BOKOR HILL STATION

'Bokor Hill Station' is an abandoned French town built in 1922 high upon Bokor Hill, just outside the town of Kampot, southern Cambodia. It was used as the location for the 2002 film, ''City of Ghosts'' and the 2004 Film R-Point.

Contents

History

Modern Day

History

The town was built as a resort by the colonial French settlers to offer an escape from the humidity and general insanity of Phnom Penh. The centrepiece of the resort was the grand Bokor Palace Hotel & Casino, complemented by shops, a post office, a church and the Royal Apartments. For those who wish to see something other than the hustle and bustle of Phnom Penh and the breathtaking Angkor Wat, Bokor is an excellent third option for a sightseeing adventure in Cambodia. It is also an important cultural site, showing how the colonial settlers spent their free time.

★ Timeline of Hill Station [1]

★ Bokor Travel Guide

Modern Day

Now abandoned, most of the buildings are still standing and the hotel in particular can still be explored. The strategic importance of the location is underlined by the fact that the Cambodian authorities maintain a Ranger Station on the site, and this doubles as a youth hostel with basic dorms and cooking facilities for those intrepid souls who make their way up here. The only other "inhabited" building on the site is a small temple. There is also a waterfall which tends to be dry in high season and in full flow during rainy season - hence few tourists ever see it in full flow, as travelling up the hill to Bokor is highly inadvisable in rainy season.
Today the site is beginning to attract significant numbers of tourists. Reaching the top of Bokor Hill requires a 32km grind from sea-level to the top of the 3000ft peak up a broken road that is barely passable under optimum conditions and takes 3 hours to complete in either direction. Most travellers hire a local driver-guide and travel on the back of a motorbike or in a 4x4. It is possible for the more intrepid travellers to hire their own vehicle in Kampot and tackle the road themselves.