Moslem Discount

Written by Dyah Ayu Nurina Malinda

Photographs by Dyah Ayu Nurina Malinda 

    Every time you look around d’mall at Boracay, you always find t-shirt sellers, and all kinds of souvenirs sellers that you can imagine. Don’t picture d’mall as a fancy mall in Kuala Lumpur or other major cities. D’mall is actually an area full of street vendors, food sellers and stalls.

    One thing that is quite amazing here is the courtesy of the Moslem discount. As a Moslem woman who wears the hijab, Moslem sellers immediately give me a good price- a discount price. The other good thing is I am able to make that good price even lower, with my witty smile and determined way of bargaining.

   
    First they will ask, “Are you Moslem?”.To which I reply “Yes”. “Where do you come from?”. “Indonesia”. Then the conversation is will turn to particular souvenirs that I want to buy.

   There are quite a number of Moslem sellers here in Boracay. Most of them came from Mindanao. They move here for better economic prospects.

    In fact, my friend, one of the alumni travelers, felt disappointed when she ended up paying PHP 70 more for the exact same souvenir. The first stall charged her PHP 250 for a bag, although I tried to help her bargain. But then when we walked further away, we found Moslem stalls. Then I saw the exact same bag that she bought from the other stall. I was curious as to whether my friend got a good price or not. When the Moslem seller said that the bag price is PHP 180, my friend felt cheated.

    But good thing is now we know which souvenir stalls give a good price and is easy to bargain with. So the next day, my other friends went there. But my friends insisted that I should come along so that the Moslem sellers will give me the Moslem discount. Hahaha…!

Blogger Profile

Linda- friends call me Linda. I am currently working as TV journalist at a TV Station at Jakarta, Indonesia. This February, I will be 28 years old. I went ON two study trips. First, I went on the Sagada Baguio study trip. Then I went to the Siem Reap, Cambodia study trip. 

I always like meeting new and friendly people, love to eat food (beside pork, dog and frog…hehehe), and enjoy deep meaningful conversation with old friends. 

Philippines has always been close to my heart. The food, the people and the beautiful surroundings- you cannot take your eyes from them. That is why when my friends, alumni of Monash University Malaysia, planned to go to the Philippines again, I was up for it.

This year I went simply as an observer of the study trip. Before I saw the students and the equipment for this study trip, I was wondering what could be different from my previous study trip. It turns out that this study trip has walkie-talkies, and better video camera equipment. Awesome!

Iloilo gave me the opportunity to see the parade. The festival made people come together and celebrate. Two thumbs up for all the student guides. Filipino hospitality is the best. Salamat po!