This is me being pretentious LOL
Saturday, 14 August 2021 10:13![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elusivekAs I was putting myself together this morning, I figured my hair should be able to last another week without the hairdresser, so instead, it being a rare free Saturday, I decided to be pretentious and snobby and do the Starbucks with a MacBook thing for breakfast LOL. I'll probably go back home before lunch, have lunch with the parents, drop off the MacBook (it IS quite heavy), then head out again to pick up some online order and then my soap class in the afternoon.
I intend to go running tonight, 5km at least, and if my breathing is good may extend it to an hour of running (2 years ago that would be around an 8-9km for me, now? Maybe 7km).
Might as well write about some Macau history since I have this pretty photo to show:
This is the BNU, Banco Nacional Ultramarino (or, as an Uncle of mine used to make fun of the acronym, Bank of No Use). "Ultramarino" means overseas. But in Chinese it's called the 大西洋銀行 (Atlantic Ocean Bank). We colloquially just call it the 大西洋 (The Atlantic). Here's the Wikipedia for the comprehensive background of it. I am, as always, the providor of colloquial stories.
So this bank is basically an European bank, so to say. There's still a lot of distrust towards the Red Flag banks (China-backed banks) so people usually keep 2 separate bank accounts. Me too, I have 2 main bank accounts. One with my salary bank (one of the China-backed banks), and this BNU. While the bulk of my money is in my salary bank, I do transfer some money here now and then. I also have a couple other bank accounts for the ease of their e-banking facilities (e.g. Bank of China to facilitate shopping in TaoBao, OCBC for paying off my Hong Kong based credit card, but I only put money in these 2 accounts when I need to make a payment).
This pink building (main branch, head office of BNU), in particular, was one of the first attempts in heritage preservation. They rebuilt the bank but kept the facade. 30 years ago it was just a building with those 2 storeys, now I think there's a tower behind (you can just see the start of the tower at the top of the photo above) and goes up to 8 floors, I think. Not quite a skyscraper, absolutely a midget when comparing to the Bank of China (BOC) across the street.
My Dad with all his conspiracy theories (okay, I like a good conspiracy theory too, but I don't need to listen to them every single day *rolls eyes*) keeps saying that if I just keep my money with my salary bank (China-backed), they will one day take all my money away and whatnot. Well. I suppose I'm more a pragmatist, or realist, or whatever. Who says an European bank won't do something similar? He's also complaining about the banks in Austria that they just drain your account if there is no movement (and then more conspiracy theories..........), and with the Portuguese economy being not so good, I think it's only a matter of time when the CGD (Caixa Geral de Depositos, a Portuguese state bank) would do something drastic.
In any case, I suppose the most practical thing to do is, have enough of a savings so that I can tide myself over a period of trying times, if it does come to it, but don't just simply hoarde the money. Spend it. Enjoy life. I forsee in the future I will have no descendants, and the Macau Law doesn't allow me to leave my earthly belonging to pets, and any remaining money I leave behind will go either to my godsons (if they become decent humans) or straight to an animal shelter of my choice. And if I die now, without leaving a will, then my Mom has access to all my accounts so she can have everything.
I intend to go running tonight, 5km at least, and if my breathing is good may extend it to an hour of running (2 years ago that would be around an 8-9km for me, now? Maybe 7km).
Might as well write about some Macau history since I have this pretty photo to show:
This is the BNU, Banco Nacional Ultramarino (or, as an Uncle of mine used to make fun of the acronym, Bank of No Use). "Ultramarino" means overseas. But in Chinese it's called the 大西洋銀行 (Atlantic Ocean Bank). We colloquially just call it the 大西洋 (The Atlantic). Here's the Wikipedia for the comprehensive background of it. I am, as always, the providor of colloquial stories.
So this bank is basically an European bank, so to say. There's still a lot of distrust towards the Red Flag banks (China-backed banks) so people usually keep 2 separate bank accounts. Me too, I have 2 main bank accounts. One with my salary bank (one of the China-backed banks), and this BNU. While the bulk of my money is in my salary bank, I do transfer some money here now and then. I also have a couple other bank accounts for the ease of their e-banking facilities (e.g. Bank of China to facilitate shopping in TaoBao, OCBC for paying off my Hong Kong based credit card, but I only put money in these 2 accounts when I need to make a payment).
This pink building (main branch, head office of BNU), in particular, was one of the first attempts in heritage preservation. They rebuilt the bank but kept the facade. 30 years ago it was just a building with those 2 storeys, now I think there's a tower behind (you can just see the start of the tower at the top of the photo above) and goes up to 8 floors, I think. Not quite a skyscraper, absolutely a midget when comparing to the Bank of China (BOC) across the street.
My Dad with all his conspiracy theories (okay, I like a good conspiracy theory too, but I don't need to listen to them every single day *rolls eyes*) keeps saying that if I just keep my money with my salary bank (China-backed), they will one day take all my money away and whatnot. Well. I suppose I'm more a pragmatist, or realist, or whatever. Who says an European bank won't do something similar? He's also complaining about the banks in Austria that they just drain your account if there is no movement (and then more conspiracy theories..........), and with the Portuguese economy being not so good, I think it's only a matter of time when the CGD (Caixa Geral de Depositos, a Portuguese state bank) would do something drastic.
In any case, I suppose the most practical thing to do is, have enough of a savings so that I can tide myself over a period of trying times, if it does come to it, but don't just simply hoarde the money. Spend it. Enjoy life. I forsee in the future I will have no descendants, and the Macau Law doesn't allow me to leave my earthly belonging to pets, and any remaining money I leave behind will go either to my godsons (if they become decent humans) or straight to an animal shelter of my choice. And if I die now, without leaving a will, then my Mom has access to all my accounts so she can have everything.
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no subject
Date: 2021-08-14 03:42 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-14 15:52 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-14 12:51 (UTC)On freezing funds, although Chinese government is probably more likely to do this to people than foreign governments, in theory they (just like foreign governments) should only do it if you are a criminal or flagged for some reason. So i suppose if you are living under the radar for the most part it should be okay.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-14 16:10 (UTC)I'm definitely safe in that I plan to stay "under the radar" but you never really know. Even though it's before my time, the 123 incident (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12-3_incident) was something that targeted the Portuguese. Portuguese/Macanese/foreigners people were attacked openly in the streets and shops refused to serve these people. My mom says they had to rely on sympathetic neighbours to help them do their groceries because they couldn't even step out of the house, there were shootings and whatnot.
Maybe it's my own paranoia, but I'm convinced, sometime in the future, there will be more similar incidents in that foreigners or non-chinese are not welcomed anymore. And then, it will be time to move, but to where? Austria? I don't know anyting about Austria, I don't speak the language. Portugal? Better, I speak the language, but I'm culturally ignorant about Portugal as well. So. I don't know.
I've thought too much this time. Don't want to worry myself. I'll stop here.... haha...
no subject
Date: 2021-08-14 21:01 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-14 23:43 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-14 21:29 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-14 23:42 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-15 12:18 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-15 09:09 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-15 13:23 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-16 18:40 (UTC)Interesting to learn about the culture with banks there. I think older people here tend to have multiple bank accounts in case one bank collapsed so they would still have money safely somewhere else. Some UK banks will close accounts that have been inactive for 15 years if they've not been able to contact the owner, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's the same in European countries.