the one I love, the one I alway belong and the one I wanna sattle..Beyond all compare I feel so comfortable with my country.

However...

One of all things I feel shame to my homeland is the fact that we always overchage for foreigeners. Once again, I went to Joe Louis Theather (Thai treditional Puppet show) and I saw

" 200 baht for Thai, 600 baht for forigner"

God sake!! what's the hell is going wrong again?? I NEVER been overchange in any countries I've been!! They treate people all same but why my country always do this for farang??

At Emeral Buddha they also charge farang 200 baht and 0 baht for Thai citizens.. That's Thailand hersitage and they even shouldn't charge anything... If they charge, charge both no problem.. But why civilize city like Bangkok do this to them??

In 10 years, farang will run away from this "Equal of Freedom and Liberty"if we keep go on like thia...

we pay more to keep yr heritage going.

in some countries in asian,the extra money paid by foreigners improves the lives of ordinary people,Cambodia and Loas being 2 examples

I think you will find that happens many places, but it is not as obvious. In Thailand they list the prices on the sign (though I like it when they try to hide it by writing the Thai price in Thai numerals ;-) and most other areas, like here in Hawaii, you have to ask for the local discount

That happens in other countries too: when I visited St.Petersburg/Russia, foreigners were charged more as well (e.g. as fee for a museum).

Thank you for sharing that aggravation. The different treatment given to foreigners is one more evidence that a lot of the official speech about Thailand is window dressing.

Good point Happygetty, but i have a plan now. When i come across a place that charges me more than a Thai person, i will not enter. Instead, i will write down the difference in the amount between the farang and Thai. At the end of my trip, i will total up all of those charges and donate it to a childrens charity! Thanks for sparking the idea Happygetty.

Stop reading the signs in Thai Get...read them in english and you won't even know there was a difference! But I do agree with certain applications of the dual pricing system in that tourists CAN afford to pay these small fees (and yes they are small by tourist standards - 200 baht after all is 3 beers) and that Thai people should be encouraged to understand their heritage more and therefore in many cases need to have free entry to these places - 200 baht to a Thai person is 10 bowls of noodles!

I don't agree though to its application in tourist markets and general ripping-off of ourists who don't know the true value of goods. This just goes to line the pockets of the market vendors after all. I've seen some poor sod pay 4,000 baht for a fake DVD!

I think it's okay to charge foreigners more to enter a place like the Temple of the Emerald Buddha because a) Thais support its upkeep with their tax money and as part of Thai heritage it belongs to all Thai people. Although, I pay taxes here too, so I think foreigners who do should get a break.

But outside of places like that, it's just plain wrong. Why should the greedy bas***d who runs Safari World get away with something like that? And why should a Thai driving around in a Mercedes get a discount when a foreign backpacker has to pay three times as much? And when foreigners pay more in places like that, none of that money goes to making the lives of poor or average locals any better. It just makes that greedy so and so richer.

The fact that tourists can afford it doesn't make it right or excuse it. It's wrong. You treat people how you want to be treated. That's the Golden Rule.

There are plenty of Thais in the United States, living or traveling. If they are there, they can afford to be there. I'm sure that if we suddenly decided we're going to charge Thais more to go into museums, parks, ballparks, etc., or more in restaurants, then the Thais there would be outraged and scream about racism. But they don't bat an eye when this goes on at home.

The saddest thing is, it gives Thais a bad reputation around the world. When someone comes here and is aware this happens to them, they go home and tell people about it. Then all Thais get a black eye because of it.

Thank you for posting this Get. It's heartening to know that there are Thais who know this is wrong.

there's a Joe Louis Theater in Thailand? Joe Louis the famous boxer?

No Lyle, Joe Louis Theater is small puppet show ja

The way to think of it is this: discount for Thais, full price for farang. The upkeep on these places is not free. In the case of the Thai visitor, the state subsidizes the cost of the visit. In the case of the farang visitor, the state does not. Farangs are not being overcharged, they are simply paying full price. This, I dare say, is fair.

Interesting note: some places will give you the Thai price if you present a Thai driver's license, which is relatively easy and inexpensive to get. Farang residents may wish to look into that.

Anyway, what ticks farang off about the double pricing at parks and monuments is the supposed 'racism' of it (wrong) as well as the similarity to two tier pricing in other areas, where every attempt is made to rip off the tourist/farang with all the usual self-serving and dishonest rationalizations attached. What I'm talking about are all the infantile and sadly predictable scams by street vendors, restaurants, river city shops, tuk tuks, etc.

Bobby's idea to skip some of the tourist traps and donate the entrance money otherwise spent to a charity of one's choosing is a good one, however. Most people don't realize the almost total lack of giving on the part of the rich in this country and thus the tremendous impact a few thousand baht can have.

Having traveled a bit (both as military and as a civilian), I know when I am getting ripped off. Part of traveling, deal with it. I appreciate that a lot of folks here see it as wrong, bc it is.

I kind of let it go when I travel, bc I make a point of remembering that while I am supposed to be on my better behavior (representing the US by proxy, such as it is), it is unfair to compare and evaluate another country's performance by the US. Truth told, my country is not acting all that spiffy right now, and I feel I have less to brag about (only 2 more months of that fool, though...).

Sure, America is less tolerant of the double standards one sees in other countries, but we have our own issues, and so does most of the rest of the West (and the East, and the North and South). If thailand is going to change, it should happen bc Thai folk are doing the changing themselves, and not from outraged farang.