The Money Fiasco!

So it turns out that my ATM card doesn't work in either of the 2 ATM's in town and none of the banks exchange US currency. I thought last night that the hotel had accepted my $10 bill, but this morning they shoved it back at me and said no, no, no! At a complete loss of what to do, I headed towards one of the banks, determined to get my money exchanged. One of the boys form the front desk accompanied me and did the talking for me. I just tried to look as desperate as possible. No, try to ATM , was the response he got. But everywhere I try the ATM, I get an Out of Service message. Next bank. Same reception. We can't help you. Now I started worrying. I have plenty of money, but no local currency. No way to pay for my hotel. No way to pay for my bus ticket out of here. And according to my hotel representative, no internet. Now I find that hard to believe, but whatever. How would I pay for it anyways?

It's been a good 45 minutes and I'm in a worse spot than when this whole fiasco began--I've lost hope that I'd be able to exchange money. What the hell do I do?!? I wanted to try calling the customer service number on the back of my debit card, but needed to buy a calling card in order to do so. I wanted to go on the internet to check my pin number, just in case I somehow forgot it, but apparently there's no internet in this entire town.

The boy from the hotel calls his boss and explains the situation. After he hangs up, he turns an looks at me. He doesn't know what to do either. Slowly, heads down in panicked thought, we walk towards the hotel, unsure what else we can do at this point. As we approached the steps of the first bank, we both stop, knowing that this is the only place capable of helping me. Even if its against protocol, I have to convince them to help me, I thought. I walked up to the glass window, placed my $20 bill on the counter and plead with them. They couldn't understand the words that I was saying, but I think they understood the desperation that I wore on my face and the panick in my voice. Grudgingly, the man behind the counter took the bill, and headed for the back room. He emerged a few moments later with a little machine, which he proceeded to plug in, and once it had warmed up, ran my bill through multiple times. Maybe he was checking to see if it was a counterfeit note? I'm not sure. But, after running the bill through a few more times and checking the exchange rate on the internet, he handed me 146 yuan!! If there wasn't a big glass window separating us, I would have leaned over and kissed him!

Full of relief and a new found confidence, we walked back to the hotel, I paid my dues, grabbed my bag, and headed next door to buy a bus ticket to Jinghong. I open up my Lonely Planet guide and point to the Chinese characters next to Jinghong, indicating my desired destination. No, no, is the response I got. Complete with hand waving and head shaking, the overly tired, agitated lady tells me there's only one bus per day and it leaves at 6:30am. You've got to be kidding me! The phrase running wild in my head. You've got to be absolutely kidding me!! Earlier this morning I was told there was a bus at 10:40, and Lonely PLanet says there are multiple buses each day. Great.

So, here I am back at the hotel. I downgraded to a cheaper room so that I'd be able to eat today. Between 2 nights accomodation and the bus ticket, I'm left with just barely enough for a meal or two. This is a pretty grubby town, but seeing as its a good two hours from even a small village, there's got to be some nice places to explore. I guess I'll just walk along the road and head up into the hills and see what I find. Thank goodness it's warm here!