I'm going to Bangkok next week and would like to spend a few days in Siem Reap. The flights I've found have been expensive, so I think I'll have to go via train and bus...any suggestions? I've heard the roads in Cambodia are a nightmare, especially in the rainy season...what should I expect? How long will it take?

As Bangkok Air has the only non-stop flights from Bangkok to Siem Reap, their flights re expensive. That is, inless you'll be flying at leat three legs with Bangkok AIr, then you can get the Discover Pass which costs US$80 for international legs and $US50 for domestic legs.

If you want/need to travel overland, the definitive website that tells you everythng you need to know about going overland is www.talesofasia.com Gordon has clear insrtuctions about the best ways to travel overland and info on how to avoid the common scams. Road conditions are updated regularly.

As Kathie mentioned, the Discovery Airpass from Bangkok Airways is a good bet for air travel. You can get the two international segment and then a third throwaway domestic segment for a total of $210 (US) plus 10% tax. Only available from a travel agent or one of their sales offices, not online.

president airlines (cambodian airline) also go's too siam reap via phenom phen (sp) .. it's a bit cheeper I reacently went too the airport (bkk) and saw they had walk up specials I think it was about 8000 baht round trip with free stopover in Phenom Phen

Thanks for the help everyone! I just got back from Thailand - all went smoothly...taleofasia.com was a HUGE help!

I'm also going Siem Reap / Bangkok RT.Has anyone done better than $250+ tax?

i suggested to someone that they do the discover pass with the 3rd leg as a throw away....$210 vs $250+

Buy the Bangkok Air Discovery Pass with BKK-REP for $80, REP-BKK for $80, and a "throw-away" $50 coupon. This is what I did last year. I made the throw-away BKK-CNX and could have used it anytime within a year, but I couldn't make another trip within that timeframe.

I'm leaving for BKK Oct. 27 and want to book my flight to Siem Reap now with a Discovery Pass because the flights are filling up for the date I need (Nov. 26). My travel agent (in the US) was unable to obtain the Pass for me. I e-mailed Bangkok Airways about this and they replied with an e-mail with phone numbers and e-mail address of US offices of BKK Air, none of which worked. Can anyone tell me how to get a Discovery Pass in the US?

I checked bangkokair.com just now and 5 of the 7 flights on Nov 26 have seats available. For an example return of Nov 29, 6 of 8 flights have availability. It's 4300 each way plus tax. That's $210.25 at today's exchange rate. The total with taxes is $264.40.

The website said that the Discovery Pass prices shown there exclude "taxes, airport departure fees, and other charges". I'd expect that the taxes + fees + charges would be at least the same, probably higher, for the three DP flights vs the roundtrip.

Or is the bangkokair website wrong and the taxes are simply 10% ? If that were the case then Bangkok Air would be paying at least $33 of taxes++ out of the $231 they collect for the pass. Or the government is giving them a break on the taxes.

The way I understand it is that for international flights the fuel surcharge is now $25 and insurance $2. For domestic flights it is $7.50 plus $2. Thus the Discovery Pass $80 fare becomes $105 and $50 is $59.50. So 2 international and 1 domestic tickets will now cost $264.50.

I assumed that the +++ added to the 8600 fare that I saw was airport fees and taxes but it is the insurance and fuel surcharge that Scotters mentioned.
Here are the itemized charges:
8600 for roundtrip airfare
165 for insurance
2050 for fuel surcharge
-----
10815

The insurance is US $2 per person per segment. That is a rate of just over 40 thb per usd. At that rate the roundtrip is about $270

MHRS, we just flew from Bangkok to Siem reap september 21-st for 120 us dollar one way (excluding ofcourse the departure tax paid at the airport). I don't remember exactly how much a return trip was, but it was definitely cheaper than if you would buy 2 one way tickets. We bought the tickets one day in advance at a travel agency in Bangkok and there were still many seats available but I guess

posted my message by accident, here is the rest...
...september is still low season. Also we didn't really try but I think that the agency would not have been unwilling to discount the ticket if we would have asked.

Check this out! CondeNast Traveler has a whole article devoted to LCC in Asia. (That's Low Cost Carriers)

Under Thailand they recommend Air Asia, which I have found to be the cheapest, and also Nok Air, and Thai Air Asia. Air Asia flies directly to and from Chiang Rai with fares from $199 B to $1,450 B. If you fly out on a weekday, it's only $199 - that's $4.97 each way!!

I'm flying between BKK and CM on Air Asia for about $20 each way. The article also lists all LCC for Asia which allows you to book fligths to other Asian cities cheaply.

Air Asia also is advertising 5000 free seats to Bali in an effort to encourage travelers to go there after the recent bombings.

Remember that these very low cost tickets exist but are capacity controlled. Last time they did a sale like that the cheap seats were gone within hours (minutes on some routes!). Also be aware that the low cost carriers are very rigid about luggage (15 kilo limit).

orgy7: i've just got an email from President Airlines that they are "currently suspending all its flights for all sectors".