This is a blog to document the trials and tribulations of one cool guy heading to China to teach at an International School.
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Last Minute Preparations
The day before any big trip is pretty much always a mixture of excitement and stress as you remember more and more things that need to be done before you depart. When moving to a foreign country for an indefinite about of time, this anxiety is a hundred fold! I got my rented motorbike back into the hands of its rightful owner. For anyone considering renting a motorbike in Bangkok shouldn't look any further than Nana Motorbike Rentals. The owner is a nice guy who actually witnessed some of my lowest points in the time leading up to my departure because I would invariably end up paying him a visit in order to let him hang on to my passport to get my 2,000 baht deposit back! When my passport was tied up at the Chinese Embassy, I actually had to relinquish my son's passport in lieu of my own. Prior to returning my wheels, I drove through the ghetto that lower Sukhumvit has disgustingly and gloriously managed to become. How it became two of those things simultaneously is something I will probably never be able to wrap my head around completely. That's just the way it is. The horrific traffic and blazing heat reminded me of the things about Thailand that tend to leave a foul taste in my mouth. Nonetheless, that was not the point of my running around. I was there to change money. Of course, The Logical way to do this in Thailand is usually to purchase dollars or another major currency outside of the country prior to arrival and always purchase your local currency once you are in country. Most people and many websites swear by a venue called Super Rich. They have branches all over the place these days; however, what most people don't seem to realize is that you must go to their main branch in order to get the favorable exchange rate that is published on their website. Situated opposite Central World, it is anything but convenient for me to negotiate my way through gridlock two take advantage of a marginally better exchange rate. Instead, I often find competitive rates at another location by the name of Vasu Exchange on the corner of Sukhumvit Soi 7/1. While I was sitting there, I pulled out my trusty pen and paper and took a look at the numbers listed on the board in front of me. I made a couple of quick calculations to determine the end results for me if I were to exchange from the local currency to CNY directly with them versus the approach that I was intending to follow through with and buying dollars to exchange for CNY when I arrived. As it turns out, that would have been a poor decision and I'm glad I did the math. As I walked out, it occurred to me that this was the very first time I'd seen or held Chinese currency. As it always does, it looked a bit strange. It is always as if it's something like Monopoly money. The first thing that struck me was the fact that the largest denomination I was given was 100 and I had a rather large stack of them. I thought to myself that that's going to be annoying. First world problems as they say. I packed up my bags and made a list of all of those little items that I would need to buy when I get to my new digs. The list was growing and growing and growing at an alarming rate and being a person that hates shopping it was beginning to irritate me. Then it occurred to me that my wife won't need a towel while she's staying with her folks. For that matter, she wouldn't need any silverware, an iron, pillow cases, and so on. I started to throw those into my bag as well and my list suddenly got much much shorter. I'm pretty beat from a hectic day, and I still haven't managed to get my luggage zipped closed. I guess I should get on that and then down as many beers as I possibly can. Cheers peeps!
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