The Hill station at Bokor with its
Casino and Royal Palace was built in the 1920s as a refuge
from the heat.
The Bokor Casino was a top luxury
hotel with spectacular views over the sea.
The settlement was abandoned in
1945.
At around 1000 metres high, on the top
of Bokor Mountain plateau, Bokor is a spectacular place with
some of the Best views in Cambodia. I visited this place in
November 2006 and found it a photographic paradise.
Getting there involves a drive 33kms
up one of the worst roads in the country. I was taken up there
at speed by a driver in an aging Camry with virtually bald tyres. it
was a bone jarring ride.
Along the way the driver stopped
suddenly to show me a huge spider along the roadside.
At around 1000 meters and an hours
drive up the mountain road; we stopped at the Black Palace; the old kings
residence. The old ruined palace was abandoned, like the rest if the site, at the beginning of the Second
World War.
The Black Palace was so called
because of the dark wood cladding to the building. Little remains of
the wood now, as subsequent setters used it for firewood. The
buildings are now encrusted with lichen which gives the impression
of rust.
The Black Palace
Bokor Casino
The old Casino occupies a commanding
position on the mountain. With shattered windows and pock
marked with bullet holes; it bears the scars of recent battles. It
was the scene of a ferocious fight between the Khmer Rouge and the
Vietnamese in the early 1980s after liberation of Kampuchea by the
Vietnamese Army.
The views from the roof are
spectacular
The tattered fragments of a door
opens in to the saloon
The fireplace may seem an odd
thing in a tropical land like Cambodia; but it can get very cold at
night at nearly 1000 metres or 3200ft.
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