Oh I will Kathie, I will.

Okay, but I want to be clear about the process at the airport.

You fill out the form, have the photo ready, pay the fee in USD (right?), and then wait until it gets processed.

I've read that both Cambodia and Laos want USD cash for visas. I've also read that guides prefer USD for tips. So I'm going to have to carry around a fair amount of cash, since I obviously can't get any more while I'm there.

WWanderer - that was our experience with the visa. I can't speak about Laos, but yes. For the most part, cash transactions in Cambodia are in USD. When you withdraw from an ATM, you get USD.

When you're due small change, you get it back in (usually) crumpled, barely identifiable Cambodian riel.

Wow, you can get USD from an ATM? Is this common in SE Asia (Siem Reap, Bangkok, Luang Prabang?)

Not in Bangkok. There you'd get baht. Just in Cambodia, as USD is the defacto currency. There were just a couple of ATMs in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh a few years ago but now I understand there are quite a few more.

I don't know about Laos. I should find out as we're considering it as an add-on to the next trip.

ps - I'm not sure how it varies from bank to bank or if this is still the deal, but we were living in the US and banking with a US bank at the time we traveled to Cambodia and we still got dinged for an exchange fee taking USD out of an ATM there. It seemed like it was converted to riel(??), then back again. - (assumption that it wasn't AUD, despite that the ATM was owned by ANZ, an Australian bank)

All ATMs *only* dispense USD in Cambodia though afaik, so it's not like a choice is involved other than to bring cash.

We got our visas for Cambodia ahead, online from the Cambodian govt, for $25.00US. The evisas arrived the next day, peinted them out and put in our US passports. I scanned a visa photo that I had into my PC to upload to their form
Evisa.mfaic.gov.kh.evisa/ Contactinformation.aspx

I got a visa at Siem reap last Monday. Took less than 10 minutes, and that included re-filling the visa form. The ones they gave us on the plane are apparently outdated.

WW, the US dollar is the currency of choice in Cambodia. Not so in other SE Asian countries.

Should you need US dollars, there is an ATM airside at BKK that dispenses US dollars. It's a popular stop for those headed to Burma.