A fun, and at times confusing, part of traveling is dealing with the different currencies. When we got to Thailand, we got acquainted with the Thai currency called baht. One US dollar is worth about 36 baht. So when I see a price in baht, I remove 1 zero and the equivalent in dollars is somewhere between a quarter and a third of that. For example, 1000 baht is roughly 28 dollars.
1000 Vietnamese dong (4 cents), 1000 Cambodian riel (25 cents), and 1000 Thai baht ($28)
In Vietnam, one US dollar is worth 22,500 Vietnamese dong. Yes, that’s right dong. We’ve had our share of jokes about that name. I saw a poster for a budget travel agency that promised to help you “stretch your dong”. It was easy to roughly convert to USD. Drop 4 zeros, and divide by 2. What got confusing were all the zeros. It was easy to confuse a 100000 dong bill with a 10000 dong bill. Most prices were listed in thousands, for example, a beer might cost 20K dong (or $1). It was strange to go to the ATM and take out 2 million dong. There are no coins in Vietnam. The smallest paper bill we saw was 500 dong, or 2 cents. Even stranger when you consider that in the UK, there is a 2 pound coin which is close to 68,000 dong. On a side note, Vietnam was the least expensive country we’ve been to. A super nice hotel room two blocks from the beach was $40 per night. A meal, including drinks, for the two of us at a nice place was $18.
The currency situation was the strangest in Cambodia. They have their own currency called the riel. One USD is equivalent to 4000 riel. So, conversion is super simple; drop 3 zeros and divide by 4. What is strange however, is that most prices in Cambodia are listed in USD, and not only does every business accept USD, it seems to be the preferred currency. We didn’t know this when we first arrived, so when the ATM asked if I wanted to take out USD or riel, I thought it strange, but chose riel. Since prices are listed in USD and I had riel, I was in a situation where I was having to convert from USD to riel instead of the other way around. There are no coins in Cambodia either (rial or US coins), which is odd since they use American currency. The small riel bills substitute for coins. So if your change is $2.25, you would get 2 one dollar bills and 1 one thousand riel bill (which is worth 25 cents). The exact 1:4000 exchange rate is used by businesses to convert the currencies in both directions. You can pay with either and will get change in either or both.
Whose image is it on these bills? The picture of the king appears on all Thai currency. King Bhumibol Adulyadej is the worlds longest currently serving head of state. It will be 70 years in June! On Vietnamese money, it is Ho Chi Minh on every bill. The Cambodian Riel has different people, and many of the notes don’t have a person at all.
- Jake