Posted by Tammy on Saturday, 31. October 1998 at 22:47 Bali Time:
We got 100,000 rupiah (50,000 each -- that used to be the limit, don't know if it still is) from a Royal Bank in Toronto before we left. That let us pay for a cab from the airport to the Ritz -- it cost 25,000 rupiah, a lot cheaper than their pick-up service.
We changed some money at the Ritz for the first couple of days, then started using money changers. We generally changed U.S. 100 bills. Rates varied a lot, but we counted carefully and are pretty sure we always got the rate agreed upon. Just during the two weeks we were there, the going rate dropped from about 8500 rupiah to the US dollar down as low as 7000 rupiah to the dollar. The great bargains we had planned on were gone, because of the rise in prices ... and yet, it still looks good compared to the Caribbean, our usual haunt.
Whether a money changer said they charged commission or not seemed to make no difference to the rate. And rates could vary a LOT just by going down the street.