Leaving Vietnam

Leaving Vietnam
Originally uploaded by bastchild.

In Dong Dang, I had to switch to a taxi cab (but didn't have to pay for it) to get to the border. The two passport controls are about 400 meters apart. There are no ATMs or official money exchangers here, and both the Vietnamese Dong and Chinese Reminbi aren't widely traded, so I had to find blackmarket money changers. When I was entering the Chinese passport control, a guy selling dutyfree items asked me if I wanted to exchange money. At first he wanted to sell 1 RMB for 2200 Dong, which was well above the official 1 RMB to 1959 Dong exchange rate. I was able to bargain him down to 1 RMB to 2000 Dong.
On the Chinese side, a lady ran up to be with a calculator asking if I needed to exchange money.
There are no buses at the border in China, so you have to hire a cab to get to Pingxiang. I was able to get one for 30 RMB.