Hey now. off to india, and ain't no way i'm taking a month's worth of cash....
anyone know if one can buy USD or Euro traveller's cheques at BOC or other bank?
i imagine i would need the blue change money forms i get when changing cash into yuan, and have some.
any ideas if, where and a good deal?
cheers!
I don't think you can.
My wife is off to India next year. She will get a Shenzhen friend to buy travelers cheques in HK and then courier to Kunming.
Can't one use plastic in India these days? Or perhaps not on a Chinese bank?
not a lot of atms out in the village you see.
that n carrying a few different safe wads of currency is good in india. lose a bank card, done.
Also, right now the atms in India have lines and run out of money since the government voided old 500 and 1000 rupee notes and people are desperate to get the new money.
Just a thought, but in areas where there are no ATMs, there could be no banks to exchange travelers cheques.
Does anyone have a recent lonely planet or other guide for India that discusses currency?
NanYang Bank
There's isn't a Branch in Kunming but I know that their Beijing office was able to issue travellers cheques in 2009 when the economy back home went to pot. I wasn't doing this personally but was told this at the time and stored it away for reference. NanYang is a HK bank so they probably act via HK, as mentioned above.
Give them a call and see what they can do for you, you may be stuck for options in Kunming but ask at BOEA before you give up hope, they'd be your best bet.
And before you go make sure that the travellers cheques you get are OK to use in India. Back home Barclays, Thomas Cook, CitiBank, Standard, all Ok but American Express and a few others will not be cashed or you'll have to go to a exchange merchant and get a much lower rate.
Easiest thing to do would be to forget travellers cheques - plan ahead while you're in the city and able to use the hole in the wall.
I am in India now and things are fuck-d up for most here. Just get as many 100 rupies notes as possible. And good luck. Avoid new 2000 rupies as nobody accepts them "do you have smaller change". Smartest move is to stay away from India now, maybe a week or two.
TC's suck. Just use ATMs and stash some higher value foreign notes.
