Cash or Card? Countries where you still need cash.

[k_sheep]

Nicaragua - even the big supermarkets only accept Visa (not mastercard) which is a first for me!

Can easily pay in USD even at tiny places with a reasonable exchange rate.

 

[million_thanas1968]

I spent a month in Cambodia and had a great time. Payments are mostly done by QR code now, then cash, then card.

For cash, I ordered new $100USD notes from one of the banks in Hong Kong. I was told the businesses check bills carefully, so they need to be crisp and never folded. After a few days I found out USD still works almost everywhere, but the government is encouraging more use of the Riel.

I found a few good ways to exchange money:
- I first changed $50 at the hotel. The rate was fine but slightly worse than elsewhere.
- ABA Bank turned out to be the best option as they didn't charge fees and their rates were almost the same as online rates. They were also quite happy to break some USD into smaller USD notes without fees as well. There are ABA branches all over Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.
- A few of my friends tried the street exchangers and got a slightly better rate than ABA, though the difference was small.
Personally I thought the variance in exchange rates was negligible and better to do it in a bank.

Riel notes are accepted even if they’re worn out, but places are quite picky with the USD condition. We found that in the villages people pay mostly in Riel, though they take small USD bills too, but don’t expect change in USD. In Siem Reap and Phnom Penh some shops were quite happy to give USD back in change.

QR payments are everywhere now. The government rolled out an app for tourists called Bakong. It links your card for local payments, though I couldn’t get mine working. Locals use their own version of the app, and I think the QR code works for both apps.

I’ll try setting it up again next trip since it would make things easier than carrying so much change.

Basically 1 beer = $1USD, buying a slab = 50% ROI. Simply lovely.

 

[Zero]

Riel notes are accepted even if they’re worn out, but places are quite picky with the USD condition. We found that in the villages people pay mostly in Riel, though they take small USD bills too

Do USD 1,5,10 need to be in good condition as well or only the big ones?

 

[SYD]

Do USD 1,5,10 need to be in good condition as well or only the big ones?

We had no drama passing regular USD notes. Which was mainly for a driver paying for some extras and tips.

But we used CC quite a lot in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.

I don't recall seeing foreigners using QR code payments back in December.

 

[million_thanas1968]

Do USD 1,5,10 need to be in good condition as well or only the big ones?

Generally we noticed that businesses would accept 1,5, 10 and even 20s that were slightly older and had the half fold crease. We would get some 1s and 5s that were slightly grubby and had no trouble using them on.

I would definitely be cautious when receiving USD in change to have a good look at each note, as some dodgy places will try to pass on fake/broken USD back sometimes.

We did notice people scrutinising the 50 and 100 notes, we found that the best way to use those was to either change it into Riel or to use it at finer establishments.