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Originally Posted by desertblues
I know the story of a friend of a friend of mine who travelled there with a sturdy bag......the thieves got at her with a knife to slash the bag....that didn't work and she ended up in hospital as she was cut up.
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That can happen. Especially if the thieves are druggies.
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When traveling in Central-Asia, China, Iran or other countries that don't have many ATM's or money change facilities: I take cash with me for the whole of the journey
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I prefer cash as well. The only reason I used traveler's checks this time was because the amount of cash involved. I still retained about $10,000 USD in Japanese Yen, and converted $1,000 USD into Thai Baht in VERY small denominations. Nothing worse than trying to pay a Thai taxi driver with a thousand Baht bill (about 30$ USD...) or even a Five hundred Baht bill for that matter! A taxi ride might cost about 40-60 Baht.
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will have two pockets on the front of my trousers. In the one I stash all money and in the other one my passport, the flap secured with velcro and a safety pin inside.
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We've sewn pockets INSIDE our pants, that close with velcro. Outside pockets only get 'daily money.' One side gets the larger bills. B100's and B500s, and the other side gets the smaller B50 and B20 bills, and coins. Inside pockets with larger monies and copies of passports never get accessed publicly when we need to re-fill the outer pockets. A toilet stall gives enough privacy for that.
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As I often travel alone, I will not go near a bank or ATM; as not to get into trouble.
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It always amazes me that tourist DO go to the ATM's in foreign countries so often. In S.E. Asia, it's very common for thieves to attach card scanners over ATMS during the night to read numbers and pin codes, then remove them the next morning. I watched a Discovery Ch documentary about pickpockets in Italy and Spain, 'working' the tourists, with the children actually standing behind tourists at ATM's and grabbing the cash as it comes out of the machine and running. One kid bumps the tourist just as the ATM drawer opens, and another kid grabs the money and runs. And they keep doing this all day long! Instead of using the ATM, if absolutely necessary, I'll go inside the bank and have a teller run my card and give me the cash so I can secure it while still inside the bank. Even that is risky in some countries, but not nearly so much as using a street-side ATM!
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At one time I cruised the USA for a month from one cheap lodging (with coupons) to the next....nothing happened. The traffic was more disciplined and less crowded than in my own country. But the day after I got back home, I did some shopping on my bike and when I left the store, my bike was stolen.....
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See? This is exactly why I usually push my motorcycle for the first two miles when leaving the house! The statistics say that most accidents happen within a mile of home! I'm not taking any chances...
Stitchawl