Destination S

Arrival in Vietnam and how sweet it is! Of course, what would be a new destination without a bit of trouble? Although I had all my documents for my Visa ready, I did not however have the $25 USD with me… all I had were Indian Rupees! So after a bit of waiting and smiling at the nice female officer, I was escorted through passport control to convert my Rupees to USD. This was the first time in months now that I have held my own country’s money (and the first time I had ever exchanged money)! Only to be given up right away of course… but no matter, it was off to the ATM for me. And how funny it is, that the further east I go, the higher the currency denominations get! The conversion rate is 1 USD = 20,000 Vietnam Dong. So of course I had to take out 2 million Vietnam Dong from the machine. I have never felt so rich with monopoly money before! That is the running joke of course, that you only feel your own country’s money has value to you and everyone else’s is monopoly money, it just feels so false.