The bills, the bills

Currency in Vietnam isn't too hard to do the conversions with. figure $20,000VN = $1US or $200,000VN = $10US or $2,000,000 = $100US. It's close enough and gets a slightly higher US $ cost estimate than the actual cost. I like estimating a little on the high side.

What gets me is actually paying. Having to distinguish between a 1,000 and 10,000 and 100,000 or 2,000 and 20,000 and 200,000 or 500 and 5,000 and 50,000 and 500,000 bill quickly is a bit of a pain. So many zeros! And so many denominations.

Bills I've had in my wallet are $500, $1,000, $2,000, $5,000, $10,000, $20,000, $50,000, $100,000, $200,000 and $500,000. I've only gotten coin change twice and the coins were $200, $2,000 and $5,000 denominations.

Basically all transactions are with bills. There's at least ten different denominations to handle, change given often isn't exact and the person "shortchanged" is as often the seller as it is the buyer.

Say you buy something for $63,000 and pay $70,000 with a $50,000 and a $20,000 bill. You might get back a $10,000 bill or you might get a $5,000 bill. Either way its clear the fee is paid and the vendor/cabbie/etc. is expecting to move on to the next customer. In a store with a cash register you are going to get a $5,000 bill and two $1,000 bills or a $2,000 bill.

Hard custom to get used to. On the other hand its nice to be a millionaire for once in my life!