Vietnamese currency is called Dong. (Go ahead, insert your own joke here.) The exchange rate is 16,000 Dong to one US dollar. That is not a rate that makes for easy conversion.
The new bills are really pretty and colourful. They all have a picture of Ho Chi Minh on them. On the 100,000 and 50,000 Dong notes, there is a transparent window. You can look through the money and see your hand on the other side. It is really cool. I guess this is a new mechanism to prevent counterfeiting. It is very hi-tech looking money.
But the problem with Dong is that you can't exchange it anywhere. I find myself stuck with a wallet full of Dong.
Because I left Saigon at midnight, the currency exchange counter at the airport was closed. When I showed a Dong to the lady at the exchange counter in Narita, Japan, she looked horrified. She waved her hands at me and looked upset in a very exaggerated way, like I was trying to exchange tainted devil money or something.
When I got to Montreal, I asked the lady if I could exchange Dong and she said no. She didn't looked terrified like the Japanese lady had, she just said no. And suggested I try their local bank. I didn't even know there was a local Vietnamese bank, and so far, I've no luck locating it.
But good fortune intervened. I found out from a work friend that we have a colleague going to Vietnam on business in December. So I said to her that I would be happy to sell her my leftover Dong at a discount. I've got the equivalent of $56.00 worth, and I'll be happy to unload it for $50.00. Whatta deal. I hope she'll want it. I can't see why not. Otherwise, I'm stuck with this worthless currency.
3 comments:
how can you say a dong (let alone 50) is worthless?
Gee, don't spend it all at once!
By the way, we've had that transparent window thing on our notes for years (we may have helped the Vietnamese with the technology) - seems you north Americans are a little behind!!!!
Clearly (ha ha) we are behind on the trendy currency front.
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