While many currencies in Asia are linked to the US dollar, each country has its own currency although I wish they would learn from the benefits of the Euro...ok on second thought, maybe not, given the economic situation in Europe. I used to have a mug with random coins from my travels since they usually wouldn't convert the coins back to the US dollar. Of course, I would always forget that I had them when I went back to the respective countries - I have loonies galore.
I have stopped converting now since I plan on making numerous trips back and forth during my stint in Asia. My travels though have not taught me to be any more efficient in discerning the notes and coins. Even in Vietnam, there are times where I catch myself giving the wrong currency since the colors of the notes are similar (VND 500,000 is a similar blue as VND 20,000) - a very few honest individuals have given me the notes back. There are so many colors that it baffles me why we cannot have a note in purple, for example.
To add to the confusion, Hong Kong is one of those rare countries where they do not have just the central bank printing the notes. Certain coins/notes are minted/printed by not only the central bank but also three approved banks with their own branding. At first blush, I thought people were giving me counterfeit bills as change - one of those 'take advantage of the stupid tourist' scenarios. Even after understanding the system though, I'm still convinced that there is a component of 'stupid tourist' traps, especially when it involves imbibing Absolut and Jack!
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