Discounts in Asia

Today is the last day in the orientation dormitory. I will move to my permanent residence in the "International House" tomorrow. It is apartment-style, with a balcony, TV, and living room, and kitchen split amongst 10-15 people. It is towards the top of the mountain, so the views of the surrounding area are incredible. Unfortunately, I am on the first floor, so I won't enjoy the view quite as much.

From the International House to the closest student canteen requires climbing 100 steps and then riding an outdoor lift up another 100 feet. There are many outdoor lifts and elevators on campus for people to go from one level of campus to the next, because the campus is built into the side of a mountain and in some parts it is too steep even for stairs.

I have found that one of the cheapest ways to garner huge discounts is to pretend that you're Asian. For airfares, I have heard that a flight that may be $400 USD on the American website is the equivalent of $150 USD on the Chinese language version of the website. Also, there seems to be quite a premium attached to Western-styled food.


You can see the menu for the "Western" coffee shop in the student canteen across from my orientation dorm. The price for a large brewed coffee is approximately $2 USD. However, literally steps away in the same building, you can order coffee from the cashier for under thirty cents US. Incidentally, in order to get the coffee from this "Western" menu, you have to order it through the SAME cashier that you would use to buy coffee for thirty cents. Yet, inevitably, many of my American colleagues are ensnared by this rather clever pricing scheme.