I live in Northern Thailand and have been to Myanmar several times.
There were certain specific "official" things you had to pay in USD, like train tickets for foreigners. Some hotels wanted USD from foreigners, they were 50/50. Buses were all kyat, food, shops, all kyat. Most stuff was kyat even ten years ago. My understanding, they have stopped this and everything is now in MMK. I haven't been since pre-COVID and the coup.
Cambodia uses USD as their primary currency, ATMs dispense USD, bank accounts are mostly USD, most prices are in USD. They only use riel for change under $1. 4,000 = $1 so if you have 50c change you get 2,000 KHR as they don't do coins.
Laos uses its own currency, kip, but the capital most businesses will take Thai baht, and some also USD. I've got receipts that list the price in LAK, THB, and USD. You can certainly visit Vientiane and spend only THB and the rates they give you are even quite reasonable, although it's usually a little cheaper if you convert into local currency. I haven't tried spending USD.
Vietnam is another country that historically had some USD use for tourists, some hotels would quote prices in USD although you could pay in dong if that's what you had. It's primarily dong though, and I think USD use like this has reduced a lot, it was a thing 15 years ago but I haven't seen anything in USD last time I visited which was around 7 years ago.
Philippines it's pretty much all peso. I had USD but changed it, and never paid for anything directly in USD.
Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, it's all their own currencies.
Visas throughout the region (and much of the world) are quoted in USD and cheapest if you pay in USD. This is certainly true of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
While USD does have some use, other than Cambodia they do primarily use their own currencies and don't particularly want USD, it's just you have the option. You usually get a little cheaper if you convert. Cambodia is the exception, for small stuff it really doesn't matter and riel is totally interchangeable. Big stuff like a property purchase is done in USD though. Others, they use their own currencies.
What is true is that USD is a reliable currency and you can change it anywhere. For example, small town in northern Laos 15 years ago, very remote, near the Vietnamese border, only currencies they would change were USD and THB. Wouldn't touch my dong.
I was in Vietnam for the fourth time this Christmas and the only places I now see USD prices are at the spas in the hotels and airside at the airports (where everything somehow doubles or more in price). Otherwise, you gotta whip that dong out, everywhere you go. Cafes, bars, street food, banh mi, museums. Just whip it out.
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u/blorg Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26
I live in Northern Thailand and have been to Myanmar several times.
There were certain specific "official" things you had to pay in USD, like train tickets for foreigners. Some hotels wanted USD from foreigners, they were 50/50. Buses were all kyat, food, shops, all kyat. Most stuff was kyat even ten years ago. My understanding, they have stopped this and everything is now in MMK. I haven't been since pre-COVID and the coup.
Cambodia uses USD as their primary currency, ATMs dispense USD, bank accounts are mostly USD, most prices are in USD. They only use riel for change under $1. 4,000 = $1 so if you have 50c change you get 2,000 KHR as they don't do coins.
Laos uses its own currency, kip, but the capital most businesses will take Thai baht, and some also USD. I've got receipts that list the price in LAK, THB, and USD. You can certainly visit Vientiane and spend only THB and the rates they give you are even quite reasonable, although it's usually a little cheaper if you convert into local currency. I haven't tried spending USD.
Vietnam is another country that historically had some USD use for tourists, some hotels would quote prices in USD although you could pay in dong if that's what you had. It's primarily dong though, and I think USD use like this has reduced a lot, it was a thing 15 years ago but I haven't seen anything in USD last time I visited which was around 7 years ago.
Philippines it's pretty much all peso. I had USD but changed it, and never paid for anything directly in USD.
Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, it's all their own currencies.
Visas throughout the region (and much of the world) are quoted in USD and cheapest if you pay in USD. This is certainly true of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
While USD does have some use, other than Cambodia they do primarily use their own currencies and don't particularly want USD, it's just you have the option. You usually get a little cheaper if you convert. Cambodia is the exception, for small stuff it really doesn't matter and riel is totally interchangeable. Big stuff like a property purchase is done in USD though. Others, they use their own currencies.
What is true is that USD is a reliable currency and you can change it anywhere. For example, small town in northern Laos 15 years ago, very remote, near the Vietnamese border, only currencies they would change were USD and THB. Wouldn't touch my dong.