my first overseas assignment was to Japan, and it a being pretty civilized country, carried just enough money "stashed" to get a black market taxi ride home if I missed the ferryboat... on an E3's pay, stashing 3000Yen (around $10)was pretty extravagant..one of the hostesses at the EM's club wrote out phonetically and in katakana some phrases for directions to, and characters for things like hospital, police, train station etc on a 3x5 card... .when I got to the Philippines in 72, after some TDY to Okinawa and first trip to Thailand... one of the must have purchases was an elephant leather money belt...it came in handy a couple of times... a copy (color slide of my birth certificate) and a copy of my orders with a TSCW clearance got me on board a space available flight on a courier plane, and into the US Embassy in Bangkok... I stashed $20US in fives, and about $20 in the local currency as soon as I got in country... over the years, I somehow misplaced the elephant leather belt, but was given a nylon money belt by a friend... you young lady might need something like it if she gets any R&R or duty station to a non combat zone of iffy relations with the US... this one is from Aero Stitch who makes motorcycle stuff... I'm sure there are cheaper copies available