Cambodian ghost town

Minivan transport in Cambodia - this one was going faster than our bus and looked to have the same amount of people
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A two hour taxi ride from Sihanoukville is a little town of Kampot. You have to take a taxi as there is no buses that currently ply this route - making for some interesting negotiations with taxi drivers. Share taxis are usually $US4 a person, with 6 passengers to a taxi. As there was no-one around when we were wanting to go we got upsold again to a whole taxi for $US20. (If you go in the morning you would get a real share taxi I think).  The most common form of transport around Cambodia we have seen is share minivans - as many as you can squash inside, then about the same amount of people perched on top!

Rach being scared of the spooky hotel
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After settling in to our guesthouse, we decided to have a swim at the Tau Choc rapids 8kms out of town. These were advertised by the guest house ''arranger'' as being very clean and beautiful. Well, you have to be pretty clean and beautiful to impress us spoilt kiwis, but it was fun scrambling over the rocks and cooling off in the pools.

We were trying to get our guide to tell us some ghost stories of the area...

The next day we went on a tour to the Bokor national park, the reason why most people come here. The Bokor mountain is the dominant feature in the area, and has a large plateau where the French built a mountain retreat to escape the hot season. It was a little village, including a church, police station and fancy hotel. After the French left in the 1950's it was used by the Cambodian elite who built a casino, and a palace for the King up there as well. Heavy fighting in the area with the Khymer Rouge in the 1970's saw the area abandoned, which has left some pretty spooky relics to be explored.

The road up to the hotel
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The highlight was the old French Hotel - it must have been very beautiful in its day, 4 stories high with many balconies and terrace areas where you can imagine them swanning about. It is built on a cliff with amazing views out to the sea, and a spectacular drop off where you can hear the jungle below you literally buzzing. Some of the original tiles and stone art work are still there, but the hotel is now just a shell, but with nearly all staircases and rooms intact for exploring. We also explored the old church, casino and the Kings Palace.

River cruise, with slash and burn agriculture on the hill sides
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We were trying to get our guide to tell us some ghost stories of the area, he wasn't specific but there is lots of potential as people who lost at the casino would throw themselves off the cliff in front of the hotel, and the fighting in the area cost many lives also.

Part of the fun of the tour was getting up to the mountain and back again - we went on a pick up truck, with 9 of us sitting on the back with a central pole to hold on to. The road was very bad - tarsealled long ago but this just served to erode the parts which weren't any longer, with large rocks strewn all over it. Two hours bouncing around on the back of the truck on the way up was enough, but on the way down we hit upon the idea of standing up. Easier on the backside, and more fun as you could really see how crazy the road is up front, and had to concentrate to ride the lurching platform, while keeping an eye out for over hanging branches. We saw some people making their way up independently in big four wheel drives and motorbikes, some more successfully than others.

Inside the hotel
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After this our tour included a ride down the river back to Kampot, a pleasant way to end the day.