Odds n' Sods

Reality TV: All Aboard the Scam Minibus from Koh Chang to Siem Reap.

Koh Chang Siem Reap for 300 Baht

 

Only 300 Baht – what a great deal!

Not all scam minibuses are the same.  There are a couple of tour companies running the services, some sell cheap tickets in the hope of scamming passengers and some sell even cheaper tickets and will try even harder to scam passengers.   There are no ‘Scam Free’ minibus services between Koh Chang & Siem Reap.  However, if you know about the potential scams in advance you can avoid them.

The Getting Here section of this site has a detailed explanation of what to look out for and how to avoid it when travelling from Koh Chang to Siem Reap.  I added this page to show a few videos that an English couple just uploaded to Youtube.

In brief:

– The ‘Get an over priced Cambodian visa before you exit Thailand’ scam – The official price is US$20; an Evisa online in advance is US$25; Get visa at border after exiting Thailand is US$20+100 Baht or 800 Baht. The scam price, from 1,200 – 1,500 Baht ( US$40-50) depending on how gullible you look.

– The ‘Exchange money into Riels’ scam – No requirement to do this and no need to do it either.

– The ‘Bus leaving now, pay extra to get through Cambodian Immigration quickly’ scam – Just bull, as there’s no bus waiting for you when you exit Cambodian Immigration

– The ‘Try to get you to take a taxi rather than a bus’ scam – What would you expect from a bus station run by a taxi mafia?

– The ‘Drop you off at bus station after dark a few Km from Siem Reap and then put you in an expensive tuk-tuk’ scam – You will never arrive in Siem Reap in daylight. And you will never be dropped off at the public bus station close to downtown Siem Reap.  Think of it as punishment for taking the bus rather than a taxi like the taxi mafia guys suggested you do.

It isn’t just the newbies falling for these scams.  They are in every guidebook and on every travel site that deals with overland travel between Thailand and Cambodia and have been going on for years.  So you’d think seasoned travellers wouldn’t fall for it.

Yet they do, as the short videos made by an English couple in Jan 2013 show.  Looks like they didn’t get the exchange money into Riels scam, but experienced the others.  4 out of 5 isn’t a bad effort on behalf of the scammers:

 ‘ Get an over priced Cambodian visa before you exit Thailand’ scam

‘Bus leaving now, pay extra to get through Cambodian Immigration quickly’ scam

‘Try to get you to take a taxi rather than a bus’ scam

‘Drop you off at bus station after dark a few Km from Siem Reap and then put you in an expensive tuk-tuk’ scam

 

Best Advice.

1) Get an Evisa online from Cambodian government site: http://www.mfaic.gov.kh/evisa/

2) Use the cheap minibus to get from Koh Chang to the border.  There won’t be any unnecessary delays on the way and there’s no direct public transport as an alternative. But as soon as you stop for lunch, say your Goodbyes, and grab a tuk-tuk to the border crossing for around 50 – 100 Baht max.  You might not know exactly where you are but jut tell the tuk-tuk driver ‘Rongleua Market (Talad Rongkleua ) and you will be dropped at the border market adjacent to the crossing.

3) Cross border, into Cambodia, ignore anyone who tells you you have to wait for free shuttle bus to Poipet Tourist Transportation Terminal.  In fact, ignore anyone who speaks to you and who isn’t behind either a Thai or Cambodian immigration desk. )  First Cambodian guy you make eye contact with after crossing the border, smile & tell him you want  a taxi.  If he isn’t  a taxi driver he will know one.  Agree price for taxi to your hotel in Siem Reap – no more than US$35-40, pay when you arrive at hotel.

4) Sit back & enjoy the ride – expect a lot of horn usage.

5) Arrive at your hotel in Siem Reap by 4pm, while others on the scam minibus are probably still being delayed somewhere near the border.

11 Comments

  • Great article, thanks for the tips! Cambodia is a joy to visit. However, there are also numerous tourist targeted scams to be wary of once you are there. Eg. visa scam, coin collectors, scam orphanages, Angkor Watt touts, incense/prayer scam, Tonle Sap floating village rice scam, milk/food beggar, pickpocketing, snatch theft, invitations to a local home for gambling, tuk tuk scam, fake police and many more!

  • Hi Lucia

    Thanks for sharing your experience. As you say, it;s just the area around the Thai side of the border where you get hassles. Once in Cambodia it’s fine.

  • Great advice. I crossed yesterday and i managed to talk a fellow traveller into the taxi option and we ended up paying 12.50$ each and he dropped us off right at our place. Needles to say, the scammers are very intimidating, try to split people so they dont form groups and dont inform eachother, and as a solo female i didnt have the courage to speak to all the poor souls filling out scam forms. And there was a lot of them. But i was screamed at, and if 5 men give you dirty looks, you do shut up. Oh and the guy on cambodian side of the border was just plain nasty. People please, research before you go anywhere, thats what internet is for!! And stay in groups, talk to eachother,get e-visa(that one shuts them up for a minute- a little victory of mine, worth the money). Just please dont let them scare you into anything, they have no right to do so. Btw dont worry, once you leave the border, all will be fine, Cambodians are great.

  • I organized a taxi to travel from Seim Reip to pick up some friends who crossed at Poipet. Sounds a simple way to avoid some of the scammers but unfortunately non mafia taxi drivers are not allowed to hold up a sign with a foreigners name on it. The taxi driver was actually forbidden from meeting foreigners, but as phone numbers were exchanged before arrival they secretly met at a hotel (where my friends pretended they were booking in) and made it through the gauntlet!

    Poipet, what a great advertisement to tourists entering Cambodia!

  • If you are going to Siem Reap you will always use the Aranyaprathet / Poipet border crossing.

  • What border did you cross at? I know there are a couple of different options from Koh Chang? We are going next week.

  • Your advice was valuable for us, thanks. We crossed last week and knew ahead of time what we were going to face. We were proud to get across the border only having paid the online visa charge, Koh Chang to Cambodia mini-bus, tuk tuk to border and taxi direct to our hotel, (they arranged). We knew exactly what was happening when we stopped outside of town at a restaurant and jus took a tuk tuk from there. Thanks again!!

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