Bokor Hill Station
Coordinates: 10 ° 37 ' N , 104 ° 2' E
Bokor Hill Station ( Khmer ក ស្ថានីយ ភ្នំបូកគោ , Bokor Hill Station ) is an abandoned place on Mount Phnom Bokor in Cambodia , which is popular with tourists mainly for its view and image as a ghost town. It is located at an altitude of 1081 meters in the Preah Monivong National Park. The showdown of the film City of Ghosts (2002) was filmed here. The building was completely renovated in 2018 and has been run as a hotel ever since.
Location and geography
Bokor Hill Station is located on a plateau of Phnom Bokor, about 20 km as the crow flies northwest of the city of Kampot . The mountain is the highest point of the Dâmrei Mountains (literally Elephant Mountains ), which are offshoots of the Krâvanh Mountains (Cardamom Mountains) and is considered to be one of the best panoramic mountains in Cambodia. The coastline of the Gulf of Thailand is approximately 8 km as the crow flies.
A very well developed road leads over 32 km to the ruins.
history
Bokor Hill Station was built by French colonial rule between 1921 and 1924. Here the French found a mild climate and were able to flee from the unhealthy weather conditions in Phnom Penh . Especially French colonial officers and their families spent their free time and holidays here. Nine hundred construction workers lost their lives on this remote mountain in the nine months it took to build the facility. The heart of the place was the large Bokor Palace Hotel & Casino, supplemented by shops, a post office, a church and a small reservoir. About 10 km before Bokor Hill Station there is the Black Palace. King Sihanouk had a small summer palace here, which was abandoned decades ago.
Bokor Hill Station was first abandoned by the French in the late 1940s during the First Indochina War due to local Khmer Issarak-led uprisings . After being used in the meantime, the Khmer Rouge took over the area in 1972 . During the Vietnamese invasion in 1979, the Khmer Rouge holed up here for more than a month. In the early 1990s, Bokor Hill was still one of the last strongholds of the Khmer Rouge.
State today
Many of the abandoned buildings are still there today. Due to its strategic importance, the Cambodian authorities maintain a ranger station. There is also a small temple west of the ruins.
The plateau is owned by the government but was leased to the Sokimex Group in 2008 . The lease runs for 99 years. Hotels, restaurants and a golf club are to be built. It is also planned to renovate the old casino. At the moment the road to the plateau is being reconstructed and expanded with major interventions in nature and the landscape. The cost is expected to be USD 21 million. Over the next 15 years, the entire plateau is to be remodeled at a cost of USD 1 billion.
Web links
Overview December 2009
in the fireplace room of the Grand Palace
View from the terrace of the Grand Palace
Chancel of the abandoned church
Road to Bokor Hill December 2009
