Bokor obstacles

After the monsoons, we had to clear a road in order to get off the mountain. After about an hour of breaking a number of trees into pieces with our bare hands.. some construction workers working on the mountain came to our rescue with their truck. (although we effectively conquered the obstacle as far as we were concerned).

Bokor 2

A French Colonial Bldg on top of Bokor Mountain. Notice the artillery damage to walls. We sought shelter in this bldg from the monsoon rains. I also noticed the small caliber round impacts in some rooms here as well. My Director told me that this mountain was not taken but I believe there were definitely some close quarter struggles.

An era long past..

A ghostly room.. a mere remnant of an era long past. This is presumably one of the lounge areas in a 19th century French colonial casino located on the top of Bokor Mountain along the southern coast of Cambodia, (Kampot). The mountain was one of the last holdouts for the Khmer Rouge who sought shelter here when battling Vietnamese and Cambodian opposition forces. During the day, the mountain was shelled and at night.. the Khmer Rouge snuck down off the mountain to the coastal villages to resupply. Having toured some of the colonial buildings I can confirm the substantial damage caused from artillery. Our director who managed to get us past the checkpoints to get up here confirmed that there was shelling up here but based on my observations of the impacts.. there look like there was also some close quarter gun battles as well.

Phu Quoc island. This island was fought over between the Khmer Rouge-Vietnamese war of the late 1970s. You can only get here via flying to Ho Chi Minh city and then taking a bus/boat from there. Rumors abound of gun battles between the Vietnamese on this island and Khmer ships who sail near the island but I have not confirmed this really. I've only heard it from numerous associates here. This view is from Bokor Mountain road... now currently closed to all vehicular traffic due to construction. But those interested can hike this road. Its about 35km to the top. I suggest anyone going pack lots of water, wine, and food. The ranger station at the top has supplies but as you can expect the supplies are meager. They rescued us in a horrible bind we got in.. while visiting the old 19century French colonial bldgs at the top. (we were caught in very rough monsoon rains).

Kep 4.

I ordered "shark fin" soup. They told me it will take a few minutes. I said.. Sure. I have lots of time. They got into their boat and fished for awhile.. then came back in.. telling me.. "No shark.. but we have barracuda." So I had barracuda for lunch.

Kep 3

A dedication to Joel in Seattle. Study hard my friend. study hard. :)

Kep2

Weekend at Kep 2. Tide is out.

Kep 1

Weekend at Kep. Tide is in.