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Articles Tagged ‘Currency’

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Safari Adventure Days 12, 13 and 14…Zimbabwe!

Friday, August 25th, 2006
After Botswanna we then crossed into Zimbabwe. Let me say that this is one of the craziest countries that I’ve ever been to in my entire life. For those who don’t know much about the history of Zimbabwe it’s absolutely crazy. The president, Robert Mougabi,(not sure if i spelled his name right) is one of the most controversial leaders in the world. After realizing that his people were losing faith in him he decided to kick all the rich white farmers out of Zimbabwe and give the land back to his people. After the people acquired the land that the white farmers had and they didn’t know what to do with it the country took a downward spiral which continues to this day. The daily inflation rate hovers at around 1,000%. When we arrived we were briefed by our hotel that it was best to pay in U.S. dollars as their currency was going through a change and most people didn’t accept it. Ok, hold on, can you repeat that once again? Your country doens’t accept their own currency? Are you freaking kidding me? when you look at their notes they have expiration dates on them…wow! One of the most frustrating things is being in alot of these countries and being told that the only currency they accept, is the currency from your country, not their own, the same currency which you don’t have and can’t get access to. The mighty U.S. dollar reigns supreme regardless of the fact that it continues to drop in value. On top of the fact that they only accept U.S. dollars or other foreign currencies if you don’t give them exact change they will not give you change in U.S. dollars and will instead give you change in Zimbabwe dollars which they then tell you is if no use…absolutely amazing. When we arrived the exchange rate was $1 U.S. to 250,000 Zimbabwe dollars. They were in the process of cutting off the three zero’s at the end. Aside from all that it is still a beautiful place. We were staying in the small town of Victoria Falls. Apparently they have one of the 7 natural wonders of the world…i was tired though so i didn’t check it out…yeah, right!The falls is absolutely off the charts. One of the most amazing things i’ve ever seen. It stretches almost 2 kilometers wide. I don’t even think a video game could do this place justice, it’s that beautiful. Wondering around atop the falls and taking photos of it was quite a thrill. What a breathtaking place. I really felt quite privelidged to be here.The next day I arranged to go white water rafting down the mighty Zambezi river. They don’t call it the mighty Zambezi for nothing. We awoke early, were briefed about the day and then proceeded to sign our lives away. We were driven down to the river where we grabbed our gear and then hiked down the canyon to our raft and our guide that was awaiting us. We hoped on board the boat with the falls just behind us, beautiful. We did a few excercises and then jumped into the river to get a taste for how cold it was, not too bad, then we were on our way. We had 23 rapids ahead of us. 8 of those would be class 5. For those that are not aware a class 5 is ridiculously huge. In school the girls used to call me a class 1, I could never figure out why. What did i have to do with rapids?Anyway we headed down the river. I sat in the front right of the boat which I later regretted. We hit the first few rapids intact and it was incredible. We got to our 4th rapid, morning glory. I believe it was a class 4 but still deadly nonetheless. As we headed down our boat dropped into the rapids and the next thing I knew I was swallowing about 50 gallons of water per second. I couldn’t breathe and i was getting pushed under water by our raft which was flipped upside down. I thought it was all over, honestly. Somehow i manged to get underneath the boat and get some air. Then i grabbed the rope on the outside and pulled myself underneath and back up again. I had escaped the jaws of death. Our guide flipped the raft back over and we were back on our way. We moved further down the river and slammed into rapid after rapid. I gave way to let someone else sit in the front as It is alot of tough paddling. The first rapid we hit while being in the back threw us over again. I got tossed right under again and then thrown down stream. I was picked up by the kayakers who follow the boats and brought back to safety once again. We cruised down further and I luckily managed to stay on the raft the rest of the time as I watched others get tossed out on a regular basis. It was such an amazing day, we had a great time. I honestly am not sure if i could do rafting anywhere else that would compare to that.

Photos of my safari adventure are now posted on my photo page…enjoy!

Posted in Zimbabwe | 1 Comment »

I want Chicken I want Liver…Vietnam, Vietnam please deliver!

Wednesday, July 12th, 2006

Goooooooooooooooood Morning Vietnam! Ha Ha…I’ve always wanted to say that from Vietnam. So I’ve finnally arrived in Vietnam, what a lovely place. Took a bus ride from Phnom Penh all the way to Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City for $4. Sadly enough there were no Cambodian Karaoke Music Videos on this bus. Crossing into Vietnam was probably one of the most painstaking processes you could ever imagine. Finding a bloody pen to fill out the immigration forms was a 20 minute process. Maybe because it’s a communist country they have to share pens equally throughout the country. After clearing the border and being allowed in we finnally arrived after about 8 hours of traveling. Saigon moves at a pace that would make your head spin. Motorbikes outnumber cars at least 10 to 1. Crossing the street is like walking a tight rope over the Grand Canyon without a safety harness while wearing a speedo. After sever near collisions I decided to walk across the street with my head down without looking. This makes it easier and less scary and it makes you feel like moses as you part the sea of motorbikes. Me and Andy went to the War Remnants Museum yesterday. It is a collection of U.S. planes, tanks and helicopters all leftover from the war. It is a pretty one sided depiction of the war…surprise surprise. Sadly enough I don’t know much about the war, I think it’s partly because I was absent the day they taught the Vietnam war in school and also because I think that America doesn’t want to teach and educate it’s people about a war that was so controversial and ultimately unsuccessful. This museum is littered with photos of people who are either being tortured by American soldiers or of people who are suffering the effects of the napolm and agent orange that was dropped by America all over the Vietnam countryside. I know that if I went to a Museum in the U.S. dedicated to the Vietnam war I would probably see a different story, probably not an entirely true one but different. I’m sure the real truth behind the war would fall somewhere in the middle of what each country would depict. Either way, these museums are not watered down, they are harsh, cold, and depict some of the most horrible images you could imagine. On display in glass jars are siamese babies with defects from the toxic chemicals dropped…it’s tough to look at. There are photos of american soldiers crowded around a hole in the ground filled with bodies that have dirt all the way up to their necks. There is a photo of an American Soldier smiling as he picks up the head and a few remains of a Vietnamese person who was just shredded by a bomb of somekind or a landmine. There is a photo of an American tank riding down the street with two people being dragged from behind. These images may never leave my head you just have to wonder what people are thinking when this stuff is happening. What’s even worse is knowing that it is still happening today in Iraq. Now i’m gonna sing a song:

“War…huh…what is it good for? Absolutly nothing…say it again.”

Ok, sorry, enough of that.

All in all Ho Chi Minh or Saigon is a nice welcome into Vietnam. Like any big southeast asian city it is filled with people trying to sell you anything. Our first night we were solicited by a 4 year old girl. It was 10 o’clock and we were sitting outside at a bar having a beer. She walked up to us with her pajamas on with a pack of gum she was trying to sell. She spoke very good english and had the sense to negotiate the price. I have several cousins around this age and it’s hard to understand how parents here can let them do it, but they do and it works.

Traveling through all these different countries pretty much makes you a currency exchange expert…or at least it should. You are constantly dealing and negotiating rates and paying for things in American, mostly in Cambodia and recieving local currency as change. When I arrived in Vietnam I headed straight for an ATM to get cash. Unlike Cambodia which gives you american dollars from the ATM, Vietnam gives you their currency which is the Dong…yes, the Dong. So I put my card in, pushed my passcode and was given the option to take out the following amounts of money:

– 100,000

– 500,000

– 1,000,000

– 1,500,000

– 2,000,000

After several seconds of trying to do the math in my head i figured that 100,000 would surely be enough. So i pushed the button and one bill came out, it was a 100,000 note. Off to the bar I went with Andy. We sat down and got a beer and the beer cost, 20,000. Oops! Basically I had taken out about $8. My bank also charges me $3 to use the atm internationally…not good. The next day I went to the ATM and took out 2 Million Dong, it is absolutely crazy to think that I took out that much money from an ATM, i felt like i was Donald Trump or something. 2 Million is about $130 U.S.

So tonight me and Andy are heading out of town on the overnight bus to Nah Trang. It is north of Saigon on the coast. We have booked a boat tour to do some snorkeling and to visit some islands. I also hope to do some diving here as well. From there we head north to Ho Ain, and then to Hue before arriving in Hanoi, my final place of departure in SE Asia before i fly to Hong Kong. I pushed my plane ticket back a few days out of Hanoi to give myself a few more days. The one advantage of booking with a travel agent is the ease in which you can change your ticket. It took me about 5 minutes in a Cathay Pacific office, that is my airline, to change it, and it cost nothing…very convenient.

I’m working on getting some photos up so you can check the photo site and hopefully i can get a few up. Hope all is well with everyone and please for crying out loud send me some freaking e-mails.

Posted in Vietnam | 2 Comments »