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Welcome to Rangoon (Yangon), Burma
By Steve Willard
As our flight from Bangkok approached the Burmese capital, Rangoon (also known as Yangon, depending on your politics) I noticed my fellow passengers stuffing wads of US dollars into their socks, trousers and elsewhere. As I had myself boarded the flight with a roll of dollars hidden in my shoe I began to feel a little less silly for doing so.
Why the mass dollar smuggling amongst the otherwise law abiding passengers? The answer is Burma’s absurd currency control regulations. There are two exchange rates for the Burmese Kyat (pronounced “Chat”). If you exchange US dollars legally, you receive around 6.7 Kyats for 1 US dollar. If you exchange your dollars illegally, you receive 1320 Kyats for 1 dollar. Given the huge difference, virtually no one obeys the law.
The catch is that on arrival you are supposed to declare all foreign currency. When you leave the country, in theory the officials will require your exchange receipts showing that you have exchanged your dollars at the legal rate. Fortunately there is very little scrutiny on departure, however, just to be sure, pretty much everyone lies about the amount of dollars they are bringing in.
Things are improving however - previously if you arrives as an independent traveller (not on a tour package) you were forced to exchange US$300 at the airport for 300 worthless Foreign Exchange Certificates (FEC’s).
You could use FEC’s in place of dollars to pay your hotel bill or go shopping but you could only always easily change them back to US dollars when you departed Burma! The solution was to sell your FEC’s on the black market for cash US dollars, losing 10 or 20 dollars on the deal. FEC's are still in circulation so avoid them like the plague if someone tries to foist some on you.
Image of Rangoon by Sam Hummel
Burma is very cheap for independant visitors as you can easily avoid the overpriced official "tour package" hotels and stay at cheap privately-run hotels. You simply change your dollars on the streets (dozens of people will offer to change money for you - no problem there). Just remember it is illegal so count your notes and be discreet.
You can get around the FEC rip-off buy visiting Burma on an “official” tour package – however these packages are so outrageously priced it is no saving at all. One way or another, the government gets 300 of your dollars to spend on the arms it needs to continue repressing its population.
Arriving at Rangoon’s ramshackle airport is great fun. Although the aircraft parked less than 500 metres from the arrival terminal, armed soldiers made sure everyone caught an airport bus to the terminal…..taking 30 minutes instead of a 5 minute walk.
Inside the crowded terminal it was even more fun – the female immigration officer confiscated the orchid flower I was given on the Thai Airways flight and pinned it on her own tunic with a smile. The customs officer asked is we wished our luggage to be searched – there was a $5 fee to avoid this inconvenience. Noting a number of passengers having their bags emptied out and meticulously searched, we paid the $5.
Outside the airport was Rangoon’s taxi fleet – a collection of heaps of junk on wheels held together with rubber bands. The standard charge for the 20 minute ride into the city was a very reasonable $1…..and we soon found out why. A kilometre from the airport the taxi stopped, picking up a gentleman with a briefcase who proceeded to attempt to buy dollars and FEC from us.
Image of Rangoon by Sam Hummel
You should resist these guys – they aim to change your money at lousy rates. Once you reach Rangoon, these guys know that every second person you meet on the street will offer to change your money, and you will soon figure out the “going rate” for black market currency exchanges.
We resisted (although the cab driver actually turned up at our hotel the next day to try again) and we later changed some money simply by walking down a dark Rangoon alley and doing business with a 10 year old boy who bought some dollars at a great rate.
The other scam the taxi driver pulled was to go all out to dissuade us from going to our intended hotel. When we arrived at the chosen place – our driver actually ran in ahead of us to speak to the hotel reception and by the time we were inside the hotel was “full”. So we ended up at a hotel which was fine, about the same rate, and we almost certainly earned a nice kickback for the driver.
And this was just day 1 of our visit to Burma. The hotel, however, is another story - click here to read it.
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