First of all, HAPPY MID AUTUMN FESTIVAL!! 中秋节快乐！
Beijing mooncakes are small and crappy, don’t be deceived by the big packaging. EG, my pack of chips was 3/4 air and 1/4 chips.
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I’ve been wanting to buy an electronic Chinese-English English-Chinese dictionary for a long while now. So today I planned to go to the bank straight after class, change some money and head off to the electronic market with my friend and a handy translator.
Everything seemed to be going to plan until I actually went to the dreaded bank. It was 13:08 when I got my ticket and it said that there was 111 people ahead of me. 111 people? I thought, ‘Yeah right! I bet my number #1266 will pop up pronto because everyone ahead of me probably gave up and left’ ………… Even if they were still serving #1158.
They sure did leave! Almost everyone knew that they had to get the ticket at the bank first, then they can go run errands and still be in line at the bank! I ended up eating lunch at maccas which I swore I wouldn’t do! But it was right next to the bank and well, the burgers there are actually pretty good!! =P
There were only three counters open the whole time and one of which was dedicated for the VIPs. People were starting to get restless when it hit the 2hr mark and a few customers had verbal confrontations with the staff who did nothing.
What annoyed me the most was that when you finally get to the counter, you can see the staff just taking their sweet time doing their own thing, chit chatting and passing it off as ‘important’ work related stuff. But I guess they’re not to blame, they’re extremely short staffed!
As I was sitting down waiting for my number to come up, I started chatting to a nice China lady. The China lady talked too fast and used difficult vocab which I barely grasped, but one of the things I did understand was that I could have gotten a much better exchange rate at a different bank. But hey, I needed the money and I don’t know where the other bank is. Plus it was still a better exchange rate than what I got off at the little black market shop… Although, I have to admit that the little black market shop was a lot more efficient, go in/go out type of thing.
If anyone is thinking of getting some quick cash to exchange around the Wudaokou area in Beijing, there’s a little dodgy shop on the corner of Chengfu Rd near the West gate of BLCU.
The shop is the door next to the Pink SiCool shop and inside there’s a lamp, desk, calculator and a local Chinese. The door usually has another local who is on the lookout for cops, if he’s not there, he’s the guy smoking out the front.
So at the end of my little banking adventure, I finally left the bank at 15:45 with cash in hand but I missed my opportunity to get my hands on that electronic dictionary I wanted =(
If you ever meet a grumpy Beijinger, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve recently been to the bank!!
- Things to note:
- - They make a big fuss if your Aussie dollar has any “strange” markings or a lil tear but they easily accept torn up RMB.
- - Always check that the bank will exchange your currency, it’s a waste of your time if you wait in line for hours just to find out that they can’t change it!!!
