Coins from around the world have always interested me. Traveling this last year has brought me into contact with a lot of monies I never thought I would see.
Money becomes a lot more utilitarian when you are depending on a currency to live and you don't have time to sit and admire the money you are using. But here are some quick observations: Worldwide paper currencies are usually more colorful than US dollars. The coins are interesting, too... There are dual tone coins (I like those) and there are ones with holes in them.
In Indonesia we use the coins shown in this photo. In a place where 1,000,000 (a million) rupiah is equal to $75 US, coins like those below aren't worth very much.
We actually use a 2,000 bill (15 cents USD) to tip roadside helpers that assist us in turning across lanes of busy traffic. In an economy like this, the coins below really are only useful for super-super exact change... the 50s are usually used only at big grocery stores, and there is a lot of rounding to the nearest 100.
The amounts, in USD for the coins below is as follows (with a bit of rounding)
50 rupiah = .38 pennies (1/3 of a penny!)
100 rupiah = .77 pennies
200 rupiah = 1.5 pennies
500 rupiah = 3.8 pennies
1000 rupiah = 7.7 pennies
So, the largest coin we use is worth less than a US dime - and pretty close to a nickel.
But, our kids can buy a piece of hard candy for 500 rupiah, and in larger amounts, you can buy an "Indonesian lunch" for 20,000 rupiah (or $1.50 USD)
Some other larger purchases you might be familiar with in the US are as follows;
* a 1 liter Coke: 11,000 rupiah ($.85)
* "Big Mac Packet" at McDonalds for 40,455 ($3.11)
(*note, this includes a US child-sized drink and no refills!)
* Pizza Hut Large (US medium) pizza 100,000 rupiah ($7.69)
* A 1/2 sized snickers 6,000 ($.46)
But. note that most of these things are COMPLETELY out of the price range of most Indonesians. I think I shared about our house helpers reaction to being offered a slice of pizza a few posts ago...
Hope you found this of international money as interesting as I do!