Securing Your Holiday Finances in South East Asia

Are you planning to make a country in South East Asia the destination for your next holiday? Perhaps instead you are breezing through for a few days on your way somewhere else? Whatever the case, let us explore how to get your spending money squared away.

Even the more junior of the developing nations in the South East Asian region, such as Laos and Cambodia, have fairly well developed avenues for a visitor to access their money. Cambodia for example now had Automatic Teller Machines, (ATMs), in all the larger provincial towns. Whilst the national currency is the Riel, about one four thousandth of an American dollar, somewhat surprisingly the notes that these machines will dispense you will be greenbacks.

So what is a good plan to follow to make sure that on the one hand you have your money in easy reach, while not over exposing yourself to a robbery or fraud? My suggestion is that variety is the key here, you know the old eggs and baskets adage. When you leave for a South East Asian country, bring some cash with you in either the local currency or a major one like American dollars or Euros. How do you get local currency? Simple, either at the airport or in your town there will be a cash exchange like say Travelex where you can buy a large variety of currencies. Leave the bulk of the cash in your hotel safe, and only carry with you what you want to spend on that outing.

Also bring say two credit cards and keep them separate. Keep the primary one with you in your wallet of purse, and the other one in your hotels safety box. That way if you do lose one, the other will be available. Take a quick photocopy of your cards, back and front, and put the sheets in your suitcase. If you do need to report one as lost or stolen, you will have all the details easily at hand.

Travellers checks have perhaps had their day, but are still well worth considering for a portion of your spending money. For those unfamiliar with travellers checks, they come in one of the major currencies and in a variety of denominations. When you purchase them, you sign them once in front of the issuer. Then when you elect to cash one, you sign a second time in front of the merchant. Both signatures matching, along with your passport, will confirm your identity. The issuer will also give you a detailed receipt recording all the serial numbers. Put this in your suitcase with the photocopy, and not with your cheques. That way if you are unfortunate enough to have the checks snatched, you wont have lost the receipt as well.

One final tip is to find out the international numbers you would need to call to contact your credit card and travellers check suppliers. It is much easier to do this at home, rather than when you are overseas and away from familiar surroundings.

By: Nick Wood