Yesterday I attended one of a series of ongoing meetings of a Government-Industry task force that I am a part of. One of the other members, a former employer and associate of mine, just returned from Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. He had some travel pointers for me on my upcoming trip. Some of the things he told me I knew already and some were new information. I logged it all away in the memory banks and then we got ready for the meeting.
Just before we sat down, my former boss handed me three small stacks of folded bills. One was a batch of Cambodian Reals, wall paper money outside of the country as no bank will take them or exchange them. He also gave me 80,000 Laotian Kip, which sounds impressive until you realize its less than ten dollars. He topped the gift with a few hundred Thai Baht. I offered to give him some US dollars in exchange but of course he wouldn't take it.
I will admit that I like money, or more specifically, what money will buy. Still, I would have to think long and hard to remember when a small wad of folded bills made me so happy. I've got foreign cash in my pocket, ready for the trip!! I can get off the plane in Bangkok and feel that in some tiny way I am a part of the place because I have the means of exchange. Of course I am going to buy more Baht before I get to Bangkok, but for some reason, just having those few bills was like the last tumbler on the lock clicking into place and the door swinging open.
I am really going! I am in the process of bringing my replacement up to speed on the jobs that I have going, tiding up the last details at work and then asking my office person to water my plants, please, while I am away.
Wow! I hope I survive the next week without having my head blow right off of my shoulders.
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