Four carrier bags of renminbi
Back in the mid-90s I spent some time working at a private school that was being set up in southern China. Interesting work - a combination of mopping floors and taking corrupt officials and gangsters to karaoke parlours.

Anyway, one day my boss asks me to come to the bank with him. On the way there he tells me he's going to pick up the cash for everybody's pay for the month, plus enough to buy a piano, a minibus, and to pay some hefty bribes.

One quick trip to the safety deposit box later, he's got a big stack of HK$1000 notes. So off we go to change them into Chinese money. In what looks for all intents and purposes to be a small hole-in-the-wall shop selling flip-flops and bits of wire.

After five minutes in a back room, he returns with four flimsy carrier bags crammed with the People's Republic of China's highest denomination banknotes - worth about eight quid each at the time. Amazingly, the money-changer didn't think it was worth double-bagging the cash, despite the fact that the handles were getting steadily longer as we waited outside the shop for a taxi.

After ten minutes or so feeling decidedly uncomfortable, we took the only option that presented itself - a motorbike that had been turned into a tricycle with some dodgy welding and a couple of planks of wood as a seat. And so off we went, back to the school, two of us crammed together on a deathtrap machine trying to hold on to the bike and the bags whilst simultaneously looking nonchalant about the fact we're carrying enough cash to feed a family for a decade.
( aserinsky, Fri 23 Jun 2006, 10:46, Reply)