Originally Posted by
bwiadca
With Cambodia using $ now as currency I don't think its a good destination if you compare it to Thailand. My friend was there last month and she said that everything is expensive, and the locals expect you to pay in US$ and most wont take Riels.
Saying that, I'm yet to go there. This fall we either hit Nepal, Laos or Cambodia.
That was also the case even 21 years ago. Riels were good only for small purchases. If you took a $100 traveler's check to one of the better banks they'd bounce it around desks (and give you tea to drink) and eventually you'd get $98 U.S. Bills were browner, older and more circulated.
I once had a hospital emergency with food poisoning and had to pay to get out on a weekend. The only option then was the Diamond Hotel, which would cash traveler's checks and give back $93 on $100.
In Laos the kip was changing by the day and I got an inch-thick stack for $100. Also mostly small purchases, though I was able to pay my hotel bill ($10/night guesthouse) in kip.
Nepal was also pretty dodgy, IIRC. You seem to have a way of picking the places with the least stable situations. Reminds me of that Spalding Gray movie "Beyond Rangoon" where he plays a tour guide for a tour of Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.