Mar 9, 2013 - Over the Border to Kratie

March 8th to Kratie, Cambodia We watched Mr Hom and his kids get the boat ready for taking us to Nakasang, on mainland at 8am and then to take Valerie and Micheal out fishing for the day. By 7.45 Mr Hom had not returned in his boat and we weren’t certain he would show up , so we made a very quick 6k sprint cycle on a potholed bumpy dirt road, to the top of the island to the boats. But damn , there were about 40 backpackers ahead of us in the queue being very slowly herded in an unorganised manner onto the boats. !! Pete spotted a flat deck...

Jan 11, 2013 - Travel to North East Cambodia

Early this morning we commence our 7 hour drive from the North West to the North East of Cambodia passing through villages, negotiating roaming herds of water buffalo and eventually arriving at Kratie on the banks of the mighty Mekong River. This afternoon we head out on this massive waterway with local boatmen to try and spot the endangered Irrawaddy Freshwater Dolphin. As the golden late afternoon sun warms your face, the feeling as one of these wonderful creatures breaks through the surface nearby is truly inspiring and will lift your...

Feb 3, 2012 - Kratie Chatty

Hello all, We are now in the Mekong-side town of Kratie. It's very hot and sticky here but good in the shade with a cool drink. We plan to go and see some fresh-water dolphins, which I thought for a moment that I didn't know existed. Then I remembered the TV show Flipper, so there. Apparently they are called Irrawaddy Dolphins. There is also a nearby island on the Mekong where you can sunbathe on the beach and swim whilst locals living in floating villages stare at you in wonder at daft foreigners. We've booked in to a decent hotel, well...

Jan 4, 2012 - Koh Trong Island

The one local tourist attraction near Kratie is Koh Trong Island in the Mekong River. According to their brochure, “A 9km loop road around the island's perimeter provides opportunities for visitors to leisurely cycle through traditional Khmer villages, fruit orchards, and rice fields while observing the daily rituals and routines of traditional village like. Well, it certainly lived up to its claims. If you wanted to see rural Cambodia, you really wouldn't need to look any further. It has everything: stilt houses, farm land, wooded areas,...

Jan 3, 2012 - Perils of not knowing the local language

Note: Those of you who seem to enjoy when things go wrong on my travels will probably like today's journal entry. Those of you who enjoy the photos will be disappointed because there aren't any today. Here in Cambodia, they speak Khmer. The alphabet is based on the ancient Sanskrit languages. In Vietnam, they switched to using the Roman alphabet, long ago. So, I could read the signs even I if didn't know what the words meant. Here in Cambodia, I can't read anything unless they provide an English or French translation. I wouldn't be able to...

Aug 21, 2010 - Kambodscha

Wir haben Laos ungern verlassen, primaer, weil die Tage auf der Insel so extrem erholsam waren, aber auch weil wir nicht wussten, was Kambodscha so bringen wuerde. An der Grenze wurden wir mal wieder daran erinnert, dass wir von einer Bananenrepublik in die naechste reisen. Die Grenzbeamten auf laotischer Seite wollten ein paar Dollar fuer ihren Ausreisetempel haben, ist ja auch 'ne grosse Muehe, so einen Stempel in den Pass zu druecken, wenn man doch eigentlich viel lieber schlafen wuerde. Dann auf kambodschanischer Seite das gleiche, nur...

Jul 6, 2010 - back in kratie

ok, so came back the other day, this is now the 4th and final day before i head back to phnom penh for 1 night to catch my flight on thursday. To be honest not done much here apart from scoot round on motorbikes checking out the local scenery. having a bike has freed me up so much cos it allows you to really explore somewhere, not just check out all the tourist traps. getting to a stage now where i need to work out if im extending the trip or whether i really need to pull my finger out in order to be able to see all the places i wanna see....

Jun 30, 2010 - irrawaddy dolphins :D

hey. came to kratie yesterday, suffered the 9 hour journey from siem reap for one reason: seeing dolphins. This morning i rented a moto driver for the morning and was taken to kampi national park to get on a boat. I wasn't disappointed, after 20 seconds of being on the boat i heard the inimitable sound of dolphins blowing out their blowhole and within another few seconds saw 3 dolphins (1 baby too!!). spent the next hour or so just chillng out on the boat watching dolphins splashing around in the water. such a peaceful place, all the boats...

Feb 12, 2010 - Kratie, Cambodia

Friday 12th February 2010 Today we crossed the border from Laos into Cambodia. We started our journey in Don Khon and the owner’s husband from our guesthouse took us in his boat back to Ban Nakasang, where there was a coach waiting for us to take us on the short 15 minute journey to the border. This was a really lovely early morning journey on the Mekong direct from our guesthouse, much better than our journey out to the island. Once we got to the border we had to take our bags off the bus and walk across the border. Annoyingly we had to...

Apr 5, 2009 - Cambodia - Kratie

Minivan from Ban Lung to Kratie. As the first attached photo shows, the road is red dirt. Not too bad unless it has been raining....which it had... When we arrived in Stung Treng (half way to Kratie) I looked up in the sky and saw a ring around the sun - see attached photo. First time I've ever seen this. I looked it up on the web and it is apparently a 22 degree halo, also called a parhelic circle. Although I am happy to be corrected. Something to do with ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. Seemed a bit hot for that, but what do I know....

Jan 21, 2009 - Kratie - LAST STOP IN CAMBODIA!

Kratie- my last stop in Cambodia. The 6 hour bus ride had incredible scenery while driving up. Very lush and green with plenty of cows and buffalo blocking the streets. And the street was paved!(for the most part)Only staying here for a day to break up the travel time for crossing the border up into Laos. Kratie is pretty laid back and while walking through the street in the blistering heat, the locals were very friendly with warm hellos and smiles. Kratie is famous for seeinf the rare, endangered freshwater irwaddy dolphin in the Mekong...

Jan 5, 2009 - CAMBODIA - Kratie

For a quick overview of Cambodia provided by the BBC, click here Our overland crossing from Laos to Cambodia was relatively uneventful. Had to pay each side's border police $1 of bribe money for them to stamp our passports, but this used to be more expensive. The bus service on the Cambodian side was pretty awful - had to change vans twice (the one that picked us up at the Laos border was very nice, the one they transferred us to at the next town was not and was crammed full of fellow tourists and a few drunk Cambodian relatives or...