Advertisement
Published: March 22nd 2006
From Sihanoukville we travelled inland to Kampot, a small riverside town that serves as a base for exploring the nearby Bokor National Park. We didnt think that highly of Kampot but our trip to Bokor made it all worth while.
We set off on the back of a 4WD up the Bokor mountain and into the jungle. Walking through the trees was crazy - it was more a mad bush bashing session than a quiet walk and we emerge covered in scratches and with holes in our clothes. We also managed to see some crazy birds and spiders that I certainly wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley - they were bigger than my outsretched palm!
Not such a fan of the bugs.
We rested by a set of falls, which despite the lack of water (being dry season) were very picturesque and fun to climb behind, ifnot a little slippery.
The abandoned hill station itself was the highlight though. From the Black Palace and King's residence we had awesome views down the jungle clad hills and out to sea. We could even just make out Vietnam's Phu Quoc island on the horizon.
Exlporing the old casino was something else, all it needed was Jack Nicholson and some creepy music! It seemed that the minute we arrived the clouds moved in making it very surreal and haunting. Climbing around was lots of fun and we could see signs of its former glory as a French retreat, as well as the bullet holes which marked its use during the Khmer Rouge days and Civil War.
The casino stands on a cliff and looking over the edge we stared straight down into impenetrable jungle hiding amongst the clouds. Awesome.
Back in the truck we headed down the mountain - fantastic scenery but very sore on the behind, and were releaved when we traded it in for an old fishingboat for the remainder of the journey. We then sailed back along the coast and up the river into town, watching the sun set behind Bokor as we floated.
An exhausting day, we went to bed sunburnt, scratched and aching and looking forward to finally seeing Phnom Penh without stomach bugs to hinder us this time.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.129s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 13; qc: 45; dbt: 0.063s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
