Finance and money forum

Is USD still best currency for south east asia?

siddy

motodop
Posts: 21

Traditionally, walking around with $1 USD's was ideal, but with the Baht and other currencies regaining strength much faster than the USD, is that still the case? Surly the USD prices for things in Thailand etc have been jacked up in the last 6months?

Im converting from AUD, should I still get USD's or baht, dong etc?
(wanted to spend in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam)

#1 Posted: 22/10/2010 - 06:33
neosho

adventurer
Posts: 307

Prices are the same, it's just you don't get as many baht for the dollar when you convert. Thailand is trying to keep the baht down but how successful they will be is yet to be known. Isn't the AUD on parity with the USD now. Being from the US , it's killing me. Bush and company's legacy.

#2 Posted: 22/10/2010 - 08:07
travellings-
arah

adventurer
Posts: 473
Located in:
Private message

Posted from within Vietnam.

In Vietnam you can usually easily pay for hotels, tours and more expensive meals in USD but you'll find Dong are more convenient for day-to-day transactions - and some places e.g. the train station, don't take USD. I doubt you'd get a Pho stall owner accepting $1 for your pho either! At the moment the USD is slightly stronger against the Dong than it has been - so in theory USD are better - but that's no guarantee that the merchant you're buying off will quote at the correct rate!

I'm was an ATM traveller so I just got local cash out wherever I was so this
was never really a consideration - but are you thinking of travellers cheques? I assume you aren't planning on carrying heaps of cash around with you.

#3 Posted: 22/10/2010 - 09:34

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siddy

motodop
Posts: 21

Thanks for the replies!

Regarding carrying cash - i get a lot of different advice from different people.
Ideally just using a card would be great, but i dont want to get caught out - maybe crossing boarders etc.

#4 Posted: 22/10/2010 - 17:58
Indoluso

tuk tuk driver
Posts: 133

In Vietnam I'd say deffinetly dong plus some dollars as backup as 1 dollar is about 19000 dong and there's so much you can buy with that. Not as in Cambodia or Laos where there isn't that much you can buy with less than a dollar/half a dollar.

#5 Posted: 22/10/2010 - 23:40