I left Siem Reap on the 6th on a 10 am bus heading southeast to Phnom Penh, but got off three hours later at the small town of Kompong Thom, about halfway to Phnom Penh. I checked into a very nice hotel ($6/night and very comfortable; the budget hotels here in Cambodia are very good) and had a good lunch at the friendly and busy restaurant next door and about 2 left with a moto (a motorcycle taxi) heading for the Sambor Prei Kuk, about 20 miles and an hour's ride to the north. The ride was quite interesting and scenic, through the Cambodian countryside on dusty red roads. We passed several villages with no electricity and with wooden houses on stilts. There were few cars, but bikes and motorcycles and even a few ox carts. Sambor Prei Kuk is a pre-Angkorian site from the 7th century, a construction of what is called the Chenla Civilization. I spent about two hours there exploring the remains of brick temples in the forest. The temples are nothing to compare to Angkor, but the setting in the forest in the late afternoon was nice. One temple gateway was completely overgrown by a tree, the roots encompassing all the remnants of the arch of bricks. There were a few tourists there, but not many. I got back to town about 6 after an enjoyable ride back, passing lots of friendly kids. I was quite dusty from the ride and had to wash my shirt, shorts and daypack (and, of course, myself).. I had CNN on the television in my hotel room and stayed up till 11 watching it, including its live Sunday morning (in the U.S.) talk shows.
About 9:30 the next morning I left on a bus for Phnom Penh, reaching it after three hours after crossing a new bridge over the Tonle Sap River north of the city. I checked into the hotel I had stayed in last year, had lunch and then spent the afternoon at the National Museum, with its great collection of Khmer sculpture. It is a very nice museum, with a great courtyard where I relaxed after going through the musem until the museum closed at 5. I then walked along the riverfront, past the royal palace and then south along the Tonle Sap River. The Mekong flows into Phnom Penh from the northeast and splits into three branches, two heading southeast to Vietnam and the Mekong Delta and one heading northwest to the Tonle Sap lake. During the wet season the Tonle Sap River flows from Phnom Penh to the lake but during the dry season the flow is reversed, partially draining the lake.
I didn't do much the next morning and left on a 12:30 bus for Kampot on the coast. There are other things worth seeing in Phnom Penh, including the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, and the S-21 Museum, a former prison of the Khmer Rouge, but I was running out of time before my flight from Bangkok and had visited both places last year (and in 1994). Last year I had seven weeks to explore Laos and Cambodia and spent more than five of those weeks in Laos, leaving me only ten days for Cambodia. I spent that time visiting three places (Ban Long, Kratie, where you can see Mekong River dolphins, and Kompong Chom) in the northeast, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, with three days at Angkor. In 1994 I visited only Phnom Penh, a few sites outside Phnom Penh, and Siem Reap and the road via Battambang between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. They were the only places safe enough, and the road between the two cities wasn't entirely safe.
The bus ride south was quite comfortable on a very modern air-conditioned bus, but with loud and violent Asian (Chinese, I think, but dubbed into Cambodian) videos. We passed palm trees and rice fields and reached the coastal town of Kep about 4:30. In Kep we drove right along the oceanfront for a while and it was good to see the ocean again. Kep was a resort town in the 1960's and there are remains of big concrete houses destroyed in the war.
From Kep we drove further along the coast, but inland a bit, and reached Kampot about 5:15. I checked into another nice hotel and walked to the riverfront. Kampot is only a few miles upriver from the sea and has a very nice riverfront with a newly paved promenade lined with casuarina trees, one of which has almost completely succumbed to a strangler fig. On the other side of the street along the river are old French colonial buildings, in various states of disrepair for the most part, though some have been refurbished. The river here is quite wide, maybe 750-1000 feet, I think. In fact, I think it is an estuary. I walked along the riverfront promenade at dusk. There is an old French-era bridge to the north and further north a newer bridge. There were lots of people out on the riverfront at dusk. After it got dark I had dinner at a riverside restaurant in the garden of a colonial building now a hotel and restaurant.
I got up early the next morning and walked along the riverfront. There wasn't much activity except at the far southern end of the promenade, towards the sea, where four or five fishing boats, all painted green and maybe 40 feet in length, had tied up along the muddy bank and were off-loading fish. Actually, there wasn't much fish, mostly crabs, shrimp, calamari (and maybe octopus, as some of the water in the basins was very inky) and maybe even some lobsters. Great baskets were carried from the boats to the shore and the catch was being cleaned by several women in metal or plastic basins. It was all quite interesting to watch. Baskets were loaded onto motorcycles or onto motorized canoes for delivery upriver. The fishing boats headed downriver after off-loading, perhaps to return to the sea. Soon after 8 all the activity had ceased and the area was deserted except for the detritus of the market. I walked around town a bit afterward, mainly to see the old French colonial buildings in the old city center and then returned to my hotel for a late breakfast.
I spent most of the middle of the day relaxing at the hotel, which had a nice garden restuarant, and then about 3:30 took a moto about 5 miles north on another dirt road to Phnom Chhnork, a limestone hill ("phnom" means "hill") with a cave, Inside the cave is a small brick temple dedicated to Shiva dating from the 7th century, a construction of the Funan Civilization. Protected by the cave, it is well preserved, with a stalagmite about two feet high serving as the linga. Much longer and more impressive stalactites hang down from the cave's roof into the top of the temple. In the fields around the hill cows were grazing on the rice stubble. Patches of vegetables (onions were all I recognized) next to a pond were being watered by men and women with large (several gallons, I would guess) water buckets with spouts, which they toted between the pond and the vegetable patches using yokes on their shoulders. Back in town, I walked to the riverfront and watched the sun set into the hills to the west. The wind picks up in the afternoon and it is very pleasant along the river.
The next morning about 8 I left in a minivan heading to Bokor National Park in the hills to the west. Bokor Hill is 1080 meters, or about 3500 feet, in elevation. The French built a road up to the plateau on top in 1917-1921, using convict labor, and built a hill resort up there in the 1920's. It was abandoned twice, first in World War II, though the Japanese army was there, and then in 1972, due to the Khmer Rouge. The old road is being redone and is expected to be finished in five or six months, we were told by our guide. There is a plan to build five star hotels up there.
We drove only maybe 7 miles up the new road, to about 1600 feet, according to my altimeter, and began a beautiful walk through the jungle. The trail was a little steep in places, but it was a very enjoyable walk. There were 28 people in our group, but I was able to space myself so that I mainly walked alone. With so many hikers and the construction activity, there isn't much wildlife along the path, though I did hear birds and insects. We climbed for a little over an hour and a half, ascending about 1100 feet, to 2700 feet, about 800 feet below the plateau. From there we rejoined our vehicles and reached the ruins of an old casino on the plateau about noon. We looked around the four story building, with everything ripped out of it. There are even gouges in the cement walls where the electric wiring was ripped out. There is lots of bright orange lichen on the walls. We had lunch on the entry steps and then looked around some more. The backside of the casino has a terrace on the cliff facing the sea. You can stand on the cliff edge and hear the hum of insects and the chattering of birds below. Wispy clouds were shooting up the cliffs towards the plateau. Bokor is known for its cool weather and its fog. It wasn't foggy, but the cool breeze felt delightful. I walked all through and around the old casino, which was a battle scene when the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1979 and deposed the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge hung on in the jungles here longer than in some other places. I walked along the plateau, visiting some other deserted buildings and ending up at the old church. From there we boarded our vehicles again and headed down about 2 or 2 :30, with a shorter afternoon trek, less than an hour and a descent of about 800 feet.
We got back to Kampot about 4 and at 4:30 boarded boats for a very pleasant cruise up the river and then back. We went upriver for about 40 minutes, passing palm trees, both sugar palms and coconuts palms, riverside houses and green painted fishing boats. Small fish, maybe only two inches in length, jumped out out the way of the wake of our boat and at one point a whole school of them, scores of little fish, jumped out of the water brieflly in unison several times. We had good views of the Bokor Hills to the west, and watched the sun set over them shortly before 6 It was a very pleasant way to end the day. Our smiling boatman steered the boat with his feet on the rebar tiller while lounging to the side. Reaching the riverfront in Kampot about 6, I strolled along the promenade until dark and then had dinner in a riverside restaurant. I noticed the bright planet I had first noticed in the eastern sky just after sunset in Zanskar in September was still in the sky, though now far to the west in the sky after sunset.
About 9:30 the next morning I left on a bus for Phnom Penh, reaching it after three hours after crossing a new bridge over the Tonle Sap River north of the city. I checked into the hotel I had stayed in last year, had lunch and then spent the afternoon at the National Museum, with its great collection of Khmer sculpture. It is a very nice museum, with a great courtyard where I relaxed after going through the musem until the museum closed at 5. I then walked along the riverfront, past the royal palace and then south along the Tonle Sap River. The Mekong flows into Phnom Penh from the northeast and splits into three branches, two heading southeast to Vietnam and the Mekong Delta and one heading northwest to the Tonle Sap lake. During the wet season the Tonle Sap River flows from Phnom Penh to the lake but during the dry season the flow is reversed, partially draining the lake.
I didn't do much the next morning and left on a 12:30 bus for Kampot on the coast. There are other things worth seeing in Phnom Penh, including the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, and the S-21 Museum, a former prison of the Khmer Rouge, but I was running out of time before my flight from Bangkok and had visited both places last year (and in 1994). Last year I had seven weeks to explore Laos and Cambodia and spent more than five of those weeks in Laos, leaving me only ten days for Cambodia. I spent that time visiting three places (Ban Long, Kratie, where you can see Mekong River dolphins, and Kompong Chom) in the northeast, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, with three days at Angkor. In 1994 I visited only Phnom Penh, a few sites outside Phnom Penh, and Siem Reap and the road via Battambang between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. They were the only places safe enough, and the road between the two cities wasn't entirely safe.
The bus ride south was quite comfortable on a very modern air-conditioned bus, but with loud and violent Asian (Chinese, I think, but dubbed into Cambodian) videos. We passed palm trees and rice fields and reached the coastal town of Kep about 4:30. In Kep we drove right along the oceanfront for a while and it was good to see the ocean again. Kep was a resort town in the 1960's and there are remains of big concrete houses destroyed in the war.
From Kep we drove further along the coast, but inland a bit, and reached Kampot about 5:15. I checked into another nice hotel and walked to the riverfront. Kampot is only a few miles upriver from the sea and has a very nice riverfront with a newly paved promenade lined with casuarina trees, one of which has almost completely succumbed to a strangler fig. On the other side of the street along the river are old French colonial buildings, in various states of disrepair for the most part, though some have been refurbished. The river here is quite wide, maybe 750-1000 feet, I think. In fact, I think it is an estuary. I walked along the riverfront promenade at dusk. There is an old French-era bridge to the north and further north a newer bridge. There were lots of people out on the riverfront at dusk. After it got dark I had dinner at a riverside restaurant in the garden of a colonial building now a hotel and restaurant.
I got up early the next morning and walked along the riverfront. There wasn't much activity except at the far southern end of the promenade, towards the sea, where four or five fishing boats, all painted green and maybe 40 feet in length, had tied up along the muddy bank and were off-loading fish. Actually, there wasn't much fish, mostly crabs, shrimp, calamari (and maybe octopus, as some of the water in the basins was very inky) and maybe even some lobsters. Great baskets were carried from the boats to the shore and the catch was being cleaned by several women in metal or plastic basins. It was all quite interesting to watch. Baskets were loaded onto motorcycles or onto motorized canoes for delivery upriver. The fishing boats headed downriver after off-loading, perhaps to return to the sea. Soon after 8 all the activity had ceased and the area was deserted except for the detritus of the market. I walked around town a bit afterward, mainly to see the old French colonial buildings in the old city center and then returned to my hotel for a late breakfast.
I spent most of the middle of the day relaxing at the hotel, which had a nice garden restuarant, and then about 3:30 took a moto about 5 miles north on another dirt road to Phnom Chhnork, a limestone hill ("phnom" means "hill") with a cave, Inside the cave is a small brick temple dedicated to Shiva dating from the 7th century, a construction of the Funan Civilization. Protected by the cave, it is well preserved, with a stalagmite about two feet high serving as the linga. Much longer and more impressive stalactites hang down from the cave's roof into the top of the temple. In the fields around the hill cows were grazing on the rice stubble. Patches of vegetables (onions were all I recognized) next to a pond were being watered by men and women with large (several gallons, I would guess) water buckets with spouts, which they toted between the pond and the vegetable patches using yokes on their shoulders. Back in town, I walked to the riverfront and watched the sun set into the hills to the west. The wind picks up in the afternoon and it is very pleasant along the river.
The next morning about 8 I left in a minivan heading to Bokor National Park in the hills to the west. Bokor Hill is 1080 meters, or about 3500 feet, in elevation. The French built a road up to the plateau on top in 1917-1921, using convict labor, and built a hill resort up there in the 1920's. It was abandoned twice, first in World War II, though the Japanese army was there, and then in 1972, due to the Khmer Rouge. The old road is being redone and is expected to be finished in five or six months, we were told by our guide. There is a plan to build five star hotels up there.
We drove only maybe 7 miles up the new road, to about 1600 feet, according to my altimeter, and began a beautiful walk through the jungle. The trail was a little steep in places, but it was a very enjoyable walk. There were 28 people in our group, but I was able to space myself so that I mainly walked alone. With so many hikers and the construction activity, there isn't much wildlife along the path, though I did hear birds and insects. We climbed for a little over an hour and a half, ascending about 1100 feet, to 2700 feet, about 800 feet below the plateau. From there we rejoined our vehicles and reached the ruins of an old casino on the plateau about noon. We looked around the four story building, with everything ripped out of it. There are even gouges in the cement walls where the electric wiring was ripped out. There is lots of bright orange lichen on the walls. We had lunch on the entry steps and then looked around some more. The backside of the casino has a terrace on the cliff facing the sea. You can stand on the cliff edge and hear the hum of insects and the chattering of birds below. Wispy clouds were shooting up the cliffs towards the plateau. Bokor is known for its cool weather and its fog. It wasn't foggy, but the cool breeze felt delightful. I walked all through and around the old casino, which was a battle scene when the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1979 and deposed the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge hung on in the jungles here longer than in some other places. I walked along the plateau, visiting some other deserted buildings and ending up at the old church. From there we boarded our vehicles again and headed down about 2 or 2 :30, with a shorter afternoon trek, less than an hour and a descent of about 800 feet.
We got back to Kampot about 4 and at 4:30 boarded boats for a very pleasant cruise up the river and then back. We went upriver for about 40 minutes, passing palm trees, both sugar palms and coconuts palms, riverside houses and green painted fishing boats. Small fish, maybe only two inches in length, jumped out out the way of the wake of our boat and at one point a whole school of them, scores of little fish, jumped out of the water brieflly in unison several times. We had good views of the Bokor Hills to the west, and watched the sun set over them shortly before 6 It was a very pleasant way to end the day. Our smiling boatman steered the boat with his feet on the rebar tiller while lounging to the side. Reaching the riverfront in Kampot about 6, I strolled along the promenade until dark and then had dinner in a riverside restaurant. I noticed the bright planet I had first noticed in the eastern sky just after sunset in Zanskar in September was still in the sky, though now far to the west in the sky after sunset.
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