Imposing but closed

The imposing facade of the boutique hotel in Chhlong, La Relais

La Relais de Chhlong hotel in all its glory

The most imposing building in the sleepy Mekong River town of Chhlong is undoubtedly the Le Relais de Chhlong Hotel, which is closing this month for upwards of a year in order to renovate the existing four rooms and add another half dozen suites in a yet-to-be built annex. With its old-world French-colonial charm, swimming pool and gorgeous location on the river, the Relais has been the most expensive accommodation along the Mekong north of Phnom Penh for the last few years since it was renovated and opened as a boutique hotel. Built in 1917 for a wealthy Khmer-Chinese family, it had a series of owners but was allowed to fall into a serious state of disrepair before being brought back to life in its current incarnation. Inside the rooms and public areas, Chinese furniture, silks and ornaments proliferate and whilst the rooms are pleasant enough, the decoration is quite minimalist.

The swimming pool and Mekong River (in background) seen from the first floor

One of the bedrooms with the sparse furniture

A public rest area on the ground floor

Another of the hotel's 4 rooms

The view from the balcony of one of the upstairs rooms

More from Chhlong

A fine example of the fading but sturdy buildings to be found on colonial street in Chhlong

You can still see some attractive floral decoration on this colonial-style home

Blogger is playing up today so loading my images is taking forever. This is a follow-on post from the Sleepy Chhlong post below and contains more images from this town hugging the banks of the Mekong River.

A well kept traditional wooden Khmer home on stilts on colonial street

A family of wood-carvers hard at work on colonial street

The town's post office occupies this run-down building in Chhlong

Sleepy Chhlong

The laid-back, sleepy colonial street in Chhlong. On the left is the Mekong River.

There are a handful of locations that have eluded me on my travels around Cambodia over the years. For various reasons I've never managed to get to Svay Rieng, Pailin, Koh Kong and Chhlong. Well, a 30-minute visit en route to Kratie made sure that the sleepy town of Chhlong, hugging the east bank of the Mekong River, was deleted from that list. The driver announced we were taking the short-cut route to Kratie and rather than simply whizz past Chhlong (also known variously as Chlong and Chloung) I suggested a quick look around the place and my fam trip colleagues agreed. We didn't have time to do anything other than walk along the road fronting the river that contains a series of French colonial and Chinese style buildings, some in disrepair, others serving as family homes, but it was good to at last visit the town my pal Caroline had written about eight years ago here. Once the rest of the road to Kratie is paved then Chhlong will see a lot more traffic coming its way and I'm sure the crumbling colonial-era buildings, one of which proudly displayed the date, 1922, on its facade will undergo renovation, much like the classic 1917 family home that was transformed from a derelict mess into the gorgeous Relais de Chhlong hotel. On our return journey we popped into the hotel, which is just about to close for further expansion, but more on that in a later post. For now, colonial street in Chhlong remains a quiet and laid-back location, just around the corner from the town's market. I spotted a handful of very old Khmer houses as well, all of which ensures enough good reasons to return to Chhlong in the not too distant future. I can't believe it's taken me so long to get there in the first place.

The facade proudly shows 1922 as the date of construction of this colonial gem

A beautiful French colonial style building in need of some love and affection

It looks like Christmas has come early in Chhlong

Some of the French colonial and Chinese-style shop houses are in disrepair