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| US Dollars, Vietnam Dong, Cambodian Riel, and Thai Baht |
Even well-seasoned travelers make mistakes from time to
time. If you’re lucky enough to witness
them admitting them, you may find yourself in a high place, smirking at their
misfortune because even you would
never forget or do that. That was me, reading a blog about a year ago
when one of my favorite bloggers admitted her international money woes due to
careless mistakes. I wouldn't categorize
myself as well-seasoned in the travel department but I have learned the
essential dos and don’ts when it comes to staying out of serious trouble abroad. Today
was a bad day.
Leaving my home in Vietnam, I was bound for Cambodia for a
week. I sold my motorbike which gave me
some cash in hand which I then bought USD with.
Cambodia conveniently uses USD so I was ready and excited to use my
homeland currency once again. I happily frolicked
through Cambodia spending my motorbike dollars and then it came time to bus
into Bangkok. You might guess what I
forgot to do.
A Rough First Day in Bangkok
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| My misfortune was at least met with an abundance of Thai Iced Tea! |
It was a few hours into our bus ride when I realized I HAD
FORGOTTEN TO CONTACT MY BANK. Thailand
doesn’t use USD; they use Baht. And I hadn’t used my US bank card for a
solid nine months either, so I’d imagine the first swipe in Bangkok wasn’t
going to go well. I thought, no bother,
I’ll change some currency when I get there, get to my couchsurfer’s place and call my bank. At the bus station, there were no currency exchanges. For grins, I tried the atm and it definitely
didn’t work. A very sweet guy who I’d
met on the bus gave me some Baht in exchange for dollars and this got me the
taxi to the sky train and the skytrain to my surf host’s stop. I felt completely helpless. I didn’t have a SIM for a Thailand phone number
or money to buy one. Feeling defeated, I
walked around the bus stop and found a café called “A Journey.” How appropriate.
I asked the waiter if he knew where a currency exchange was. He said, ‘there are banks all around here but its 5:15 and they just closed.’ A nearby mother, wrestling with an antsy five-year-old overheard my question and asked if I needed any help. I explained my situation, and she said she’d gladly take my USD for some Baht. I thanked her profusely and bought a meal before walking back to the skytrain station where I’d meet my host.
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| The skytrain and every other kind of transport |
At the station, I approached a man behind a glass wall just
as he was rising out of his chair. Some music
was playing throughout the station and I greeted him. His eyes peered down at me and looked
away. Confused, I started talking again
and his partner pointed to his ears, and then in front of him. I turned around and noticed everyone
standing, frozen in place and looking in the same direction. OF COURSE.
I'd totally forgotten about reading about this very cool tradition in Thailand.
Pheng Chat or the National Song, is played twice daily
at 8am and 6pm. Every TV and radio
station plays it, and it is played on government building speaker systems, at
the sky train and underground stations in Bangkok, bus stations, in parks and
in most other public places. The
anthem is the most important song to Thais and when played, everyone stops what they are doing and stand to attention. Wasn’t I glad to bumble through
it? We’ll just add this to the list for
the day!
Calling my Bank
At my host’s home, he let me use his smart phone to collect
call my bank. The fun was only
beginning.
I finally got through to a checking and savings person who
told me that sometime back in May, my account details had been “compromised”
but not to worry! They replaced my number
and card and sent it to my parents’ house.
In America. I asked them what
kind of notification was given about this change and they said they had
contacted me through a cell phone number (that has been disconnected) and sent
a letter to my parents’ house (where I don’t live). I told them that I had notified Bank of
America (feel free to groan) of my move to Vietnam and they said that that bit
of information was never documented in my account. So I had about 20 dollars’ worth of Baht and
no check card.
Long story short, I spent about an hour of time on my host’s
phone (bless him) working through the details of getting emergency cash sent to
Bangkok and a replacement card sent to Chiang Mai only to be transferred back
to someone of importance at BofA who told me she would just reactivate my old
card again until I got back home and could use the replacement. Biggest deep breath of my life.
What did I learn here?
You are never travel infallible. Just
because I remembered to contact my bank every other time I’ve changed
countries, doesn’t mean it won’t happen the one time it will be least convenient
to fix. It’s a journey! Mistakes happen on the road and you can only
be so careful all the time to not make any of them. Learning hopefully follows these blunders and
with any luck, they weren’t so drastic to ruin an entire trip. Am I embarrassed to admit that these things
happened? Of course. I ended up getting sick in some bushes later
on that night as well (bus food?) to cap off the best day of my trip. These days happen, and thankfully, I’ve got
twenty other sparkly happy ones to drown them out.
So, do you still have enough money to continue your adventure? This reminds me of my bad experience when I was in Malaysia. I put all the money in my debit card of a Vietnamese bank, which promised me that everything would be the same as in Vietnam. But when I came there, I couldn't access my bank account from all the local banks (i remembered I tried with 9 -10 different banks' ATMs and none of them work). Needless to say, I was panic. But at least, the phone still worked so I called back and ask for cash via Western Union. My lesson is "always bring cash and check,double check your bank account not in your country but in a different country". Except vietnam, cambodia and laos, I think most South East Asian countries force everyone to use their local currency (and that's a good policy). So preparing a little cash is always better. :) Nghia
ReplyDeleteYes, my bank finally allowed me to use the card that I had so there are no problems now. Traveling money issues are fun to look back on, eh? :)
DeleteYes, "it's a journey" all right, and g-knows even the most seasoned travelers make blunders now and again. But here's a couple a highly recommend tips I've learned over my 30+ years on the travel trail:
ReplyDelete1. First and FOREMOST - traveling ANYWHERE with but a single credit card is pretty much asking for grief. What if you lose it? What if it gets stolen? What if an ATM machine decides to "eat" it? What if it expires while you're romping through... Mongolia or some such?
Point is - I carry no less than THREE cards (all debit cards) and tuck them each in separate nooks when I'm on the trail. That way if one (or heaven forbid two!) goes sadly bye-bye for whatever reason, I always have at least 1 that can bail me out of a financial jam.
2. I'm surprised your bank doesn't have an online method of updating them as you move from country to country. g-knows lots easier than calling them collect (esp. given no doubt a serious time zone difference). I've also been able to Skype with my bank when I have a problem. You might want to check with BofA (and yes, I indeed shall groan) ;) to see if they have such online options available (shoot, my bank is a bitty little Alaska credit union, so you'd surely think BofA would easily manage to offer such options.)
That said, truly sorry you had so much grief all in a single day (I mean, getting sick on top of it was surely over-the-top ack.) Hopefully things are going more smoothly now - it does seem as if overall your many adventures have been fantastic!
Too right on both, lass. Everything should be able to access online, yeah? I may look into different banking options upon return. Overall definitely awesome. One rotten day ain't so bad :)
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