How bizarre, how bizarre...

When night falls in Chiang Mai, the markets open. Diane and I spent our night attempting to barter our way through the Night Bizarre. We were fairly successful with our not-so-well-honed bartering skills.

For the most part, we wandered around looking at the hundreds of stands, occasionally asking about prices, but not buying so much. Then we found ourselves smack-dab in the middle of a hard-sell, and neither of us knows how it happened. All we were doing was walking. Diance glanced over at a white shirt, and before she could event register as to whether ot not it was something she might be interested in owning, a lady boy popped out of nowhere, throwing the shirt in her hands and tying a pair of pants around her.

"Where are you from?" The lady boy asked.
"America." We responded.
"Oh! California?"
A little surprised, we said, "Yes."
"I've been to San Francisco (ed. soooo not surprised by that one.). I went to Chinatown, and what do they call the fishing place with shops?"
"Fisherman's Wharf."
"Yes! Oh, I loved it there. Now you," he turned to me. "You need an orange shirt."

Magically an orange shirt appeared in my hand. Before I had time to turn share a glance with Diane, he was dressing her in a pair of pants."

"I show you how it works. See, you wrap it around, you understand? Then pull it under, you understand? And tie at the front, you understand? Yes. Very nice. Now I show you on me." He grabbed a pair of the pants from the pile and quickly wrapped them on himself. "This is how they look. Not for boys. Only girls wear these. Not for boys. I just put them on to show you. Not boy pants. Understand?"

"Yes," Diane said. "But I don't want pants. Maybe a skirt?"
I jumped in, "Can I get a green shirt instead of orange?"
"Yes!" He wrapped a skirt around Diane and handed me a green shirt. "Okay, let's talk turkey."
We laughed.
"I give you price, then you give me one. I show you on calculator." He pulled out a calculator, showed us his first offer, then said, "Your turn."
We countered.
Then he said, "My turn."
We looked at it, countered again, and....
"Deal!" He shook our hands, took our money, and sent us on our merry way, still unsure as to how that all happened in the first place.

The next night we happened upon him as he was dressing a confused Dutch woman in the pants. She was laughing and saying, "What is happening? I'm Dutch!"

He carried on, asking her if she understood, assuring her that the pants were not meant for boys. Then he spotted us. His face lit up, and he proudly told everyone what we purchased the night before and asked if we wanted more. We declined and said goodbye.

And that's how you keep the people coming back!

That, and my friend, Tong, who sold me a skirt. I bartered him down from 350 baht to 290 baht. Iw alked away, shopped some more, then realized that I accidentally gave him 390 baht. Thirty minutes had passed, but I felt it was worth a try, so I went back to him. He was happy to see me. I asked him on what price had we agreed, and he told me 290. I then told him that I mistakenly gave him an extra 100 baht. He was totally surprised, pull out the money, and said, "Oh no! You're right. I'm so sorry. I didn't even notice."

He gave me the extra 100 baht, and we both apologized profusely.

That would never happend elsewhere! That's why I have a friend in Tong...unlike any friendship I could possibly forge with a car dealer.

This whole karma thing works out well for me, the consumer.