The standard rental transaction in Macau requires payment of four months rent paid in advance. The payment is made in Hong Kong dollars and not in the Macau Pataca. We don't know why. That is just what it is. We knew transferring the rent money from Canada would be an issue because we did not have a trusted account in Macau. Setting up a bank account here takes many weeks requiring letters from the employer, proof of immigration and in person visits. We also knew that we did not have enough time between the day we landed in Macau and the day we needed to move into an apartment to withdraw sufficient cash from ATMs due to their relatively modest daily limits. Fortunately, we knew that Kristin's school fronted the first month of salary in cash for all new hires. So converting that money into HKD would help get us part way there, but we would still be short. So we decided to bring HKD from Canada. Simple to do in theory, except for the foolishness exemplified by our Canadian bank which turned it into an unnecessarily stressful episode.
I visited our local branch about one month before we left Canada to request the HKD. Surprisingly, I had to pay for it in advance which I thought was strange as I was expecting to have the amount debited from our Canadian account when the HKD was received. Anyway, I paid in advance and was told to expect a call in a week or so to come pick it up. There were no fees for this transaction which was amazing except for the ludicrously poor exchange rate which meant about five percent was skimmed off the top.
I dropped back down to the bank about a week later when I received the call as promised. The teller said sign here and passed over an industrial sized envelope. Incredulously, I opened the envelope to see mostly wrapped bundles of cash. I said ‘I can't take this.’ They knew I would be carrying the cash on a long trip. It was very heavy and bulky. I was expecting to be able to tuck the HKD into a money belt, but the bank had provided mostly low denomination bills. Upon my complaint, the teller and her supervisor explained that the bank outsourced currency exchange and had no control over the bills received. Some bills were new, some were tattered, some wrapped and some were not. I said that I could not carry these bills and the bank replied that I didn’t have to take them, but that I would have to pay another free five percent transaction to return them and then another free five percent transaction to receive a new bundle with no guarantee that it would turn out any better. Frustrated, I said that I would take the money, but that we would need to count it first. Why would I trust the bank or the third party to provide the correct amount? Shockingly, how could the bank expect me to take it without counting it? We headed to the bank vault with the cash counters. Those things whirred for what seemed an implausibly long time which conjured up images of bad guys counting their loot. Turned out that the count was correct. Upon reiterating my disappointment, the employee retorted that I was being given some of the highest denomination bills available. Yes - some of, and also many more of the smallest. The largest bill provided by the bank was $100HKD. $1000HKD bills are used all of the time and would have made all of this a non-issue. The employee said that $1000 bills did not exist according to her bank handbook. Complete and utter nonsense.
I stuffed the wrapped bundles and loose bills into the lining of my jacket as I had no intention of calling extra attention to myself leaving the bank carrying a massive yellow envelope. I walked along Water Street expecting to be shivved at any moment which probably would have turned out o.k. in hindsight as no blade would be likely to pierce the now reinforced lining of my jacket.
The cash took up half of my knapsack. This brought its own logistical and security concerns including passing through airport xrays, storing it in hotels etc. and it was not like we were traveling directly from St. John's to Macau. We hung out in Toronto, Chicago, Taipei, Bali and Singapore before we landed in Macau over the course of a couple of months. Mercifully, we were under the $10,000 USD cash equivalent declaration limit, but it wouldn't have looked that way from a distance. Occasionally, I would detect a whispered conversation or a smirk/snicker by airport security, but no one ever said anything to me or asked me to open the knapsack. I carried the knapsack with me all of the time when we started our journey as I did not trust an empty hotel room. Eventually, I gave up bringing it with us as it required full time ‘eyes on back on the head’ and it was so heavy that it seriously detracted from our fun day trips. I began to hide the cash randomly throughout our hotel rooms as it would never fit in the safety deposit box and those boxes can be very untrustworthy.
I was never so happy to depart with money when we signed the lease and turned it all over. Our real estate agent and the apartment's agents must have thought it was complete madness and perhaps thought that I knocked over a local 7-Eleven. Everyone spent more time counting cash than reviewing and signing documents.
Moving is never easy, but Canada inflicts special challenges including increased interaction with the protected banking and telecom industries. I have another good story about canceling our internet and phone services, but I have to let it go for now as it brings back too many painful memories.