I'm planning to go from China to Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos (and back to China) OVERLAND, in this succession. Well, flight Guilin - Kuala Lumpur and then overland.
All I have now are Chinese RMB and a Visa debit card for ATMs.
This said, what should I do about money before the travel? I know it's not a problem when going by an airplane - one can simply exchange or withdraw some money at the airport. But if we'll be crossing borders overland all the time, I'm afraid that if I didn't already have some cash in the currency of the "next" country already at the border crossing, we could get stuck at the border since we won't be able to pay for the transportation to the next city with an international ATM.
Am I worrying too much?
Should I buy some US Dollars in Kunming to use them at borders (if they are of any use in those border regions)? Or buy (in Kunming), say, 100 or 200 RMB-worth of currencies of all the countries I plan to visit beforehand? I've never traveled in such remote regions through overland crossings, so I really don't know what should I do...
Where can I get a reasonable travel insurance in Kunming for travel to Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia?
I'll be traveling for about 7 weeks and have no idea where to do it here.
I don't really get what's that 0.80 Yuan thing you can tick during the checkout process. Something about returning the merchandise or shipping cost insurance or something. Any ideas?
I'm happy to see that most of the time nothing is needed... But just in case, if they wanted to see an onward ticket but I already was at the border (without it), what should I do? Return to the nearest city again and try to buy one? Or is it somehow manageable at the border itself?
I guess you won't know anything anyway, since you are not the border police, but my passport is Russian with 10(?)-year (Permanent Resident) visa from the Czech Republic, includes Japanese and Chinese visas and stamps from Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Ukraine and Russia. :) Well, just in case. :)
I hope they wouldn't want anything in those 5 countries I've listed above.
Thank you very much!
Yes, I am a bit worried since I'll be just backpacking with my girlfriend and the trip is pretty long (across 5 countries + China), so getting stuck somewhere on a border crossing, and even so on a low-cost budget, might be pretty problematic.
