Anchor Moy wrote: ↑Sat Jan 01, 2022 1:21 am

kgbagent wrote: ↑Fri Dec 24, 2021 5:15 pm

mannanman wrote: ↑Fri Dec 24, 2021 4:49 pm I thought it wasn’t possible to build a road straight up as it’ll be too steep which is why mountain roads are twisty?

A mate and I tried to take dirt bikes up the abandoned road having given 10000reil to the ranger at the gate but it was impossible after about 600m.

This is considered an option if they follow the ridge

At some stage (at least 6-7 years ago), there was talk of constructing a cable car up the side of Bokor to the casino and resort area for tourists. Do we have any news of progress on this ?
Thought it sounded like a spiffing idea.

It was quite a trip even on a dirt bike.

Anchor Moy wrote: ↑Sat Jan 01, 2022 1:21 am

kgbagent wrote: ↑Fri Dec 24, 2021 5:15 pm

mannanman wrote: ↑Fri Dec 24, 2021 4:49 pm I thought it wasn’t possible to build a road straight up as it’ll be too steep which is why mountain roads are twisty?

A mate and I tried to take dirt bikes up the abandoned road having given 10000reil to the ranger at the gate but it was impossible after about 600m.

This is considered an option if they follow the ridge

At some stage (at least 6-7 years ago), there was talk of constructing a cable car up the side of Bokor to the casino and resort area for tourists. Do we have any news of progress on this ?
Thought it sounded like a spiffing idea.

Yep the plan was to build a cable car for the cruise ship visitors but covid put a halt on that - I suspect it will still happen

Cooldude wrote: ↑Sat Jan 01, 2022 1:35 am

kgbagent wrote: ↑Fri Dec 24, 2021 6:34 pm

nemo wrote: ↑Fri Dec 24, 2021 5:09 pm Is it a ghost settlement?

It has that potential.

Stayed here for two nights this past August. The place was literally cloud covered most of those two days. I don't know any paint that can handle that kind of continuous moisture/humidity. Too bad because it really looked nice a few years back when they just finished painting the place.
Had a blast during our stay there. The interior is very well kept and the room was nice. Great staff. We were the only ones staying there at the time and the kitchen was closed. The food was being made at the other newer Chinese hotel close by and was being delivered by motorbike.
We were lucky to have the place to ourselves as the day we checked out, the place was having a barbecue in the backyard and the hotel was fully booked with some super -wealthy Khmer. It was a great overall experience.

Pity the restaurant was closed -- had a really nice menu and exceptional wine list.

What rate did you pay? When it first opened it was cheapest room at $400 per night. I recall it dropped to less than a hundred on some promotion.

Probably booked by Sokor himself. He helicopters in fairly frequently

I always liked the patina of red lichen. I think it was probably deep in the masonry and was not killed by the paint job. It would be lovely if the place returned to it’s pre reno look. City of Ghosts style.
I see they are building with a thin concrete block now like Thailand. Is this becoming common now and do they manufacture them locally?

willyhilly wrote: ↑Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:31 am I always liked the patina of red lichen. I think it was probably deep in the masonry and was not killed by the paint job. It would be lovely if the place returned to it’s pre reno look. City of Ghosts style.
I see they are building with a thin concrete block now like Thailand. Is this becoming common now and do they manufacture them locally?

The paint job during the renovation was pretty cheap and also applied when the air would have been quite moist so that lichen probably still lingered.

There seems to be 2 types of concrete blocks being used - one is the precast crumbly concrete that is pretty cheap and the more expensive builds are using AAC block https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoclave ... d_concrete

I built a house 4 years ago using AAC and it was the best decision I made - 190m2 of interior and exterior walls were done in 5 days. The blocks were 60x20x20 and are super quick to install, require less 'glue', uniform shape requires less render when painting and are easy to cut to size. However the best thing is the insulation qualities - turning off bedroom aircon on the hot side of the house at 6am - the bedroom only heated up by 5 degrees at 6pm so to cool the room back down was super efficient and cost friendly. More expensive to buy but when you add the labour cost of double brick, render consistency and transport costs it is a no-brainer. Brilliant insulation, fire retarded, insect impervious and, for musicians, great to play music.

So many of the places on Bokor are using them - cheaper to transport up the hill and ease of installation but most importantly the insulation benefits. Also just out of town on the Snooky road the big Bong Thom houses of 3 stories also used AAC so it is catching on and getting cheaper to buy.

Cooldude wrote: ↑Mon Jan 03, 2022 10:06 pm Our menu was pretty generic compared to this one. We must have gotten the same menu as the Chinese hotel/casino where the food came from. I imagine the drinks menu was pretty much the same. Don't know if all of the wines were available. I wonder how many nights the hotel goes without any bookings at all?

That was the original menu after renovation and when they wanted $400 per night with breakfast for the cheapest room. I ate there a couple of times and it was pretty much 4 star plus and the food prices, while expensive looking, were pretty good value when you added the amuse bouche and the palate cleaners between courses. The vegetables, poultry and wild pork were all sourced from the organic and free range farm about 3kms away on the plateau.

The problem was the price of the accommodation itself and it was excessive for what you got. After the Chinese left and the high rollers stopped coming in by helicopter the place probably had an occupancy of less than 1% on average. Within 9 months many things on the menu were not available and staffing was reduced to a skeleton, the landscaping was all dying and the paint was cracking. You could still get a great coffee in a gazebo though. Greed killed the golden goose but the owner is so fuckin rich he prob does not care - bring mates and business associates up for a bbq. All the Sokha places are white elephants. The new hotel casino will be a total failure as well.

A few more updates around Kampot

The new International Ferry Terminal which was meant to open last October