Activities and Attractions on Bokor Mountain
Lots to do on Bokor Mountain, if you can find it.
Our best activity, is just the drive up (and down) on a scooter. (small 100cc automatic motorcycle). Lots of turns, great road, occasional wildlife, and the view to the ground as you ascend up 1KM. Downtown Kampot… Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam… and a big ocean. If it’s raining, as it often is, you’ll see over 1,000 waterfalls on your way up. And also, watching the clouds cross the street like a train going by, and then driving through them.
* A few kilometers before the top, you’ll want to stop at the Yea Mao Statue. While you’re driving up, you won’t miss it. It’s the only thing on the mountain you can see from the ground on the drive around Kampot. There’s free parking, and a one minute walk up to one of the biggest statues in Cambodia.
* At the top of the Mountain, just past the guard gate, there’s a small Wat with carvings on the walls and ceiling. Worth a 5 minute stop.
* From the guard gate, if you turn right, the first turn on the left takes you to Tent camping on a lake. Paddle boats are available.
* If you don’t turn, you’ll come to the Bokor Hydroponics Farm. Lots of veggies grow really well in the cooler mountain air. You can go through some of the farm, and buy whatever is available that day.
* Past the hydroponics farm, is the Popokvil Waterfall. Completely unknown how they got a waterfall at the very top of the mountain, but they did. A 50 cent entry fee, and you get a free bottle of drinking water, from the waterfall water.
- Right before you get to the top of the Mountain is the Thansur Sokha Hotel. $45 to $65 a night. Probably the only non-Chinese hotel on the Mountain.
* In back of the Chinese Sokha Lihua Hotel & Casino is Wat Sampov Bram. A beautiful collection of buildings, rock formations, and wonderful views of Cambodia and Vietnam. A good half hour or more stop, exploring and viewing (either you’re in or above the clouds, or you can see Southern Vietnam and Cambodia). And a Khmer restaurant serving simple meals and drinks just outside the entrance to the Wat. Also warm jackets if you forgot to bring one. And motorcycle repair as well. Just watch out when they give you change. Make sure it is in good condition.
- There’s an Old Church which looks cool from the outside, and is strewn with rubble and graffiti on the inside. An abandoned Church worth a 5 minute stop. Turn left at the entrance to the Chinese hotel, and keep going a few minutes.
* Right past the Old Church, where the road ends, is one of the original Bokor Buildings, and another great viewing spot behind. If you’re lucky, you can watch clouds climb over the mountain here, and even jump into one. This was, and will be a really expensive hotel.
* The 100 Rice fields in the back of Bokor Mountain is worth a stop. Natural and tourist made rock formations, a waterfall, and pitcher plants. $1 (maybe $4 now) to go back. A long and usually quiet road. Near the end, you can go out in the fields and look at the Pitcher Plants. Quite impressive. And you won’t be able to miss the rock formations on the sides of the road. Stop and eat lunch. At the end end, they’re building a 108 meter Buddha statue. Will be quite impressive.
* Until we go up again next week, these are all the activities on Bokor Mountain.
