Bokor Hill Station
Good for: Photography
Not good for: disabled
- Address
- Phnom Bokor
Lonely Planet review for Bokor Hill Station
The eerie ruins of the old French hill station of Bokor, high atop Phnom Bokor (1080m), are known for their cool - even chilly - mountain climate and dramatic vistas of the coastal plain, one vertical kilometre below.
The road up to Bokor was built from 1917 to 1921 by Cambodian indentured labourers, many of whom perished. By the early 1920s a French holiday settlement had been established and a grand hotel-casino, the Bokor Palace, was inaugurated in 1925.
The hill station was twice abandoned: first when Vietnamese and Khmer Issarak (Free Khmer) forces overran it in the late 1940s while fighting for independence from France, and again in 1972 when the Lon Nol regime left it to the Khmer Rouge forces that were steadily taking over the countryside. It has been uninhabited ever since - except for the presence of either Vietnamese troops or Khmer Rouge guerrillas during much of the '80s and '90s. Because of its commanding position, the site was strategically important to all sides during the long years of conflict and was one location the Vietnamese really had to fight for during their 1979 invasion. The Khmer Rouge held out for several months, with one unit holed up in the Catholic church while the Vietnamese shot at them from the Bokor Palace, 500m away.
Today, Bokor Hill Station and its abandoned buildings have an eerie, ghost-town feel accentuated by a bright-orange lichen that carpets the exterior walls, giving them an otherworldly cast. Mountain mists float through the abandoned buildings, and the sea views are either breathtaking or a complete white-out. The foggy showdown that ends the Matt Dillon crime thriller City of Ghosts (2002) was filmed here.
Debate rages over whether to redevelop the hill station. Some preservationists say it should be left untouched, while entrepreneurs salivate over its tried and tested potential. The mainstream environmentalist position is that it's most sensible to compromise, allowing limited redevelopment of the hill station area in order to generate much-needed funds to help protect the actual national park, much of which remains remote and relatively defenceless.
Traveller reviews for Bokor Hill Station (1)
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Well worth a visit, but it's changing fast.
bigfatfurrycheese recommends this,
The Bokor Hill station is an amazing place to visit, the descriptions of lichen covered buildings, dramatic vistas & rapidly changing weather are certainly not overstated. However, and it is a big however, the station is undergoing massive redevelopment and, while many of the buildings & vistas should remain largely untouched, this is no longer the place for a solitary wander through an abandoned landscape.
In August 2011, I squeezed aboard a small truck for a trip up to the hill station (by squeezed I mean 18 tourists in the back, 2 more in the cab with the driver, and our guide for the day sitting on the roof). The tight transport is a must, as tourists are no longer allowed up the road on their own, ever since a legal battle that arose from another tourist who took a motorcycle & the road and was injured by a landslide or rockfall. The road itself was well advanced, intended (we were told) for large numbers of mostly Asian tourists who were expect to flock to the hotel & casino that were under construction.
The trip up to the station includes a steep (but optional) walk up through the rainforest, lead by our guide who walked with an unloaded AK-47 on his back (he jokingly explained it was to keep us happy, after some tourist had complained that she was scared the guides were not armed to fend off "tigers" in the area). The hill station is an interesting collection of old (but not necessarily abandoned) buildings spread out over the hilltop, which changes in mood as the fog and rain close in, or rapidly gives way to enormous vistas and bright sunshine.
While it was a shame to learn that at least one old building was demolished already, and the hotel was closed off, covered in construction fencing and scaffolding, the remaining buildings & landscape still make this hill well worth a visit in my opinion (at least for now), and offers some great photography opportunities (provided you keep your camera relatively dry).
As a final note, I would strongly suggest bringing a heavy rain jacket (or at least one of the bright disposable jackets that are available in every shop) and something to keep your camera dry and lens clean, as the rain apparently comes almost daily (at least when I visited) and comes down heavy when it does. Also, don't be put off by the idea of paying for a guided trip, as it only cost around US$20-25, including water & lunch.
Good for: Photography
Not good for: disabled
