Bokor National Park

---

Fri 12th October

Today we went to the Bokor National Park in Cambodia which is in the Kampot area. Essentially it is a disused hill station that was built firstly for the King, he had a palace the size of a bungalow (it was hard to get materials up there) and then the French built a town further up with hotel, casino etc to get away from the heat further down. It is now a bit derelict looking but we got to look around which was nice, it is where the film Ghost Town was filmed. The fun bit was the drive to the top, although the road was tarmac it had now washed away with a lot of pot holes etc which led to a bumpy, uncomfortable ride in the back of a pick up - it took three hours to get there but was worth it and the views were outstanding. Oh, forgot to mention the drive was 30km up!

After doing some exploring with the guide we had some lunch, then more exploring, got wet in one of their 30 min storms then drove back down - another 3 hours! It stopped raining as we moved further down the mountain. The driver was pretty skillful to negotiate the terrain he did. The vegetation up the mountain is made up of a vast rainforest which was an experience, the noises and smell couldn’t be described. The trees were awesomely tall and all very thick and compacted. Our guide informed us of the plants and trees that were edible. There were a fair few monkeys that we saw on the way up. Apparently there is also wild boar, bears and tigers but we didn’t see them, in fact no one has but they have been caught on camera.

The buildings at the top were only abandoned in 1976 after the Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese troops had finished fighting up there, the inclement weather which id terribly damp has taken hold and the architecture has also been looted - shame.

The day was topped off by a Khmer meal in the local town.

---

Photos

Typical bridge in Cambodia!
Dave's joinery - guaranteed to last!

Five star hotel on French Hill station
Not so Five star now. Ghost Town was filmed here??