Cambodia Overland

Travelers' Reports:
Overland, Bangkok - Siem Reap

Page 1 of 16 (July 2007 - )

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updated April 17, 2008

It seemed easy... (April 2008):

I read with much interest the "An usual bus story (March 2008)" and decided to 'replicate' this traveller's experience. I too was travelling alone. While in Bangkok I went to a local travel agent and booked a one-way ticket to Siem Reap via Hang Tep Travel Co, Ltd. I paid the travel agent 1,000 baht. The mini-bus was supposed to collect me between 07h00-07h30 on Sunday 30th March 2008 - it actually arrived at 06h59 at my hotel - I was most impressed since I was the last passenger (of nine) for the trip.

The mini-bus trip was comfortable and we stopped at 09h00 for a toilet break. Approx 7km before the Thai border we stopped for some paperwork. Fortunately I had an e-Visa. Some of the other passengers were requested to pay 1,300 baht for their Cambodian visas (which they did begrudgingly). I was offered to purchase a return ticket from Siem Reap to Bangkok (via Hang Tep Travel Co, Ltd) which I did. The cost thereof was 800 baht and I received a handwritten receipt.

Passing through Thailand passport control took much longer than passing through Cambodian immigration (there were only three persons ahead of me. I did not see the e-Visa counter nor a designated sign).

At the bus counter in Cambodia, I was told that I would need to exchange US dollars to Cambodian riel since in Cambodia Thai baht would not be accepted. I duly exchanged a U$100 travellers cheque and received an exchange rate of U$1 = 3,200 Cambodian riel - also had to pay 4% commission. Only later did I realise that I was 'ripped' off/scammed. I was then offered that instead of catching the bus, I could travel by taxi and pay an extra 200 baht from Poipet to Siem Reap - which I did. I think some of the other passengers may have paid an extra US$15 (but I am unsure of this). I am pleased that I did pay extra as it was well worth travelling in an airconditioned taxi. I arrived in Siem Reap and was transported by (free) tuk tuk to The Siem Reap Hostel - I had an online reservation.

My return journey from Siem Reap to Bangkok was uneventful - I was collected by tuk tuk from my Siem Reap hotel and taken to the bus company offices (The contact telephone number of Hang Tep Travel Co Ltd in Cambodia is 012-680-960). We departed Siem Reap (by taxi) at 08h20 and en route we had a flat tyre near Poipet. I did not have to pay anything extra for the taxi! We arrived at Poipet at 11h30. Excluding the flat tyre change of 15 minutes, this means that the actual taxi trip time between Siem Reap and Poipet was a mere 2 hrs 55 minutes! By 11h40 I had already passed through Poipet immigration.

I did not travel all the way by minibus to downtown Bangkok and was dropped off near Bangkok International Airport to catch a connecting flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. The total cost of travelling overland from Bangkok to Siem Reap to Bangkok was therefore 2,000 baht (which I consider to be reasonable). With regards to the currency conversion 'scam', I wrote that off to travelling experience since the financial loss was not that significant.

Based on my experiences, there are three golden rules for travellers travelling overland from Bangkok to Siem Reap:
a. obtain an Cambodian e-Visa - well worth U$25 and it took me less than a day - its hassle free when passing through Cambodian immigration;
b. ensure you have bottled water (one 500ml and a one 1litre container) with you for in the bus/taxi;
c. do NOT exchange any money or traveller's cheques at Poipet - this can easily be undertaken in Siem Reap.

[Editor's Note: Although this traveler did not seem too fussed by the money exchange scam, or this pre-paid trip in general, I would point out that the fact remains he was 1.) ripped off by $22 on the exchange scam, 2.) Had he purchased a visa (I can only wonder what lies they told the other passengers) he would have been ripped off by another $20, and 3.) Although a taxi is indeed a better option, they did manage to extract another $6+ from him to ride in it. So the overcharge was $28+ and could have been nearly $50. This is I think, evidence enough of what I've been saying for years, that these pre-paid transport services should be avoided at all times.]

Some photos (April 2008):

A reader has sent a link with a number of photos of the road taken recently. You can see them here.

Quick report (March 2008):

We followed your directions to the letter and had no problems at all! Thanks for posting such great directions – everything was as you wrote, down to the bus ticket prices! We also encountered the taxi/tuktuk scam at the edge of Siem Reap. Good thing I read your blog – I was firm in saying no and refusing to leave the taxi. The tuktuk driver finally gave up trying to convince us to take the “free ride” into town and as we were parting, he asked if we had been to Siem Reap before.

Good taxi price, not so good visa price (March 2008):

We were 3 people, 2 Turkish guys and 1 Danish girl met in Khao San road about 11:00 pm and decided to go to cambodia very next day while drinking a lot of beer. I knew that the train was on 5:55 am and we decided to took that one.

Like 5:00 o'clock in the morning, with no sleep we took a tuk tuk for 100 baht to the Hualalumpong station and we bought our tickets at the station which was very easy. The price was 48 baht and the train was right on time. The seats are comfortable and the train wasn't very crowded so we could lie down the seats and sleep. I'd always prefer trains cause buses make me sick of my sensitive stomach. We could drink beer (or anything else) on the train too; which made our travel more fun.

We arrived at the border station and took one more tuk tuk to the border for 150 baht. I went to the toilet during the visa process so I dont know what happened exactly but when I was back, my friends told me they got the visas for 30 dollars each.

There was no queue at the border. After departing from Thai border a Cambodian guy approached and asked if we need a taxi to Siem Reap. I said yes and asked how much. He said 30 dollars (10 dollars each) and I said ok without any bargaining. He took us to a white Toyota Camry taxi and we headed to Siem Reap. There was nothing wrong on the way to Siem Reap and the taxi driver brought us to a tuk tuk station at Siem Reap which he said we could get a free transport for hostels and guesthouses. We took one tuk tuk and he showed us some guesthouses and we booked which we liked best and didn't pay anything for the ride.

An unusual bus story (March 2008):

Altough I knew about the risks of a scam bus, I still took an organised transportation from Bangkok. Travelling alone, and as a woman, your accurate description of the trip didn't inspire me to do it alone. Also, with taxi costs it would be much more expensive than the package I got offered.
 
Since all went really well and was easy and nice I thought maybe someone should publish the good things too.

I booked my trip through the HI Hostel Thaliand. They told me they use "Travel Mart" as an agency. I got exactly what I was promised. I paid first one way, 990 baht and bought the return (another 700 baht) on the way, as I liked the service.

They picked my up at 7.40 (with only 10 min delay) on Silom Road and we headed right off to Aranyaprathet in a good mini van. Stopped there at a restaurant so we could eat and they organised the visas. If you had one, it was fine. Or you could pay them a small fee and they did it for you. Your choice.
On the other side we had to wait 1.5 hours in an aircon room for the next 20 seater bus. Took off at 3pm and had only one stop for dinner. Ride was fine too and all luggage in the bus. We arrived at 20.30 (with only 30 min delay from what we were told initially!). People could stay at the hotel they stopped at. If one had a booking somwhere else, they provided free transport there. I knew of someone who took it and it was really free and hassle free. I stayed at that hotel and it was fine.

Return was easy too. They told me 7 am and it was 7.15 by free transport to a gas station. There we were put on a 28 seat bus. But comfortable and again all luggage on board. Only one 5 min stop and one 45 min stop for food. Drove straight to the border. On the other side someone already waited and as soon as everyone was through immigration, we were split into the great minivans and drove straight to Bangkok. Arrived here at 17.30. As I stayed on Silom Rd again, and not Khao San Rd, he dropped me directly at a BTS Skytrain station. Great. From there I was home in no time and at little cost.
 
The guys who ran the show on Cambodian side are called "Hang Tep Travel Co" (012 680 960). It was really good for a single traveller. Felt safe, looked after and it was cheap.
 
I never saw many tourists at the border so, had I hoped to find company there, it would have been tricky. And I certainly would not have wanted to brave it all alone.
 
Hope this will help other travellers in the future to find a good bus trip to Siem Reap!!

[editor's note: While we don't doubt the writer's experience, our advice remains as always: Do not purchase transport to Siem Reap from travel agencies/guesthouses in Thailand. The story related above is not par for the course and astute readers will note that this was not run from Khao San Road.]

Visa fun, the usual nonsense (February 2008):

So I did the bkk to siem reap on my own according to your guide. Took the bus, then mafia taxi. People tried to f**k us over about 100 times, but we took all your advice to the letter and made it just fine.

However, the damn visa "officials" who might as well be elephants with a police hat refused to accept $20 USD for the fee. First they said 2000 baht, then 20 US plus 200 baht, and we finally paid 25 USD. It was quite clear the real price was 20. The sign even said so, but they had put up a fake paper sign saying a different price. There was some guy in street clothes who was talking for the border guards who kept lowering the price, but I dismissed him promptly and absolutly refused to accept anything but 20. I was firm, accused them of fraud, and even got in their face, but they refused, so I parted with my 5 dollars, and was on my way. They said It had been 25 dollars for 2 years, so I knew they were lying. I actually argued for over an hour. Very frustrating because I knew they were skimming.

And praise for the e-Visa (February 2008):

Having studied this web site extensively we (four of us) before leaving New Zealand obtained an e-visa. The process was simple and greatly assisted our passage through the border post. We departed Bangkok by taxi at 6.00 am, in transit to the border we must have passed every KSR bus. We arrived at the border at 9.05am the cost of the taxi was 2900 bht. Upon disembarking from the taxi we were surrounded by the inevitable throngs of people trying to shelter us from the sun or carry our bags. A polite no thankyou saw all of them on there way.

We then proceeded into the Thailand departure post, the two lanes for Thai nationals were full, however the foreign lane had nobody in it so we walked straight through and into the departure building. Filling in our departure cards took 5 minutes and another 5 minutes later we were through. We walked straight through to the Cambodian arrival area bypassing the area where about 30 or so people were applying for their visas.

Again we were first in the line at the Cambodian arrivals area and it was here that we were offered a taxi to Siam Reap for US$60.00, I knew that the going rate was between $45.00 -$70.00.  As my wife was feeling a little off colour I accepted this offer but refused to hand over any money until we were all through the arrivals area. The tout then guided us to where the taxi was parked I loaded the bags myself shut the boot, got everybody into the taxi and instead of tipping the tout $10.00 (what he asked for) gave him $1.00.

We departed Poipet for Siem Reap at 9.50am and other than a dusty bumpy drive we arrived suddenly on the outskirts of Siem Reap at 12.30pm only to be told that the taxi could not proceed any further due to some non-existent regulation. Of course we knew this was nonsense and were then greeted by some enthusiastic tuk tuk drivers who of course at no charge offered to take us to our hotel (this we accepted) but knowing that it was part of a scam did not award any further work to the tuk tuk driver involved.

All in all a seamless trip into Cambodia taking just 7 hours from Bangkok to Siem Reap. Our return via the same route was just as simple but the taxi ride was only $25.00 from Siem Reap to Poipet (arrange your own taxi otherwise the cost is $35.00). The e-visa was of great assistance in avoiding most of the scams.

Successful mafia avoidance (February 2008):

We left Bangkok on the 5:30 bus, no problems, lovely bus. Met two English girls going to Siem Reap too on the bus, and arranged to get a taxi with them from Poipet onwards. All of us had read up on your site and were prepared for the fun ahead!

Ok, got off at Bangkok border and of course the tuk tuk drivers swarm round the bus. Your site said 60b is what you should pay, but they now have a sign up saying 80. Think maybe the girls managed to get theirs to agree at 70 but we just paid 80. Told him to take us straight right up to Thai immigration, although he dropped us at the touts. They then try to shove forms that look similar but different to the real visa forms, and tell you they'll take you to immigration. We lied and said we already had visas and made our way ourselves. We were followed by a few kids trying to sell us things or asking for food, but not many and they dropped off.

Getting through Thai immigration was fine as everyone seems to say, although not filling out even a small part of your departure card means you get sent back to the end of the queue. Once we had been stamped out, guys in yellow shirts appeared everywhere. Basically the four of us kept to the rule that wherever those guys told you to go, you didn't. They try to herd you off to the left and down a path to a building on the left. Do not go there! Instead, go into the middle, which is a road mainly used by cars, just walk to the side of it and then make your way to the right where a building with a blue sign saying Visas is. I'd imagine the building on the left is where the touts are. We got up to this building and clutching out photos, forms and $20 notes, went up to the window. The guy behind the window points us to the guy we've been trying to avoid, who is lingering about with a nice fake smile. Here he starts with the chat we'd read about from others. Ah, it's only payble in Thai baht. We point to the sign saying $20, but of course "it's an old sign!"'. We tell him to take it down then, but he says he can't. So we say we'll pay $20 until he takes the sign down. We say we have no baht, so the price goes up to $25. Then $22, then ok, $20 plus 200b. We just smile and say no, he's getting irritated but not too angry. He then changes tact and says he saw us at the other building trying to get it for less than 1200 baht, utter rubbish. We just laugh. He says we can't get it for $20, and we say we'll stand here until we do. He then just magically steps aside and lets us pay $20 to the pissed off guy behind the window, clearly fed up with bargaining. Then they make us sit, and we assume it'll be a while before we get our passports back. However, we get them back after about 10 minutes, perhaps because we had already told another group to wait until you get it for 20. The whole process takes about 25 minutes.

Then we go on to immigration, which isn't very clear. Basically keep walking and it's on your right. Here we queued for about an hour. You can jump this step by just paying I think $2 to one of the officials sitting down at the table, who'll stamp you in for a fee. If you have the time, I'd queue.

Then guys in yellow ask us if we need taxis, we keep walking and say we're staying in Poipet, another lie. We find the covered walkway you'd mentioned on your site, and walk down it. A couple of guys dressed in normal clothing (ie not yellow shirts) say they'll take us for $40. The yellow guys swoop in and say $25. We figure 40 is more likely, and decide to take a chance. We get taken up to a car in front of a hotel and after some exchanging of money between the guys and a policeman, we're off. There are bulletholes in the window and no seatbelts, but we're happy to have avoided all the touts! The rest of the journey passes without much incident (except scary petrol filling) and aside from bumps the road was ok, no puddles and no hold ups. We spent about 2 hours all in from Thai border to getting in the taxi, and then 3 hours in the taxi to Siem Reap.

Visa Scams (January 2008)

We arrived in Aranyaprathet by train, got a tuktuk for about 60 baht to the border. Straight off the tuk tuk a guy approaches us and tells us he works for the Cambodian embassy and he'll organise our visa. There's another couple already sitting at a table filling in forms.

After a few questions it appears the guy wants 2000 baht for the service and plans to take our passports away with him. He keeps offering to letus come with him to the "embassy"

This all sounds very odd to us. He shows us the "visa" in the passports of the other people sitting where we are and tries to tell us we won't be able to get a visa across the border and so on.

In the end we decide it's a scam and make our way through Thai immigration with no problems and get to the official Cambodian visa office where we get our visas for 1000 baht - they insist on being paid in baht and we don't argue.

The visa looks somewhat different from the one we were offered by the tout.
Despite this, the people we saw getting visas from said tout still make it through Cambodian immigration - i do wonder what sort of problems they are going to have later though with a visa which looks nothing like the real one...

We went by taxi from Poipet to Battambang. We were approached by what I guess was a part of the taxi mafia - and negotiated a price of US$30. When we emerged from immigration his friend met us and got us to take a short tuk tuk ride to their office where we were put in a Toyota Camry. He then decided to charge us in baht - 1200 baht to be precise - which he wanted upfront - and couldn't find change. He initally came back with a handfull of riel. We weren't sure of the exchange rate and insisted on baht. He returned wih baht, handed us a stack which we then couned. It was 300 baht short. When we pointed it out he asked is he could keep the extra baht. We rather begrudgingly agreed.

Then about five guys had a ten minute argument about how the money was to be divided and who would transdport us to Battambang.

The actual trip was fine - aside from the horrendous road from Poipet to Sisophon. The guy did stop to ask for directions once in Battambang and again to fill the car with gas. DO NOT WATCH THIS - IT WILL FRIGHTEN YOU. The gas is plugged straight into he tank - with the motor running. The driver and gas seller argued about the gas, pulled the hose out several times and the footpath was covered in liquid gas. Despite this, we were delivered safely to our requsted hotel and though the driver looked a little sad that we offeredhim no further tip - it was a relaively pleasant 2 and half hour journey.

Easy morning ride (December 2007):

I got up early to go to immigration (for 7am). The tuk tuk driver stopped for one tout on the way to the border who said the border wasn't open until 7:30 and that he could help with the visa. I just waived him on. Got through Thai immigration in 10 mins and Cambodian in 10 also (did greese them an extra 200 THB for a quick visa). Whole process took 45 mins I think. I shared a mafia taxi with 3 others that I had met for $48 which was fine. Got to Siem Riep in 3.5 hrs. No problems until we got there, then they pulled the new tuk tuk scam. The other 3 ignored me and agreed to it. I just got out, borrowed a phone from a local kid and rang the Garden Village. The manager came around on a bike in 5 mins and I was there in a flash.

I got the feeling the taxi driver would easily have taken me to my guesthouse which was just down the road a bit if I had stayed put.

The taxi mafia at Poipet where nice enough, not really pushy at all. Early in the day I guess.

I wouldn't have bothered with the extra 200THB at immigration except that I was with an english guy who didn't really care and just wanted to get Siem Riep. Would have just meant an extra 20-40 mins waiting around. On the plus side he did invite me to his wedding on thurs. He's marrying a Cambodian girl and they're up the walls trying to get everything ready.

Step by step (December 2007):

Some notes for travelers:

1 - You can disperse the children at the border crossing with a can of Pringles.  Not as nice as giving cash, but does the trick.

2 - We paid $60 for a shared taxi from the border.  Some people paid $50 others $80.  Turns out a lot of people ended up at Mom's Guest House.  We also took your advise and found another couple on the bus to split the fare.

3 - Mom's Guest House - online they say $25/night but we paid $20.  Not sure how.

4 - Entering town they pulled the taxi to Tuk-Tuk trick you mention.  We said we weren't paying any extra money and they were fine with that.  A guy jumped in to the Tuk-Tuk with us at this point.  Really couldn't stop him.  We tried.

5 - Then they took us to another Guest house even though we said we had a reservation at Mom's.  Then they told us that Mom's was full and even pretended to call them and really try to fool us into staying at their hotel.  After sitting at their hotel for 10 minutes without talking or getting out of the Tuk Tuk they took us to Mom's.

6 - At Mom's the guy who hopped in to the Tuk Tuk with us then proceeded to sell us on the Tuk-Tuk rental for the following day.  I spent about 20 minutes with him and the Tuk-Tuk driver making sure that he would take us where we wanted and most importantly that the driver spoke enough english that we'd have a good day.  Even though the guy tried to screw us earlier we kept the driver for the next three days and it was great.  We paid $10/day for the Tuk-Tuk while most others paid $12.  After the third day we tipped the driver an extra $8 because no matter where he dropped us off and no matter how long we took he was always waiting for us when we came out.

Overall an excellent trip.  Wouldn't change a thing and would do it again in a heartbeat!

Step by step again (November 2007):

We didn't fall prey to a single scam and were able to get to Siam Reap at around 5PM at the guesthouse we wanted. Here's the low-down that we posted on our blog - www.ianandnisha.blogspot.com .

1) Leave at 7:00 in a taxi to go to the North Bangkok government bus depot (Mo Chit). Get stuck in Bangkok traffic, trip takes a little under an hour.

2) Take a government bus at 8:00 (no scams unlike backpacker buses) to Aranya Pratet.

3) Arrive in Aranya Pratet at around 12:30, pretty non-descript Thai border town. Take a 5km Tuk-Tuk to the border.

4) Check out of Thailand, walk across the little bridge to Poipet, Cambodia.

5) On the Cambodian side of the bridge go to the visa office to get a visa, since we did not get one before arrival. There is a sign that says that a visa costs $20 US (US currency is the de facto currency of Cambodia, although Thai Baht and their own currency can sometimes be used). Because you are supposed to have six months before expiration on your passport, and I only have five, I pay 1000 Baht each (30 dollars) to the guy who "helps" you get the visa. Visa comes back no problem.

6) Walk down the strip of new casinos that are in this no mans land for Thai gamblers. Errie sight, especially seeing the Indian street scene beyond the immigration gate.

7) Wait behind a bus load of westerners to actually pass immigration.

8) Enter into Cambodia and start trying to work out the taxi situation to get to Siem Reap. There are a bunch of taxi guys right beyond the gate who seem pretty disreputable, and want $40 US to drive just the two of us in a Toyot Camry to Siem Reap. There are also guys wearing yellow shirts who try to get you to go on a bus where they say they sell you a seat in a share Toyota for $15 US each.

I don't really like the vibe from the guys who are right there, and the lowest they will go is $35 dollars. However, we see that the bus goes just 200m up the road, and a yellow shirt guy on a scooter keeps telling us to go there. So we head walk up there to check out the deal. This is a crappy little office, but does look to be where most people are getting trasportation forward. It is either $12 for a seat on a bus, or $15 for a seat in a cab that leaves right away. We take the cab and end up sharing with two solo people, a Swiss lady and a friendly young guy from Hong Kong.

9) From around 14:00 to 17:30 bounce down the atrocious dirt highway from Poipet to Siem Reap. Looks like we are back in India, shocking trasformation from Thailand.

10) Get dropped off in the taxi depot on the edge of town. Negotiated for a Tuk-Tuk with the Hong Kong guy for $2 US dollars into town.

11) Go to "Bar" St. in the center of town, find a suprisingly really nice and classy tourist area in the middle of town. Find a really nice little hotel in the area called the Golden Temple (or something like that) for $15 US a night. Get free beer opon check in.

The result, not that bad. Did not cost too much and relly the only problem was figuring out the taxi deal in Poipet, but even that worked out fine. Siem Reap is actually very nice, and today we head out to see Angkor Wat.

A plug for the e-Visa (November 2007):

We left Bangkok on the 7.30am bus from Morchit and arrived in Siem Reap at 6pm. We had very little hassle crossing the border with not many touts or beggars about. After a bit of negotiaition with the Cambodian border guards the best price we could get was $25 for a visa (they were asking/demanding 1000bht). After we paid the fee we got the visa very quickly. I would however strongly reccomend the e-visa to anyone. It's a lot easier and simpler!!  We had met a couple of others on the bus from Bangkok and they had a cab pre-organised by their guesthouse (Two Dragons in SR - as a condition of booking because so many other guests had not made it there!). The cab was therefore only $45 and they also provided a guide who got them their visas for $20 as well (he was not allowed to help us as non-guests of the hostel). Again something I would recommend as it saves getting ripped off!  Either way is was a simple and relatively pain free journey compared to some of the other reports here.

Straightforward (November 2007):

I'm a traveler from Singapore and just did the crossing four days ago and everything went pretty much as you said - bus from Morchit Bus Terminal (seems there are only first class buses now, no problem with those) to Aranyaprathet, stayed the night, crossed the border without hassle, taxi from Poipet to Siem Reap. One thing I'd like to highlight, though. It seems the mafia taxis at Poipet have constructed a more official front for their extortion. We were accosted by touts at Aranyaprathet who told us about the whole scheme. Ignored them, but later saw the exact same guys at the Poipet office. We were directed to a free shuttle bus by people wearing very official looking uniforms at the office, which brought us directly to a very hastily put together office some distance away from the traffic circle, which looked really dodgy and made us pay upfront ($15/head), but it all turned out alright in the end, reaching Siem Reap in under 5 hours, so it was all good. Our taxi did stop at a group of tuk-tuks upon reaching Siem Reap, telling us he didn't know how to get to our guesthouse and that they'd bring us there, but we just persistently ignored the horde of helpful tuktuk drivers. Our driver gave up after awhile and just sent us there himself.

Perseverance (October 2007):

Arrived in Aran by bus from Surin at noon. There were very few fellow travelers. Luckily, I could team up with a girl from Germany as she wanted to go to Angkor as well. We ignored the Tuk-Tuks and Motos and went for 10 baht to the border. We went straight to the Thai departure building and had to wait approx. 10 min. to get our stamp.  By the time we left the building some touts were already following us. After a little walk we arrived at the Cambodian visa building. The fun starts here: With passport, form & picture and 20$ in our hands we went to the counter. We were told it would be 1000 baht (old sign there, sir). I told him that I had talked to the embassy and that 20$ are correct. He ignored us for a while (watching TV and reading). When he came back to the counter he demanded 25$. We insisted on paying only 20$. He turned around and watched TV again. During the time we just blocked his counter, so far for 20 minutes. A while later he came back and explained  that we had to wait 3-4 days if we would insist on 20$. To make a long  story short: The next steps were 22$, 21$, 20$ and 200 baht. We just refused to pay tea money, even though we liked the story of his life and that the 200 baht were to buy food and to fix a few things around the station. After 40 minutes in front of his counter I was lighting up a cigarette (40 minutes are tough for a smoker!!) and he came up to us and sent us away. Luckily he took the passports, forms and the 20$. After 5 more minutes we had the visas! During that time countless other travelers and so called agents came to get there papers. From what I can tell, they paid between 22$ - 1000 baht (later I"ve been told by a guy who went with a KSR bus that he had pad 1700 baht). Hint: Take your time, don't get stressed, don't give a sh** and be insisting! And leave a few baht at the Red Cross donation box, just to see the faces of the touts..

After getting the stamp at the Cambodian side (no hassle) we went to look for a bus. Then they all came like grasshoppers and told us weird stories and tried to get us in a taxi or to Angkor Andventure Tours. We did not go with them and kept walking around. We couldn't find the place where the buses go and eventually had a drink. One guy who was still following us got tired and took a scooter in the  meantime. He kept asking where we want to go and how we wanted to travel. We just told him that we don"t need his help and would go by foot to Siem Reap (I come with you. I like to walk, too). As we were halfway finished with our drinks another guy arrived and offered us a Camry for 15$ per person if we could find another two passengers. We were tempted and started talking to the guys. However, we basically told him off as did not want to wait for two other passengers. He even offered us the Camry for 40$ (20$ each). We got him down to 30$!!! and left immediately. We got lucky with the driver - he was a pro and got  us to Siem Reap in no time. When we got there he tried to sell us to some Tuk-Tuk drivers at the Airport Road. After a few minutes telling them that we had a place and don"t want their help they let go and the taxi-driver brought us to the city where we initially wanted to get. Hint: Same as above I have to say that we had a lot of luck. It was raining heavy the day before and not a lot of potential customers were in Poipet so that we could apply some laws of the market. The main thing, however, was that we both agreed on certain goals and stayed firm (NO tea money, max  budget for the ride). It takes more time and it is uncertain if it works for everyone - but it is well worth trying!

Mafia taxis (October 2007):

I did BKK to Siem Reap on the 1st of October. Almost no problems since we got the e-visa for Cambodia. Of course some touts approached us when we arrived to Poipet but we just ignored them. That day we could not find the free shuttle to the Taxi stop and we had to walk meanwhile two touts followed us all the time, saying not to go to get an official taxi since was more expensive. Although we asked them to move away they stayed with us all the time. Also when asking to other people where the bus station was they told them not to answer our questions. Finally we got to the bus station where we could find the official taxi stop. The only remark is that they have now a "fixed price" advertised on the wall of the Taxi stop which says that the official price is 15 US$ per person. I missed to take a picture.

They tried to get ours passports in the Taxi stop for some strange reason but of course we denied to give them. Also they tried to get part of the money in advance and of course we declined. Finally we jumped into the taxi and left Poipet. When leaving Poipet the taxi stopped to give a paper or receipt to an official after the last houses of the town. I do not know what it was, maybe we could have problems if we were in a none-official taxi. In Siem Reap the taxi driver tried to explain that he didn't know where our guest house was and tried to send us to a tuk tuk which was a friend of him. We simply refused and kindly asked him to move to our guest house and he did. Hope it helps. The only thing to remember if you want to try this is to stay calm and do what you need to do once you are there and ignore all the touts. Also to get an e-visa for Cambodia is basic to avoid problems.

More mafia taxis (October 2007):

We left Bangkok September 14th at the Morchit bus station at 5am to Aranyaprathet. We arrived with no problems at around 930 am. We went to the bathroom and had some food (its better than at the border). Then we took a Tuktuk also 80baht. When we got to the border I was very stressed out. Maybe the people sense this I dont know.

No problems corossing the Thai side. When going to the Cambodian side we arrived at the window and had no problems. We were asked to pay 20 USD but were asked to pay a penalty of 100 baht because we didnt have a photo on us. I noticed a Japanese tourist next to us and he was asked for 500 baht for a faster visa. His visa was like one minute faster than ours. And ours only took like 20 minutes. So I think insist on only paying 20 USD. We did pay the 100 baht "penalty" for the photos though.

After crossing the people at the border insisted that we go on the free shuttle to the transportation area. I didnt want to but was coerced into it. It turns out that the driver was out to lunch though and so in the end we walked to the place that said ANGKOR AMAZING HOLIDAY TOURS AND TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION. I was very unsure of this and kept telling them we wanted a Camry taxi. They kept saying that this was the place to get it. So they said that the transportation had been regulated one month earlier and that now everybody had to go there. I ended up believing this because we didnt get hassled by any one else. Nobody bothered us after crossing the border.

We then shared a taxi with 2 Japanese tourists. I was traveling with a friend and we are both Guatemalan girls. We are mistaken for Europeans for having blonde hair though. The cost of the taxi was 60 USD split between the 4 of us was 15 USD each. That was the worst, this taxi ride. The road was very very muddy for it was rainy season. It took 6 1/2 hours to get to Siem Rep from Poipet. When we got to Siem Rep the taxi driver insisted on taking us to another hotel other than the one we had already booked. Believe me after that 6 1/2 hrs taxi ride I was pretty upset and told him to go drop me off at a pay phone. Then he miraculously remembered where our hotel was. So in conclusion I'd say the experience wasn't bad at all. If you are girls traveling alone I think its ok to go. That was my biggest insecurity. Because we were 2 girls alone. So I think no problem.

Typical journey (October 2007):

We left Bangkok on the morning of Friday 14th September 2007 on the 0555hrs train to Aranyaprathet paying 48bht each for third class seats. On arrival at Aranyaprathet we were picked up by a local tuk tuk who took us to the border crossing for 80bht.

We got to the border around 1pm and it was fairly quiet. As soon as we got out of the Tuk Tuk we were "be-friended" by a tout, he tried the visa scam on us but I told him that we were fine. Thai border control was a breeze and we had no problems getting stamped out. On crossing the border we approached the Visa office and a guy in civilian clothing was standing in front of the windows, the officals were inside but it was quite clear that no-one was going to get to speak with the officals unless they spoke with him first. We filled our forms out and listened as another tourist possibly Korean or Japanese was in conversation with this guy. We then saw him hand over 1000bht. We approached and handed our forms to him and he said 1000bht extra. We refused, I told him that I had called the embassy in France that morning and they had confirmed that the price was 20 USD. He started to speak a lot quieter when I mentioned this and he said that for 20 USD it would take four days to process the visa! After several minutes of discussion he eventually said he would do both visa for 100bht each. We agreed and handed the cash and our passports over to him. He then posted them through the Visa office window. Within 2 minutes our visas arrived and we were again joined by our friendly tout.

We walked through to the traffic circle and got on the free shuttle bus, still in company with the tout. We travelled about 1km down the road and the bus pulled up on the left outside an office with blacked out windows. The company was called ANGKOR AMAZING HOLIDAY TOURS AND TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION. We went inside and the guy said we could buy the back seat of a Toyota Camry for 40 USD. We agreed however, we had to pay upfront. We did so reluctantly but had no further problems. The road to SR is still a mess but passable with care.

More fun trying to evade the mafia taxis (August 2007):

We crossed from Thailand to Cambodia mid-July 2007. We arrived by the bus that left from Mo Chit, around 2pm-ish? and had made friends with two English girls (I'm Malaysian, and was travelling with my Ukrainian roommate from university) -- so four of us girls got off, all set to look for a taxi together which we were advised to do from another collegemate who'd done the bus version and told us under no circumstances count our pennies into taking that option.

We got herded into the "free" bus that was supposed to take us to a taxi stand, which turned out to be an empty office where the going price for a taxi to SR was US$60 to which we walked out from. We walked backwards towards the bus terminal near the immigration outlet from which we'd come through and along the way a taxi from the "taxi station"/"makeshift taxi association office" tailed us, and bargained down the price to US$45. I was quite adamant on getting one for US$40 which was double the quoted price in the guidebooks (editor's note: this must be an old guidebook as $20-25 taxis haven't existed for several years now), so we headed further down back to the roundabout, where we then asked a taxi driver who looked like he was in a uniform how much, and he said 2000 Baht to which we said no thank you. Just about then, another taxi driver approached us and offered us US$40, however the uniformed guy said "I do not trust him" and the other guy was insisting that he would send us to his friend's guesthouse in Siem Reap even though we clearly stated that we wanted to be sent to another guesthouse which we told them we had made bookings with already. Then the entire crew from that taxi area came out and started haranguing us to go with their friend, and the other fella (the one in the pseudo-uniform) stood there grinning and the police standing around did nothing.

We walked away. and decided to take a 5 minute breather just to get away from it all. Then we saw the same taxi cab that had tailed us from the "taxi station/makeshift taxi assoc office" and he offered us US$45 again for the four of us. We agreed, and he told us not to speak that when he went back to the "taxi station" to register us to say that we'd paid US$60 for the ride as stipulated earlier. Oh well. the ride went relatively without incident though it seemed like it lasted forever. The bumps were character building and after twenty minutes it sunk in that the road was going to be JUST LIKE THAT until we reached Siem Reap and that's when lots of chips and good humour helped. Oh right, just before we were going to negotiate going up a one-lane bridge, we were halted by a car that drove towards us and blocked our passage. Turns out twas the police who checked our taxi for drugs (heroin? our taxi driver told us?). We also saw one tipped over lorry on the way with a crack windshield.

Upon arrival in Siem Reap, our taxi driver was quite obliging in bringing us to the first guesthouse we wanted to go to, but it was full there, and we asked if he could bring us to the next one. We called that guesthouse for directions and he spoke to the person in charge over there, but didn't seem too happy about bringing us there but eventually he did. We felt a little bad, and thought we should tip him, since it was late already, around 8pm by the time we got to Siem Reap....but when we got to the next guest house and asked how much would be an appropriate amount to tip the driver, we were advised that he had gotten more than a fair price for his services, seeing as the going rate was actually US$25. We were told that he was reluctant to bring us to our second choice of guest house because he'd asked for a commission and they'd said sorry no go. We ended up paying him a couple dollars for the use of his cell phone to contact the guest house, and that's the end of our story.

The usual visa silliness (August 2007):

The trip from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet was very easy and lasted about 4 hours with the 8.30 bus. Getting out of Thailand was very easy and quick, it took only about 10 minutes, even less. On the Poipet side, there were only a few people at the Visa office, but unfortunately things were a bit slow. There were 4-5 officers sitting in the office, doing absolutely nothing. One stood up and asked for 1000 Baht for each visa (we were 2). I said that I don't have any Baht on me, and I would pay in dollars and only 20 as it was clearly indicated on the sign. Actually there is no sign saying anything about payment in Baht. Then the officer said it is an old sign, so I told him that I asked the embassy, and that the cost of Visa was 20$. To that he replied that he would need 3 days. Then I said that 1000 Baht is 32 $ and I would not pay that, and he turned back to his seat, doing nothing. After a few minutes of me staring at him, and him staring at the void, I offered to pay 25$ and he reluctantly agreed. It was still more, but at least, we saved 14$. Passing through the immigration was a breeze, and by this time we had teamed up with a guy from Japan, who was willing to share a taxi. A person took us, and put us in the free bus, and at the transport office we were presented with a sign that said, 10$ for a bus seat or 15$ for a taxi seat, but as we were 3 we would have to pay for the fourth seat as well. No haggling on the price.

Fortunately the day was dry and probably the days before as well, so the road was in good condition, albeit very bumpy. The driver seemed very experienced so we did the trip in about 4 hours. I wouldn't like to do the trip on a rainy day though. The taxi stopped at a place in Siem Reap and we were put on a free tuk tuk, which supposedly would take us anywhere. At the end, you end up were you want, but they will try to take you to a commission paying guesthouse, and they will hassle you about taking you to the temples.

Thanks. Keep 'em coming. E-mail your story here

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