Looking like a local of the place you are visting... but ...

So far in Nepal I have been told I look Nepalese. In Tibet, I had a few instances where locals spoke to me in Tibetan thinking I was Tibetan... meaning? I don't look Chinese, although I am a Malaysian Chinese, or so it seems. At times, I get Japanese, Japanese! In Tibet, another Tibetan guide thought I was the guide as I was with another white person in my group. A Tibetan seeking a hitchhike came up to me at a restaurant we were having lunch thinking I was Tibetan. So what is the point of looking local when you still have to pay the tourist price to go into a tourist site?! Yesterday at the Patan Durban Square Chinese nationals even had a lower price, then the SAARC countries (India, Pakistan) and then all other countries. The ticket booth has me what country I was from, my reply was well, do i look Nepalese to you? The answer was Yes. OK, I said, but then, the booth lady said what passport do you hold? OK, I just paid the damn thing at this point. Honestly what is the point of looking like a local when you still can't get away with it??