across the border to siem reap

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so after an ass numbing 6 hours bus journey from bangkok, finally arrived at the bordertown on arrany prathet, or how ever it's spelt. for some reason all the westerners on the coach got off, maybe they wanted the full experience of being mithered by the tuktuk drivers or they were so worked up waiting to be scammed that they didn't belive the driver who, bless him was trying to tell them in thai that the bus went all the way to the border market. So there was just me and one other passenger who stayed on and we drove on whilst i watched from the safety of the bus while the tuk tuk drivers decended on them and picked them off one by one.....the border is a strange place, you go through the thai end and then find yourself on a wide road with shops and casinos on either side and the cambodian border at the end, you walk down one side to go in and the other side when you're coming out.
Once your through the cambodian side the fun starts. Taxi drivers decend on you with full force, I almost went with one who offered a taxi to siem reap for 1000 baht, which seemed ok. Luckily for me a guy from the tourist authority saved me, they wear red caps and have a badge with CTTDA on. After a big arguement over me which i understood not a word of, he got me in a minibus and took me to the bus station on the east of town, there i got in a bus for $6 all the way into the centre of siem reap. He told me the scam the taxi drivers do is to charge you 1000 baht, then take you to a town somewhere in cambodia then dump you there and tell you that it's siem reap and takes your money and goes, then another taxi driver comes along and tells you your not there and charges you 2000baht to take you to siem reap.
seim reap is a busy little place. Angkor is amazing the temples are beyond description, spent 2 days looking round them by hiring a tuk tuk. $15 for the first day to the farest ones on the grand circuit, and then $12 for the mini circuit. Spent a third day there going to the war museum. It's run by survivors of land mine accidents, and although it's really a lot of rusting tanks and field artillery pieces the guides will tell you the story behind how each one came to be captured or destroyed. there are also a lot of disarmed land mines and weapons you can have a hands on time with, so it's well worth a visit.
Next stop Battambang

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