25 - 26 December 2014
In the afternoon of Christmas day we left the ridiculous traffic of Phnom Pehn and headed south to the quiet riverside town of Kampot. After a plesent 3.5 hour minivan ride on a surprisingly smooth road, we made it to our hotel, Champeysor Guesthouse, early evening. Our room is one of most interesting we have had with a tree and the smallest bathroom yet, but at only $20 a night it wasn't too bad:
 A support column decorated as a tree? |  I kept hitting my butt against the sink while showering. |
The next day we signed up for a tour that includes a trip to Bokor National Park, lunch at a waterfall, and a sunset boat ride down the Teuk Chhou River.
First Bokor National Park that has an interesting history. In the 1920's the French colonists built a resort at the top of Bokor Mountain which was abandoned in 1972, as Khmer Rouge took over the area. Khmer Rouge actually kept control on the mountain in the 1990's when they finally disbanded. At this point the road up the mountain, along with the buildings put up by the French, were in ruins making the only way up the mountain being trekking or riding a dirt bike up the destroyed road. However, in 2007 the Cambodia leased the land for 99 years to a Chinese conglomerate for $100 million for them to build condos, restaurants, hotels, a casino, a roadway, even a cable car running up the mountain. Anyway...the road has been built and the hotel / casino has opened.
The tour bus drove us up the mountain and stopped as some of the ruins of the French resort:
First Bokor National Park that has an interesting history. In the 1920's the French colonists built a resort at the top of Bokor Mountain which was abandoned in 1972, as Khmer Rouge took over the area. Khmer Rouge actually kept control on the mountain in the 1990's when they finally disbanded. At this point the road up the mountain, along with the buildings put up by the French, were in ruins making the only way up the mountain being trekking or riding a dirt bike up the destroyed road. However, in 2007 the Cambodia leased the land for 99 years to a Chinese conglomerate for $100 million for them to build condos, restaurants, hotels, a casino, a roadway, even a cable car running up the mountain. Anyway...the road has been built and the hotel / casino has opened.
The tour bus drove us up the mountain and stopped as some of the ruins of the French resort:
 Abandoned Catholic Church  Abandoned Casino / Hotel |  View from top of mountain with Gulf of Thailand in the background.  View from casino / hotel balcony |
Next lunch at a waterfall that wasn't flowing to much since it is the dry season, but it was still beautiful:
 |  |
Finally the sunset boat ride:
 Trying a new beer before the boat ride.  |  Boat that e were supposed to take, but with confusion we boarded a different one and I didn't take a picture.  |
 |  |  |
After sunset the boat pulled up to some bushes on the side of the river where there was a bunch of fireflies. The interesting thing about these fireflies is that they all blinked on and off together. It wasn't possible to get a picture, but it was pretty cool.
After the boat ride we ate some pizza at Happy Pizza that was actually good. This town of Kampot has a lot of ex-pats living here so there are many restaurants catering towards westerners making it a pretty good place to eat.
Tomorrow we leave Kampot and head to Kep for a couple of days before headed to the beaches of Sihanoukville.
After the boat ride we ate some pizza at Happy Pizza that was actually good. This town of Kampot has a lot of ex-pats living here so there are many restaurants catering towards westerners making it a pretty good place to eat.
Tomorrow we leave Kampot and head to Kep for a couple of days before headed to the beaches of Sihanoukville.
RSS Feed
