Currency

I've always thought that the US money was very boring looking. I mean, look at this:

US bills
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/USDnotes.png/252px-USDnotes.png 



US coins
http://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/coins1.jpg%3Fw%3D480%26h%3D320%26crop%3D1

And this is after our bills were added a bit of color and chemicals so it was harder for people to illegally print their own money.

The money is China and in Hong are much prettier, and it's a lot easier to find your different bills and coins.

 

Hong Kong

The Hong Kong bills look like this:

HK bills
http://www.hongkongtripguide.com/images/hong-kong-money.jpg

And the coins:

HK coins
Some are cents (the 3 coins on the left) and some are dollar coins (4 coins on the right)

When you open your wallet, it's so much easier to find the different bills because they're all different sizes and different colors and the coins are all different sizes and shapes. The 1HKD coin is different from the 5HKD coin because the 1HKD coin has a bumpy edge and it's thin compared to the 5HKD where the edges are smooth and it's a much thicker coin.

Currency Exchange Rate as of today (2/15/2014): 1 USD = 7.76 HKD
(Note: HKD stands for Hong Kong Dollar.)

Mainland China

In the US and in Hong Kong, the money symbol is $. However, in China, it is ¥.

Like Hong Kong, China's money is just as colorful:

China's bills
http://madaboutshanghai.blogs.com/mad_about_shanghai/images/yuan_notes_1.jpg

China's coins:

China's coins
The coin on the left is 1 Yuan and the two coins on the right represent 50 cents and 10 cents, respectively.
http://static5.depositphotos.com/1006602/492/i/950/depositphotos_4920156-Chinese-Yuan.jpg

One way you can tell the difference between China's bills and the HK's bills is that the Yuan bills all have Mao Zhe Dong on them, whereas the HK bills all say Hong Kong or has the head of a lion on the left side of the bill.

Currency Exchange Rate as of today (2/15/2014): 1 USD = 6.07 CNY or RMB
(Note: CNY stands for Chinese Yuan. RMB stands for renminbi. CNY is used usually outside of China. In China, they call it RMB, or just yuan.)

Sometimes, if you're in HK and you accidentally use Yuan instead of HKD, they may accept the transaction. It depends on the store and who is helping you with the transaction. It is the same in some parts of China that is geographically close to the border of Hong Kong and China, such as places like Shenzhen where they can usually speak and understand both Mandarin and Cantonese.

***
Hong Kong and China are pretty cheap compared to America. Almost everything is cheaper, especially when it comes to food. I gained so much weight from eating the cheap, delicious food here (which I will talk more about in an upcoming post.)