Sign up for our email newsletter at:

http://goo.gl/HvCgT

Watch our blog at:

http://sirishamall.com/news/

To stay current on all of our Sirisha News.

Many updated photos of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam as well showing the growing inner city park near the city's Pham Ngu Lao area.

If you plan to visit one of our featured countries and have questions or concerns please feel free to post them here. No question is a bad one.  Our forums are moderated to insure that no flaming goes on. If you have a sincere question or concern we hope you can find an answer here.

If you don't really fall into any particular category but (like us) have a unique interest in this beautiful part of the planet please feel free to come and share your thoughts Come join us today at TravelAsiaSE.com/forums

If you plan to visit one of our featured countries and have questions or concerns please feel free to post them here. No question is a bad one.  Our forums are moderated to insure that no flaming goes on. If you have a sincere question or concern we hope you can find an answer here.

If you don’t really fall into any particular category but (like us) have a unique interest in this beautiful part of the planet please feel free to come and share your thoughts

Come join us today at TravelAsiaSE.com/forums

Here’s the scenario:

Not wanting to deal with International ATM fees I had brought enough U.S. dollars with me to last for awhile. I had purchased a Pacsafe Luggage Cashsafe Belt Wallet

on Amazon, which is one of the best purchases that I have ever made. I was able to fold about 20 one hundred dollar bills and zip them inside the belt and wear it without it being noticeable at all.  As it has a plastic buckle (the rest of the belt is all fabric) it doesn’t set off the metal detectors at the airports, unlike many of the other money belts that I had looked at.

However, when I unzipped the inside pocket to retrieve my last two bills I created small tears in them. This was not the fault of the product.  Had I been more careful and not forced the zipper open I would have not damaged the bills.

At any rate, I set off this one fine evening in Phnom Penh to get some cash for a business appointment which was about an hour away AND where I was obliged to pay the tab as I had called the meeting.

In Pnom Penh there are money changers virtually everywhere and these are the only places where you can exchange U.S. dollars for Cambodian money aside from making a purchase. Also, It is very difficult to avoid using these money changers because the ATM’s distribute U.S. dollars instead of the local currency. Depending on the situation, as well as the exchange rate, it is advantageous at times to pay with Cambodian Riel.  This evening especially it was not going to bode well to pay what was going to be a small “checkbill” with a  $100 bill.  The entire bill was not going to be that much (food and drink is very, very cheap) and we were going to a small cafe where they were just not prepared to break a large denomination bill.

And so, off to the money changers I went with the first of my last two hundred dollar bills, which was in less than perfect condition.  The first money changer I went to frowned and looked at me with near contempt. “This money broken!  This was a business who I had dealt with many times, both to purchase SIM cards and phones as well as to change money. Broken Money?  I wasn’t familiar with the phrase.  I had taken bills in all sorts of conditions to stores back in the U.S. and had never had any problem spending them. “No problem” I said, you can just take to the bank and they will take it.  “I don’t go to the bank” they said.  “You go to the bank!”  I was totally dumbfounded and rushed on to the next place, swearing never to patronize that business again.  I thought that surely this was a fluke and that this person, who I had done quite a lot of business with already, was just being overly picky.

I went to place after place, everywhere in our neighborhood (which has a considerable number of money changers) and got the same response.  I was never more frustrated in my life.  While nobody would accept either of my two bills (I had returned at some point and got the other bill that I had left to see if that would be more acceptable, not knowing that it had a small tear on one edge as well)  I did receive offers of 90% of face value for the “broken money”. I couldn’t understand this…How can money be worth less than face value?  Either a hundred dollars is worth one hundred dollars OR worth nothing.  That was my reasoning.  This whole experience was quite a revelation to me.  My past experiences were that people couldn’t wait to take my money, regardless of what condition it was in.  At long last, and after running to every money changer within 3-5 blocks in all directions, I finally went to an ATM machine and withdrew some bills in perfect condition which I was able to exchange without a problem.  I ended up making it on time to my appointment AND with enough Cambodian Riel to pay the bill, although I by that time was completely frazzled.

The next day we took the “broken money” to a bank where we were able to exchange the money for perfect NOT “broken money”.  The funny part?  We were kindly but firmly told to be more careful with our money next time.

This was a lesson which will always stick out in my mind and, to be sure, I will make sure to never EVER allow my money to be broken again.
P.S.

After going 10 years in SE Asia with this never happening before, I had it happen again in Vietnam but this time with Vietnamese Dong.  Unbelievable!

When Vennes and I first came to Phnom Penh in February of 2012 it was without any knowledge whatsoever of the people or culture.  We simply decided that we going to go and we left the next morning.  We had been to Vietnam quite often and, while we liked it, we wanted to see what opportunities existed in Cambodia.  Vennes wanted to take course work to get her English teaching certification and I wanted to see what business opportunities existed for my import business.

All I knew about the country was that they had been heavily bombed during the Vietnam War and that about the time they were recovering from that, late 70's, the Pol Pot regime killed nearly 3 million people.  For the longest time the country has struggled (as one can imagine) to get it's footing.  Cambodia is still a very poor country and it lags economically behind other countries in the region, such as Thailand and Vietnam, who are booming in comparison but they are transforming themselves and more people should familiarize themselves with this wonderful place.

So, we decided to go on the evening of February 10th and the next morning jumped on a 7am bus taking the 6 hour bus ride to Phnom Penh in the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Riding the bus gave us a great opportunity to see the countrysides of both Vietnam and Cambodia AND it was extremely cheap at $13 USD.  We actually found cheaper places in both Saigon and Phnom Penh at an average price of about $9 USD one way, with the cheapest being $8 each way if you buy both your ticket to go and return at the same time.

During the trip out of Saigon we saw many parts of that city that we had never seen before.  Once we had pulled clear of Saigon, and got closer to the border of Cambodia, the population got sparser and sparser.  Industry of the small cities and towns shrank in relative fashion and you could really tell the stark contrast between Vietnam and Cambodia in terms of building, industry, size of the cities and towns.  The highest level of relative wealth for Cambodians, between the border and Phnom Penh anyway, seem to be right at the border where casinos, hotels, restaurants, etc. are buillding up to capitalize on the travelers going back and forth from Vietnam.

I learned a few years ago to resist drawing comparisons between any two countries in Southeast Asia.  For years I had gone to Thailand for business and to visit the family of the Thai woman I was married to at the time.  When I went to Vietnam for the first time, around 2006, I tried to establish a point of reference for what to expect; What I found was that while there was similarities that the cultures were really quite different.  On this trip I tried my best to erase any notion of expectation and thoroughly enjoy discovering this new place for what it was instead of what I thought it was going to be like.

For hours we really saw very little in the way of real population centers..there was long spaces of empty separated by patches of small, very poor towns in between.

About 3 hours of travel we hit the Cambodia border…..

The traffic between Cambodia and Vietnam is huge….Since there are a large number of foreigners living in both countries…..who have to make Visa runs (we'll post more on that later) every two months there is constant traffic between the two countries which generates a huge amount of revenue..not only for the Immigration Offices…but also for the businesses providing goods and services from and to the border.

For those who need to make a Visa run from either country….the price of a 30  day Visa for Cambodia  is about $20 USD…..the bus company adds an extra $5 USD for taking care of everything for you through Immigration…the price of a 30 day Vietnam Visa purchased through a Cambodia Travel Agent is about $40 USD, and I'm not sure if there are any additional charges from the bus company as I've had a multiple entry Visa up to this point.

The most exciting event of the trip was the ferry crossing over the Mekong River where buses, trucks, cars, motorcycles and vendors are literally crammed together like sardines in a can for the short trip across the river.  The ferries are NOT scary. The operations are very well organized and feel extremely safe.

After nearly 6 hours on the road our bus entered Phnom Penh.  As we meandered our way through the traffic of Phnom Penh, towards our hotel, I couldn't help but be reminded of Thailand.  The style of writing that are on the signs and storefronts look very Thai in nature. Also, there was the familiar sound of Tuk Tuk's that you hear all over Thailand. While the Cambodian version looks slightly different than the Thai version, they still closely resemble their Thailand cousins buzzing around like angry bees, moving quickly and effortlessly around larger cars and trucks.  

\\

We recently began sourcing products from the beautiful Kingdom of Cambodia and are very excited to be bringing our first shipment in to the U.S. from Cambodia sometime in either the first or second week of May.

After visiting the country for the first time in early February, and meeting with local manufacturers, we were completely sold on it being our new home in a lot of different ways.  We are not only having our products made here, we are staying here for much of the year.

We’ll have more posts shortly in regards to our upcoming shipment AND some great photos, stories, etc. on our TravelAsiaSE.com sister site.  Please stay tuned!

You know that we absolutely love Southeast Asia.  We have been sourcing products and making friends in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia for going on 9 years now.

Introducing TravelAsiaSE.com, our newest website that will bring you along with us on our travels.  Lots of anecdotal stories and practical knowledge that (we hope) will be a resource for you in case you consider Southeast Asia as a travel destination. Visit us at TravelAsiaSE.com when you have a chance, and come along with us as we Live, Work, Play and Experience some of the most fantastic places in the world; in Southeast Asia!

Basic Sirisha Mall Shop Features:

• 10% commission on Sirisha Store sales
• Revenue sharing on all Sirisha Mall advertising
• Full featured Blog
• Full control over Home Page and About Us page (add your own content, links, advertising, etc.)

For just $9.99 per month!

More features available on a pro-level store.

More info soon!