Bokor National Park

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.

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.

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 and a new wing with nicer private rooms with all night power and hot water for a minimal fee for those intrepid souls who make their way up here and plan to stay overnight. The Rangers are very friendly and helpful. 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 traveling 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 3540ft peak up an old road (currently being repaired) that takes 1.5 hours to complete. Most travelers hire a local driver-guide and travel on the back of a motorbike or in a 4x4. It is possible for the more intrepid travelers to hire their own vehicle in Kampot and tackle the road themselves. Overnight accommodations are available at the ranger station on top for those who want to see the amazing views than can be seen in the late afternoon or early morning when the thick fog rolls in from the coast. Bring flash lights even during day time for exploring the hidden passages of the casino. Remember to bring warm clothing as it is much cooler then the lower valleys.

The site is owned by the government but is now under 99 year lease to the Sokimex Group who are undertaking to relay the road and redevelop the site, repairing the old hotel and casino along with new buildings (hotels, hospital, restaurants, golf clubs etc). The project was announced on Jan 19th 2008, road construction is underway and expected to take 30 months at a cost of $21 million USD, during which time access for tourists maybe intermittent. The subsequent re-development is budgeted at $1 billion USD over the next 15 years after which a further application may be submitted to create a larger Bokor city, the plans for which are unknown.