Getting into Cambodia means you either get taken for a ride or become very vigilant unfortunately. As a previous commenter says, it’s not as bad going via air.

I didn’t know the scams at all going in (didn’t do research as lots of us don’t) but they just seemed so obvious and once you realised you’ve been done once, your guard is up on all the others so they tend to fail.

You’re lucky you had a cell phone that worked out there to call the hotel. The scam there was him dropping you off next to a tuk tuk (friend of the driver) who would get extra money you don’t have to pay out of it.

Please don’t tell people not to come to Cambodia though (but educate them on the scams). I spent my first days there absolutely bitter too but it really is a wonderful country and the non-border people I found were very nice.

Don’t write off going back to BKK via air too, it’s not that much more expensive (it’s a 40 minute flight) and you save a day and potentially a lot of hassle.

After he had a cig we continued on and the driver took a phone call and started crying. I offered him a tissue and he refused. Once he got off the phone he said something I couldn’t quite understand but I clearly heard him say Mother and Doctor. I didn’t respond as I was sure that was BS. Later on another phone call he was laughing and I heard him say the name of two more cities on our itinerary and got the feeling he was talking about us. (the man who arranged the cab had asked where we were going after Cambodia).

When we got to Siem Reap the driver took us to the wrong hotel and a man there said our hotel was far away and would take a long time to get to. I Told him I didn’t care how long it took I had already paid for the room and that the driver Had better take us there. it was at this point I pulled out my cell phone and called the hotel so they could give directions directly to the driver.

The man from the hotel said that wouldn’t be needed said something in Khmer to the driver and he took us to our hotel, which was about five minutes down the road. I certainly won’t be coming back and I will tell anyone who asks never to come.

Other than that, looking forward to visiting Angkor Wat tomorrow. I am having the hotel book our bus to return to Bangkok.

If I go back to Cambodia (and I intend too, as it’s a great place to visit), I’ll refer back to your tips in regards to the airport.

Even if I went back there and knew what I was doing (I half did last time as they aren’t subtle/skilled about conning you), they’d try the same tricks over again.

I believe you can get some scams at the airports too, so it’s not necessarily an all in one answer as it may initially seem.

The student idea could work but again you could get a fake student (which is typical in Asia).

I personally still say go for it, just do it in early daylight as it’s easier to deal with issues when you can see what’s going on around you. Plus even if things get bad, they make awesome stories after.