Today I had artist's block. So here is a recent true story.

Part I:

It's not hard to get scammed when you are a jetlagged traveller.

I know someone who received a two-tone Egyptian pound coin instead of the 10 Thai baht coin for change from an airport restaurant in Phuket. They are a similar size, weight and look so unless you are already familiar with the local currency, it's a small scale scam when substituted.

1 Egyptian pound = 1.78 Thai baht (so you can do the math)





Part II:

It's not easy to buy a coffee whilst in transit at a Chinese airport KFC, if you are not in possession of renminbi (RMB/CNY), or a Chinese payment app (e.g. Alipay or WeChat Pay?). ALL OF THE CHINESE PEOPLE PAY WITH THEIR SMARTPHONES.

VISA not accepted. And obviously, not Bitcoin (in any form).

So a very tired traveller/husband might have to trudge down to the ground floor foreign exchange with passport in hand to pay some high fees to procure local cash.





Part III:

Mental math is handy for shopping/bargaining at markets.

20 Thai baht = 0.83 Canadian dollars

20 baht and 20 CAD are both green bills but have very different values!



