Bokor Hill Station
Trip Start
Nov 15, 2004
1
24
34
Trip End
Ongoing
Bokor, Cambodia
Wednesday, December 8, 2004
To get there, Simon and I, along with an American guy called Steve hired three trusty steeds along with drivers. Our form of transport, 250cc scramblers. This apparently is the most efficient way to get up the mountain due to the very rough terrain. The road comprised of a dirt track with millions and I mean millions of pot holes, it snakes its way around the mountain at quite a steep incline, journey time to the top.....2 hours!!
So with lunches packed in the rucksack along with a load of water, we were off. My bad luck with bikes seemed to carry on from my disaster in Na Thrang. I soon found out that I was sitting on this bike about to go up a huge mountain and I had nothing to hold on to. The other two guys were fine cause they had little bars which they hung onto, but through out the whole journey to the top and back down(over 4 hours in the end), I had to squeeze my legs real tight around my driver which, after a number of hours you start to feel your legs shaking and the inside of your legs feel really sore, the poor bloke must of felt like his arse was in a vice with how hard I was squeezing him.
After many bumps,twists and turns we finally got to the top, and what an amazing sight. Looking from what used to be the King Of Cambodia's Palace, we could see the coast of Cambodia leading out into the Gulf of Thailand, quite breath taking!!
After a wee break to take a few shots of the view and have a drink we were then off to the ghost town. In the distance and slowly getting closer was the casino and church. Riding up to it felt like we were in a scene from the 'Shining', the very strong wind was whistling through the buildings making it all very eerie. We stopped first at the church and went inside. On every single wall was graffiti in all different languages, we walked through to the main part and in front of us was a stone alter and more graffiti, quite a mad place to say the least. Next stop was the casino, we thought the church was eerie enough but this building definitely felt like it was out of a horror movie.Inside were numerous passages all with rooms leading off them. It had three floors, with a basement too which housed the kitchens and cellars. After navigating our way round the house we came upon the ballroom, you could really get a feel what it must of been like in the 1920's with the band playing and people dancing the Charleston. After lunch by a waterfall, we were off down the mountain again. We thought going downhill would be quicker and better, but this was not to be the case. Our bums from the ride up were feeling very sore and getting back down the mountain with all the bumps just made them twice as bad. Finally we made it back and literally for a number of hours it hurt to sit down.
After a quick pit stop back at the guesthouse, we went for a swim at a near by river/waterfall not far from Kampot. This is just what we needed after the momentous journey we had to endure. By the time we had freshened up, it was the evening. Our drivers suggested that we go with them into the villages and sample the local brew, palm wine. So we hopped back on the bikes and were taken to this idyllic place out of Kampot to watch the sunset and have a few glasses of palm wine to properly wind down after the days exploits. What a great day, one to remember from our adventures I would say!!
