The local currency is the Real, that trades officially for about 4080 per US Dollar, but the real currency here IS the US Dollar. All the cash machines dispense dollars and everything is priced in dollars. If something costs less than a whole number of dollars, change is given in reals at 4000 per dollar.
There are no coins here, everything is paper money. The common denominations that I have received are:
100 Real Note – 2.5 cents, 500 Real Note – 12.5 cents, 1000 Real Note – 25 Cents and a 2000 Real Note – 50 Cents (not pictured). I understand there are larger notes, but I have not seen them. Each note is slightly larger as the value rises. Shown with a dollar for size comparison.
Cambodian Money with US Dollar
It appears the customary tip for someone opening the door for you is 500 reals. If they actually do something more worthwhile, the tip is 1000 reals. For example, in crowded places, someone may help guide your vehicle as you back out of a stall. In this case the customary tip is 1000 reals, or about 25 Cents.
Note that real business is transacted here in dollars.
It appears there are two prices on the street, the amount charged when selling to a Khmai (what they call themselves) and the amount charged when selling to a foreigner. Therefore there is some expectation of haggling to get to the real price. For example, last night coming home from visiting with another missionary couple, we flagged down a tuk-tuk driver, showed him a business card from the apartment complex and asked ‘how much’. The price was $3, probably inflated by at least double, but I accepted it because it was dark and I had no experience with the driver to have any trust built up. We had to go about 14 blocks which in the daytime would have been a good walk.
We went looking for a wicker shelf a few days ago and found some 1.5 meters high, 1 meter wide and ½ meter deep for $27 from some shops along the road with 5 or 6 shops having the identical item at the identical price.
Gasoline seems to be running about 5000 reals per liter for regular. Diesel is a little cheaper and there seem to be a lot of vehicles that use it. A word about gasoline – some of the stalls along the road have small stands with soda bottles in them, containing a creme soda colored liquid. When we examined these more closely we found they contained gasoline. This explained the lack of normal gas stations along the roads.
Vehicles cost a lot and seem to hold their value, mostly because of a 150% import tax on the vehicle. A 2000 Toyota Camry costs about $11500. The mission service center brought in a new Ford Escape which cost them over $58000.
Items in the stores that have to be imported cost substantially more here than they do in the states. Interestingly, things are not always imported from where you expect. We bought some Snickers Bars, finding them for 85 cents on a 2 for 1 sale that were imported from Australia whereas some we had purchased the day before were from France (and they taste different from what we expected).
Our apartment rents for $700 per month and the utilities are about $150, but it is the smallest they have in the high rise.