PHOTO: Impressions - Koh Rong, Cambodia

Taken on Long Beach and 4K Beach on Koh Rong, Cambodia.

- AJ -

 

PLACES: Roadtrip day 3 - Bokor Hill Station, Cambodia

This was my absolutely favorite place in Cambodia, probably even one of my favorite places since I've been traveling. I've never even heard or read anything about this place until few days before heading to Kampot. The Bokor Hill Station is a French ghost town in the Preah Monivong National Park about 20 km west of Kampot. Colonial French settlers came here to built a resort to escape the insalubrity of Phnom Penh, the hot climate and humidity. The Grand Bokor Palace Hotel & Casino was the centre of the Bokor Hill Station which is now a ruin. Visiting this place will give you an impression of how the colonial settlers spent their free time. 

Today the site is under a 99-year lease of the Sokimex group and is owned by the government. The company is involved in petroleum, product import, infrastructure development, hotel management and an airline. The Sokimex group announced their 21 billion USD project in 2008 of relaying the road, constructing new buildings such as hotels, hospitals and restaurants and repairing the old hotel and casino. So if you're visiting the Bokor Hill Station you will be riding through the Preah Monivong National Park expecting some amazing nature sites and suddenly you will be surprised by modern construction sites in the middle of nowhere. Try not to be bothered by this western place in the middle of an amazing national park full of rain forests but see it as an opportunity for many Cambodians to find a job and to improve tourism and employment in Cambodia. There's still enough beauty to discover on your way through the Bokor Hill anyway.

The best way to get there is by motorbike on your own. The road is amazing and it's so much fun riding through the curves. Heading west from Kampot on National Highway 3, around 8km out look for signs for Bokor Hill Station on the right. Sign in at the checkpoint and follow the road to the peak for about 40 km. I recommend you to leave Kampot in the early afternoon so you will have enough time to discover the national park before watching the sun set from the Bokor Hill Station.

In the beginning you will pass by a huge Buddha which I think isn't really the most beautiful one I've seen but still worth taking pictures of. You can also discover the Povokvil Waterfall in the northeast and climb it down when there's not much water during low season.

When you get to the old Grand Bokor Palace Hotel and Casino you can go inside and climb up the stairs to the balcony or go to the back of the garden to enjoy the amazing view over the rain forest. About 8 km further you can see the Gulf of Thailand and even the Phu Quoc Island of Vietnam. If you keep still you will hear the amazing sounds of the rain forest beneath you and will be surprised by how loud all the animals together can sound like. During sun set you will be standing over the clouds which will slowly rise over you. Don't wait too long though for the sun to set because riding back down the hill will take you more time than the sun to slowly disappear so try to get back down to the checkpoint before it gets dark.

One of the biggest adventures during the road trip began when we were heading back to our hostel in Kampot. While riding down the hill the motorbike stopped and it was impossible to start the engine again. The reason why was just a stupid lack of oil in the engine which we should have refilled before leaving but as naive we sometimes were we thought we could reach back to town. Well, after a short panic attack we decided to roll down the hill for the last 20 km and luckily got the engine filled up with oil again at a nearby petrol station and figure out what to do next with the damaged engine. We just thought positive and decided to actually do nothing. Well, we actually made our way back to the hotel after somehow making the engine start again. It didn't sound like it was supposed to but lucky as we were all the time we were even able to ride back the 120 km to Sihanoukville the next morning without having problems with the motorbike. That definitely made me believe in karma in some way.

So if ever you're going to the Bokor Hill Station on your own be sure to check your motorbike properly before leaving!

Think positive,

- AJ -

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PLACES: Road trip day 2 - Kep, Cambodia

To get an idea of how Cambodia was like during the French colony it's the best to get to Kep. I would call it the posh Cambodia. You will be surprised of the cleanliness and the European influence in architecture and infrastructure. You'll even see trash bins and fancy cars everywhere. It's just 30 km away from Kampot and easy to get there. If you just follow Rd 33 towards Vietnam you'll get there in just 40 min. Take a ride through the paved road by the beach and enjoy the cool breezy weather of the south coast. There's not that much to do in Kep that you have to stay there overnight. Just do a day trip from Kampot and you'll be fine. Arriving from Kampot you'll notice various restaurants by the beach selling fresh sea fruits from the Gulf of Thailand. Have a seat by the water and watch the fishermen do their job. The main dish of Kep which you really have to try is crab. There's nothing more delicious than fresh crab from Kep with Kampot pepper. Mmmh... yummi!
If you plan to stay in Kampot overnight then you should better get back before it will become dark. The road is good though but you don't want to get stuck in the dark if something happens to your motorbike. Trust me!

- AJ -

PLACES: Road trip day 1 - Sihanoukville to Kampot, Cambodia

There's a lot of beauty to discover at Cambodia's south coast but it's a bit tricky to get away if you're not into traveling individually and you prefer to depend on public transportation and travel agencies. Just think of how exciting it would be to just go around places on your own without booking expensive bus tickets, letting tuk tuk drivers break your head our wasting money on time pressuring day tours. So if you really want to travel through Cambodia's south coast and discover the non-touristic areas depending all on yourself then the best way to get away is by motorbike. This will always be an unforgettable experience and it will definitely not be the last road trip you want to do. My friend and I weren't sure of how to go to the main spots in the south - Kampot, Bokor Hill Station, Kep and Sihanoukville - without spending too much money and time on transportation. So after two beers and three strong whiskey-cokes we started being silly and came up with the not-so-serious idea ("Schnaps"idee) to just travel on our own by motorbike for few days before seperating. The not-so-serious idea didn't leave our minds for days and it turned out to become really serious and an unforgettable travel experience full of good memories and hopefully a friendship that will last for a long time.

So the most important question is of course - Where do we get a good (it turned out to be not as good as in the beginning) and cheap motorbike for three days? 

There are a lot of travelers who want to get rid of their motorbikes at the end of their journey after 1-2 months of driving through Asia but why spend 250$ and having hard time to find a buyer after the short road trip if there's a possibility to rent a motorbike? We started in Sihanoukville, the only city-like place in the southwest of Cambodia where we found a beautiful old Honda Phantom for 10 $ per day which was owned by a friendly Cambodia guy. After checking the bike (not properly enough though that it actually gave us real pain in the a** after two days) we got it. We packed all what we needed in one backpack and left the rest of our belongings in a locker. There are always hostels where you can rent a locker and leave your belongings there for the time you're out of town. So that's all you need for the road trip - a motorbike and a locker where you can leave your stuff. We left ours as the "Utopia hostel" for 0,50 $ a day (plus 5 $ deposit).

Check the fuel and check the weather before leaving and then you should just head to road NH 3 for about 120 km east. It's really not difficult to get to Kampot. Just make sure that you won't get lost on your way out of Sihanoukville. The complete way of NH 3 is newly paved so don't worry about any bumpy road trip experience. After leaving Sihanoukville and entering the high way there will be a border where vehicles must pay a fee. But for motorbikes it's free to get on the NH 3 just drive through the exit on the right for motorbikes and you can continue driving. With few stops on the way and an average speed of 80 km/h it will take you about 2,5 hours to get there. Be aware of cows suddenly crossing the road and school kids riding their bicycles. If you see more and more stalls by the road selling smelly durian fruits then you know you're getting closer to Kampot, the town of durians. 

You notice that you're in the town's centre when you get to a roundabout with a huuuge durian sculpture. It's impossible to not notice that the Kampot people are really proud of their well-running "durian economy". 

There are several cheap guest houses around town. The farther from the river you get the cheaper the accommodations are. Take your time to look around so you won't end up paying too much money for a crappy room. 

- Welcome to Kampot, the town of durian.

Things to do in Kampot:

- eat durian of course (no matter if you like it or not, it's a must-to-do!)

- roam around the crowded town market and get some really cheap baguettes, hopias!! and fresh fruit

- have a (or two) beer by the river in the cool evening and watch the sun set

- have dinner at one of the nice riverside restaurants

- do a day trip to the Bokor Hill Station

Keep cool,

- AJ -

PLACES: Otres Beach - Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Sihanoukville isn't that bad at all. After hearing all these bad experiences from other travelers who have already been there I was almost going to skip this place. But after doing some research on my own it actually didn't seem to be that bad at all. And no matter what others say - You should always make your own experiences to get your own opinion.

So figuring out that the Otres Beach is a pretty laid-back place it immediately caught my interest. The best way to get there is from Sihanoukville town where you can ask a tuk tuk driver to bring you there. During day time you might pay min. 3 $ but as soon as it gets dark the drivers will charge you min. 5 $. You should always stay resistant when you bargain. It might take time and patience to find a cheap driver but it's not impossible to find one you can easily bargain with. 

Otres is just one long road by the beach with bungalows and beach bars on both sides. I recommend to get a bungalow on the beach side of the road. Well, it's not really a road it's just a dirty, stony, sandy path next to the beach. Go further down the road to find cheaper accommodations. A 2-person bungalow varies from 10-30 $. My travel buddy and I stayed at "Chez Paou" in a really nice bungalow right by the beach with a great view by the water. At night we fell asleep to the sound of the waves. The bathrooms outside are shared with the others but they are clean and mentained very well. In one of the showers there's even a huge tree growing. It was an amazing place with a friendly staff, a nice bar and great pool tables. We got a bungalow for 15 $ a night instead of 20 $ because it was low season. It's a bit far from Sihanoukville town so you would need to rent a scooter to get around. And once in a while the electricity cuts off for several minutes, so you have to be aware of total darkness sometimes. It's a great place to stay in Sihanoukville if you want to prevent young backpacker kiddies getting drunk, taking drugs like stupid and sleepless nights in noisy hostels. Otres beach is definitely the most laid back beach in Sihanouville. There're also few travel agencies there which would arrange  bus tickets to your next destination.

- AJ -