MetroStyles
Stylish Dinosaur
- Joined
- May 4, 2006
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I visited Kampot, a sleepy town in the south of Cambodia, only to see the famed Bokor Hill Station ghost town. This place was built by the French occupation regime in the early 20th century and the well-to-do would spend time there during the hot summers. A Cambodian king even died there in his personal summer house in the 1940s or 50s.
The place was always meant to be haunted, however. It was first abandoned during usurpation of French power in the middle of the 20th century and again during the Khmer Rouge coup in the 1970s. It has been relatively uninhabited for decades, although there were still traces of a Khmer resistance in the area in the 90s.
It is a three hour hike through the wet rainforest (it was raining on our way up and down) to get up there. There used to be a navigable road but due to planned development of the hill station, the road has been under construction and the only way up is through the jungle. After this exhausting hike, we were corralled into the back of a pick up truck (with no suspension system, apparently) and had to drive up a diabolically unkempt road, bumping and bruising, for another 30-40 minutes.
Finally we arrived in Bokor. It was just like in the pictures, everything I had hoped it would be. Surreal, with a blanket of fog not allowing more than 20 feet visibility. Our Cambodian guide helped us explore the town, including the haunting old church and of course the crown jewel - the hotel/casino - a massive structure that can't be seen without shivers running down your spine. Exploring that hollow carcass of a building was one of the most unsettling experiences of my life - broken glass windows looking out into nothing but white mist, drafts whistling through the jambs without doors, pools of water collecting in the middle of foyers, guest rooms, bathrooms. And that sickening, nuclear-fallout summoning orange and green lichen growing on everything.
What was most eerie about the whole place was the coming and going fog. One minute you had visibility over the cliff and onto the Cambodian/Vietnamese coast for miles, and the next the building in front of you had disappeared. You may notice this effect in some of the photos.
With no further adieu, some pictures and a video from the experience.
Assorted views within the town - notice the ridiculously dense fog:
Some of the church. This thing just appeared in the fog like something out of a horror film. Churches are creepy in general, but this takes the cake.
And some of the abandoned hotel/casino. My favorite. Video tour below.
The hotel tour:
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The place was always meant to be haunted, however. It was first abandoned during usurpation of French power in the middle of the 20th century and again during the Khmer Rouge coup in the 1970s. It has been relatively uninhabited for decades, although there were still traces of a Khmer resistance in the area in the 90s.
It is a three hour hike through the wet rainforest (it was raining on our way up and down) to get up there. There used to be a navigable road but due to planned development of the hill station, the road has been under construction and the only way up is through the jungle. After this exhausting hike, we were corralled into the back of a pick up truck (with no suspension system, apparently) and had to drive up a diabolically unkempt road, bumping and bruising, for another 30-40 minutes.
Finally we arrived in Bokor. It was just like in the pictures, everything I had hoped it would be. Surreal, with a blanket of fog not allowing more than 20 feet visibility. Our Cambodian guide helped us explore the town, including the haunting old church and of course the crown jewel - the hotel/casino - a massive structure that can't be seen without shivers running down your spine. Exploring that hollow carcass of a building was one of the most unsettling experiences of my life - broken glass windows looking out into nothing but white mist, drafts whistling through the jambs without doors, pools of water collecting in the middle of foyers, guest rooms, bathrooms. And that sickening, nuclear-fallout summoning orange and green lichen growing on everything.
What was most eerie about the whole place was the coming and going fog. One minute you had visibility over the cliff and onto the Cambodian/Vietnamese coast for miles, and the next the building in front of you had disappeared. You may notice this effect in some of the photos.
With no further adieu, some pictures and a video from the experience.
Assorted views within the town - notice the ridiculously dense fog:
Some of the church. This thing just appeared in the fog like something out of a horror film. Churches are creepy in general, but this takes the cake.
And some of the abandoned hotel/casino. My favorite. Video tour below.
The hotel tour:
IMPORTANT NOTICE: No media files are hosted on these forums. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website. We can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. If the video does not play, wait a minute or try again later. I AGREE
TIP: to embed Youtube clips, put only the encoded part of the Youtube URL, e.g. eBGIQ7ZuuiU between the tags.