Hi TS, i bookmarked your thread cos im am getting interested in this. Will refer to your thread!
You are welcome! Glad you caught the travel bug. I do reminisce this trip from time to time. Don't mind doing roughly the same trip with some variation if I got the time again.
In fact, if you intend to do in 2020, 1 possibility is to start from UK in Apr/May, then go overland to Japan just in time for the olympics in Jun/Jul. Just nice! But you got to plan start now.
What an amazing trip! I wish I had the time to
Do such a trip ....
If your finances and time allow, it's good to consider.
Had not read the whole thread yet (will be doing it soon) so apologies if this is already asked, how do you plan to get access to money along to the way? Atm?
I tot of dis question oso
Allow me to list the countries with their respective currencies and how I got it. I will skip the obvious ones like Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Europe (Euros), UK.
I tried buying some currency in Singapore from online sellers privately. In this manner, I got some Mongolian togrog, Russian rubbles and Yuan currency.
1 strategy is to change all your previous used currency at the border to the currency of your visiting country. Another is to keep reserve US currency. In terms of spending, most of it is done before the trip buying tickets, airfare, accommodation mostly by E-commerce purchase.
I realised that in this link
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FrrjJCMXz9UCBCSXtQsU5b9ju-2jwHPu1jlVovjDnDw/edit?usp=sharing, I shared the breakdown of the currencies I brought along at the start of the trip.
USD 560
GBP 225
EUROS 150
MYR 100
THB 1000
Yuan 1000
Rub 3500
Tugrik 30000
Laos (Kip)
A very illiquid currency outside Laos, so what starts in Laos ends in Laos. I didn't have Laos currency before entering Laos and changed from Vietnam Dong to Laos at the immigration border. The exchange rate is quite a rip-off but Laos is a very illiquid currency so you don't have much choice. If I remember, the spread was like 15%. However, banks in Laos(Vientiane) provide very competitive exchange rates using USD, Euro and SGD. USD was about 0.3% spread, Euro about 0.6%, SGD about 1%.
Mongolia (Togrog)
Could be exchanged at the border. The exchange rate was quite reasonable, about 2-3% spread from USD to Togrog. forex exchange can also be done in the capital, Ulan Bator. Pls do most of your exchange in the capital because you most likely can't get any at the countryside/wild/rural areas.
Russia (Rubbles)
I only had about 30SGD worth of Russian currency when I entered the border. Honestly, I can't remember where I changed my currency in Russia... I remembered watching world cup going thru the border and stopped at Irkutsk. I most likely changed at money changers at Irkutsk from Togrog to Rubbles and then in other cities from USD to rubbles. From Russia onwards, i spent most of my purchases at cafes/restaurants and supermarkets which accept credit cards.
Poland (Zloty)
I changed using both Rubbles and USD to Zloty at Warsaw.