I'm leaving in 3 weeks and have a few questions. The first is money - are ATMs easily found in Vietnam? What is the best way to phone home from Vietnam and Cambodia?

Just wanted to emphasize that there are NO ATM's in Cambodia (at least that was true 1 year ago). Take lots of one dollar bills -- they will be very handy as the country seems to operate more on the US dollar than on Cambodian currency.<BR><BR>I would suggest using email to communicate from Cambodia rather than telephone. Internet access is no problem.<BR><BR>Sorry, haven't been to Vietnam...yet!

Having visited both Cambodia and Saigon(last year) I have never used an ATM. There is possibly one in Saigon,but in Cambodia I do not think you will find one. As suggested the internet is the best way to communicate. I never tried phoning to the US as I understand Vietnam is one of the most expensive countries in the world for long distance.

Thanks for the quick responses. Unfortunately I haven't been able to convince my parents that they need a computer and internet access. It gives my Mom peace of mind to hear my voice every few days so I guess I'll figure it out when I get there. As far as money, I thought my husband and I would each bring $500 USD in our moneybelts.

Anna, maybe you can email to either a friend of yours or a friend of your parents who can telephone them and relay messages back and forth. I did this with my elderly mother who is in assisted living. I emailed to another resident's daughter who very kindly printed my emails and brought them to my mother.<BR><BR>I never tried to phone from Cambodia, but besides the expense I think it will be a hassle and very time-consuming. Just to give you an idea, when we were there last winter, the telephones in the hotel did not work to call anywhere in town, but only within the hotel! Most people use cell phones and will let you make a local call for $1 per minute. <BR><BR>When you get back, please post on this forum and let us know what your experience with telephoning was like.<BR><BR>Have a great trip!

my info may be dated, but as of 2000 it cost $5 a minute to phone hawaii from vn. i'm not sure abt rates to the mainland u.s., but i'm sure they're comparable.<BR><BR>foreigners are not permitted to call collect from vn. period. the law is that only vnese can make international collect calls. nor can u use toll-free numbers, even to report lost or stolen credit cards.<BR><BR>u can send faxes from post offices. to hawaii the cost was $6 a page.<BR><BR>so the e-mail idea, even if u have to use an intermediary, is ur best bet.

Hi!<BR>I just returned November 15th from a wonderful trip to Viet Nam and Cambodia with smarTours. ATMs are readily available in Hanoi and HCMC (Saigon.) You should have no problem getting money. I don't know what kind of hotels you will be using, but if you desire to change money any decent hotel will do it for you at a slight charge. <BR>Viet Nam has progressed so much and so rapidly that i am sure that it will take your breath away!<BR>Cambodia is another story. The vast majority of the people are still looking back to the glory that was once there instead of working toward a future in the 21st century. I stayed at a 5 star hotel that was just built this year in Siem Reap. The contrast between my style of living and the surroundings was glaring.<BR>I, too, would not attempt to phone home. There are internet cafes all over both countries. If your parents are not cpomoutor savy, perhaps that can go to the public library with a younger friend or relative and open an e-mail account there (free). In most libraries the llibrarians will be happy to give a rudimentary e-mail course.<BR>If I can be of any further help, let me know.<BR>Judy

Thanks to everyone for all of their helpful posts. My sister will read my emails to my parents.

Judy's post on the troubles of Cambodia is ridiculous and arrogant. She states that Cambodians look at the past instead of moving towards the future. Well, it is hard to move towards the future when a despot, named Pol Pot, murdered an estimated 1.5 to 2 million Cambodians in the years between 1975-1979, killing off almost all of the country's intellectuals. What was left was an uneducated peasant farmer class, hardly the people needed to rebuild Cambodia. Cambodia is just now trying to establish schools, universities, art institutes, etc. to educate and train future generations, who will eventually be able to rebuild the country. Yes, Cambodia is a very corrupt nation, but to say that Cambodians dwell in the past instead of confronting its problems is specious. It is much more complicated than that.

You are absolutely right, John, but Cambodia still has no ATM's and a crummy telephone system. At least we've helped Anna solve her phone-home problem, and that's what this forum is really all about, no?<BR><BR>Happy New Year,<BR>Marilyn

I just returned from Saigon and had no problems finding an ATM in District 1. There were a few on Dong Khoi as well as Nguyen Hue.<BR>As for phoning, I would recommend getting an international phone card. The hotel will charge you to dial the 800 number, but not much.

Just left Hanoi two weeks ago. . .only one ATM in the city, near Hoan Kiem Lake, but is well located and always had cash. . . .email is the ONLY way in my opinion! Don't know how long your going for and what you like to do, but $500 each is way too much for Vietnam, again depending on your length of stay. But eating, drinking and shopping here are incredibly affordable by western standards. Only bring that much if your comfortable. In one week in Hanoi, we spent probably $200 American on food, shopping, drinking, and used a credit card twice for dinner (hotel restaurants only, really the entire area is not on the credit card bandwagon)

John,<BR>Perhaps I didn't engage my brain before I opened my mouth about my thoughts about Cambodia.<BR>I'm sending you an e-mail to be more specific about what I saw and heard,<BR>Judy

Judy, I would be interested in reading that email as well. I am quite interested in all things Cambodian right now.<BR>Thanks!

Hi there. I'm Vietnamese living in England and I've been back to Vietnam a couple of times now. You won't find a problem with ATM'S in Saigon if you go to District 1. If you buy an up to date Lonely Planet, you can get addresses of banks that have ATM's attatched to them. If they haven't got an ATM then you can withdraw money from over the counter. You can also exchange your US Dollars at jewellery counters for better rates than hotels. I always take $100 bills with me as you get a better exchange for larger notes. Depending what you do and how long you stay for $500 each will go a long way but you will get charged foreigners rate for everything which can be twice as much as local but still very cheap compared to the West. If you can take your mobile phone abroad you can send text messages home instead phoning as phoning is VERY EXPENSIVE. I called England from a hotel for about 5 to 10 minutes and the bill was over $50. Try to avoid phoning if you can. I don't know about Cambodia sorry. I am off to Vietnam again on the 27th of Jan so if I can help in any way please feel free to ask.

I have heard that in both Vietnam and Cambodia, if you want to exchange US dollars, that the bills should be crisp, clean, unrumpled, not torn in any way. if not, you will get a lower rate or the bills might be refused. This was true when I travelled in South America - anybody know if it's true in South East Asia?

I respectfully disagree about taking $100 bills. They were not accepted a year ago when we were there because of the fear that they were counterfeit.<BR><BR>We took a bunch of $1 bills (I think it was close to $200 for my husband and I. Quite a thick wad but very convenient and useful) and a bunch of $20s and $50s. We never saw an ATM and I wouldn't want to spend my vacation hunting down a working ATM. We also took Traveler's Checks for back-up knowing they could be cashed at the hotel if need be. <BR><BR>Have a great trip. Both those countries are wonderful and Vietnam is something really special. I can't wait to go back.

I needed to make phone calls as well as email from Cambodia last week. The hotel had computer for email and it worked just fine and the charge was $1 for 15 minutes. But phone calls to US from hotel were $5 a minute. So, my driver took me to the local phone company, a block from the hotel, they put through my call for me at $2 a minute. Probably a phone card would be cheaper but I wasn't sure which public phones would work.<BR>Interesting...I just got my MCI bill for the first part of my trip. A 6 minute call from Florida to NY using MCI calling card was exactly twice the charge for using the same calling card the same amount of time to call NY from Singapore and from Thailand. Figure that...