In Reply to: Bali, don't get frightened...... posted by sue (too) on Sunday, 18. April 1999 at 02:28 Bali Time:
We were in Bali last month and enjoyed our stay very much aside from the hawkers which you will learn to ignore after a while, and the fact that the money changers tried to rip us off 3 out of 5 times. We gave them $100 Can. Dollars, and they should have given us 575 000 r, but they tried to give us 500 075 r, hoping that we would not notice. When we did not leave and just continued waiting, they always unlocked their drawers again and gave us the amount which was still missing. Sometimes it took even two more efforts on their part to go to the drawer to count out the missing balance. Some tourists get very frustrated by that. After all we would have lost more than $13 Canadian Dollars during each transaction. When you do exchange money it is best to tell them that you want mainly big bills. It is much easier for them to cheat you when they can give you small bills. If you give the money changer a $100 bill you should come prepared with a piece of paper stating how many bills of each denomination you expect to get for your bill. Since we are not used to dealing with such high sums, it is very easy for Balinese to outsmart you.