Just some thoughts on double pricing - I feel it helps to contemplate this a bit beforehand, so that it is not so much of a shock once there, and to maybe create less negativity... the extra money we might be asked is only part of it.
Anyway, the idea of having to pay more just for my colour of skin/being a foreigner - outrageous, isn't it? :)
And imagine someone would charge e.g. Japanese tourists more than locals, when they come to Europe. Just because they are Japanese (sorry, nothing against Japanese, only as an example because there were many Japanese tourists in the town I grew up) . Or because they are prepared to spend the money. It seems grossly unfair!
Even worse - having prices on the menu, and then charging more afterwards... 'this is the normal price, and Japanese(foreigners) pay 25% extra...'
And then, I noticed that sometimes, as a student, I got a discount back home, in Europe, going to the cinema, to the museum, whatever... Because I was a student? Or because I was less well off? Seemed fair to me! :)
Once, in France, in the cantine of some university/research institute, the price people were charged actually depended on some kind of category they were in, with this category an indicator of their salary. And is it true that tickets for speeding/traffic offences in Sweden are linked to one's income? (I read this somewhere years ago)
It's not just an Ethiopian thing. Is it fair? Are all students less well off, just because they are students? Or do locals in Ethiopia have no money, just because they are locals? There were some big cars out there... Being a student/foreigner/... is just a crude measure, but at least it is easy to classify!
The farengij pricing I got in Ethiopia, really, was still affordable. So is it more a matter of principle, of feeling misstreated, ripped off? And is it worth feeling bad about it for principles sake? In the end, dwelling on the injustice only creates bad feelings for myself.
There is the kind of double pricing where, as a foreigner, I get quoted the farenji price, and I can then decide if I want to go for it or not: The entrance fee for the churches in Lalibela (and maybe it is a fair price for a world class heritage site, maybe the fees fund the mainenance, and locals would be completely unable to go, if they had to pay the same fee). Or the higher fare in crossing lake Tana by cargo ship (which came with a few benefits for the higher price).
And there is the second version, where I am shown a menu, indicating prices, and then charged more afterwards. This I found actually much more disturbing. It felt like they treated us as a stupid tourist, whom they can charge whatever they like. A matter of lack of respect. So it was not about the money. And in this specific incident, it was a hotel/restaurant, the guy serving us was actually very friendly, the food was good, and inexpensive. We would happily haved paid the farenji price, had we been quoted the farenji price in the first place, and probably even have left a tip. The guy serving us was very honest and open, he explained that the farenji increment for hotel rooms was 100% , and for our meal only about 25%. The whole thing was completely unnecessary - if they had stated '25% service charge' on the menu, in English, and only charged foreigners the service fee, we would have had a much better experience...
It is a pity that we left in such a bad mood, and it took me a while to get over it. It might have helped had I contemplated these issues a bit beforehand, to be better prepared.
In fairness, most of the time I did not experience fanrenji pricing, (or I didn't notice?). Once, in a restaurant, we had asked the price, were given a farenji price, and then only charged the normal rate, after the meal. This happend, too.
Now I have been rambling on for a while - not sure if this is balanced, and I just think it is good to be aware of these issues, contemplate them, beforehand, just to be prepared - no matter what your attitude on them.
Last remark: The event in the restaurant mentioned was one of the lows of my holidays, mood wise - so if that's the worst that happend, hej, it wasn't too bad, was it? And no, it wasn't too bad at all. Actually, I had a great time in Ethiopia, and enjoyed almost all of it!
