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Currency Affairs
One of the joys of travel is discovering your way around the various currencies of the world.
With travel firmly on my mind at the moment due to an upcoming holiday, I thought I'd upload some pictures of some of the currencies I've encountered on a previous journey. You can see them in my photos section.
My favourite was the Mongolian "tughrik". One Aussie dollar will fetch you over 1000 tughrik these days - when I visited in 2006 it was about 650. Due to wages and the cost of living in Mongolia being incredibly low, even backpackers like myself felt like millionaires. You could get a big meal for the equivalent of $5 or $6.
Another interesting currency was the efficiently-named Latvian Lat. After travelling through Russia and Estonia - where the exchange rate meant you had to add a lot of zeros - it was bizarre to get to Latvia and find it all goes the other way. Conversion-wise it was similar to the pound, except of course Latvia is far less expensive than Britain. So you'd go into a supermarket and buy a bottle of Coke for 0.45 santimi (Lat "cents") - about 90 Australian cents.
Some people say when you travel you should exchange your money, work out your budget in the local currency, then spend it - avoiding at all costs the temptation to convert to Australian dollars. Unfortunately I can never do that - my mind is always converting back to Aussie dollars to work out if a price is cheap or reasonable or over-priced.
Then there's the Euro. I adore the Euro - it's made travelling through the Continent so much easier. However, I can see its downside - the more Eastern European countries have seen price increases on joining the common currency, without seeing the same growth in wages. And while each country has its own version of the Euro notes and coins, it's not the same as the quaint old currencies of the Olde Worlde.
I'd be interested in your thoughts on currencies - which interesting ones have you encountered? What's the Euro done for your travel experiences? And can you ever get out of the converting mindset?
With travel firmly on my mind at the moment due to an upcoming holiday, I thought I'd upload some pictures of some of the currencies I've encountered on a previous journey. You can see them in my photos section.
My favourite was the Mongolian "tughrik". One Aussie dollar will fetch you over 1000 tughrik these days - when I visited in 2006 it was about 650. Due to wages and the cost of living in Mongolia being incredibly low, even backpackers like myself felt like millionaires. You could get a big meal for the equivalent of $5 or $6.
Another interesting currency was the efficiently-named Latvian Lat. After travelling through Russia and Estonia - where the exchange rate meant you had to add a lot of zeros - it was bizarre to get to Latvia and find it all goes the other way. Conversion-wise it was similar to the pound, except of course Latvia is far less expensive than Britain. So you'd go into a supermarket and buy a bottle of Coke for 0.45 santimi (Lat "cents") - about 90 Australian cents.
Some people say when you travel you should exchange your money, work out your budget in the local currency, then spend it - avoiding at all costs the temptation to convert to Australian dollars. Unfortunately I can never do that - my mind is always converting back to Aussie dollars to work out if a price is cheap or reasonable or over-priced.
Then there's the Euro. I adore the Euro - it's made travelling through the Continent so much easier. However, I can see its downside - the more Eastern European countries have seen price increases on joining the common currency, without seeing the same growth in wages. And while each country has its own version of the Euro notes and coins, it's not the same as the quaint old currencies of the Olde Worlde.
I'd be interested in your thoughts on currencies - which interesting ones have you encountered? What's the Euro done for your travel experiences? And can you ever get out of the converting mindset?
Tags: currency
Views: 4
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Mongolia tugrut.jpg, 91 KB -
Latvia lat.jpg, 103 KB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by The Wah on -
I always loved the Euro. I was traveling through Europe as the currency was coming online and I fell in love with it there and then. I came back to Australia telling everyone we should try and get in on the Euro as soon as possible.. even though we are very very far away. I love the look of it and fact it has become so amazingly powerful.
I am also excited with the prospect that our our area currency is in the works (The Pacifico? The Asio?. Admittedly it is a long term plan with many many hurdles but at least it is a sensible start by the government.
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Permalink Reply by Warren on -
Is this true The Wah - there is something in the works?
The Asio a good one. How about the Chindio?
Warren
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Permalink Reply by AlRow on -
I suppose, just in case Paul Keating's "Banana Republic" became a reality we could have the bank notes printed on Banana leaves
On a serious note, if we are to go down the "Great East Asian Co-prosperity" road why don't we assume the yuang as the new currency? It will save a lot of fooling around in the long run
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Permalink Reply by AlRow on
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I think the US currency is the one most likely to cause cinfusion... All the same colour ...all the same size...an absolute counterfeiters paradise.
I believe the reason for not changing their currency (a la OZ) is the cost of that change. I asume that it is a case of buyer beware...if you get lumbered with a bogus note well, bad luck, you should have checked the note before accepting it.
Which is all very well but, if you could see the wad of one's and two's you have to carry just for the daily tipping, you would realise how difficult it is to find every bad note.
If only they would pay their workers a decent wage at least your wallet would not be stretched all out of shape
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