In Reply to: Money posted by nac on Tuesday, 29. December 2009 at 06:05 Bali Time:
My advice would be to exchange $100 at the airport. That way the conversion is easy. Approx 940000 IDr to 100 usd. Then have a look at the actual money in your hotel room to get used to it.
Then go to a money changer that isn't too much higher than the street average **BE THE LAST ONE TO TOUCH AND COUNT YOUR MONEY***. The colours of the notes are similar with a few notes so be careful with 10,000 and 100,000 notes.
A rule of thumb I use is to divide the price of things by approx exchage rate ie. Someone says 350,000 so the approx cost is $45 US dollars (divided by 9), AUS divide by 8. Not exact but good on the fly.
As for booking accomodation-I would use some online places if you know the dates I have found it is a better rate all up. Don't book tours ahead though they are cheaper at booths around the place.
Good luck