Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Geography quiz

So, since I didn't get that visa before, am now in another country for a couple of days.

A crusty baguette to whoever can tell me the capital and currency of Laos without cheating.

Not you, Kel, sorry. But love this city!

5 comments:

macca said...

Vientienne - and the currency, and I must say, a personal favourite - "the kip" :)

melt said...

I must say that I'm quite a fan of the Kip. Having been a millionaire for a short space of time, however, I've come to the conclusion that I need a bigger bag.

Would you prefer a baguette in the post, Chris, or perhaps a beer in six months' time?

macca said...

A beer in 6 months would be just fine thanks Mel.

.. or 1 million kips - whichever is cheaper.

;)
Chris.

melt said...

I was pleasantly surprised to find that a longneck of Beerlao was only 7000 Kip. Which you divide by 262 for Baht. And then another 41 for US dollars, or around 25 or 30ish for Oz dollars (I've lost track). Don't even get me started on Euro (which I get paid in), Kyat and French Francs (yes, my colleagues have been away from Europe for a while).

Anonymous said...

no doubt you needed a beer after working out how much it is costing you.

I remember going to an ATM in Bangkok, and getting my bank balance in Baht. After seeing the surpirsingly large amount of baht a few hundred Aus dollars converts to, I then haggled with a Tuk Tuk driver, reducing his proposed 40 Baht charge for a ride to the railway station, to 30 Baht:

Using the Mel conversion index:

40 Baht / 30 (ish) = $1.33 Aus dollars.

30 Baht / 30 (ish) = $1.00 Aus dollars.

total saving: 33c (Aus).

.. of course, you don't think in these terms when you're in the heat of a haggle.