Money

I see several mentions of Hong Kong, but what about Beijing? US dollars accepted , ATM's widely available?

I see several mentions of Hong Kong, but what about Beijing? US dollars accepted , ATM's widely available?

Beijing: U$D is generally not accepted. Unless the merchant caters to foreign tourists regularly it is a PITA for them to transact foreign money into their banks.

ATM's: They have a saying, "the Bank of China is everywhere, except when you need money" :rolleyes:;)

Thanks for the info. Guess we should go prepared!!

I would say that US$ are not accepted at all. There is an ATM every 100 yards.

I would strongly disagree with some blanket statements above saying that you can use US$ everywhere in Asia. .

Japan - hard to find an ATM except in the post office. Never tried to use US dollars there. Credit cards are generally accepted

China - in the boonies, Hawkers might accept US dollars but as a general rule, use local currency. Credit cards are accepted in the big cities.

Vietnam and Cambodia. Generally prefer US $$ over their own National currency.

Thailand - use local currency

Singapore - use local currency

VISA and MC are the generally used credit card. AmEX and Discover are not universally accepted,

I don't know how it is in Asia, but in Europe, if there is no chip, they usually will refuse to accept the same,