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Thread: just a new boy needing advise on currency in China.

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[quote=DESTRUCKDOZ,261704]Hey whats up,

Peter, if you plan on relying on your Visa Credit Card as your main method of obtaining currency, I would suggest you check with your carrier as to what charges may apply. In the past, Credit Cards were the safest and cheapest way to obtain currency in a foreign country but as times have changed its best to check first, here is an interesting article on the subject: http://www.ticked.com/leocha/2003/card.htm.

The only use I found in using my Credit Card for my trip to China was to purchase my plane ticket with it. My carrier is one of the largest financial companies in the US so I was covered to an extent for travel delays and medical, 50,000 and 100,000. If you do plan on calling your Carrier's Customer Service to research any hidden fee's or coverages, remember to ask for a "reference number" or some type of code that you can refer to if any problems that may arise from a representative's error.

If you plan on carrying your native currency and plan on converting it as you need them, most exchange booths/counters will give you the best rate only if you exchange the highest denomination, but I am not sure about AU currency. Every major city I visited as well as HK would display rates for currencies such as US Dollar, Canadian, Euro and Pound but I do not recall seeing AU currency.

If you are curious how I got my currency, I converted most of my spending money here in the states through my bank. There wasn't any fee's, I just get what the previous days exchange rate is and they deliver it to my door via Drivers License and Signature. But I am not sure if they have that available there in AU.

As for the $A50 and small currency, its definitely a very bad idea. First of all JCNILE123 is right about the annoyance of small currency. If you ever had Chinese RMB, the small denominations vary in size from the larger denominations and can be frustrating.

$A50 converts into 43.5781 USD which converts into 320.234 CNY which is very little to go on if you stay in the city. A night in a hotel with 2 single beds is already around at least 200RMB. Once you figure in your 3 square meals, transportation, shopping and other misc needs, it may be hard to stretch. For example, I spent +/-1000RMB a day in the city for the usual tourist thing and light shopping but when I stayed in a rural village, 300 RMB covers a personal taxi/ Hotel/ food and other little things.

320RMB is a lot of money to the locals there in China but its pretty hard for us foreigners to stay within that range on a daily basis. China is still fairly cheap to have fun in but not as cheap as you think, and depends on where you go as well.

Hope that helps,
Danny[/quote]

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