Posts Tagged "Kampot"

Our World Tuesday: Ruins of Bokor Palace Hotel

Posted by The Insider on May 19, 2015 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, Cambodia life, Cycle 3, Expat Life, sights, That's My World, travel, What's On in Cambodia | 4 comments

We celebrated the Khmer New Year in the coastal town of Kep, located down south of the country. The highlight of our holiday was a side-trip to neighbouring town, Kampot.

Kampot is a sleepy fishing town. It is small but the streets are wide and a bit dusty. It is the jump off base to the popular Bokor Hill Station up in Bokor Mountain where the popular ruins of an old French hotel and casino, Bokor Palace Hotel and Casino, is located. I was excited to go see the ruins for the first time but I was disappointed when I found this:

Do you feel what I feel, too? It used to be like this:

Photo by Mark Roy via Flickr.

The before-renovation photo was eerily beautiful; brooding and menacing at the same time that it was a fav destination for exploration by foreign visitors as well as ghost hunters. Some genius had the idea of renovating/refurbishing the hotel — and the result is the ugly, grey thingie that you see on the top-most photo.  I’m sure it was called a ruin for a reason 🙁

For more details about the ruins, you can read about it in my other blog, Sreisaat Adventures.

APAD 166: Altar

Posted by The Insider on Jul 29, 2013 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, Cambodia life, Cycle 2, sights, That's My World, travel, What's On in Cambodia | 0 comments

In 2007, my husband and I went on an exploration trip of the Kampong Trach mountains in Kampong Trach district of Kampot. The moment we entered the pagoda, we were greeted by the locals and ushered us to this altar/shrine inside the cave:

It was very dark but cool inside and we noticed interesting rock formations there. Just before the cave’s exit is this altar and statues of a meditating Buddha sitting on top of a seven-headed water serpent called naga.

APAD 140: Silhouette

Posted by The Insider on Jun 4, 2013 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, Cambodia life, Cycle 2, sights, That's My World, travel, What's On in Cambodia | 4 comments

Yearning to visit this place again… It’s been years since we last came here and I want to go back soon.

This is the silhouette of Phnom Bokor,  in the province of Kampot,  as seen from the window of our guesthouse in Kep.

Just counting the days till I see Kep and Phnom Bokor again.

APAD 134: Bucolic

Posted by The Insider on May 15, 2013 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, Cambodia life, Expat Life, sights, That's My World, travel, What's On in Cambodia | 1 comment

The charming Cambodian countryside. That’s the limestone mountains of Kampong Trach district in Kampot province. Soothing to my city-eyes 🙂

APAD 128: Limestone mountain

Posted by The Insider on Apr 30, 2013 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, sights, What's On, What's On in Cambodia | 9 comments

The limestone mountains in Kampot’s Kampong Trach district. Not a lot of people know that in this mountain the soil is uniquely purple. We do not know why it is so. Also inside is a shrine and a naturally-formed pool with very cold water.