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Money, ATMs and exchange

Cash is a daily thing here, and the daily problem is change. A hundred-thousand note at a warung or with a driver sends someone down the street looking. "Ada uang kecil?" — got anything smaller? — is asked of you, and the good answer is "ada".

ATMs charge their fee and your bank's, so people withdraw large amounts rarely. The usual per-transaction limit is two and a half million; some banks do three.

Exchange counters: the rule is simple — use one with a bank or major chain sign, and count the money before you step away. A street rate that's clearly better than everyone else's is paid for by something, and that something is you.

And the word "ribu" — thousand. Prices are spoken in thousands: "dua puluh ribu" is twenty thousand. The zeros often go unsaid, and price tags write them every possible way, including "20k".

Pronunciation below is written to be read out loud in English spelling. It isn't linguistically exact — it's meant to get you understood.

42 phrases

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