Please help - very confused about travel money for Cambodia

benjus

phatbear wrote: »

I appreciate that and there are plenty of other countries where they have a native currency and accept other currencies too but at a less than preferable rate.

For example I was in vietnam this year and any shop/stall would happily take US dollars but when you worked it out the rate was stacked in their favour, not suprising seeing as they will then have to convert it to their local currency for banking etc, surely going to a country and embracing the culture, if only for a short time, also means utilising their currency too?

It's not always a less than preferable rate... for example when I was in Argentina over the new year, 1 US dollar was quoted as around 4.30 pesos on sites like xe.com. However, many shops would give you 4.50 or more if you paid for goods in dollars (goods were always priced in pesos). The reason being that supply of dollars is being restricted by the government.

totallybored

Cambodia is very different to Vietnam when using US$. All prices are quoted in $ in the majority of restaurants and shops in tourist areas in PP and Siem Reap. Tuk tuk drivers and taxis are quoted in $, menus in $, entry fee to Angkor Wat at the pay booth in $ as is the Killing Fields, prices in the 7 11 etc. I went to an NGO homeware factory in Battambang which is not very touristy at all and everything had a price sticker in $, the bamboo train had to be paid in $, long distance coach tickets are priced in $. Buying fruit at the market was priced in Riel but they took $ no problem and it's not worth worrying about losing out on a potential 3p when paying with a $1 instead. Use Dong when in Vietnam as everything is priced in it but it's not worth the hassle of having everything converted back into Riel in Cambodia.

OP, if you're travelling from PP to Siem Reap or anywhere else I'd recommend a taxi rather than the bus as they are very cheap and more comfortable than the coach.

sallytheteamonkey

Yes I'll get the Globe card. I did mean that as I was looking at it on the Travelex site, my head's just obsessed with dollars at the moment.

Thanks for all the tips - budgetflyer we are going from Siem Reap to PP on the boat (or planning too) but if not will get a taxi. They are so cheap it seems mad not to.

Thanks again totallybored and benjus for your excellent advice.

phatbear - I'm getting US $ instead of Riel not because I don't want to 'embrace the culture of Cambodia' but because I a)CANNOT get riel outside of Cambodia (at least not where I've looked in the UK) and b)have been advised by everyone I know who has been to Cambodia and posters on this site to take US $. I'm not being political, I just wanna be able to pay for stuff.

agrinnall

Yes, it's clear that phatbear is offering advice without having actually been to Cambodia, where the currency system operates differently to most countries and certainly not the same as in the countries that border it. While you can buy Riels while you are in Cambodia there's little point in doing so because everywhere prices in USD and accepts USD, and every ATM that I used gave out USD. You can certainly use any Riels that you get in change, but it's unlikely that you'd be given them except to round up to the nearest dollar.

totallybored

sallytheteamonkey wrote: »

Thanks for all the tips - budgetflyer we are going from Siem Reap to PP on the boat (or planning too) but if not will get a taxi. They are so cheap it seems mad not to.

I thought about the boat but decided I didn't fancy how uncomfortable it looked, especially sitting on the top of it as a lot of people seemed to do. I ended up getting the bus which was cheap but a taxi would have been better. If you do get a bus the Giant Ibis ones looked much more spacious than the Mekong Express that I got.

If you're going to be doing much shopping I found the markets in Siem Reap cheaper for general tourist tat but only because there weren't many tourists around when I was there. The Russian market in PP was my favourite but it's hot inside and a bit jumble sale like. If you're going to he Killing Fields buy some face masks (the disposable ones that cost about 10p) as the road out to it is very dusty. Our tuk tuk driver stopped and got us some on the way but most other tourists didn't have them.

I'm not sure how much time you have in Siem Reap but I went quad biking round the surrounding villages and found it much more fun than Angkor Wat.

agrinnall

totallybored wrote: »

I'm not sure how much time you have in Siem Reap but I went quad biking round the surrounding villages and found it much more fun than Angkor Wat.

While you can't not go to Angkor Wat, I'd had enough part way through my second day there. I was cycling that day and ended up riding along a narrow road to the west of the temples that went through lots of litte villages where they obviously didn't see many tourists. It gave a different view of the area from the one that everybody sees and was actually my favourite part of my time in Siem Reap - although I found I had to cycle round a large reservoir and finally made it back into SR on a busy road as it was starting to get dark with no lights!

sallytheteamonkey

Thought I'd report back on my findings for anyone else going.

EVERYTHING is priced in US dollars. No need to worry about getting any other currency. Got the Travelex Globe passport card which was very easy to use. The only snag was almost every ATM we found charged about $5 per withdrawal. This is not to do with the card, it was a fee on the ATM.

Thanks again everyone for your advice. Had a great time!