Boker Hill station - Elephant Ranges

Trip Start Feb 26, 2007

Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of Cambodia Elephant Ranges, Cambodia
Thursday, June 7, 2007

We booked ourselves on a day trip up into the Elephant ranges to see the ghost town that used to be Boker Hill Station. It was built in the early 1920's by the wealthy French colonials wanting a secluded place to live. It was first deserted in the 1940's due to WWII. Wealthy Cambodiams and Japanese re-invested in the site in 1950 and the town was it's most affluent and popular during the 50's & 60's. It was taken over by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970's and they bricked in lower levels of the buildings and used it to hold their prisoners.

Boker Hill and surrounds

Boker Hill 3

Casino Basement - KR held prisoners here

Inside the hotel

Boker Hill and surrounds 2

Today it is the eeriest of ghost towns. The buildings are crumbling and are spread over the side and top of the hill. We were able to explore all the buildings at our liesure - Casino, hotel, church etc... Very creepy espevcially when the midday storm comes in and the fog covers the whole top of the mountain as far as you can see. The view without the fog is amazing you can see the whole Cambodian coastline and all the islands.

Johnny and the fog rolling in

The Casino 6

Cambodian southern coastline and islands

Johnny and the view

View of Cambodian coastline from the top 2

The big storm

View of Cambodian coastline from the top

To get to the top of the mountain we travelled in the back of a ute seated on a bench and holding onto a rail for dear life. The road used to be bitumin however was all broken up and a mix of dirt and mud and huge holes. A very painful bumby journey to the top but well worth it. It took over 2 hours in the 4WD jeep just to get up the 25 km.