Uzbekistan trip - Som questions re money

February 23, 2020 3:53 PM

I'm going on holiday to Uzbekistan soon. Looking into spending money, it seems that cards are very rarely accepted, working ATMs all but impossible to find and you can't buy Soms outside of the country. So, will need to take cash and change it there. But, FX shops in Uzbekistan will only take pristine cash - ie no marks, never been folded, no dog eared corners etc - and preferably USD, maybe also EUR or GBP. My questions are:

1. Any advice on this from anyone who has been to Uzbekistan?

2. I live in the UK - I'm planning on changing as much as I think I'll likely need (also a tricky calculation) in GBP to USD and taking those, plus an additional GBP stash. I'd hope that USD notes from an FX place will be ok, but I'm not sure if the normal GBP notes will be good enough. How do I make sure I get really pristine notes?

3. I need to carry the money - wads of it - on the flight and during the trip around the country, changing it as needed, without it being squished, folded, or otherwise rendered too damaged to change. All the money pouch / travel wallet type stuff I see on Amazon are designed to also carry passports / cards etc which isn't necessary. I can't see any that look like there is room for enough cash or will be stiff enough not to fold or bend while stuffed in a bag. Any ideas?

posted by ElasticParrot to Travel & Transportation around Uzbekistan (6 answers total)

When I visited 5 years, I took all my Central Asia travel information from the fantastic (and apparently up-to-date!) Caravanistan website.
posted by Theiform at 4:19 PM on February 23, 2020 [2 favorites]

Granted in the US, but I know money changers so I ask for "new bills" at my bank. I think I've even ironed some in the past. I carry them flat in the envelope the bank gives me in a long zip thing with a bunch of other currencies and business cards and they've stayed pristine. I carry it in my day pack (padlocked), not in a money belt. Those you have to take off going through security. I bought my zip bag in the stationery section of a Japanese dept store. Also check out zip cosmetic bags. All kindza bags out there.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:49 PM on February 23, 2020 [2 favorites]

Travel to Myanmar/Burma when I went had similar requirements and no one batted an eye (money changers in Australia and the US) at requests for pristine bills when I explained why to them. I carried the money with my passport on the flight in and changed my budgeted trip expenses (erring on the side of a bit more) as soon as I arrived to have "normal" cash rather than unfoldable US bills. I kept a few spare US bills in various places flat (one with my passport, one concealed in suitcase) and was just concious about getting varied denominations of local currency and breaking the big ones whenever I was buying something worth enough to justify doing so. In the country I carried my local currency stash in a money belt concealed under clothes at all times (with a small amount in a wallet) I left the hotel, and treated myself/bought presents over the last few days to spend the full cash budget.
posted by hotcoroner at 6:30 PM on February 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

Just wanted you to know that normal shops will be OVERJOYED to let you pay for things in dollars (assuming it's a small space where no one will see them do it). There will be unofficial exchange opportunities at better rates (yes there are risks to doing this ). To find one, just ask someone at your hotel where to exchange money, and ask when their exchange desk is closed. If they don't offer to do a special exchange for you, the next person you ask probably will.
posted by cacao at 6:49 PM on February 23, 2020

What cacao said. Also: quite a few people carried their money around in plastic shopping bags. They had to, because the maximum denomination of sum is so small that their money wouldn't fit in a wallet. They were amazingly casual about this. Like, I was sitting in an internet cafe in Bukhara and I had to politely ask the guy sitting next to me to move his bag of money off of my keyboard.

Enjoy Uzbekistan!
posted by all the light we cannot see at 8:39 PM on February 23, 2020 [3 favorites]

I had to do this when visiting Myanmar from the UK - if you ask at your currency exchange place, they'll give you new bills. I think I got dollars from the post office or sainsbury's.

To keep them nice and flat - I used two bits of cardboard taped together to hold the dollars in - then inside the pouch the money exchange provided - they were fine. Kept the money in my backpack or in the safe at the hotel - I find money belts too finicky.

If you are near a Muji - they do nice little pouches of various sizes with zips that could hold lots of cash while you are there.
posted by sedimentary_deer at 12:21 AM on February 24, 2020