Job Discussion Forums

[fetuskarate]

Alright. I'm slightly new to the Thailand scene, having only worked here for a couple months. I'm due to get my work permit soon (been on the Non-Imm.B) and heard a crazy rumor. I didn't know where else to investigate, so hopefully someone can clear this up.

A fellow farang teacher told me she'll be using her work permit to gain discounts around Thailand. A few weeks ago she wanted to go to he palace but argued with the ticket booth about getting a discount because she lived here. She seems to be under the impression that being a teacher here grants one the benefit of not having to pay foreigner prices for things like entrance fees to tourist sites (the Grand Palace, for one). I, however, disagree. Just because we live here doesn't mean our salaries are comparable to Thais' and even more so wouldn't Thais want us to spend our money here?

Am I wrong to assume this, or is there somehow an unspoken foreign resident discount I was unaware of? If such discounts exist, where can one go to take advantage of them?

[PattyFlipper]

Like so many things in Thailand, it is a crapshoot. By showing a work-permit or Thai driving licence, some people do, on occasions, manage to avoid paying the exorbitant skin tax sanctioned and indeed mandated by the Thai government for admission to National Parks and other tourist attractions around the country. (This is not a discount, by the way, you would simply be paying the same entrance fee which Thais and other foreigners with Asiatic features are charged). In other instances, you could argue till you are blue in the face, in fluent Thai, produce a whole string of Thai wives and Thai-born offspring, and still be told "Farang mi dai" (Liberal translation: Honky cannot).

Gouging and extorting the farang is something of a national sport in Thailand, encouraged by successive Thai governments to the point where many Thais now see your white face as fair game for any indignity which they may choose to inflict upon you. Just one of the several reasons why foreign tourists and investors are avoiding the place in droves.

[fetuskarate]

So when she goes to the Grand Palace and tries to breeze by security at the front without purchasing a ticket, the work permit will suffice?

Dual pricing for foreigners and locals is unfortunately something I've had to deal with everywhere that's not in the west. It's extortionate, true, and it sucks. But is it justified? I guess that's another discussion topic for another day.

Fortunately for me, I've got Southeast Asian ethnicity so I'm able to beat the system.. in Thailand at least.

[PattyFlipper]

[JamesDavid4th]

9 times out of 10, as long as you speak a little Thai to "the gatekeeper" of at any entance point where they are attempting to charge the skin tax - you will be exempt.

learn how to say, in Thai, that you live and work in Thailand. where you work, what you do, where do you live. like i said, this almost always works for me - places like Sri Racha Tiger Zoo, the national park office as you are going on to Koh Samet, the Grand Palace, etc.

much easier than carrying your silly work permit around in your pocket.