(I’m a bit behind…)
Tim today reports:
Safely into Mandalay last night, now Friday morning. Great, smooth, humming along 10+ hour boat ride through the outback from Bagan.
Another big change in environment, hope to find a key board today for a better posting. Gsn. Tw
Smart remarks:
OK, for you who are interested in money, here’s the primer.
In Myanmar, the unit of currency is the kyat. That is pronounced /chät/ which rhymes with “shot.” One shiny US dollar will buy 984.7 of them. So, if the breakfast costs 1,477 kyat, are you being toasted ?
In Laos the unit is the kip. That is pronounced /kĭp/ which rhymes with “flip.” US$1=8,032.1 kip. If the tuk-tuk ride is 56,224.7 kip, should you have walked?
In Thailand, the units are the baht. Pronounced /bät/ which is the same as “bought.” US$1=32.99 baht. If they try to charge you 824.75 baht for a hotel room, sign in or sayonara?
The great imponderable is “What is the plural?”
kyat or kyats? kip or kips? baht or bhats?
How many bhats to bribe a police officer?
How many kips for a small tattoo?
How many kyats for a copy of Mao’s Little Red Book in English?
The easy way to remember the currencies is to drop the decimal points:
985 kyat = 8032 kip = 33 baht.
Next question?
-Steve
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