I think the only "scam" you will encounter in Bangkok or Chiang Mai is if a tuk tuk driver offers you a very low price and takes you on a shopping tour, where if you don't buy something they'll demand a really high price. You should generally avoid tuk tuks in Thailand, due to overcharging of foreigners. Though this isn't always true either.
In Cambodia the scams I've seen are the filipino card game scam as uomo described above, and the "foreigner with a sob story" scam i.e. "i just had my passport stolen.... please give me money to get to the US embassy". The biggest thing you should be worried about is cars and buses coming from the right side in Thailand and motorcycles coming from the right side in Cambodia when you cross the street. That is the single biggest danger of getting hit by these. Have fun and forget about those advisories!

true there are scams just like in many European countries BUT what has not been said is that most of these scams take place in the "touristy places" and are completely untypical of the country as a whole.

The vast majority of people in SEA are open, friendly and welcoming (as long as you are) so I would say get out of the tourist ghettos and you will have a great time and whilst I have not been to Peru you will find a similar experience

Even in Bangkok I have enjoyed Thai hospitably being invited to eat and drink with the locals - albeit miles away from Khao San Road

I agree that you should always be careful and yes read up on the scams

Hello,

thanks for your interest and your advise.

Getting to your "quibbles" first in respect of CC-fees here in Australia, which I have pointed out, you easily can have it confirmed on the website. It will tell you, that, apart from approx. US$ 5 fee, for each overseas ATM withdrawal, they charge a similar amount for this here, plus, a 3% "Currency Transaction Fee", on the TOTAL amount (for ATM & Purchases) the card is used out of Australia.
In addition, a transaction C-Card-Surcharge for purchases and services is imposed from a provider, will add another 3.5% in LAOS. Often more, in other countries you travel in. In MADAGASCAR and PERU it was a 10% add on, take it or leave it, when there is no or not enough competition. Providers Excuse: "I have to wait up to one month to get the money for my services, plus a fee of around 2%" is deducted. You get a discount for Cash payments, but ask/bargainfor it.

01) We have two types of Credit Cards, both with ANZ:

a) A QANTAS Frequent Flyer, which, if sufficient points, can be used for a flight within Australia, or, a Class Upgrade for overseas.

b) A PLATINUM Card, which includes Travel Insurance, with unlimited medical expenses, world-wide, plus other usual Travel Insurance cover. I compared policies from a number travel-insurance agencies, they don't offer any better. Just, I have to pay an excessof around AUD 200. Would I take out travel-insurance-cover for each trip separately , this would be $ 2,000 pa; and more, (excess free) hence, we find it a very useful Card.

VISA, MASTER are accepted World wide. Acceptance of CITIBANK, as I have seen, to a lesser extent during our years of travelling.

These two cards are sufficient for** Emergency back ups**. We don't want to worry about extra/more: PIN Numbers, Passwords, checking of more Bank Statements and the like.

c) Taking $ 10,000 or a bit more in Cash along, isn't really that "insane", as you see it.

$ 3,500 (including a Cash discount) we paid straight away to AVIS. 2,500 we exchanged for a few days pre-travel-trip in Vientiane, as well as being the Start-Budget for our Road Trip for: Fuel, Hotels, Food....This left us with just $ 2,000 each for the length of the trip and a few final days in Vientiane. A far safer, cost effective and convenient way, than using daily ATM's, (always the risk of scamming, disappearing...) for paying with the CC for hotels and fuel, meals, entrance fees...Wechose (when available) accommodation with a safety deposit box in the room, avoiding to carry: passports, too much Cash, CC....on us, all day.

d) BACK UP SRATEGY:

As I pointed out above, we have the two VISA ANZ CC.

Generally, if not always, you carry: Money, Passport, CC, together, on you, concealed in a zipped bag between singlet & shirt, (for a male) In the event, of a: severe FIRE, ACCIDENT, ROBBERY, THEFT, all your valuables will, almost surely be lost. One could then be happy enough, to escape with its life and/or, major injuries.

Otherwise, a re-issuing of CC will take considerable time, forces you to stay in one place, not always with near consular and often minimal or Nil, useful, banking facilities.

These fee-free CITIBANK C-Cards you pointed out, is there no charge for ATM use (on both ends?)

How can you compare, their exchange rates on some days, if they were, of sort in your favour, when you get their statements, weeks later?

Just one more thing:

Have YOU, "personally", had experience with these CITIBANK CC, for acceptance, no fees..; in somehow a bit less developed countries, like eg: AFRICA, MADAGASCAR, BOLIVIA, PARAGUAY, NEPAL, BURMA and/or the Island-Chain, an about 6,000km stretchof INDONESIA?

Or, is it (some of it) HEARSAY?

Regards,

Willy

Yes, it's normal. It's the only way to prove that a genuine ID document was submitted.

From mid-December, new customers will have to provide fingerprints as well:

New biometric registration (effective 15/Dec/17)

Under the law all SIM cards have to be registered from 2015. You will need to show an ID at the point of purchase. This is now enforced in all providers stores and outlets very strictly and from the end of 2017 a new biometric system is introduced. You will now additionally have your face scanned or fingerprints taken.

The new system is mandatory from 15 Dec. 2017 to the registration of both new prepaid and postpaid SIM cards, but not to existing SIM card holders. It's to be used across Thailand in all 55,000 customer service shops and outlets. Operators can choose to use either the face or fingerprint recognition verification system.

• http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Thailand

Thanks, Lesley,
The one thing that I MUST do over the next few weeks is step outside of Siam in order to renew the time on my Visa ... was going to shoot East to Siem Reap .. but if I did go south to near where you were I suppose I could do Penang for the first time ever.
As far as Southern Loas goes, unfortunately, as I mentioned, the Loatian big-wigs don't reveal the air quality conditions for anywhere in Laos. But I do see that places between BKK and Chiang Mai, like Sukhothai, are, again, way down in the Green "Good" zone .. so that sounds hopeful for where you'll be.
Have a great time as well! (We probably live down the block from one another 'back home'!)
Take good care -
A ~

I actually interpreted that broken English sentence differently. "Visa required.", except, "Nationals of Nigeria can obtain a visa on arrival...". The KLM footnote is specific to Nigerian passports that's part of why I interpreted it this way.

OP, you absolutely don't have to worry about being scammed in Cambodia (provided you're a tourist and not doing any business). There are real scams and then there is the constant foreigner pricing, which is not really a scam, but a fact of life in Asia that prices are not fixed and many people charge more for foreigners. Even expats constantly have to deal with that, but you'll see it's really not a big deal. In most cases you can shop around.

As for real scams, the only one is the Filipino card scam, so read up on that. It is going on in Phnom Penh. Other than that there are foreigners who tell you a sob story to extract money from you, "i just lost my passport and need to get to the US embassy". Might be some other local overcharging/small time scams in some parts of the country, which you can probably find in wikivoyage or by googling scam + name of the place. So don't worry.

And when we got our visas, debit cards weren't acceptable.

Getting a visa at an embassy is a completely different process, so in that case yes they could require different things than the visa exemption which OP will be using. A lot of times embassies in different countries have different procedures too.
The Mae Sae border thing might have been a temporary scam, the best place to get up to date info on these is Thaivisa.com

A few quick notes: You should check yourself on visa requirements for each country. They vary. Indonesia is 30 days visa free entry so no "processing" of a visa.you just go straight to immigration. If you do stay longer you cannot extend that visa. If you do want to stay longer, get the 35 usd visa on arrival which is extendable. There are threads on visas for each country several times a week.

Do not travel with cash, use a prepaid card or credit card and take money out of atms. It's too easy to lose track of your cash. Most important: Travel MEDICAL insurance that inc.ude emergency evacuation. You may be young and think nothing can happen to you but I see lots of parents go online begging for go fundme money to bring their children home and get medical care.. Also make sure someone knows where you are..don't go disappearing for weeks at a time! Scan a good photo copy of your passport and post somewhere you can find it if yours gets lost...also carry a photocopy with you just in case.

The language thing wont' be too much of a barrier to you in tourist facilities...hostels, airport, etc.

Yes, do get guides for where you are going. Travelfish also has good downloadable guides.

(my post #1 +)
I have no information about the newest transport and its avalability between Mai Chau and Na Meo(or Sam Neua) so i write about the route & its procedure to go between 2 based on my experiences in the past(i traveled this route several times from both sides of ＜Mai Chau or Thanh Hoa＞and ＜Sam Neua＞ via Na Meo/Nam Xoi border)

＜Route from Mai Chaui to Na Meo(Na Meo/Nam Xoi border) & Sam Neua＞
①Mai Chau→(54km)→②Quan Hoa(=another name is "Hoi Xuan", a local township in Thanh Hoa province)→(16km)→③Dong Tam junction on NR.15(a junction of 3 directioins : Mai Chau & Thanh Hoa city & Na Meo)→(35km)→④Quan Son(a local big township in Thanh Hoa province before going to Na Meo)→(55km)→⑤Na Meo town→(about 100m)→⑥Na Meo/Nam Xoi border（VN border gate to Lao border gate: about 200m）→(54km)→⑥the entrance of Viengxai village on NR to Sam Neua →(28km)→⑦Sam Neua→⑧Luang Prabang（10-11 hours by bus from Sam Neua）
https://www.handspan.com/fr/pu-luong-map.html　　---a map of Pu Luong which shows Mai Chau & NR.15 & Dong Tam junction(→Na Meo)
-------------------------
If road condition between Mai Chau and Na Meo is bad now, it's maybe between ③Dong Tam junction on NR.15 and ⑤Na Meo town because the road between 2 is steep ascending road along or among mountains but ④Quan Son is a big local township and has much traffics every day including many bus services between Thanh Hoa city and Quan Son so rapid restoration of the damaged road will be needed and it may be achieved before Nov,10 though there exists a big difference between Vietnam and my country Japan(=quick task for every thing within only one day or a night! but there still remains 12 days before Nov.10 so it may be OK to go to Na Meo from Mai Chau.

Anyway, if the road condition between Mai Chau and Na Meo is OK on or before Nov.10, there are 2 ways for going to Na Meo(or Sam Neua) as below.
①hire(charter) a car from Mai Chau to Na Meo town or Na Meo border
②use local buses etc from Mai Chau to Na Meo(or Sam Neua) as below
↓
*①Mai Chau→②Quan Hoa(=Hoi Xuan)---catch a bus coming from Ha Noi(from My Dinh bus station) which goes to Quan Hoa="Hoi Xuan"(=name card of destination on front glass of the bus) on NR.15 at Mai Chau town(time for catching it on NR.15 near the entrance of Lak village(Thai minority village where you maybe stay at Mai Chau): between 10:00 ～10:30am)/1.5 hrs　

*②Quan Hoa(=Hoi Xuan)→③Dong Tam junction on NR.15--just after arriving Quan Hoa, take a motor-bike taxi with no waisting your time/20 mins (there are several bus services between Quan Hoa and Thanh Hoa via Don Tam junction every day but you maybe have to wait for few hours to use those buses so i reccommend you to take moto-bike taxis=Xe-om just after arriving Quan Hoa as above)

*③Don Tam junction→④Na Meo town or ⑦Sam Neua
--in case you go to Na Meo town//catch a bus(wait for it at a junction) which comes from Thanh Hoa city and goes to Na Meo town as its final destination
--in case you go to Sam Neua via Na Meo/Nam Xoi border//catch a direct bus(wait for it at a junction) which comes from Thanh Hoa city and goes to Sam Neua as its final destination

(by jp_geckozy 10/29)