a story...

from china.

yes, i know...SURELY YOU JEST! after keeping you all in the dark about my two week odyssey in southern china, i've finally decided to blog a little more about it.

today, you're going to hear about how much FUN it is to cash traveler's checks in china. now, i'm not sure if it's a fiasco in large, metropolitan areas like beijing or shanghai, but expect lines and drama if you're ever in the central Bank of China location in taishan.

banks open at about 9:00...quite normal. chinese banks are open spaces with endless marble...a little opulence. there are long queues for transactions...just like banks anywhere. sometimes if you're in a bank, you may witness shouting matches and near fights.

coool...

we found out that cashing traveler's checks is quite a process. i know in latin america, sometimes there are special lines/windows for this exact transaction. usually it's a bit of a pain because you need to have your passport and there are limited hours; many don't cash traveler's checks after noon. so you have to be prepared and time it well.

in china, though, you have to basically go to the customer service line (which was a freestanding kiosk in this branch) . we waited about 30 min. to get our checks signed and processed before they sent us to another line. in china, there are three types of transaction lines: deposits, withdrawals, and bill payment. traveler's checks fall in the bill payment line.

and of the three lines, the withdrawal line is always the longest. i think there were at least 45 people constantly waiting to take money out. the bill paying line, meanwhile, averaged about 15 people the entire time we were there. and the deposits? well, no one makes those...

what makes the least sense is that there were probably four or five deposit lines and only one of the other two kinds. yep...we're talking ripe for drama.

the two extra hours we were in the bill payment line, we witnessed some major yelling in the withdrawal line. the first fight was over preferential treatment (like getting your friends to the head of the line) by a teller and the second squabble was two ladies yelling at another because her transaction was taking so long.

in our line, we watched two men nearly duke it out over putting an elderly lady at the head of the line while she waited for her son to cash his traveler's checks. personal space is not a priority if you're in a chinese bank.

what's really odd is that the security guards did nothing while this was going on. aggressive perpetrators weren't escorted outside nor even chided. they basically told them to calm down, which only escalated the meltdown.

i so wish i had a secret camera to record all of this. of course, i'm sure that'd mean a broken camera or physical harm...

we lucked out though. after nearly 2.5 hours of waiting, we were able to cash traveler's checks for two people. another fifteen minutes and we would have been screwed...chinese banks take two hours for lunch!

so if you're ever in need of money in china, repeat after me: "A-T-M"

it's something i've sworn by over the past seventeen years of traveling latin america. why i thought it'd be troublesome to have in china is beyond me.

then again...i wouldn't have this story now, would i?