Day 13 - Bokor Hill Station

Last night I checked the weather forecast, as has become habit even in Cambodia, on the BBC weather website. To my delight it predicted a hot, sunny day, with blue skies - perfect for our jeep ride through Bokor National Park. We woke up this morning to the sound of torrential rain which didn't cease until nightfall. The BBC has failed me again.

So we jumped in the back of the pick-up truck, completely open to the elements, and got pissed on for the 40km through dense jungle, up to the highest summit of the Elephant Mountains. The ride up was hard, the truck got stuck, but we eventually made it up to the top, sodden wet and cold. But spirits were raised when we started the short trek to the waterfalls. Our new Aussie friends commented, 'At least with all this rain the waterfalls will be spectacular'. Unfortunately, with all the rain, our route to the waterfalls was blocked by a raging river, completely unpassable.

Pretty miserable, we stopped for lunch. This was the highlight of an otherwise shit morning. The 'beautiful views of the coastline' (Lonely Planet, 2004) were non-existent due to the cloud and mist which brought visability down to about 6 inches. Despite this rather rubbish start to the day, we were in good company, and laughed off our misfortunes before heading off to the abondoned Casino Hotel on the top of the mountain. If it were not for this impressive building, spooky in the howling wind and mist, the day would have been a complete disaster. But in fact it was the day's saving grace. We wondered around the eerie building, as if wandering around the set of 'The Shining', and to be honest I could have spent a whole lot longer there. The Elephant Mountains and surrounding hills in the Kampot Province had been one of the last remaining strongholds of the Khmer Rouge right up until the 1980s. A train from Sihanoukeville to Kampot had been ambushed and 3 westerners on board executed as late on as 1994. One could imagine the lavish casino during the 1960s being home to some of the richest French colonials, and then a makeshift army base in the 70s and 80s for the Khmer Rouge. The awful weather actually added to the atmosphere!

The trip back down was long and painful, but all in all we'd enjoyed the day and met some fun people. In the evening, once we'd dried off, everyone congregated at our hostel for dinner and beer. Tomorrow we travel back to Phnom Penh (again!) as we've decided that the Vietnamese dry season on the East coast of the peninsula is more inviting than more monsoon rain in Sihanoukeville...