Day 4 #SG-Cambodia: Sihanoukville > Kampot : Bokor Mountain

I'm relieved that today's journey is going to be so much more relaxed compared to the past 3 days.
Haha although things didn't quite go according to as planned.

Just 99km away from Sihanoukville, and on the way to Phnom Penh, is Bokor Mountain located in a small province called Kampot.

Credits: v-amazingplaces

The main attraction here is the Old French Palace built in the 1920s for the French social elites living in Cambodia then, who needed to escape from the heat and humidity of Phnom Penh as the location stands at 1,080m above sea level, enjoying cooling temperatures between 15 - 25°C.

Similar to Genting Highlands in Malaysia.

Look at my still-sleepy-puffy eyes ahh

The plan today was to ride 250km, from Sihanoukville, stopping by Bokor Mountain, and continuing on to Phnom Penh.

Knowing that I have been doing one hell lot of endurance riding the past 3 days, Jok & Calvin told me I could sleep in a little longer this morning, and so I did.. until I overslept.

Oops. Apparently I'm really good at doing that - oversleeping. Hahaha. Told you I wasn't really a morning person!

Had some local street food breakfast, and off we went towards Kampot!

Taking 5 to hydrate

If you think Singapore is hot, Thailand is hotter. If you think Thailand is hot, Cambodia is even hotter! Though today wasn't scorching with the sky filled with clouds, it was still pretty humid!

Riding here in Cambodia, there are no highways or motorways. It's B-roads or mountain roads all the way. Sometimes they're straight, sometimes they have bends, some times they're tarmac, and sometimes it's just gravel with lotsa invisible pot holes.

You can't really tell from the picture, but enroute to Kampot, we experienced some gravel roads where I had to keep my visor shut throughout because the second I lifted it up for some air, so much dust and dirt would get into my eyes, forcing me to shut the visor back almost immediately.

After about 2 hours since we left Sihanoukville, we arrived at the entrance of Bokor National Park where we purchased our ticket to enter.

Here's where the fun begins! Gradual mountain corners on butter smooth tarmacs! Whoooo~!

It was extremely enjoyable riding up Bokor Mountain because the roads were in excellent condition, a far cry from the partial gravel roads we encountered just about an hour ago earlier.

On the way up, we passed by Lok Yeay Mao here, the Goddess of Protector, known for keeping peace and calm in the forest and coastal province of Kampot, Cambodia.

We continued on and felt the temperature started to dip a little too, as we climbed up in altitude. It was no longer humid but at a really comfortable cooling kind of weather.

Before we knew it, we find ourselves standing right in front of the Old French Palace! Looking hauntingly beautiful.

Parked our bikes just metres away from the palace and Jok took me in to check out this historic building. Walked through it and onto the back of the palace awaits a pleasant surprise..

The view of Cambodia from the back of the Old French Palace was simply breathtaking!

I couldn't help but take so many pictures and selfies here but none of them are available anymore because shortly after I lost my sd card and everything was like, gone...................... SOBSSSSSSS.

Luckily the above picture was snapped and saved in my phone.

But nothing can stop me from having such an awesome time with these guys up here!

They were like, "Lost sd card nevermind, you didn't lose us and that is THE most important." Haha so still can make some more memories. 

Had some sweet corn for lunch and continued fooling around when we rode back down to the foot of the Bokor Mountain. It's always more fun when traveling with crazy guys like them. But Chris here was abit too crazy when I found out he has been riding from Sihanoukville to here without any brakes! They were faulty and he's planning to get em fixed at Phnom Penh.

I think we spent too much time chilling at Bokor Mountain haha that the sun was already beginning to slowly set as we headed towards Kampot.

Traffic was heavy when we arrived into Kampot just past 6:00pm. I had to constantly half clutch until my poor darling Hypermotard here was overheating so it decided to take a break without seeking my permission.

Due to the Cambodia Water Festival Celebration happening in Phnom Penh tomorrow with tens of thousand of locals flooding into the city, authorities have taken up strict crowd controlling measures and have already stopped any more people from entering the Capital for the day.

pc: tripadvisor

Which means, we'll have to stay a night here at Kampot and make our way to Phnom Penh only tomorrow morning.

Most of the hotels were fully booked due to the holiday season in Cambodia now, but thankfully Jok   & Calvin found Boutique Kampot Hotel that still had enough rooms to accommodate all of us.

They were both so kind to host my stay here in this beautiful 4 star hotel and I have to say it was one of the best night's rest I had in this trip so far!

Thank you Jok & Calvin for your wonderful hospitality!! :D

[Singapore. Malaysia. Thailand.Sihanoukville,Cambodia]

[Mileage Clocked: 2,816KM]

[Weather/Temperature: Mostly Sunny/33°C]

[Terrain: Road/Tarmac/Partial Gravel]

Next stop: Phnom Penh, Cambodia