Bokor Hash

Avid readers may remember that we've already been to Bokor in February. For a quick recap - Bokor mountain sits near the sleepy town of Kampot, about 2.5 hours drive south of Phonm Penh. Atop Bokor is an abandoned French resort, complete with casino, church and other basic amenities.

Anyway, last weekend, the Hash organised a trip to Bokor. Here's the ranger station where we stayed:


Activities included

• a Full Moon Hash - a run through the villages at about 9pm at night. We woke up all the dogs and all the Cambodians came out to make sure we weren't stealing anything.
• Bokor Mountain Hash - a 6km run stopping at all the scenic sites at the top of Bokor

• Saturday night party - The organisers had arranged for us to have a party on the second floor of the old casino. It was a bit hard to see what we were eating by candle light and there were no toilet facilities (the caterers said they had organised a "toilet", only to be shown the casino's original lavatories with plumbing to goodness knows where), but it was fun if a bit spooky. It was only the smoke from the fire, where the plastic rubbish was being burnt Cambodian style, that drove me away back to base camp, where the party continued with loud cambodian pop music and dancing.

(Casino during the day)

• Recovery run - I didn't think I was going to make it but I'm glad I did. We went to this pretty pagoda

and saw a monkey which like to be patted. It was strange to touch his hands - just like people hands. Bokor is really lovely but I don't think I can handle the bone shaking ride it takes to get there again. There are road works in progress and word is that Sokimex (a petrol company) has bought the rights to redevelop the area into a soul-destroying modern day resort and casino, so it might not stay like this for much longer.

Cambodia - the first exciting installment!

After Phnom Penh, we took a bus down to the quite town of Kampot. This town was once known for its amazing pepper (only some of which remains), then later for supporting the Khmer Rouge after they were kicked out of government, and now as an interesting, but mostly undiscovered tourist spot. We decided it was quiet enough here that we could go for the ultimate in cheap, flexible transport - hired motorbikes. It was a good choice.

Hooray for our mosquito nets.

On the first afternoon we took the advice of our Lonely Planet guide and heaped out to a small village near some caves. It didn't take long for some of the local kids to come riding along beside us, offering to be our guides. We made it very clear that we would only pay one kid to guide us (the one who came to us first), and one to look after our bikes, but about ten of them followed along anyway, clearly hoping we would change our minds. It was a fun adventure, walking, climbing and crawling through the limestone(?) caves in the side of a hill. There was once a small buddhist temple carved into a part of the cave, but we were reliably informed by our little tourguide wanna-bes that it had been destroyed by Pol Pot. I'm not too sure why - probably just another random act of destruction. After our little adventure, we drove off, only to discover that they had syphoned a few litres of petrol from Blackie's tank! Apparently my tank was harder to access than his. These people will try anything to eek out a few extra dollars from tourists - such is the economic inequality between us and them.

Next day was an organised tour to Bokor National Park, on top of a nearby mountain. The hilltop station on the top of the mountain has a strange and eclectic history. Early last century, the king built a Royal Palace half way up the mountain - a spot apparently chosen for its view of the surrounding countryside stretching to the coast. It was a pretty stark palace by royal standards, just the essentials like a residence, kitchen, and a building for a smallish selection of his concubines. After all, he couldn't be expected to be away from his concubines for long, could he? The buildings have since been looted for their building materials.

Our guide - who took us through the forest on a recently found path by ex-Khmer Rouge- insisted on carrying this massive knife to protect us from wild boar.

At the top of the mountain, the French subsequently built a very small township. It had all the essentials - a church, a hotel, a small dam, and of course, a casino. That's right, a casino. It must have been quite a grand building in its day - 3 stories and commanding views. French colonialists came from near and far to use it as a place to relax. There was even a cliff that was conveniently located nearby so that they could throw themselves off if they lost too much money! That's not a joke, it actually happened. It's now in ruins, but makes for an intuiging tourist spot.

Being on the top of a mountain also made the Bokor hillstation an important strategic location in most of the wars fought in Cambodia in the later half of last century, and it saw several major battles. At various times it was held by the French, the Khmer Rouge, the Lon Nol government and the Vietnamese. Overall, an interesting trip soured only by the backside-bruising 2 hour trip by 4WD to get there - the road is in serious need of repair.

Our journey back to Phnom Penh was also interesting. It was organised through a friend of a friend (which is the way most business is done in Cambodia) - this is long distance travel Cambodian style. How many people do you think you can fit in a 11 person mini van? At one stage I think I counted 24, including the two on the roof. There were also 2 chickens and 2 buddhist shrines. That was an experience - but one I'm not sure I want to repeat too often.