I did a bit of travelling this summer which included two countries with controlled currencies (those that foreign exchange cannot supply outside the borders of the country) I hope I was not committing an offence removing them from Georgia and Kazakhstan but these are now back in Britain.
It appears that the Russians have changed some of there notes recently as I spotted two slightly different versions of the 5000 ruble in circulation though I neglected to collect both.
The 2000 rubles is a recently introduced denomination and I am told there is a smaller denomination note (10 rubles) used provincially but rarely seen in Moscow or Petersburg where you are always given coins.
Incidentally I saw no Kopegs, there value is so small they aren't used and I wonder if they are produced in any quantity. Tourist information for St Petersburg - It is a fantastic city, the climate is better in Moscow but I was amazed at the architecture in Petersburg.
Georgia, which is on the cusp of Europe and Asia boasts beautiful mountains and good food and wines. They use the Georgian Lari and I had to search for notes in good condition. I found it tiresome the amount of people approaching me in the street trying to sell me things but away from the centers the people seem nice enough and the landscape is spectacular.
Kazakhstan was an interesting place with particularly friendly people, very hot in summer and cold in winter. It is roughly approximate in size to the whole of mainland Europe and it took me two days on the train to get from Russia (Saratov) to Almaty the second and largest city of Kazakhstan.
It is quite a cheap place (except for alcohol since it is a Muslim nation and presumably highly taxed) but the Tsenge has many zeros so psychologically it feels like everything is expensive - you might pay 2000 Tsenge for 40 minutes in a taxi and then work out afterwards that it was only £4.
Posted 09/05/2019 2:27 pm
