Day 95: Scooter away

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Today we rented some scooters (mopeds) and headed to Bokor National Park. The real adventure was taking a go at navigating the Cambodian roads. The good thing for me is Kampot is way less congested than Siem Reap. It was about a 30 minute ride to the national park and then 45 minutes winding up to the 1 kilometer peak. The curves were great training ground for learning to steer and the almost empty road was great for going at my own pace and seeing the view points and trees. The first stop Povokvil waterfall. During monsoon season, the water fall appears to be almost a horseshoe with many levels and drop ins. Now in dry season, there were two small trickles. It was still a great stop because you could hike in the river bed and around the fall area. The rocks were weathered to match the water flow. The rocks in the river were MASSIVE. It is crazy to think of them ever completely submersed in water. The other area that is interesting in the park are all these abandoned buildings from when the French were protectates of Cambodia. During their time here, they build a church, houses, lookouts, hotels and casinos which were all abandoned after they left and again after the Khmer Rouge took over. It was pretty eerie to walk through some of the buildings as the mist came over the mountains. In one building, there was a room which butterflies had taken over. Literally, hundreds of black and blue butterflies perched on the walls and circling the room. We made it safely back down and returned to our hostel excited with the new found freedom of 16 years getting a license realizing we could scooter through this part of the country.

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