Banks and Money Exchange in Indonesia
Indonesian rupiah has more zeroes and digits on its tail. You can easily be a millionaire in this country. Having any currency above $150 equals to millions in Indonesian rupiah.
With the confusion that comes from counting changes and subtracting the money needed to make your way through Indonesia and even on the central business district of Jakarta, having an advanced knowledge and keen eye on the exchange is a must.
A warning reached Westhill Consulting Travel and Tours on the current fraud happening in exchange stalls scattered around Jakarta. With a quick sight of hand and a good acting skill, any scammer can deceive foreigners in slacking some bills off of your money.
• Beware of places where money changing is a secondary business. It may not be legitimate or they are doing a part time con on top of what they are earning.
• Indonesian rupiah is composed of IDR1000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, and 50,000, and Rp 100,000. Always ask for a bigger note. One of the scammers’ tactics is to confuse you by making you count bundles of 2,000 unless you are very sharp.
• Start to wonder if there are two people at the counter. The other may be talking to you and being friendly while the other is counting your money. This may be another scam to confuse you and take your concentration away from the money. If this happens, just politely ask the one talking to leave you alone since you have to give 100% attention on you money.
• The exchange person will give you a bundle of calculated notes to be counted by you. Count the notes carefully and bundle them in the order you calculated but don't mix them up just yet. Keep the notes closer to you once you have counted correctly. If the guy proceeds to take the entire bundle back to re-count, stop him and do the counting yourself. If he insists, don't waste your time. Walk away with your foreign notes. Because he is going to take some money off until you give in.
• If the guy pulls out a load of smaller 10,000 or 20,000 notes, just walk away as it is just going to be a guaranteed con.
Never let the money leave your sight while it is countered and checked, or you could find the total shorter when it comes back. Everyone should just be cautious and keen in doing their business.
Westhill Consulting Travel and Tours Tips: Seven Of The World’s Top 20 Global Cities
According to a biannual ranking, East Asia has a high number of global cities while ASEAN and South Asia lag behind.
The Asia-Pacific region has a number of the world’s most global cities. The highest rated Asia-Pacific city was Tokyo, ranked fourth, followed by Hong Kong at fifth and Beijing and Singapore at eighth and ninth respectively. Seoul (12), Sydney (14), Shanghai (18) were also highly rated, giving the Asia-Pacific region seven of the spots in the top 20. By comparison, North America had five cities in the top 20 but four in the top ten: New York (1), Los Angeles (6), Chicago (7), and Washington D.C. (10). Of the remaining top 20 cities, seven were in Europe (including Moscow), and Buenos Aires was South America’s sole representative. The above information is according to A.T. Kearney’s 2014 Global Cities Index.
The Global Cities Index (GCI) measures cities for global engagement, according five different areas: business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural exchange, and political engagement. Many were especially strong on business activity, but scored relatively lower on human capital for the top Asia-Pacific cities. GCI claered that human capital rankings are based in part by the size of the foreign-born population, meaning that cities with large immigrant populations would tend to score better on this particular metric.
Among the top 20 cities, Beijing’s from 14th is now on the 8th, it was the major change from last year. Beijing’s development was credited to bigger figures of Fortune 500 companies, a boost in international schools, and increase in broadband subscribers and museums. Meaning, Beijing enhanced its ranking according on better marks for each of the GCI’s categories not including the political engagement, that Beijing previously scored quite high in owing to its status as China’s capital. In the meantime, in an article on the GCI, China Daily, pointed out that Beijing continue to rank below Hong Kong due to the latter’s “more international and educated group of citizens and [Hong Kong’s] better ability to facilitate quick and free information exchange.”
Particularly, much of the Asia-Pacific’s achievement in the rankings is because of the beeter performances by East Asian cities. A.T. Kearney, in its analysis of the data, especially noted that “Singapore, at ninth place in the GCI, is clearly in a league of its own among cities in Southeast Asia.” Besides Singapore, the highest ranked city in Southeast Asia was Bangkok at number 42. Other ASEAN cities on the ranking failed to even crack the top 50, with Jakarta (51), Kuala Lumpur (53), Manila (63), Ho Chi Minh City (70) all coming lower on the list.
The highest ranked South Asian city was Mumbai at number 41. India was also represented on the GCI by New Delhi (57), Chennai, (72), and Kolkata (79). Pakistan had two cities on the list, Karachi (76) and Lahore (82) and Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka came in at number 75.
While Southeast and South Asia had an unfortunate showing on the GCI, they did outstandingly better on the accompanying “Emerging Cities Outlook” (ECO). The ECO rates the most likely cities to turn into more global in the future basing on how fast cities in low- and middle-income countries have been improving their rankings. Jakarta and Manila topped this list at first and second, respectively, with New Delhi (5), Mumbai (8), and Kuala Lumpur (10) also making the top ten. India was especially well-represented on the ECO—in addition to New Delhi and Mumbai, the cities of Bangalore (11), Kolkata (14), and Chennai (17) also made the top 20.
References:
Readers' Travel Tips: Affordable Activities for Kids in the UK
http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2014/jan/29/readers-travel-tips-affordable-activities-for-kids
Do you have a failsafe activity to keep the kids happy at half-term? From urban farms to art workshops, museums and wildlife walks, we are looking for your tips on family fun
Half-term is looming – breathe deep. Do you have a go-to place or activity that keeps your children entertained? Not so much camping in your own back garden as places to go, events that are on or a particular cafe that doubles as a play room. From city farms and nature walks to art classes and museums, let us know and you could win a top prize.
Up for grabs is a Sprindrift 300 tent from Force Ten worth £540 and perfect for wintery expeditions. Submit your tips by clicking on the blue button and using the text tab. Try and include as much detail as possible – location, website address etc – and feel free to add a photo if you own the copyright to it, but it will be the text we're judging! Your tip should be around 100 words.
Closes 5 February 2014 at 6am GMT
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