Where to exchange money when travelling – that is always the question…
I always exchange money right away following my arrival to a foreign country, usually in the very first exchange office I come across at the airport. Sometimes they offer the best exchange rate I get during the whole trip. Sometimes they do not, but those are always safe places to make your exchange. They are reliable and they do not try to cheat you.
My latest experience from Kuta in Bali: There are myriads of money exchange places there, with a bit lower rate closer to the beach. One block away from the beach the exchange rates are higher but anyway differ from one exchange counter to another.
I came to a place offering quite handsome exchange rate. I asked the guy there how much I would get for the amount I wanted to exchange, he displayed the amount on his calculator and I said O.K. He started counting 50,000 IDR bills, piled quite many of them. I took them and counted them, the amount was O.K. He should just add some smaller bills. He took the pile of those 50.000 IDR bills and sort of counted them again. Well, it seemed strange to me, I wondered why the heck did he have to recount them and why the heck he should use so many 50,000 IDR bills, when there are 100,000 IDR bills there, and 50,000 bills are a hassle under these conditions, with the currency as IDR. I took the pile he had just “checked” and I counted again. In fact, I found out, there was barely half of the amount that was there before. I realized it was a scam and I simply took my own money and I left immediately.
A bit further down the street I stopped by another exchange place and again the guy showed me the amount on his calculator. I said O.K. and he started piling – eh, 50,000 IDR – bills in front of me. It rang a bell. I counted them and the amount was O.K., he should just add some smaller bills. Same situation as before. Instead of adding the smaller bills he tried to grab the pile of those 50,000 bills. But I held my hand on them firmly and I told him: “Do not touch them, just put the rest here!”. At this the guy got so mad, that he remembered me to the mad monkey I had written about in my article about the Monkey forest in Ubud. And he literally chased me away shouting loudly and angrily “I WON´T DO BUSINESS WITH YOU!” at me…
“How good for me” 😀 I thought… Well, then I entered a bigger, air conditioned place where the exchange rate was slightly lower. The guy behind the counter showed me the amount on the calculator, counted 100.000 IDR bills and some smaller. He gave me a receipt, I counted the money and everything was O.K.