What Country Are You From … Here’s Your Price

One of our biggest frustrations in Bali was trying to get a fair price.

A typical negotiation would usually go something like this:

Us: Hi, we are interested in a room, meal, item in your store, etc. How much?

Them: What is your country?

Us: USA

Them: (eyes light up) Ahhh, very rich country. Your price is…[insert price at least double or triple what locals pay]

Sometimes we would try to avoid telling them our country but we never got a price until we said something. Other times they would just know from our accents.

A few times we joked that we should go into a place separately and ask for the same thing. I would say I’m from the USA, Carrie would say from Turkey or some other country that they have no idea what to do with and see what happens. Maybe next time. For now, we’re just thankfull that we’re not from Japan … they pay nearly double what Americans do.