2018 UPDATE:
The former ruin of Le Bokor Palace Hotel was recently bought by Sokha Hotels and Resorts, completely renovated and is now open as a resort as this article in the Khmer Times explains. You can now even book a stay in the revamped colonial hotel on Booking.com, only it will set you back over $500 US/night! Just goes to show that places in Southeast Asia change fast and you have to visit them while you can!
Original Article:
When visiting Cambodia there is a well-trodden path of historical sites: lines of tourists tentatively explore the barren corridors of Tuol Sleng Torture Museum and amble timidly around the Killing Fields, groups jostle for the best view of Angkor Wat’s imposing silhouette as it is illuminated by sunrise and queue for photographs alongside the weathered stones of Ta Phrom.
If you are looking for a route less worn by the burgeoning tourism industry, for a site refreshingly free from tour operators and entrance fees, look no further than Bokor Hill Station!
Backpacker, Lottie Butler, explores…
The skeleton of what was once Bokor Hill Station is spread across the undulating terrain of a Cambodian mountaintop, its various buildings nestled amongst thick, lush grasses and shrouded in rain-heavy cloud.
The station was built in the 1920s by the French, designed to provide the colonisers with a sanctuary from the scorching temperatures and perceived insalubrities of lowland Cambodia. Complete with a post office, church, palace hotel and casino, it was an oasis of western decadence for maladjusted European settlers.
However, less than thirty years later, at the close of World War II when the French began their retreat from Asia, the colonial town gradually became obsolete.
It was abandoned for good in the 1970s as the surrounding lands became swept up in the revolution, and for the next decade, Bokor was a battleground, embroiled in the fierce and unforgiving guerrilla fighting between the Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese. Once a hive of upper-class elegance and colonial pomp, now only a war-torn shell remains, left poignantly untouched.
When I arrived in the sleepy, riverside town of Kampot, situated a stones throw away from the beachside city of Kep, I primarily wanted to relax and unwind. Having spent the obligatory few days touring sites of genocide in Phnom Penh, I needed some headspace.
My main reason for deciding to join a trip to Bokor Hill Station, which consisted of a two-hour trek to and from, was the appealing prospect of some exercise rather than visiting a site of historical interest.
The trek certainly did not disappoint. Our guide, an ex-guerrilla fighter, seemed to bound effortlessly upwards, but for the rest of us ,it was a tough, sweaty slog to reach the 3540ft peak. More accustomed to plodding along the well-maintained, well-worn tracks of North Wales, this unforgiving scramble through the jungle was a muscle-burning challenge.
However, despite roasting under a thick canopy of forest, struggling up near vertical inclines and grasping makeshift wooden handrails alive with ants, it was a challenge I enjoyed. Our group of six, a scratched and sweaty mess, eventually emerged through an opening in the undergrowth onto a road, where a jeep was waiting to drive us the remaining distance to the hill station.
Gulping in the revitalising temperance of the mountain air and relishing in the cloud cover we trundled across the mountain for about half a mile. The entrance to the station was refreshingly understated: no entrance fees, no information signs and no tour operators. In fact, I hardly noticed we had arrived.
We pulled up outside a small ranger station and sat on the steps for lunch, surveying the remnants of the old colonial town: the crumbling stones were half submerged in the hillocks of the mountaintop, protruding sadly through a veil of rainy mist.
Whilst eating, our guide told us his story: his parents were killed in 1977 by the Khmer Rouge, following which he hid in the mountains that surround Bokor, surviving alone for two years. He was then discovered, recruited by the North Vietnamese and forced to fight the Khmer Rouge.
Listening to his tale it was hard to comprehend that on the same terrain that he once fought for his life in a bloody battle, he now casually leads small groups of backpackers.
We were given an hour left to our own devices, free to explore the eerie ghost town. I roamed around the crumpled buildings slowly, trying to guess the previous function of each rubble-strewn, bullet-peppered ruin and to imagine what histories those stones must have witnessed. The palace, unmistakably the centrepiece of the town, is set apart from the rest of the debris.
Though now only a weathered shadow of its former self, the structure still resonates with imposing grandeur and has an aura of long-lost splendour.
The entrance opens directly onto what must have been a ballroom: a lofty, arched ceiling, elegantly curved bay windows and a majestic fireplace that faces a spacious dance floor.
Standing on the cracked and chipped tiles, which were covered in a thick carpet of dust, I merely had to close my eyes to picture the French aristocracy circling with wine glasses and canapés.
From the ballroom, I ventured to the guestrooms, the balconies, the roof and the kitchens: no room was out of bounds. Exploring the cavernous insides of the decaying palace felt like walking through history itself – a site moulded only by the past and not yet sanitised by tourism.
As the time came for us to leave, the prospect of coaxing shaky, aching legs down some 3000ft of rocky, unstable mountainside was unappealing , to say the least.
Unfortunately, the option of a jeep ride to sea level was out of the question: the site has been loaned to a Chinese company and under the guise of health and safety, tourists are not permitted to use the road leading up to Bokor – a restriction more likely to be due to the somewhat furtive redevelopments taking place.
Rumours abound that they are planning to repair the old hotel and to develop a modern casino and restaurant complex. If so, it may be that the histories embedded in the shell of what was Bokor Hill Station will soon be lost to commercial growth – a very sad prospect.
By Lottie Butler.
Not really that interesting 🙂 Great view though
Visited Bokor Hill recently but the highlight was the murals we discovered in the abandoned buildings nearby
I went last month. I reckon the abandoned buildings nearby were better. The church was super cool.
Awesome place! There’s a valley on the other side which was full of mist when we were there (2014) and made it feel like you were in the clouds
Was there in June so should be there still!!
Been last March. Still the same. Bizarre but wicked place and the drive to it is epic!
Took this in 2014. Someone had begun restoring the main hotel. To what end, I have no idea. However the black church and other buildings were all still in a state of disrepair.
We loved it! Such a good drive up through the clouds
I went at the start on the year and the view from the roof was stunning! One of my favourites
Haven’t they built a new massive hotel up near that. I was there last year….mad little ghost town. Brilliant bike ride for anyone in that area.
The casino has been completed and is a monstrosity, but that’s just one small part of the whole new city that they are planning to build up there in the ‘National Park’. So I’d suggest visiting sooner rather than later. We were lucky to hear the gibbons howling from the jungle in the morning, which was a sheer delight. Stunning views. Do take a jumper…it’s cold at the top!
I was there in April of this year…the renovations had ground to a halt and you were free to explore the whole building…spent a good hour getting lost going up and down the many staircases and corridors. Would be wonderful to see the restoration completed.
Can’t go inside any more unfortunately. They’ve cordoned it off for renovation :/
Can I ask the name of the company you trekked with? I’ve heard of your tour guide before and would love to speak to him; I’m heading to Kampot this weekend to do some research on the history, as I’m also horrified by the incongruous developments.
Would be gold dust if you could remember the name of the company! Thank you!
I was there Feb 2012 and the construction of the new casino was ongoing. The story I was told is that there is $1 Bn being spent to make the road, casino and hotel with a yacht harbor at the bottom. There is also a railroad being constructed from Sihanoukville where there is a big push to make the airport international to fly the tourists straight in.
The money is coming from Chinese who have a Cambodian connection and lots of cash to throw around. In Sihanoukville, some Russians purchase a 99 year lease on an island just offshore and have already erected a huge bridge which no one is allowed to go onto.
Funny how communists are really just a lot of money hungry gangsters waiting to steal anything they can from the people they represent.
We all I can say is, sad,sad,sad… My sister and I touring this lovely country and was given a guided tour. The approach to the base of the mountain looks like a corporation flower bed display like the ones in England. uniformed rows of he same purpal flower beds and a brand new check point which promptly requested $2 per car visit. Being a girl from Lancashire this was just a very large building site, nothing of beauty remains. It has fully been taken over by some big corporate building and turned into what I can only describe as a holiday camp from hell… At the top we where given a guided tour of the old Hill Station and this just looked like a deralict site with a car park on the top, lots of local people seemed to be sitting around having picnics and again no view could be seen. The one thing of merit was our encount with a party of Vietnam lady monks and they allowed us to take pictures of them around the little temple. I don’t know about the lush jungle but we saw no paths that could be leisurely walked along.
Confirming John’s comments. I was there in February 2012 and it is a construction site, The road going up is now modern and wide and the place is overrun with vans transporting tourists from Kompot and people travelling on their own.
Still worth a visit and Kompot is rapidly changing with more restaurants open and more people visiting.
nice!
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
There’s a road up to the top of the hill now, and a huge complex which consists of a casino, hotel, housing, it’s huge and not very good looking, horrible 90’s architectural, aluminum cladding etc. In the future there’s going to be a cable car, more housing, more entertainment complexes.
I went up there about 6 months. not sure what it would be like today!
John
nothing left of the “ghost town”. there is a big casino and big ass hotel build in the middle of the national park. Construction workers are living in the ghost town. its a shame that this is where we are going.. if you’re in kampot go on the sun set tour its worth your money.. At least is was a year ago…
Too late for ghost town…put in a great road and it all changes!
A sad remnant of its former self, leased to the Chinese who are tearing down the old buildings, building trams, and constructing casinos. One can only hope 100 years from now the ruins of 21st Century Chines casinos attract visitors.