Next stop was Kampot a riverside town about a 30 minute drive west from Kep. After checking in at my hostel, Titch’s place, I got chatting to an English girl, Sarah and her friend Amy, who had also just arrived. We decided that we’d hire a motorbike (with driver for Sarah and I) and head up to explore the nearby Boker Hill Station in Preah Monivong National Park.
The view over the Kampot River from the top of Titch’s hostel.
One of the main streets in Kampot.
Boker Hill Station was built but French colonial settlers who wanted to escape the heat and intensity of Phnom Penh. The French abandoned Boker in the 1940s, during the first Indochina War and then permanently in 1972 during the Rouge regime. The Khmer Rouge became firmly entrenched at Boker and it became one of their last strongholds up until the 1990s*.
The hill station is a gloriously atmospheric and eerie place primarily due to waves of mist that envelope the abandoned buildings and surrounding rainforest. We visited three main sites, the female Buddha, Boker Palace Hotel & Casino and the Roman Catholic Church. We also scrambled over and up some rocks for an amazing view across the park. The government have been developing the hill station and have built a massive and rather ugly casino together with a new hotel and golf course.
The female Buddha at Boker HIll Station.
Modern ‘development’ with the new casino complex at Boker Hill Station.
Catholic church at Boker Hill Station.
Catholic church at Boker Hill Station. Now you see it…
…now you don’t.
The abandoned Boker Palace Hotel and Casino.
The Boker Palace Hotel and Casino.
Mist rolls in across the rain forest at Boker Hill Station.
Amy proves that bunny ears are still funny!
Amy looking effortlessly glam on her motorbike riding back from Boker Hill Station.
Back of the bike selfie….sensible?!
The next day Sarah and I headed out with Kampot based Climbodia, a rock climbing and caving outfit run by a guy from Belgium called David. We were picked up by remorke at 8am and stopped on the way to pick up Dan, an English guy from Southampton. The final member of our climbing team, Ro from Dublin, joined us as the climb site.
Climbodia!
Getting the kit ready
Dan, Sarah and I, all kitted up and ready to go!
Our initial climb was an easy 40 meter scramble up the rock to our initial rest point. We then traversed via ferrata (steel cables fixed to the rock face) to our abseiling point down into the caves below. We then spent a good hour exploring and climbing between the different chambers of the caves. We ended our morning with three vertical climbs graded by our guides as ‘easy, medium and difficult’, however they were all pretty challenging in different ways!
Heading down into the caves.
The cave that we abseiled down into.
Caving selfie!
Checking out the stalactites and mites inside the cave.
Paintings inside the cave temple.
The cave temple.
Getting ready to start my second climb.
Midpoint through my second climb.
Nearly at the top of my second climb.
I decided to try for a fourth climb up one of the more difficult routes however I couldn’t even get up the first few meters! My arms were shot, shaking and weak. I couldn’t find or keep my grip let alone haul myself up and over the initial overhang. I asked one of the guides to demonstrate so I could try and mimic his handholds. He elegantly and effortlessly navigated the overhang with the oh-so-simple instructions of ‘just put your hand here, then here, then move your leg here’. Easy right! I tried again, failed again and admitted defeat. I was sweaty, dusty, bruised, a little bit bloody but very happy!
Sarah and Ro get started. The route on the right is the one that defeated me in the end. It looks pretty easy from afar!
That night, with new friends made, we celebrated with a few beers recounting stories of our victories and heroics on the rock face.
Team photo at the end of the day with our great instructors from Climbodia.
*Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokor_Hill_Station
Written from: WYCA Colombo, back in town after a brief visit to Kandy for my birthday!
The dining room at the YWCA in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Adventures in life, travel and teaching 