Immigration officers counting cash at BKK... imagine how much time that would add to the non-priority lanes... and government employees counting cash anywhere doesn't exactly look good.

My uncle likes to tell this story about how he was waiting for an hour in a Thai immigration queue in the 1970s while some people were getting through in a few minutes, until he apparently realized that they were slipping some cash in with their passports, so he asked for his passport back and did the same, then was let through straight away. Don't know how much he is exaggerating what really happened.

The irony of the Visa On Arrival lane is that if you use the normal line, sometimes they ask to see things like return air ticket, hotel reservations, etc... and (rarely) evidence of cash.

When I use the priority lane which is open to everyone for an extra 200bht fee, I've never been asked. It's as if they assume that anyone willing to pay the extra $7 usd (equivalent) is obviously an upstanding citizen. :D

That is a very poor rate offerred by Citibank. You can do much better by exchanging your USD/foreign currency in BKK. It seems that you are already fully aware with whom to exhange your USD at the airport. The best rates in the airport are available from the currency exchange rates booths on the same level as the train to city, so just follow the signs for the train. Enjoy your holiday in Asia and forget about the cash requirement - you will not be asked (and even if you do just show the officer your USD)

A few days ago super rich Thailand (green) was 32.52 and superich 1965 (orange) was 32.50 per USD. Lines were long at both.

Thank you SK AAR and dsqaured37! When we arrived I proceeded straight downstairs after customs to the green superich and indeed got the 32.52 rate. We were in J and had the premium lane pass through customs. Luckily I didn't get caught in a long line although shortly after getting in line (2 people were ahead of me), quite the line formed behind me. I did have a $20 which had a slight stain on it which they rejected, at first I thought it a bit strange but not worried about it, I was after all able to change what I needed.

Would love everyone's opinion. Typically, I just withdraw from my Korean bank account at a local ATM in Thailand when I need cash. OR I go to the bank in Korea and directly convert to THB here.

BUT everyone, including Korean bloggers, say to change to dollars FIRST, then get THB. But it seems that, for, say, 700,000W (644 USD), that the fees would not really be worth it overall? You know, splitting hairs.

Luckily, here in KR I can exchange to USD with like 90% discount on fees thanks to bank coupons.

What would you do?

I can't speak for the fees, rate etc you get in Korea but the key point is that when changing currency at Superrich (or the like, I just always use superrich as originally when we checked it was the best and is very convenient) there are no fees and you're getting very very close to market mid rate. So for example right now at Superrich in Siam Paragon the buy and sell rates for USD are 32.71 and 32.78 (at head office its 32.74 and 32.78). For all intents and purposes you're getting a free currency transfer. Looking at the Won the rates are currently .0294 and .0300 (Bills at least 5000 won, 1000 won bill a worse rate) so while the rate will change the amount of the spread shouldn't so you can use those rates and the rates/fees you pay in Korea to figure out whether you'd be better transferring through USD. To be honest, given how tight the speed is and the fact it introduces another layer of currency risk I wouldn't bother.

I'm guessing that the rates aren't quite as good for some other currencies as they are for US$, EU and maybe the British Pound. I'll try to take a pic of the board today at SR Orange at Asok BTS so you can check and decide for yourself.

I know I once changed some Filipino PHP there and the exchange rates were not nearly as good as they were for the US$. Still, I wanted to get rid of the PHP so I did it. (It wasn't that much in PHP).

-David

Update: SO we did some calculating. Korean banks give a 80% fee discount, so we exchanged 700,000W through our banking app for 644 USD (the current live rate is 646$). Pretty incredible deal, honestly.

We arrive at 1 AM when Superrich (says) they're closed, so we'll just get 100 USD (from random place at the airport) to get a taxi to Silom and pay for our hotel room on check-in. There is Super Rich (Orange) in Silom, so the next morning we'll load up!

that is great, so you can also check the board there and see what the difference would have been had you converted from KW to THB directly and report back :)

-David

Yeah I'm not too worried, but this debate of Korean won to dollars FIRST then local currency has always made me wonder if it's really a better deal that way. AND now, I can say that with the essentially non-existent fees for converting to dollars, I'll just do this in weaker SEA countries haha.

You should make the comparison of changing 700,000W directly to THB at Superich in BKK and your exchange to USD first in Korea and then to THB in BKK (including any fees you may have paid in Korea). My gutfeeling is that you may be better off by bringing your won to BKK and exchange there.

One thing is certain: Withdrawing THB from ATM in TH or exchanging to THB in Korea will be more expensive than either of the solutions we are discussing, so you did well in any case.

Superrich Orange Asok BTS Dec 20, 2017 3:31pm

FT truncated the US$ rates at the top of the image. damn

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ea968ebd15.jpg

right now currency app shows 1 US$ = 32.73THB and 1KW = .030267THB
and 700,000KW = US$647.32

although these are the rates now, almost 3 hours later than when I took the screenshot