Scam Central

After a night in Bangkok where we indulged in a streetside pad thai and some beers on Khao San Road, we took a cheap bus to Aranya Prathet, the border town near the Cambodia, and hopped in a tuk tuk towards the border. So far, so good.... but of course a scam was waiting just around the corner, when we arrived at a fake border station, selling overpriced visas. *sigh* Of course, there was a 'processing fee' but, with no idea about whether or not we could actually get a visa further on, we ended up bargaining them down to about an extra $5 each. Irritated, hot a sweaty, we headed onwards and crossed the border, and on the way met some friendly Brits who were also facing scam after scam... Their story made me a feel a little better about ours, so here it is!

After having bought a ticket one way from Bangkok to Siem Riep in Cambodia, they decided to get off the bus on the Thai side of the border, having suspicions that it was a 'scam bus' that would deliver them to a certain hostel in Siem Riep. Sure enough, the driver confided, "shhh! This is SCAM BUS!! hahahaaaa." Feeling pretty good about themselves, they headed on to the border, from where they intended to get a shared taxi to Siem Riep. Instead, we all ended up on a bus (due to lack of numbers for the taxi), for which they had to pay a further $9. They then discovered it was the same bus that they had got off on the other side of the border, with the same people, but for which they had handed in their tickets. And the hostel it was linked to was in fact the same hostel they had booked into already! Wound.

Anyway, we finally arrived, found our room had been given to someone else, so checked in to another hostel and went for some well deserved cheap beers and food. I'd forgotten about the stress involved in this 'backpacking' malarkey!