Keeping your Monetary Wits About You When Traveling

This is not as easy as it seems sometimes, because just when you think you’ve got a handle on the exchange rate, if you are skipping from China to Hong Kong to Cambodia, for instance, not only the currency changes, and thus the exchange rates, but also the interactions with money differ.  For example, in Cambodia, their economy is tied to the dollar, so they take dollars everywhere…..but no one tells you this at the money exchange offices at the airport.  Not their job and not their fault if you didn’t take the time to read the guidebook section on money. Next, if you don’t have the exact change when using US dollars, chances are you are getting the change in a combination of Cambodian riels and US dollars.  The first couple of times this happened I vacillated between thinking I’d been robbed, to wondering if I’d been robbed, and finally not caring if I was robbed.  By the time I left I just about had it figured out.

Complicating the matter is the fact that Cambodian money wins hands down as the most confusing money I’ve tried to decipher.  The bills are roughly the same size, regardless of denomination, and most are so worn they are about the same color (dirty) and to top it off at the top of each bill (if you can find the top since I don’t read Khmer) there are 2 or 3 zeros and a Khmer letter, I presume.  Could be a decoration, but looks a bit like the other beautiful swirls that were part of their alphabet.  So it looks like all the bills are worth zero at first glance. Check out the photo closely for the final hurdle:  they have bills that are different sizes and colors but are the same denomination, such as the 1000 in the pics.  India did that with their coins, but I made a practice of just dumping those somewhere and dealing with them later or asking our beloved driver.  BTW, these Cambodian bills are deceptive examples because I always choose the few newest ones of any new currency to save for a couple of nephews, so don’t think I’m exaggerating the confusion.  Besides, me exaggerate?

China also has some funny looking old 1 Yuan coins, and the worse thing is they are very similar to the small “dimes” that take 10 to equal a Yuan.  I don’t know the Chinese names for those dimes, but they come in handy at the fresh market, as long as I don’t give them the wrong coin.  Actually I do give them the wrong coins sometimes, and they just laugh and shake their heads, then ask to see my change with a nod of their chins, and I oblige, open my hand, and let them take what looks good to them.  There’s a lot of trust going into those transactions, but I never heard of a swindler dealing in dimes, so I assume they are just trying to get me out of their line.

For a commentary on how money can reflect a nation and its history, take a look at Hong Kong’s dollars.  Printed expensively, with smooth paper and many colors (yellow, red, pin, blue and white for this one), and a hologram to boot to thwart forgers. Stylized junks to give you the feel of the sea, letters in both classic and simplified Mandarin and English as a nod to their Chinese mainland “friends”, and a Chinese-like ribbon running through the design to add additional flair.  And also, I had no trouble finding 3 good ones to save.  Somehow using this pretty money just makes the transaction a little more pleasurable, albeit a little slower as I oogle the bill instead of handing it over to the patient clerks. 

I recently led 2 fourth grade reading groups in a reading about ancient money, and I saw at a market in Suzhou some fake, cheap, old-time Chinese money, so got a set for each group and gave them each one coin.  They were treating them as if they were gold, and more than one kid asked if they could take it somewhere and spend it.  The most modern response to money comes from a child, of course.