Bokor Hill Station (South Cambodia) – 4. Journey, Day 1

Day 1 (Phnom Penh – Bokor Hill Station)

After picking up my Honda Degree 250 from Lucky! Lucky! at 930am, I filled up petrol at one of the petrol kiosks found near the Central Market. Getting out of Phnom Penh was an easy affair, I headed for Pochengtong road and continued west for Highway 4.

I reached Kampot town at 12pm and decided to break for lunch at Ta Eou restaurant. Built on stilts, the restaurant commands a glorious view of Prek Kampong Bay. Two cans of drinks and one plate of seafood fried rice later, I was ready to go. The time was 1pm.

In less than an hour, I found my way to the entrance of Bokor Natural Park. There were some wildlife photos exhibits and a souvenir stall near the ticketing booth. At the ticketing booth, I handed US$5 over to an old lady who asked if I was going to spend the night at the training center. I nodded my head. She paused for a moment and informed me that I would need two hours to reach the training center. I could not help feeling that she was keeping something from me. Scenes from The Shining flashed in my head.

After a rather grueling ride and not before dropping my motorcycle twice, I reached the top of Bokor Hill. Since there was still some day light, I made my way to the waterfall. I was unable to get a good view of the waterfall but decided against making the tricky descent to the bottom. Honestly, with no souls in sight, I was a little scared and hoped to find the training center before the sky darkened.

If it was not for the breeze which blew the mist away just when I was riding pass the training center, I would have missed the building. Glad to be able to settle down for the day, I quickly got myself a bed and had an even quicker freezing shower. Dinner was a steaming bowl of instant noodles and a can of Coca-Cola. The rest of the night was spent at the foyer reading amidst the rolling mist of Bokor Hill.

Cambodia, road-to-kampot
Highway 3 – Road to Kampot

Cambodia, lunch-at-kampot
Lunch with a view at Ta Eou Restaurant, Kampot

Cambodia, wildlife-bokor-natural-park
Wildlife found in Bokor Natural Park

Cambodia, road-up-bokor-hill
Narrow road up Bokor Hill

Cambodia, road-on-bokor-hill
Road on Bokor Hill

3 thoughts on “Bokor Hill Station (South Cambodia) – 4. Journey, Day 1

  1. You are right, Conrad. Sometimes I feel I might misrepresenting the terrain as I usually wouldn’t have the mood to take a photograph when going through bad stretches.

    Anyway, heard that Bokor Hill are undergoing some major revamps. Any recent news?

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