Kampot, Cambodia (2nd Visit) – Jan 2017
After extending our beach paradise on Koh Rong, we elected to bypass Northern Cambodia and head back to somewhere close (Southern Cambodia). We therefore chose Kampot for a second visit. We arrived back in Kampot on Jan 23rd 2017.
During our previous visit to Kampot (a few weeks back), we had really enjoyed the town and our time there. But, due to the mountain weather and visibility, we were unable to see Bokor Mountain, one of the “must-do” attractions . Since, we loved our previous accommodations at the Ganesha Guesthouse we decided to book there again.
Our timeline for departing Kampot (2nd visit), fell right inline with the 3+ days of celebration for the Chinese New Year. As a result, we quickly found our travel options were greatly reduced. Since we were having such a good time with the people at the Ganesha Guesthouse in Kampot, we opted for extending our stay and avoid the possibility of getting stuck along the way. We were able to compress our bus ride(s) to the Laos border into 1-1/2 days and stay put until the holiday was over.
See video and photos below highlighting our 2nd visit in Kampot, Cambodia. To see all images of this location click the link at the bottom of this post or go to our gallery.
Entrance to Bokor Mountain National Park (foreigner moto entrance fee 2,000 Riel or $.50 cents US).
Bokor Mountain – Established by the French as a hill station in 1925, Bokor has been abandoned twice, during World War II and the Khmer Rouge period. The area including Bokor ‘mountain’ was established as a national park in 1993, with its 1,500 square kilometres spanning four Cambodian provinces. Despite substantial illegal logging, it’s still home to leopard cats, gibbons, hornbills, civets and sunbears.
The entire Bokor region saw fierce fighting between the Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge — at one stage one side was holed up in the Catholic church and the other in the casino — all the while trying to shoot each other to pieces. Both buildings still bear the scars today. Further back, stories abound of bankrupt gamblers choosing between confession at the church and oblivion over the edge of the casino terrace.
Video – Kampot, Cambodia (2nd Visit – Video #1) Bokor Mountain
Bokor Mountain abandoned hotel and casino.
Bokor Mountain abandoned church.
Bokor summit panorama (roughly 3060 feet elevation). Gulf of Thailand off in the distance. Very windy and chilly at the summit, but down in town it was still very warm. This was the first day we had to wear our jackets since leaving the states.
Local ferry boat across the river. You can walk on or ride scooters on. Foreigner fee 4,000 Riel or $1 US (50 cents per person).
Local ferry boat arriving at shore. Rick getting ready to ride our scooter off. Note: they do not tie the ferry off or anything. When the ferry ramp is on shore, you hop off or ride your scooter up the steep dirt ramp. There is no waiting for anyone to tell you to go… The rules are simple, there are none. When you get close to shore, you go 🙂
15,000 Riel, roughly = $3.75 U.S. In town, this would get us 5 ice cold draft pints of Cambodia beer.
At our guesthouse, 15,000 Riel would buy us banana pancakes, one of our daily favorites, and we’d have a little money left over.
Typical local river sunset and firefly tour boat. This photo was taken from our canoe during our river sunset cruise. The owner of Ganesha invited us to head out with him one evening. See the river canoe cruise video below
Video – Kampot, Cambodia (2nd Visit – Video #2) Sunset River Canoe Cruise
