Bokor Hill Station
Trip Start
Nov 26, 2006
1
4
37
Trip End
Feb 12, 2007
Kampot,
Cambodia
Saturday, December 2, 2006
30 km of the worst road I've ever driven on, in fact quite possibly the worst road I've ever seen. I've tramped on better roads than that one! Has to be seen to be believed. Still, our friendly guest house owner had told the driver to save the front seat of the pickup for us (sometimes it's good being big ;)), so we got to sit in moderate comfort. None of the others in the crowd seemed to mind though - sitting outside in the dust & burning sunshine seemed to appeal to them - it's always nice when everyone is happy :)
We stopped on the way up at Black Palace. It was once the king's holiday retreat and was certainly something special in it's day. Awesome views down over the bay from his veranda. It all came crumbling down with the civil war though, so it's been more or less abandoned since the beginning of the 70's
26. Bokor casino
. Amazing how 30 years of disuse can bring so much ruin.A quick walk in the jungle was next on the cards. Here I was most taken by the similarities with wandering through the bush in NZ. The jungle up there wasn't much different from the rain forests back home. Sure, some of the plants are different (and bigger), and somewhere out there were monkeys, spiders, scorpions, snakes and tigers, and maybe the odd land mine or two. But it was easy to forget that and feel at home wandering along the beaten path. Odd, very odd.
Up at the top it was a quick curry for lunch and then the mysterious Bokor Hill Station Hotel. Felt kind of eerie. The whole place was build by the french early in the 1900's. The temperature up there (at just on 1000m) was a bit cooler and you have a great view over the surrounding countryside. In more recent years, it was coveted by both the Khmer Rouge and then the Vietnamese, with numerous gunfights taking place in the surrounding hills. With clouds boiling up the cliffside, the whole thing felt a little surreal really.
Then it was back to the pickup and down the hill again. Highlight of the day was definitely the sunset boat ride back to the guest house
26. Main highway to Bokor hill station
. That felt like Cambodia for some reason - probably too many Vietnam war films when I was younger :)Our guesthouse is great - River View Guesthouse - US$5 per night for a double with fan. Owner is really friendly and helpful, and the restaurant has some good dishes (although we haven't been willing to try the "Chicken Shake & Butter" or the "Ribs float on oil", we did try for "Stir fried crab & Mr Suo" but evidently they had no crab that day).
We're taking a lazy day in Kampot today, then it's off to Phnom Penh at 7.30 in the morning. Next time we use the 'net will probably be in Siem Reap (near Angkor Wat).
