Currency Risk

“Laos sounds crazy with only 3 ATMs. There are 3 ATMs within 3 minutes of my house driving. There’s an ATM at 7-11 which is 5 minutes walking. I don’t know how I would survive in a completely foreign country with no ATMs. I wouldn’t want to have cash because I’d be afraid of losing it or getting it stolen by some locals. Without an ATM though it seems like you have no choice.” –excerpt of email from my good friend Anthony Salazar

164_6445-4.JPGNow in Vietnam, where the it’s over 16,000 dong to the dollar, I figured it’d be a good time to write a post about currency. I’ve lost count, but we’ve used around 20 different currencies so far on this trip and besides getting really good at dividing any number by multiples of 3, 4, and 10, going through so many currencies has had a few other effects on us.

1. Instead of converting prices into dollars, we usually convert local prices into the last country we were in. In Nepal we converted to Indian rupees to see if we were getting a fair price. Same for Thailand. Then we converted kip to baht, riel to kip, then back to baht before converting ringgit to baht, rupiah to ringgit, and now dong to rupiah. The other day, I asked a street vendor how much for a baguette, to which she replied, “2,000 dong.” I thought, “Okay, we usually paid 500 riel a baguette in Cambodia and 500 riel equals…carry the one….2000 dong.” I bought the baguette. I realized that I do these split-second currency conversions all the time without even thinking about them. Slowly, we’ve gotten a feel for how much things should be in USD though. Local beer 50-75 cents, imported beer 1 dollar, soft drink 25 cents, internet 25-75 cents/hour, DVDs 80 cents to a dollar, fruit ask Joylani.

2. To Salazar’s point, besides having trouble finding ATMs in Lao and Cambodia, high exchange rates really create some maddening problems. Firstly, the numbers start getting confusing when FX rates get into the thousands. But worse is that the bills start coming in really big denominations. My wallet is filled with 100,000 and 500,000 dong bills at the moment. But since sky-high currency rates are usually indicative of past high inflation, there are lots of small bills around too. So my pockets are filled with 500, 1000, and 2000 dong notes, roughly 3, 6, and 12 cents, respectively. So what happens is that you just accumulate huge wads of worthless small bills. The other problem with this is that ATM’s can only physically handle so many bills at a time. So ATM’s usually have a max withdrawal, usually 2 million dong here in Vietnam. If you want more, you’ll have to make another transaction and eat another ATM fee. Its not so bad here, but in Lao where the largest bills were even less valuable, the max withdrawal at the few ATMs was equal to 70 USD (although you could do up to like 10 withdrawals a day). And lastly, since the even the large bills here in Vietnam aren’t worth very much, finding empty ATMs is also a problem. So in review: confusing numbers, big pockets full of small bills, and insufficient ATMs.

3. Constantly checking and watching FX rates has really shown me how the dollar is just getting destroyed. The Fed and Treasuries actions over the past few years have really sacrificed the dollar in the name of growth and now the effects are becoming clear, albeit even more exaggerated because of the sub-prime crisis. Although we left the US a month before the sub-prime crisis began, we’re feeling its painful effects more than the average American, since we’re abroad. While Americans’ salaries and savings have decreased between 10 and 20 percent in the past year, relative to the world, at least they still live in a dollar denominated world. But we on the other hand, feel the effects of the dollars depreciation more immediately because we’re spending in rupees, riel, and ringgit to name a few. If the economics and forex math are too much, perhaps these charts illustrate my point more clearly.

Each of the below charts is a two-year graph of the dollar’s value relative to the respective currency. The red dots indicate our entry and exit dates in each country.

Dollar versus Indian Rupee

US Dollar against Indian Rupee

Dollar versus Ringgit

US Dollar against Malaysian Ringgit

Dollar vs Sing. Dollar

US Dollar against Singapore Dollar

Dollar versus Baht

US Dollar against Thai Baht

National Museum of Fine Arts

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history museum

These pictures are actually from another museum, the National History Museum, but I really liked this entry way. And I don’t have any good pics from the Fine Art Museum.

joylani 130pxWe went to this museum today and I thought a lot of the works were really great. I was feeling sick though, so I didn’t really retain enough information about the place to write a decent post except that I would definitely recommend it. There was a great minority textile exhibit, a section of paintings with no dates (so who knows how old they actually are), some rocking monk sculptures, and a great collection of paintings and prints from the 20th century (my favorite part of the place). One interesting aspect is a wing that houses changing thematic exhibits. While we were there it happened to be a collection of Buddah sculptures. What was unique about it was that they were all of different styles form different regions. Usually when we see a Buddah collection is at a temple/wat, so the statues look very similar to each other. So it was interesting to see the contrasts among the collection.

Hanoi’s Historic Sights

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164_6445-4.JPGWe’ve spent much of the past three days exploring Hanoi and seeing its sights. I don’t really want to detail all the museums we’ve gone to, but I’ll offer a few thoughts. Although today’s Fine Art Museum was pretty good in Joylani’s opinion and the Military History Museum had a lot of interesting war relics, most museums in Vietnam are pretty worthless. Although the presentation is okay, very few museums have anything in English. More importantly though, the museums are all fronts for propaganda. Most of the museums I’ve seen in Vietnam would have you think Ho Chi Minh and the other founding fathers were gods- perfect, no faults, pure altruistic motives in everything they did. Every nation deifies its national heroes to an extent, but the museums in Vietnam have no objectivity and take uncritical looks at its past. We’ve seen so many revolution and independence museums that are just gallery after gallery of propaganda. Although also full of communist propaganda, visiting Hoa Lo prison was interesting just to see John McCain’s flight suit and where he stayed, especially given the current presidential race. The prison is now at the foot of a towering western hotel on a busy commercial street selling electronics. I’ve vowed not to go to any more museums here though, because they’re mostly in Vietnamese and the ones that do have English have zero historical information. One of the most interesting things we’ve seen in Hanoi was Ho Chi Minh’s body. It’s in a guarded glass case in a huge classical looking mausoleum. Its quite the tourist attraction with a continual stream of visitors walking single file passed it, while guards look on. Kind of weird when you think about it, but interesting. I’m looking forward to seeing Mao and Lenin’s bodies now too, though. Besides the museums, we’ve spent a lot of time eating, talking, writing in cafes, and trying to get this blog up-to-date. Hanoi in a nutshell: good art, bad museums, good food, and hot!

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Hoa Lo prison

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McCain’s flight suit on display

Something’s Gotta Change

164_6445-4.JPGI’ve come to the conclusion that I need a change, although I’m unsure of what that entails. Although I have no desire to go home, our current situation has become tiresome and a bit boring. I’ve narrowed my discontent to two possibilities and found three possible solutions.

  1. We’re over Vietnam. We need to move on- we need to get to mountains, to someplace rural, to somewhere different, to China, to anywhere but here.
  2. We’re burnt out on traveling. We need to take a break.
  3. We’re burnt out on traveling. Its time to end the trip.

I needn’t worry too much though, as I’ll soon discover the answer to my questions. We’re going to get out of Vietnam as soon as possible. If that doesn’t help, we’re going home for a visit this summer. If we get back to Asia and feel the same way as now, then we’ll know its time to go home (or at least start working in Asia).

Ha Long Bay

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164_6445-4.JPGHa Long Bay is the most famous of Vietnam’s attractions and since we have time to kill while we wait for our Chinese visa, we decided to do a 3 day/2 night tour of the bay. We got picked up from our hotel in Hanoi and then spent another hour driving around filling the bus up with more backpackers. It was a three and a half hour drive to bay, which was broken up with a not-so-pleasant stop at a handicraft warehouse. It seems that every tour we’ve taken in Vietnam always stops at one, although they never tell you. They just take you and stop at one against your (and every passenger’s) will. Five or ten minutes is never an option, despite the fact that everyone just goes to the bathroom real quick and spends the rest of the time standing around fending off Vietnamese salespeople. Anyways, we finally did make it to the boat and had lunch as we started out into the bay. We asked if we could put our bags in our rooms, but our guide said not yet, because the rooms weren’t clean yet. So we ate lunch and enjoyed the spectacular scenery. The bay’s unique feature is the hundreds of small islands that rise straight out of the water. Someone at our table noticed the boat had way more people than rooms and asked our guide about it. He said that some people onboard were just doing a day trip. Kind of odd, because that would imply we’d have to go back to where our boat launched from, I thought. I didn’t say anything because I figured getting a sufficient explanation would be futile anyways. So we happily ate and admired the bay as we glid through the water.

Our first stop was an island with several large caves. We disembarked and entered the first one. Despite only being discovered a decade ago, the place was totally developed. You might think that’s a weird way to describe a cave, but imagine a paved path running through it and colored lighting illuminating the walls and geological formations. Joylani likened it to something at Disneyland. It was kind of like that, complete with fake waterfalls and fountains inside. I was pretty happy to get out of there. Although our guide told us not to because we didn’t have time, Joylani and I went to another cave on the island. It was probably the biggest I’ve ever seen and way cooler than the Disney cave. Back on the boat we made our way to a fishing village, which consisted of individual floating shacks grouped somewhat near each other. We opted to take a short little raft ride around, which was okay until we tried to get off and were told there was a 50,000 dong required donation per person. Afterwards, we asked if we could get our room, so Joylani could change clothes. He said 15 minutes. “Why?” we asked. “15 minutes.” That was kind of the breaking point with our guide. The needless stop at the handicraft factory, the overcrowded boat, the pointless directions he gave us (go here, don’t go there, stand over there) all for no apparent reason and then trying to charge us extra for things when the tour was all inclusive, and then not giving us a room (although they were all clean and nothing would change in the next 15 minutes because the crew was sitting around doing nothing all day). Joylani and I had a little “talk” with our guide. He gave us our room and we went to change. When we came out (around the time he said we’d all get rooms), the guide was telling some people on board that plans had changed. It turns out everyone on the boat was told they’d sleep on the boat that night, but the tour company had just overbooked the boat and was making some people stay on the island that night. That’s why he didn’t want to give us a room until 15 minutes later, so he could kick us off along with the half dozen others he made get off. After dropping the poor souls off, the boat went offshore a bit and we jumped into the green water. We swam for just a little bit, before climbing into some kayaks. Joylani and I paddled around for about an hour. I think we have the same conversation 2-3 minutes into our kayak sessions everytime we go out: “I don’t think kayaking is our thing.” “Yeah, I don’t think so either.” Yet for some reason, we always do it if given the chance. It was nice to get off the boat and just have some time after arguing with that guide all day though.

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can you find Joylani in the HUGE cave?

One thing I’ve learned to avoid at all costs is getting Joylani mad, because you do not want to be the target of her anger. Usually I try to deal with frustrating people in order to save them. On our trip, I try to calm her down a bit before she takes her complaints to people. Even at home, I tell her to calm down and go easy on the inept customer service reps every company employs. It takes a lot to get her angry, but if you’re shady enough to incite her anger, you probably deserve what follows. After ripping into the tour guide a little earlier today, he was extra polite and always asking us if we’re okay. Maybe he was just humoring us, but maybe he was just practicing self-preservation. To the bigger picture, Vietnam is seemingly more and more like Nepal. And not in a good way. We’ve been continually lied too, made the targets of scams, and it’s the only place that we’ve both gotten visibly angry at people. (Joylani wants me to write that sometimes she calms me down too)

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floating village

The second day of the tour was more awful than the first, which is hard to imagine. Joylani woke up puking in the morning. Which continued once we disembarked the boat and got a bus to visit Cat Ba National Park on Cat Ba Island. Joylani checked into our hotel on the island and slept, while I went for a more strenuous than expected hike in the park. It was a pretty steep trail than went up and then down, up and then down, following the bumpy geography. There was a fair amount of climbing over rocks and it was incredibly hot. I’m not exaggerating when I say its probably the most I’ve ever sweated. My shirt was completely drenched down to the horizontal line where my pants came up to. Sweat was almost streaming off my chin most of the hike. Everyone else looked the same though; shirts sweat-soaked down to their belt-line and dripping sweaty faces. Joylani gave me quite the look when I arrived at the hotel. The views from the peaks we scaled on the hike were phenomenal though. The geography was very very unique. Unfortunately, I developed a migraine and slept on and off until the next morning. Its kind of worrisome because although I’ve frequently gotten headaches throughout my life, I’ve had two bad migraines in the past week. Hope its not related to when I bumped my head really hard on a boat in the Gilis. The hotel was clean, but sheisty. They didn’t even turn on electricity until 7, despite the fact that it was million degrees outside. Joylani and I did go downstairs for dinner where we met two really cool Malaysian couples, but Joylani couldn’t eat and left early to do some barfing.

Day three was finally better. Joylani felt better and my headache had gone away. We ate an early breakfast and took a bus to the boat. We cruised around the bay for awhile before finally heading back to the mainland. The whole trip was a somewhat of a microcosm of our time in Vietnam thus far. The bay was really cool. Not so unique that there’s nothing else like it in the world, but it was pretty cool. But despite the bay, the frustration of our tour being a scam operation, the hassle of having to deal with our guide and other shady people, and both being sick made the trip memorable in the worst kind of way.

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Waiting Game

164_6445-4.JPGI’ve mentioned it a couple times, but the reason we kind of rushed to get to Hanoi is to get our China visa. China has long been part of our itinerary and our flight home this summer is out of Beijing. We never thought it would be a problem to get into the country until recently though. From our research, it seemed that China has always offered tourist visas from 30-day single entry to two-year multiple entry visas. It turns out that their consular information is misleading; its rumored that most of the visas don’t even exist, while the max that most people get is anywhere between 30 and 90 days. Not that matters too much though, as we were never planning to stay 90 days. But with the Olympics coming up, they’ve clamped down on visas in an unprecedented way.

There is total confusion around the world regarding the visa situation. Some departments are saying that there has been no policy change, while other have issued press released detailing the new restrictions. The European and American Chambers of Commerce have lodged complaints with China, and even the Australian Prime Misnister Rudd has commented on the situation. Besides not being able to obtain anything more than a 30-day single entry visa (which basically eliminates HK from our itinerary :( ), visa applications must have R/T air and hotel bookings attached. And while every citizens of every nation on earth pay ten to thirty dollars for a visa, Americans must pay 130 for any visa! Even for a transit visa! Some Chinese embassies and consulates have stopped issuing visas altogether and some will only issue to residents of that country. Most are just plain inconsistent, which unfortunately happens to be the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi.

Yesterday, I went to the embassy to pick up the forms and ask exactly what documentation I would need. I spent a large part of the day getting everything together. This morning we arrived before it opened and were one of the first in the door. We saw a few other westerners picking up their passports while we anxiously waited. Once at the counter, the clerk looked over our papers and passports and then asked us what we were doing in Vietnam. We told him we were traveling here on a tourist visa, to which he replied we’d have to apply for a visa in America. Only Americans working here can get visas here. And that was the final verdict. Despite the fact that I’d seen how many other backpackers picking up their visas the past two days and despite the fact that yesterday they explained to me what I’d need to bring when I applied today. Most travel agents won’t even attempt to get a China visa for us because of all the hassle that it involves, but we found a couple that would try to get one from Saigon for a fee. So we handed over our passports and will have to wait a week to see if we’re going to China.

This whole thing has been incredibly frustrating, which is why I’m writing this ventful post. The Chinese government does and says a lot of weird things, but this is the first time I’ve had to deal with the giant machine personally. Information and explanations are difficult to get and rationality is absent. I’m mostly upset that we cannot go to Hong Kong and we’ll have to wait in Vietnam for two more weeks before we can enter China. Well, technically, we can go to Hong Kong and get another visa or we can enter China earlier and extend our visa once there. But since China seems to have issues with Americans, it’ll cost an additional 130 USD (260 for both of us) for either option, while any other nationality in the world would pay 30 USD max. Anyways, now we wait.

Arriving in Hanoi

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164_6445-4.JPGOur journey to and arrival in Hanoi has been a mixed experience, but I feel that Hanoi could be a turning point in our Vietnamese experience. Although we were promised a sleeper bus and boarded a sleeper bus in Hue, the bus ticket guy told us our tickets weren’t good for that bus and we had to switch to a sitting bus. At that point, I knew it was a scam but arguing would do no good. Post-payment service is non-existent in Vietnam and arguing doesn’t really work; the only other place like that has been Nepal. Funny, I thought the people there were really shady too. Anyways, there was nothing we could really do, so we boarded the sitting bus that they took us too- scammed. On the bright side, the bus was full of locals, which was what I’ve kinda been craving (see my last post). Although there were many downsides, at least we got a glimpse of local life. Like in the other mainland SEA nations, many people threw up during the bus ride. I’m not sure if people in Lao, Cambodia, and Vietnam just aren’t used to riding buses or what, but little plastic bags are always available and people are always throwing up in them or on the ground at food/toilet stops. The food stop was pretty nasty, but at least it was just one and it was quick, unlike the multiple 50-minute stops the touristy bus takes at overpriced tourist-traps. Unfortunately, unlike the touristy buses which deposit you right in the center of town, our bus stopped well outside of the city. So we groggily got off the bus and hired a couple of motorbikes to take us into town. Joylani mentioned that at least we got to see more of the city in the 10 minutes it took to speed through the masses of motorbikes that clogged the maze that is Hanoi.

We spent the morning gathering information from travel agencies and the Chinese embassy regarding visas. It turns out its pretty expensive to go through a travel agency, so we’ll get all our paperwork together and try to apply by ourselves tomorrow. Actually, I went the embassy after the travel agents, while Joylani went back to the hotel. I was a bit surprised to find her not there by the time I got back to the hotel though. She arrived about 30 minutes after me, looking quite disheveled, and told me my directions back to the hotel were junk. I showed her the map I gave directions from and after examining it, she said, “That map’s not right. That’s not how the streets go.” I was skeptical, but didn’t raise the issue. Later, I went out by myself to do some visa stuff. On the way back, I ran into a T-intersection where the street should have continued straight- the exact place she had gotten lost too. Although somewhat close to the hotel, I walked around for an hour looking for it. As I wandered around though, I did notice why Hanoi is always described in such endearing terms. I’d been running around all morning, but I actually noticed Hanoi when I got lost. Little conical hatted women jostled up and down the streets carrying food and goods in bamboo baskets. The Old Quarter, where I was walking, was old. The shopkeepers were old and wrinkly. The old colonial architecture and antiquated shop and storefronts contrasted with the tons of motorbikes honking and grazing by me every second. Little boutique shops were mixed in with small street kitchens and random stores selling all sorts of junk. Several times, I walked down a street where nearly every shop was selling metalwork. I also found myself on furniture street a couple times. Finally, I did find the hotel. Just as Joylani did, I grabbed out guidebook and turned to the map. It was wrong. Moreover, we realized getting lost was easier as many of the street names only refer to a block or two. So a single street could have 3, 4, 5, or more names as you walk down it. That’s why we could never find our street. It turns out that the streets are named after the goods that used to be sold on them in the old days. The metal block, the furniture block, the bamboo block, and so on. Interesting and at least a reason for the stupidity of every block of some streets being named differently, but we were both in pretty bad moods after getting lost. But we ate well.

Throughout the day, we found really good food- pho, che, bun bo, and even kebaps to mention a few. After two weeks of eating mediocre food, its seems we’ve arrived foodwise. Hanoi seems to have a plethora of excellent food, which is great since that was the main thing we were looking forward to in Vietnam. Plus it’s interesting to see all the craziness that unfolds in the small streets and lanes of the Old Quarter. Today was pretty frustrating between our bus situation last night, the visa hassle, and getting needlessly last in the midday heat for an hour, but I’m feeling okay tonight. So far, Hanoi seems like a really cool place. I really hope that it is and that today will be an inflection point in our Vietnam visit.

Disappointing So Far…

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164_6445-4.JPGI had high expectations for Vietnam. It was the final country in my trifecta of most anticipated countries, following Nepal and Indonesia. Moreover, Joylani actually wanted to visit this one beforehand too.

Yet two weeks into our time here, we’re both feeling disappointed. It’s a crazy place with lots going on and we’re surrounded by activity, but its all business. It was our second day in-country, when I first mentioned to Joylani that Saigon seemed to be consumed with “stuff.” Commercialism is rampant here. Everyone is busy trying to make money; half the time, they’re trying to make it off of us. Shamelessly overcharging, giving us the hard sale pitches, trying their scams on us. People talk to us randomly occasionally, but that stops the moment its communicated we’re not going to spend money. If you’re not going to spend you don’t exist. Not that Vietnamese seem very friendly or welcoming anyways; in fact, they often come across rude and/or pushy to me. Joylani said maybe it’s because Vietnam has been screwed by everyone for the past how many centuries, so perhaps everyone is out for themselves. I don’t think that’s it because most of Asia has had tough luck historically. The focus on money and the vibe of the people has been a downer.

Secondly, Vietnam doesn’t seem to have too much adventure. Saigon was crazy, but it wasn’t an adventurous place. And besides the far northwest, I’m not aware of any adventurous places we can go in Vietnam. Maybe my expectations for Vietnam were too high though. But on the other hand, I didn’t have too many expectations beyond good food. Even that has fallen short though. Perhaps I’m being too tough on Vietnam. We just came from two of the friendliest and warm places we’ve been: Malaysia and Indonesia. Both countries were full of adventure too. I don’t think this fact has colored my opinions too much, but it has emphasized the things I dislike about Vietnam. There are some factors that probably have influenced our experience and my opinions. The anxiousness of me taking the GMAT in Saigon, the uncertainty of our China visas, and the resulting stresses of planning around that. Additionally, perhaps I don’t feel there’s much adventure here because we’ve insulated ourselves somewhat from “real” Vietnamese experiences. Since things are so cheap here, our hotels are among the best all trip and we’re taking high-end buses. The downside is that we spend more time in the rooms than usual and our buses are filled with tourists. Which brings me to Vietnam’s pluses: its cheap and the food is good. Yet, we’re both still feeling disappointed with the country so far. I guess even though I’m super-frugal and Joylani loves food, Vietnam’s good deals and delicious food cannot overcome its cold people and lack of adventure.