Sept. 22- After dodging another attempted cab scheme (saved $3!) we headed to MIAT (Mongolian I....A....Travel)....well, something like that, but in Mongolian.
We arrived for what we thought would be a 10-minute credit card swipe-and-out w/ tickets-in-hand trip turned into a 3hr marathon event. First, their visa machine wasn't working. We called the US Visa collect phone # and they said it was a problem with MIAT's machine. Oyouna didn't buy it, although she did admit that another couple had the same problem with their visa card earlier. Lucky for them, they had a lot of cash. Unlucky for us, we didn't. We explained to Oyouna that normal people didn't have that high of a limit with their ATM card. And we didn't want to pay the fees to take out $ 4 times. Also, the credit card payment would be in US$, and wouldn't include the typical high "conversion fee" that Mr Bank O. America likes to charge us.
So we tried & tried & tried the visa again....NO DICE. Oyouna then informed us of the special arrangement they had with Amex, where they could get a verbal confirmation from them (which MIAT would NOT accept from my ready & willing Visa phone rep earlier). JJ tried to call Amex and use her Amex without physically having it on her person- NO DICE....picky picky.
Between all this brainstorming (BS for short), poor Oyouna would walk to the back behind a partition wall and consult with the manager, who obviously didn't want any piece of J3's problem. This, of course, made J want to go pay her a visit & give her his "opinions" on MIAT's service. However, the possibility of Chinese police escorting him out of the building- and possibly country- kept him in his seat. We were now referring to this unknown manager as the Dragon Lady from the Eddie Murphy movie The Golden Child. Somewhere in there J3 suggested there just HAD to be some sort of helpdesk for that little credit card machine, but Oyouna informed us that the lady who normally handles credit transactions was sick...and located in Mongolia, and couldn't be reached...convenient.
Oyouna still didn't seem to think her machine was broken, & couldn't think of any helpdesk, and thought we tourists and our crazy Visa card were the only possible reason she couldn't get off work yet (we're at about 2hrs and counting now). When J3 suggested calling the airport and charging the card with their machine, Oyouna informed us that MIAT at the Beijing airport ONLY TAKES CASH. huh? wha-wha-whaaaaat? J3 then suggested calling another MIAT office, but were informed they were now closed.
After 2-1/2 hrs and about 5 visits by Oyouna to the Dragon Lady, J3 call Air China to spite the MIAT mess-makers, but found the ticket price was $150 more apiece. Good thing we didn't cause trouble & get escorted out yet! After trying the card again (just for fun!), we try to use our Debit/ATM card. This didn't even have a chance since the Dragon Lady was on the phone line that is also used for the credit card machine! Jason then asked "what if Dragon Lady (he didn't say that part out loud) was on the phone when we were trying the Visa earlier?" Oyouna didn't even want to think about that one, and J3 were frankly too tired to pursue it.
Just as Jason is working out the details with Visa to up the limit on the ATM card (our last option), Oyouna gets a call from Dragon Lady and they have a long conversation with credit card Chinese/Mongolian talk. Just as Jason is gaining level 3 clearance and divulging his mother's dog's maiden name, the Visa lady starts to say something that seems really important....and the cord falls out of the phone on J's lap. J3's world stops turning at that instant and if you looked hard enough you could literally see steam shooting out of Jason's ears. Just as Jason is about to take the aforementioned Visa card & cut it into 100 jagged pieces and gulp it down with some Chines jasmine tea, Oyouna hangs up & says those 8 words J3 never thought they would be so happy to hear..."I think I can now run your card." Guess they miraculously find that part of the "credit card fire drill book" that allows them to accept & process our Visa. Amazing.
We let Oyouna do what she does best (issue frickin' tickets!) & quickly left the premises before something- anything- else went wrong. Back to Red House for the largest Tsingtao EVER & some grub. We never thought meeting our first Mongolian would be this much fun! Poor Oyouna...she didn't deserve that J3 tornado. And boy what an intro to Mongolia!
Comments