Everywhere you go here in Siem Reap, Cambodia, the transactions are in dollars. The menu's, the passport entry visa's, the laundry costs. Converting your money to Cambodian Riel isn't needed. Even the ATM's give you the option of withdrawing dollars of Riel. When you pay a restaurant for dinner with a $20, you get back one's with the balance in Riel. So you do end-up with Cambodian Riel to spend - but only smaller sums to use locally. Very interesting and took me a little to adjust to the transactions. And since the costs are typically small for most transactions (tuk-tuk rides, tips, food) what you really need are 10's and 1's …. which you don't normally travel with.
And English is so widely available here in Siem Reap I haven't had many communication problems. Of-coarse I'm in a tourist center, the third largest city in Cambodia, but still...I didn't expect it. One of the strangest parts of the English language here, is most of the people just learn it from tourists, or u-tube. I see very little TV usage. Internet, phones and PC's appear common. TV access, not-so-much.
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