Questions regarding upcoming Cambodian trip

[jimmie50]

Well, it seems the trip to visit family in Battambang is temporarily on hold.  Since they are taking a break from working on the fence/wall, Cam’s father needed to do some work with his brothers in the rice fields.  His father has actually stayed overnight a couple of nights at the farm.  I have no idea what those accommodations might be like.  I suppose it is possible he stays with one of his brothers.  They all work the farm together.  I know they got some chemicals to ‘spray the grass’ as Cam put it.  Anyway, they have been taking measurements to order the material they plan to put above the brick wall.  I guess it is some sort of wire mesh.  They are also going to order the materials to finish the fence across the back of the property.  They still have plenty of sand, gravel and bricks to finish that section.  But, they need to order more bags of concrete and also the steel rods.  They need to allow for access to the property from the back fence, but Cam wasn’t sure if his father was just going to leave an opening or they would actually build a gate.  They still hope to visit family…just put it off for some days while tending to the rice fields.

[floridarob]

12 hours ago, jimmie50 said:

Cam has a 160cc while everyone else in his family has the 125cc.  Told you...speed demon.

or size queen 😝

[jimmie50]

15 hours ago, khaolakguy said:

Does your health insurance really cover you for riding pillion on an unlicensed motorbike, eg without insurance, and possibly an unlicensed driver. Don't want to rain on the parade but these are questions I would ask myself, possibly erring on the side of caution.

Confirmed that the travel medical insurance I purchase will cover me if I am injured in an accident, whether riding in a remork, taxi, rental car, motorbike, etc.  

[jimmie50]

Question for those of you who have been to Cambodia before.  Cam has told me I do not need to exchange any USD for Riel before my trip.  He said everyone accepts USD.  Just bring that.  However, from things I have read here, in expat groups on Facebook, and in travel books it is recommended to have some Riel for the markets and small local shops.  I know some ATM's will dispense both USD and Riel.  

When I travel to Thailand, I always exchange a small amount of USD to Baht before the trip and then take new, large bills to exchange once in Bangkok at Xone or Superrich.  

So...should I exchange some USD for Riel prior to departure?  If so, how much would you recommend?  Is it better to carry smaller or larger USD?  I don't think the local shops and markets will be able to make change for large bills.  I am not planning on making any major purchases, so I am thinking fives, tens, and possible some twenties...but nothing larger.  Would appreciate comments!   

I still find it interesting that when Cam is talking about buying things, he always refers to it in Baht or USD...he never mentions Riel.  lol.  

 

[Tomtravel]

You can get everywhere in ATMs Riel, you can pay everywhere in usd. I actually liked usd more, i was not familiar with Riel notes and values. Currency exchange rate loss is minimal, but I think in one Chinese place I got wrong change in Riel. Bring one dollar notes too!

[vinapu]

just make sure  your US bank will know you travel there and will be using ATM in Cambodia. Otherwise  you may have transaction temporarily suspended and treated as suspicious.

You can't  take just smaller notes due to portability, 1000 $ in 20's or 10's is quite a stack. Everybody, well almost ,  will accept USD but not necessarily will have  a change . You  don't expect rural shop charging you 1 $ for can of beer to have  a change from 20 $. So bring some smaller notes and exchange bigger ones into riels as needs arises.

Forget about exchanging USD into riel prior to departure, I doubt you will find bank carrying riles and if you do , rate will be atrocious. It easy to change money in the airport although rate will be minimally worse than in the city.

Some places may require USD only - visa on arrival , admission booths to Angkor and some museums  , possibly even  railways.

I personally find using riels more and more with every trip , exchanging 100 $ so often and asking for small denominations like 10000 ( 2.5 $ )or 20000 (5$)

[jimmie50]

38 minutes ago, vinapu said:

just make sure  your US bank will know you travel there and will be using ATM in Cambodia. Otherwise  you may have transaction temporarily suspended and treated as suspicious.

Already done.  I actually go in to my local branch and have them entered it into their computer system while I am standing there in front of them so I am 100% sure they are aware.  I also go online and put a travel notice on my various credit cards, even though I may not plan to use them...but just in case.  

I certainly don't want to carry a large sum of USD with me in smaller denominations.  That would be cumbersome indeed.  When traveling to Thailand I usually only carry 50's and mostly 100's.  I wasn't sure that was the smartest thing to do for Cambodia.  If nothing else, I can get Cam to go to the local branch of his bank and exchange larger bills for smaller ones or Riel.  If there is some sort of fee, it would probably be much less for him than the foreigner with no account walking in.  

[macaroni21]

If you're going to stay several months, there is no way it'd be wise to bring enough USD to last through the entire period. You'll be making yourself or your room too tempting a target. What this means is that you will inevitably be using ATMs. In that case you can quite easily get riels. All ATMs dispense riels. The Cambodian Central Bank is restricting banks from dispensing small denomination USD from ATMs, though I also hear that some bank ATMs continue to do so.

As a cautionary tale: I heard of a case of one guy withdrawing USD100s from an ATM, unable to use them for small purchases (of course) and also unable to exchange them at money changers because the notes weren't pristine. His protests that they came out of a Cambodian ATM just minutes ago fell on deaf ears.

@vinapu is right. A non-convertible currency like the Cambodian Riel is almost impossible to find outside of the country. LIke the Sri Lankan Rupee or the Moroccan Dirham, the only viable way is to change in-country. What you probably need is

(1)    a handful of $5s and $20s to get through the airport and your first two days; 

(2)   a handful of pristine $100s as reserve in case of any technical failure of the ATM network -- I believe you're planning to be in Battambang which is not as geared to serving tourists as Siem Reap and I would wonder about the density or otherwise of the ATM network there -- and

(3)    a pair of bank debit cards for use on ATMs. The bank cards would be your main source of money... in riels.

 

[hank75]

@jimmie50 you are overthinking. Bring  USD, with some smaller bills $10 is sufficiently small. Your first meal or convenience store purchase will sort out your riels, otherwise Cam will know how to break your notes.

As @vinapu has wisely said, notify your bank you are travelling so they will not block your card suspecting a scam. 

However I have found Western Union an efficient way to get a stack of cash in Cambodia. It’s even better for Americans because you send and pick up USD so no exchange rate incurred, only a very small transaction fee.

[jimmie50]

Trip to Battambang to visit family is currently underway.  It seems the family they are staying with does not actually live in the city of Battambang, but a more rural area outside of the city.  Internet service is lousy in their location, so our video chat was very frustrating as it kept freezing up.  We eventually gave up and have just been texting.  Six people traveled to Battambang on two motorbikes!!!   I asked him why they didn’t take three motorbikes, but he said the women didn’t feel comfortable driving that far.  Mind you, it is paved road and only about a one hour drive.  So he and his father were the drivers, and the other four family members, all female, were the passengers.  I was shocked when he sent me a video of him driving down the road with two people behind him on the motorbike. lol. I guess nothing should really surprise me…I just wasn’t expecting that.  They will stay two days visiting with family.  I was also a little surprised when he did a brief scan around the large open room with his phone showing me the family.  They were beginning to prepare a meal and I could definitely make out an area designated as the kitchen.  What I didn’t expect to see was just to the left of this a row of pens, each containing a very large pig.  I counted 8 pens, so 8 large and noisy pigs in the same space where they were preparing food for dinner.  If his father had over 100 chickens running around their yard, 8 pigs in a covered living area should come as no surprise.  Obviously, I did not grow up on a farm.

[jimmie50]

6 hours ago, hank75 said:

However I have found Western Union an efficient way to get a stack of cash in Cambodia. It’s even better for Americans because you send and pick up USD so no exchange rate incurred, only a very small transaction fee.

Thanks for that tip.  I did not think about Western Union.  That will be a good alternative if I run into any problems.  I have already notified the bank and credit card companies.  That is just part of my normal routine any time I travel outside of the US.  Cam uses ACLEDA bank and they have branches in Siem Reap and Battambang as well as many other locations including his hometown.  He should be able to break any large bills.  If nothing else, I think he can deposit the cash in USD directly into his account and then withdraw either smaller denominations or Riel as needed.  

[jimmie50]

7 hours ago, macaroni21 said:

If you're going to stay several months, there is no way it'd be wise to bring enough USD to last through the entire period.

Will be there for approximately three months, so I do not plan to travel with a large amount of cash for the duration.  Definitely will be using ATM's.  When traveling to Thailand, I know the large bills I carry for exchange need to be pristine.  I always go to the bank in person prior to departure and specifically request brand new bills that have not been in circulation yet.  That has always worked for me in the past, so plan to do the same for this trip.  The only difference is I will be getting some smaller denomination bills this time as well, so those need to be pristine, too.  Not a huge fan of brand new bills as they  tend to stick together, but I just need to be extra careful when dispensing them.  Hopefully, if there are any problems, Cam uses ACLEDA bank and should be able to navigate the system.  In fact, he still has a stash of Baht he brought back with him from Thailand and has no problem using that to pay for things.  He says people prefer Baht or USD over the Riel.  

The agency I plan to use to apply for the retirement visa will require cash payment with USD to submit with the application.  This will be $300, so I think large bills should be okay.  I find this interesting...similar to the fee when you enter the country...government requires payment in USD, not Riel.  lol.  Even their own government prefers USD!  

[khaolakguy]

1 hour ago, jimmie50 said:

I was shocked when he sent me a video of him driving down the road with two people behind him on the motorbike.

Hopefully he was not also filming the video himself at the same time.

On my last thai trip I was driving behind a girl on a motorbike who was filming herself. She hit a pothole and came off the bike. Nothing broken but her legs were scraped by the tarmac.

[hank75]

1 hour ago, khaolakguy said:

On my last thai trip I was driving behind a girl on a motorbike who was filming herself. She hit a pothole and came off the bike. Nothing broken but her legs were scraped by the tarmac.

The risk in riding a motorbike is never oneself, it is other people. The last time I was travelling through Samui, the roads were particularly steep and winding with potholes. I was riding pillion and clutching the handlebars with a death grip. Much to my horror we encountered an elderly farang who was driving a motorbike with one shaking hand while holding up his phone with the other to record the journey (or he could have been on a video call with his Thai wife who knows)….helmet-less of course.

3 hours ago, jimmie50 said:

I was shocked when he sent me a video of him driving down the road with two people behind him on the motorbike. lol.

This sight does not faze me at all now. I get a bit worried when I see infants perched on motorbikes but usually they’re placed in front or sandwiched in between parents and someone has a hold of them (Thais and Cambodians alike). However farang especially the French are yet again perpetrators of a particularly laissez-faire style of motorbike riding especially with children….I’ve seen many European tourists with their young children (under ten, sometimes looking no more than six) riding pillion behind the parent, their legs bouncing as they are unable to reach the supports. They’re holding the parent around the waists because they’re not large or strong enough to hold the rear handles. Scares me every time. 

[hank75]

3 hours ago, jimmie50 said:

Thanks for that tip.  I did not think about Western Union.  That will be a good alternative if I run into any problems.

You may want to try sending Cam a small amount just to ensure you have it properly set up, and that transfers can be made to your name or his. Receiving isn’t the problem, it’s ensuring that you can transfer remotely from your bank to WU, so don’t go to a physical outlet, try and do it all online. I used to send via credit card and suddenly that option stopped working, so I had to fall back on bank transfer. 

[vinapu]

4 hours ago, jimmie50 said:

..similar to the fee when you enter the country...government requires payment in USD, not Riel.  lol.  Even their own government prefers USD!  

There's logic in it. Since you can't obtain riels outside of country  how you would be supposed to pay in riels ? First exchange booth is well past immigration in both new airports if I recall correctly although in Pochentong  there was one before .  

[jimmie50]

4 hours ago, vinapu said:

There's logic in it. Since you can't obtain riels outside of country  how you would be supposed to pay in riels ? First exchange booth is well past immigration in both new airports if I recall correctly although in Pochentong  there was one before .  

As always, you have a very good point @vinapu!  I did not consider that possibility.