CLIMBING A CAMBODIAN MOUNTAIN

Bokor Mountain, on Cambodia's southern coast

I've never climbed a mountain before.

Today I’m riding shotgun in a pickup truck. The windows are down, sun is out, and a few hearty souls riding with me are heading for Bokor Mountain in southern Cambodia. We've left the the town of Kampot to climb this mountain in one day, aiming to reach the old French hill station at the top.

We pull over, and a Cambodian park ranger climbs on, donned in a brand new khaki uniform and wide brimmed hat. He’s young; looks barely out of his teens, I wonder how long he’s been a ranger. Our destination: Preah Monivong Bokor National Park, a protected reserve (at least officially) so climbing groups must have a ranger accompany them. Our ranger isn’t armed; how will he protect us if a problem arises?

Our pickup turns off the highway, and onto a rutted dirt road, crossing railroad tracks from the old French built railway. There's no need for crossing gates; the trains haven't run for years. The dirt road narrows to a path, and the pickup halts. Climbing out, we grab our backpacks, and begin our trek. The wide dirt path soon narrows, and the greenery grows thick. The path steepens, and soon we are rising up the mountainside and into the jungle.

Grabbing our backpacks off the pickup, we start our trek

We stop for our first break by a creek, and I'm startled by two young Khmer men. They are walking back down the mountain path, each with a bicycle. It’s too steep to ride the bikes, and strangely, each bike has a long plank of newly cut wood strapped to it. I quickly realize who they are: wood poachers!

The ranger accompanying us stops them, and a long conversation in Khmer begins. Though they have been caught red handed, they don’t make any effort to run, which wouldn’t have been easy, since they both wear sandals.

Then our guide says it’s time to go. He takes us up out of sight of where the ranger and poachers are, and then we stop to wait for the ranger. When he finally rejoins us, we depart again. Hmmm.... Since the ranger dealt with the poachers out of our sight, I wonder if he had collected a bribe from them. Poaching of all kinds is a serious problem on Bokor Mountain.

We continue climbing, and we run into two more poachers! They're probably working with the others we saw earlier. Each carries a chopping tool, which looks like a cross between a machete and a meat cleaver. We walk up out of sight, and wait for the ranger again. When he rejoins us again, this time he's carrying the confiscated cleavers.

We encounter wood poachers on our way up the mountain path!

Although we are mostly in the jungle's shade, it’s still very hot and humid as we climb. Soon my shirt is soaked through, complete with a couple holes torn into it from a passing thorny vine. Six climbers have joined me on this ascent, including three Israelis, an Englishman, the park ranger, and our Khmer guide.

Continuing our jungle ascent, we reach a scenic waterfall. The wildlife is beginning to show itself. A lizard with a spiny back glares at me without moving, as I try to stare him down. He wins. He lives here on this tree branch, and I’m just passing through.

This mountain is a good choice for a national park. Along our journey I will see two pelicans, a hawk, and a large black monkey that ambled across our path. There are even elephants and tigers here too. Sadly, their numbers are very few, thanks to all of the poachers.

We find other wildlife here as well, but the unwanted kind: LEECHES! Our guide finds a leech on his neck. An Israeli spots one on his lower leg. I'm glad I'm wearing long pants; it’s not a good idea to wear shorts in the jungle. They remove the unwanted hitchhikers, and we continue on our way.

Dangerous White-Lipped Pit Viper by the path

Suddenly our guide stops our progress. Coiled in the brush right next to the path, is a bright green snake with yellow eyes. It’s not very long, it's no cobra, (of which Cambodia has many) but when it comes to venomous snakes, size isn’t everything. “Very dangerous,” our guide says. We've encountered a White-Lipped Pit Viper! Our guide pokes at it with a long stick, and it slowly slithers away into the jungle. Our climb continues.

As the day heats up, we rest again on a surprisingly wide dirt road that crosses our path. This road follows the tracks of the old original road up the mountain built in 1921. Supervised by the French, the heavy work was done by indentured Cambodian laborers. Some worked so hard, that they died from overwork. The new widening of this track today is being done by a Chinese construction company, and they've been troubled with labor disputes. Cambodian laborers working here now complain about being overworked for little pay. Exploitation of local labor continues.

Before this project began, visitors to the mountain top drove up the old road in pickup trucks, spent the day there, and were back down before dark. But now the Chinese construction company totally closed down the road to visitor traffic. So we're going up the only way we can: on foot. After spending the night up top, we'll go back down tomorrow morning.

Odd looking lizard stares me down

After hours of climbing steep trails, drinking two liters of water, and with muscles growing sore, we reach a dark stone building sitting on the edge of a cliff. It’s time for lunch, and we’re having it at the 'Black Palace'. I walk into this abandoned shell, and it's not much of a palace, it’s more of a ruined villa. Khmer naga heads sticking out from the rooftop corners let on to its royal ownership: this was once owned by the king. But since then the palace has been totally looted. There’s not only no furniture, but the windows are gone, bathroom fixtures are gone, even some of the floor tiles have been torn up.

Sitting on the window ledges looking out towards the cliff and the ocean, we dive into our lunches of vegetable fried rice. 'Black Palace' is an odd title for this place, as the inside walls are covered with bright orange paint!

With lunch in our bellies, we pick up our packs and move on. The rest of our hike up will be on the road, so it’s not so steep. Now that we are at higher altitude, the temperature is noticeably cooler.  I breathe a sigh of relief in the clean mountain air. From here on in, the climb will be easier.

Waterfall on the way up the mountain

A couple more hours into our trek, a light rain begins to fall. Fortunately we're prepared, and we all don rain gear. We pass a Buddhist shrine, and down a side road I make out a Buddhist monastery. This was built recently, after the departure of the brutal Khmer Rouge communists. Normally this would be worth a visit, but we're all anxious to reach the old hill station, so we press on.

Finally, after seven hours of hiking and climbing, we arrive. I've made it: the top of Bokor Mountain. I have to admit, I'm proud of myself. I've never climbed a mountain before, and having lost lots of energy in the climb, I'm relieved. The heat and humidity I suffered on the way up are forgotten, as up here at the top of the mountain, it’s very windy, even cold.

But even more, I'm amazed at the view. This is isn't just an old hill station, it's much, much more.  It's a French ghost town! I'm re-energized by this historic scenery, and I can't wait to explore what covers the peak of Bokor Mountain.


CONTINUED IN NEXT TRAVEL STORY: FRENCH GHOST TOWN

'Black Palace', once owned by King Sihanouk

French ghost town atop Bokor Mountain

SNAKE AT THE PRIME MINISTER'S HOUSE

Old Prime Minister's house in former US built village known as '6 Clicks City'

I'm continuing my visit to former Prime Minister Kaysone's compound. His homes are in a suburb originally built for US government workers, living here in Vientiane, Laos during the war.

Having finished looking at Kaysone's simple ranch house, my helpful guide takes me outside to the back yard. Here was the big boss’s final home. After his health declined in later years, they built a larger residence for him in the yard behind. The two houses nearly touch, they're built so closely. White with blue trim, it’s a much more cheery home than his small old American house. Although modern it’s built on stilts, giving it a Laotian look. Perhaps in his old age, Kaysone wanted to get back to his roots. We’re not allowed inside, but we are able to walk up on the front porch.

“They build for him, his doctor say it more healthy,” explains my guide. “He move in 1990. He die there 1992.”

Coming down the far stairs, my guide suddenly sticks his arm out in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. There on

I nearly stepped on this poisonous snake!!

the stairs right in front of me, is a snake. Slithering across the steps, it’s more than 2 feet long; green with dark spots. I’ve never seen this type of snake before.
 
“If it bite you, then you die,” he says.  

I’m glad he stopped me.

The serpent slides off the steps and down into the grass, where it slithers under the shade of the staircase. Strangely, after we pass, the snake emerges and climbs back up on the stairs again. Apparently it likes that vantage point.

Further behind Kaysone’s final house, is a wooden building unlike the rest. Curious, I ask what it is.

“That Russian sauna house”, he says “they make for Kaysone.”

During the 1980’s,  Caucasians seen around Vientiane were no longer the Americans or French. They were from the Soviet Union and the Eastern Block. These were advisors, engineers and

Russian sauna house built by USSR near former Prime Minister's house

technicians, trying to fill the gaps left by the departed westerners.

A heavy dependence on foreign aid was a rallying cry of the Pathet Lao during the war years. Despite their claims that they would eliminate that dependence, they merely shifted their reliance from the west, to the east. From 1975 onward, Laos was heavily dependent on their new patrons: the Soviet Union and Vietnam.

Round about the time that Kaysone moved into his new house here, the Soviet block was coming apart. Laos desperately needed their communist donors, and it lost them.  Kaysone had already begun returning to free markets, making the dubious claim that ‘state capitalism’ was the road to socialism. But without the millions in foreign aid from their brother communist countries, Laos was headed towards economic disaster. Soon they were begging USAID (United States Agency for International Development) to come back, and full diplomatic relations with the USA were re-established in 1992.

Now USAID is back in town, and American aid projects are once again happily promoted in the state controlled newspapers. The cycle of aid in Laos has come full circle, although nowadays the budget and scope of US projects is far smaller. The country’s big brother to the north, China, has become the biggest patron of Laos. 

Continuing to exert political influence in Laos, are the Vietnamese. Near this complex on Route 13 is their recent museum project, the Kaysone Phomvihane Memorial. Partly funded by Vietnam it cost $8 million to build, a ridiculous expense in one of Asia’s poorest countries. Unlike in Vietnam where Ho is nationally revered, the communist party’s attempts to create a personality cult for Kaysone after his death have fallen short.

There are no visitors today at museum honoring ex-Prime Minister Kaysone

Like his buddy Ho Chi Minh, Kaysone would not have approved of this attempt at hero worship. The people of today’s Laos seem to agree. Although filled with photos and memorabilia from the strong man’s life, the quiet museum gets few visitors. The current generation in Laos is too focused on the present and the future, to be concerned with old communist leaders from the past.

I think Kaysone himself would get a good laugh out of some of the official attempts to  idolize him. One example sits downtown in the Lao National Museum. In a small case displayed in a corner, is an old piece of exercise equipment. It’s a four spring chest expander, the type that was briefly popular in America back in the 1970’s. The caption for this display was worth reading. “This spring was used by Comrade Kaysone Phomvihane in the gymnastic session during the elaboration of the plan to seize power.”

Hilarious.

I ponder over another of history’s 'strong men'. Somewhere in the not so distant future, I can picture another display in a museum in Austria. Beneath a display case of exercise equipment, there will be the following caption: “These barbells were used by Arthur Swarzenegger, during the elaboration of his victorious campaign to seize power as Governor of California.”