Lao – Currency

For the first couple of days, my head was swimming with the figures.

1 USD = 7,800 Kip to 9,800 Kip (depending on who you’re asking and trading with)

1 Bhatt = 265 Kip to 280 Kip

And here’s the additional catch for Malaysians. We can’t trade for Lao Kip with our Malaysian Ringgit (or in Malaysia for that matter), so you exchange for Bhatt or USD (in Malaysia or Thailand), then Kip in Lao.

1 RM = 9.8 Bhatt (est) = 2,597 to 2,744 Kip

1 USD = 3.23 RM (on 5^th April 2008 ) hence, 1 RM = 2,415 to 3,034 Kip

Negotiating for goods became that much more interesting. It was a game of “Who gets more confused first”. You, or the trader.

At one point I was bargaining for scarves.

After negotiating the price down from 5 USD (5 x 8,700 = 43,500 Kip per piece) to 40,000 Kip a piece, the lady was adamantly unable to reduce the price from 120,000 Kip to 105,000 Kip for 3 pieces (35,000 Kip per piece for ‘bulk purchase’). I didn’t have enough Kip, so she suggested USD. Strangely, she was amicably agreeable when I suggested 4 USD a piece (4 x 8,700 = 34,800 Kip a piece). That’s 5,200 Kip less then her insistent price of 40,000 Kip.

At first I thought, maybe Lao traders preferred USD, but another trader selling bags preferred I pay 55,000 Kip instead of 6 USD (6 x 8,700 = 52,200 Kip).

Even hotels differed on their currency exchange rate. The first hotel I stayed in charged me 19 USD a night based on an exchange rate of 1 USD = 7,800 Kip. The second one cost 17 USD with a rate of 1 USD = 9,800 Kip. My friends and I saw yet another pretty decent guest house which valued 1 USD as 10,000 Kip.

If you have an uncanny love for numbers, eateries with receipts come in 3 to 4 currency denomination options for a delightful dinner-after game of digits.