How to Deal with Money, Honey

Indonesian currency is called Rupiah, not to be confused with the Indian Rupee. These days, One US dollar is about Rp. 12,000.-. So with less than US$100.- you are entitled to be called a millionaire.

The bills are pretty colorful, but not enough to make it easy on newcomers to the country to tell difference from one to the others because of all those zeros. It seems to me, the higher the value, the crisper the bills tend to be. Which kind of makes sense because large bills don't get exchanged as frequently as the small ones. Here are a Rp. 20,000.- (green) against Rp. 50,000.- (blue):

Rupiah bills in the hand of a fish vendor

Speaking of crumpled bills... When I first started visiting Bali, I was amazed that every time I buy something in the market and receive some change, the vendor would hand me crumpled bills of varying colors. At first I thought, "Is this a trick to confuse me?" But it's not. It's just the way they keep the money. The don't keep them straight in their wallet.

That practice maybe changing, judging from what I see here. A little daughter of a market vendor is straightening up some crumpled bills she just received. Oh, in case you are concerned, this is not child labor. Mothers bring their kids to work everywhere that's not an office (markets, craft workshops, etc.) especially the ones that haven't started school yet. It's a family affair, and the kids have fun being surrounded by adoring grown-ups.

Ayu (4) straightening out her crumpled bills.

To figure out how much your currency is worth against the Rupiah, use this currency converter website.