Kratie

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On the bus to Kratie, I ran into Danny and Duck, guys I previously traveled with in Laos. Kratie is a nice little town on the river. We rented bikes one day and took a ferry across the river to an island. Bike around there. It was really nice, with little kids screaming 'hello' every time we passed them.
Next day, we rented motor bikes and went south to Chlon, the took a ferry to the other side. The other bank is not very touristy and really rural, which was nice as the scenery was amazing. We were ridding north, where we planned to cross back to our side of the river. Unfortunately, about 3 quarters of the way, Danny and I stopped for bubble tea, with Duck no where in site. Then a couple of locals on a motor bike came and were pointing to their legs. We figured Duck had an accident, so we rode with them, and sure enough there was Duck, surrounded bu a crowd of locals. Apparently, a dog ran across the road right in front of him, so he slammed his brakes, as he is terrified of dogs. S.ince we were on a dirt path, the bike slid and ended on it's side. Duck ended up with some nasty road rash on his legs and toes, since he was wearing flip flops. There some blood and the whole thing looked pretty serious at the time. We had to backtrack to Kratie, and took him to the hospital, where they cleaned up his wounds. After that, the wounds didn't look that bad. The hospital was a scary looking thing - I would want be treated for anything serious there. The bike was in much worse shape then Duck, so we ended up paying the owner $60 in damages, which we split between the 3 of us.
Next day, we took a tuk tuk 15 km north to a village, where dolphins hang out. We took a boat out and saw a bunch of river dolphin. They are endangered, so we felt quite fortunate to see so many. It was quite a nice experience. Duck was the center of attention everywhere we went, with the locals sympathizing with his wounds and showing some of their own. Apparently, motor bike accidents are so common that all the locals have scars to prove it.
Next stop - Pnom Phen.

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