Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The turn-off to Phnom Sorsia is on NH33 13.5km southeast of Kampot and 1.3km
northwest of the White Horse Roundabout near Kep. Look for a sign reading 'Phnom Sor-
sia Resort' - from there a dirt road leads about 1km northeast through the rice fields.
RAPIDS
Tek Chhouu Rapids
Hugely popular with locals, these modest rapids are surrounded by local eateries and - a
prerequisite for any proper Khmer day out - picknicking platforms.
About 5km upriver, Cambodia's largest dam, the Chinese-built
Kamchay hydroelectric
dam
, was opened in late 2011. Vital stats: 115m high, 568m wide, 193.2MW. The
US$280-million project flooded small parts of Bokor National Park.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Bokor National Park
This 1581-sq-km
national park
(Preah Monivong National Park; admission US$5)
is famed for its
once abandoned French hill station, refreshingly cool climate and lush primary rainforest.
Threatened animals that live in the park include leopard, Indian elephant, Asiatic black
bear, Malayan sun bear, pileated gibbon, pig-tailed macaque, slow loris and pangolin. Un-
fortunately it is now becoming more famous for the ugly casino that blights the summit,
the Thansur Bokor Highland Resort.
An impressive new road up to the old hill station has been completed and is open to the
public, fast-tracking visitors to the aforementioned casino. The huge development project
includes a golf course (or a spot the ball competition in the mist?) and numerous holiday
villas on sale at speculative prices, but it has sadly destroyed the atmosphere of bygone
Bokor.
History
In the early 1920s the French, ever eager to escape the lowland heat, established a hill sta-
tion atop Phnom Bokor (1080m), known for its dramatic vistas of the coastal plain one
vertical kilometre below.
The hill station was twice abandoned to the howling winds: first when Vietnamese and
Khmer Issarak (Free Khmer) forces overran it in the late 1940s while fighting for inde-
pendence from France, and again in 1972, when the Lon Nol regime left it to the Khmer
Rouge forces that were steadily taking over the countryside. Because of its commanding
