As I have said beforehand, there is a little bit of preparation involved when travelling to Burma. One of the other things you have to consider is your cash.
It is not possible to exchange Burmese Kyat outside of Burma. Your credit card wont help you either as there is just a limited number of ATMs available, most of them costing you 12% in commission. Western tourists have to pay most things like hotels, entries and train/bus tickets in US Dollars.
unfortunately Dollar isn’t dollar: The notes have to be absolutely clean and crisp, NEVER bend them over. When you exchange them take care that the serial number is after 2006 and I can’t stress enough how important it is to check each note for stains.
You need US Dollars…
Many exchange places in Bangkok wont give you dollars for Burma as it is such a hassle. We went to the Au Thong Travels close to Khao San Road. Walk to the end of the street where MC Donalds is and the police cars are parked and turn right. Walk till you see a big yellow bank on the left hand side and turn right and head down the street opposite the bank. after approx 200m you will find the agency on your right hand side. If possible go there the day beforehand and let them know how much you will need. They will ask for a 1000 Baht deposit and already give you some dollars in exchange.
To get lots of Kyat
Once in Burma you have to change your dollars into Kyat. We did that on the black market. You will get approached wherever you go, but it took us three times till we finally exchanged money. At the moment you will get around 1000 Kyat for one dollar. Always count the money yourself and don’t let the dealer hold it afterwards. Twice they rejected our 100 note and took the Kyat back. They then changed their mind and wanted the deal to go ahead again but we were not allowed to count the notes again. If you want to exchange money on the black market tell them straight away that you are the ONLY ONE holding the money, don’t even give it back for them putting a rubber band around it!
Breakfast in Sydney and Sunset in Rome 