One neat thing about foreign money is the variety of different styles and decorations on the money. For example, the Euro paper bills are all the same regardless of the country printing them but the coins are all different. One side is the same for all member countries while the other side is as individual as the country minting it. I didn't know a lot about the Euro and I found out this tidbit by accident when looking at money I brought back from a recent trip.
On this last trip to China I changed US$120 initially into Renminbi or RMB. I got 700 RMB for my US$120 which is a bit of a screwing. There was a 50rmb service charge and the exchange rate was not so good. That is what I get for exchanging money at the airport. Normally you get a decent rate at the airport...
I expected to need some money for some food, like a quick lunch, subway ticket or something at a train station or a souvenir here or there. I did not know that I needed to use my own cash for the train tickets we would take. For that reason I needed to get some more money from an ATM. The first ATM I tried was a Bank of China ATM and it did not work. I would input my card, type in my PIN and then the only option in either the checking or savings menu was to check the balance. There was no option to withdraw money. OK, so I tried to check the balance... FAIL. That did not work either.
I did not tell my bank that I was going to be travelling and that I might need to withdraw some money. So I get on the phone and call. They look up my account and tell me there was no request to withdraw money, duh, big red truck... I didn't have that as an option. The banker guy told me that I should try to find a different type of ATM. Later that day I found another ATM at the train station. This time it was a Citi ATM and I was able to get more cash.
In the United States we have dead presidents' pictures on our currency. In a communist country the money has the picture of the current head of state. I saved some of the money so I could share. Here are some of the paper bills.
In this first 5 RMB note, you can see by the portrait that he was obviously having a good hair day and that I think his request to his personal hair dresser was to "make it poofy on the sides." I think the hair dresser was probably executed... not for lack of skill but for making the most benevolent leader's hair too poofy on the sides.
The next denomination of cash is obviously a 10 RMB. The current exchange rate makes this about US$1.50. We can also clearly see that while posing for this portrait the benevolent leader was obviously a little upset. Perhaps he misses his hair dresser.
A 20 RMB note shows the benevolent leader as surprised.
A 50 RMB note shows his anger, or maybe that is constipation.
Finally the 100 RMB note (US$15.50). The emotion here is obviously laughter. He probably heard some type of joke where a Priest, a Rabbi, and Chuck Norris walk into a bar... roundhouse kicks ensue.
Here is also a sign that I found during my various visits through the Chinese factories.
This can only mean one of two possible things.
- You cannot go through this door if you head is not attached.
- No dancing next to the door.
No one did anything when I danced next to the door...
Next post will be about food.
-
No comments:
Post a Comment