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Ender
WayToRussified
Joined: 23 Aug 2006
Posts: 498
Location: Urals
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 Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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| greg222 wrote: | | Definitely. Turkey's a fascinating country. But you get sick of constantly having to deal with people trying to rip you off. |
I'm getting sick in a good sense. Turks are easy to haggle. It looks like they are persons whose like to haggle. After Turkey I'm constantly trying to haggle on russian open-air markets and even in shops. |
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Paul-Holmes
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 12 Apr 2005
Posts: 1073
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 2:47 am Post subject: |
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It is interesting that I was in a Russian resort in Turkey and how the Turks knew how to rip off Russians was amazing. A tall Slavic woman knows that she can rip off most Western guy, but she is defenseless with a Turkish man that is selling knock off designer goods.
Canadians are not much in designer stuff and so I was puzzling to them. So they kept asking me to sit down and ask why I acted this way. I had some that became quite physical and heated in negotiations.
Besides the bitchy ex Russian GF, I thought the Russian at the resort were great. It is interesting be only English speaker in the resort and how we got along. |
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Ender
WayToRussified
Joined: 23 Aug 2006
Posts: 498
Location: Urals
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 7:03 am Post subject: |
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Once I was resting on the beach. A German middle aged man with his wife/girlfriend started to play badminton. They were very emotinal about each successfull hit or unsuccessfull miss. "Oh! Ja! E-e-e-e! Gu-u-u-u-t".
A woman lying near us said to her husband (without seeing what is happening behind of her): "My dear, ask them please to mute the porno. There are children around." |
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krasatulya
VIP
Joined: 29 May 2005
Posts: 590
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 4:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Ender wrote: | | krasatulya wrote: | What a bunch of b.s.! Just reading about this dual-pricing really burns me. I'm fortunate that i'm a.) a woman and b.) have a pretty intimidating looking Russian husband. I believe the latter is probably the reason why no one tried to pull any of this crap  |
I'm glad for you and your husband. Believe to me having an intimidating look is good on a dark street but it doesn't matter in Alexandrovsky garden or in an ordinary food shop (except a case when a sales-person is simply rude). There was price difference few years ago (and it really wasn't monitored) but it looks like the prices are equal now. At least in Kremlin. As far as I know they have never been different in other places.
| krasatulya wrote: | But I feel bad for those that have been ripped-off. It makes me wonder if Russia doesn't realize the bad impression they make with tourists bringing money in their country, or if they just don't care. Once again, I'm going to assume the latter  |
Yeah, Russia is bad by default. Yawn. Have you ever tried to read sources before spread b.s?
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Obviously you took this a little bit the wrong way. As I'm married to a Russian and have traveled there quite a few times, I certainly have nothing against the country and its people; HOWEVER, it is not spreading BS to say that it is wrong for a country to charge foreigners different prices. My husband, being RUssian, says its crap. And by saying that they don't care is not really a slam again Russians. I think it is evident in politics, economic dealings, etc that Russians will not be bullied into catering to what the West or anyone else wants. That is what I meant by that statement. Don't get your feathers so ruffled, Ender. |
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camarks
Moderator
Joined: 30 Sep 2005
Posts: 333
Location: Richmond, VA USA
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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| I always found the higher foreigner prices at museums etc. only mildly annoying. The prices were reasonable based on what I might expect to pay elsewhere in the world. I view it as a deep discount for locals. I have gone to several museums with Russians and paid their price, but have also paid the higher prices. |
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Paul-Holmes
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 12 Apr 2005
Posts: 1073
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 7:40 pm Post subject: |
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| When I was at Petergof, I saw a bunch of Russians that crawled under the fence to avoid paying the fee. Many ripped their pants and shirts to get in. I was thinking what a bunch of morons. |
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Ender
WayToRussified
Joined: 23 Aug 2006
Posts: 498
Location: Urals
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| Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 9:36 am Post subject: |
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| Paul Holmes wrote: | | When I was at Petergof, I saw a bunch of Russians that crawled under the fence to avoid paying the fee. Many ripped their pants and shirts to get in. I was thinking what a bunch of morons. |
They have simply selected another payment scheme.  You don't understand. It is not because they hadn't money, it is because they enjoyed the whole process by breaking the rules and laws. Even if the pants were ripped. |
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Paul-Holmes
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 12 Apr 2005
Posts: 1073
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| Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Ender wrote: | | Paul Holmes wrote: | | When I was at Petergof, I saw a bunch of Russians that crawled under the fence to avoid paying the fee. Many ripped their pants and shirts to get in. I was thinking what a bunch of morons. |
They have simply selected another payment scheme. You don't understand. It is not because they hadn't money, it is because they enjoyed the whole process by breaking the rules and laws. Even if the pants were ripped. |
It is because their mother and father is also the aunt and uncle. |
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meagen1970
Frequent Guest
Joined: 18 Mar 2008
Posts: 29
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| Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:30 pm Post subject: foreigner prices |
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i was in st. pete's in march and the duel pricing system was going strong- i paid about up to 3x as much as a native for museum entries. however, i asked for my tickets in russian, and the clerks would look at me and ask if i was russian. i wanted to answer yes, and get the discount, but the stupid in me said no. I didn't want to get caught out! chances are if you speak decent russian, you might be able to pay as a russian.
TIP: buy your hermitage ticket on line, fixed price. print it out, bring it to the musuem, skip the line and go to the front. Russians who didn't know about this system yelled at me for skipping (ironic considering they do it all the time) but i saved a lot of time and probably $$. |
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romdur
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 17 Mar 2010
Posts: 189
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| Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 8:59 pm Post subject: |
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One traveler's opinion...
I can understand looking at the two-price system as a "ripoff". But there's another way to think about it.
I believe that most of us who travel to Russia from the West have an income (say, average per person in one's household) many times that of the average Russian.
Admission prices for Russian citizens can be kept lower, by charging higher rates to foreigners. I don't mind paying the extra amount, because just maybe, a Russian will be able to enjoy the experience, who otherwise couldn't afford it.
As a foreigner, I pay $15 or $20 to spend the day in one of the world's great museums of fine art, or $50 to $100 to be enraptured by what many agree is the world's most magnificent ballet company. For any reader tempted to cheat the system in Russia, take a moment to consider... what would these things cost in London, Paris, or New York? |
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hpesch
Frequent Guest
Joined: 09 Mar 2008
Posts: 35
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| Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 10:24 am Post subject: Museums are more strict |
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In the 1990's I travelled often to Petersburg. I never paid foreigner rates at the Philharmonic or the Opera, but at the Russian museum the granny at the entrence send us back when she spotted my girlfriend who did not look Russian enough.
You can try and buy tickets at a kiosk, they won't mind. But in hotels they'll rip you off all right.
Cheers
Henri |
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gaijin
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 03 Oct 2007
Posts: 155
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| Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 3:05 pm Post subject: |
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| To those who consider the system fair: with that system, many museums are more expensive than the Louvre. |
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