Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
5
Kepler's Kampot Books Old Market, Old Market Rd. A
great selection of new and secondhand books, with a good
range on Cambodia. Daily 8am-8pm.
Tiny Kampot Pillows East side of the 2000 Monument
junction T 097 766 6094, W tinykampotpillows.com.
Silk kramas , cushions and pillows handmade locally, as
well as bags, place mats, photos and prints. Daily
10am-7pm.
DIRECTORY
Books In addition to Kepler's Kampot Books, Blissful
guesthouse, east of Magic Sponge , has a book exchange
and sells used books.
Cinema The Ecran Cinema and Movie House, Old Market
Rd ( T 093 249411), has two intimate a/c movie rooms
showing Cambodian films at 4pm and Hollywood flicks
at 7.30pm ($3.50). You can also rent the smallest screen
and watch your own preferred film (Wed-Mon
11am-10pm).
Hospital Riverside Rd, between the new and old bridges.
The new Sonja Kill Memorial Hospital ( W skmh.org), 7km
west of town, is staffed by highly qualified Khmer- and
English-speaking doctors.
Money The Canadia Bank, north of the Durian statue
roundabout, can change travellers' cheques and has an
ATM. There are moneychangers in the market; there's also
an Acleda Bank in town (with ATM - Visa only) near the
Kampot Music School, a block north of the Salt Workers
roundabout.
Post o ce Riverside Rd, south of the old bridge.
Around Kampot
Kampot province is one of Cambodia's most picturesque, its landscape ranging from
the cloud-topped mountains of the Bokor National Park , an extraordinary deserted hill
station that's fallen into the hands of developers, to salt flats and misty, uninhabited
offshore islands . Kampot town is ideally located for visiting a wealth of nature-based
attractions, including wild rapids , a zoo and a smattering of temple caves as well as
some of the region's famed pepper plantations .
Teuk Chhou Zoo
8km northeast of Kampot, on the west bank of the Teuk Chhou River • Daily 7am-5.30pm • $4 • Moto from Kampot $3
Set among gardens and fruit plantations at the foot of the Elephant Mountains,
Teuk Chhou Zoo is home to a wide range of animals, including tigers, a pair of playful
young elephants, lemurs and gibbons, spread across a wide area permeated by
incongruous piped music. The zoo relies on donations, and as in most zoos, the
animals look none too happy.
BOKOR NATIONAL PARK
The story of Bokor National Park is a fascinating but sad one. Wandering through the
crumbling, chilling remnants of the 1920s French colonial hill station , often swathed in
thick fog, was once a huge tourist attraction, until, in 2007 Hun Sen's government effectively
sold the mountain in its entirety to the Sokimex Group (owner of the Sokha Resorts and
Sokimex Oil among others) for $100m. The Chinese conglomerate now owns a 99-year lease
and has begun an extravagant development project that will see the refurbishment of the
dilapidated hill station (which was also the scene of a dramatic showdown between the
Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese in 1979) and the construction of hotels (they've finished
one already, as well as a neighbouring casino), numerous villas, golf courses, a cable car and
water parks. Plans extend to the coast, where a major port is being built with a view to landing
cruise ships before helicoptering guests to the plateau.
A new 32km toll road carving a thick ribbon of tarmac into the steep hillside has been finished
and development across the mountain is gaining pace (though is usually easy to avoid). To
explore the mountain's old relics and two waterfalls, you could hire a moto (the road is too steep
for tuk-tuks) or better still, go with a local tour operator (see p.270). However, depending on the
developer's rate of progress and their attitude towards them, tours may soon be a thing of the past.
 
 
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