yestravel

The US $100 bill has been redesigned and the new bill will begin being circulated in October per an article I read.
http://www.newmoney.gov

My question is should we take the new $100 bills or the old ones to Burma this January? We can avoid it by taking $50's, but given we will be paying our remaining deposit to Santa Maria, it would be a lot easier to take $100's to at least pay them. Thanks!

MmePerdu

Have you asked Santa Maria? I'm sure they'll be a good test of what will be generally accepted.

MmePerdu

Another thought, are they still making the old design? The bills are carefully scrutinized so the newer the better, pristine, so that may answer the question.

Kathie

Take either the newest bills or the ones current now. Just no really old or battered bills. Rumor has it that the central bank no longer requires pristine bills, but don't expect places outside of Yangon and Mandalay to know that. So to be on the safe side take the cleanest uncreased bills you can find. I always order new currency from my bank. They get new currency in around the holidays, so your timing should be good for getting new bills.

yestravel

Thanks so much! Any guidance on how much one needs per day?

Kathie

Over and above hotel and transport costs, a hundred a day for a couple is plenty. Food is pretty inexpensive, any taxis and such are cheap. Depending on just what you plan to do, you may need to figure in the costs of your boat on Inle, horsecart in Bagan, and admission fees. At Inle, if you choose to go to Sankar (and you should), it's about $50 for the boat, and you'll pay a Pa-O lands admission fee (in addition to the Inle fee) and will get a Pa-O guide you'll pay maybe $10 for.

Is there anything you want to shop for? Figure that in as well. I always like to make a generous estimate and am happy to come home with money in my pocket. But do spend all of your kyat before you leave, as it's worthless outside the country.

MmePerdu

I found there was a difference between one place and another regarding how much use a bill could have had and accepting them. So if you can't get all new bills I suggest you divide them into 2 piles, new and almost new. When exchanging currency and paying for services and goods offer the almost new first. It sounds a bit silly, I know, but some of my almost new were rejected so I had to find better ones. It wasn't around the holidays when, as Kathie says, the banks had lots of new ones so I did the best I could which occasionally wasn't good enough. If you're able to get all new bills then that's obviously the best solution of all.

I disposed of my left over khat at the airport coffee shop and gift shop.

yestravel

Thanks for the advice. Guess I will talk to my bank and see how to go about getting several thousands of crisp new bills.