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Well I am almost into the travelling part of my time in Cambodia now. I am due to come back to England on June 12th, so I have got a lot to fit in. I am meant to be returning to my voluntary placement to do two days of work on Thursday and Friday and then that is finished.
Actually I have just returned from a long weekend in Kratie, which is situated about 350 kilometres north east of Phnom Penh along the Mekong river. It involved an eight hour bus journey there and back, which was very busy as many locals were visiting relatives for the king's birthday holiday weekend. It was interesting to pass through rural Cambodia and see the typical Khmer wooden houses built on stilts and realise how remote and poor the lives of some of the people are. However it was not so nice to see plates piled high with fried tarantulas for sale at one of the stopping places en route! Safety on the bus does leave a lot to be desired though - no seat belts, only one driver, who was talking on his mobile while driving, as well as holding a conversation
with passengers!
Kratie itself is a riverside town with a rich legacy of French colonial architecture and some of the best Mekong sunsets in Cambodia. Back with the familiar tuk tuk driver, I made a trip to see the Irrawaddy dolphins, which are quickly becoming an endangered species and apparently the scientists haven't really discovered why. There are about 75 of them left in this stretch of the river between Kampi, 15 kilometres north of Kratie, and the Laos border. I saw the dolphins from a small boat in the middle of the river, being the only person on it apart from the man actually steering and it was very calm and peaceful. Unfortunately I did not get any photos, as no sooner the dolphins appeared above the surface, they were gone! Continuing on a little further, we came to the Kampi rapids, which was not only a fast flowing section of the river but an area, where many local people came with their picnics at weekends and at holiday times.
Back in the tuk tuk again, I was taken another 20 kilometres north to Sambor Wat, which was originally a 16th century temple but was destroyed under
Looking for the dolphins
Just imagine a dolphin popping its head out of the water. I missed the photo! the rule of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge and rebuilt in 1997. This Wat consists of 116 pillars, with only 3 of the original wooden ones still standing at the rear. Situated in the grounds of this wat, there is a turtle conservation centre, where the eggs of different species of turtles are hatched and kept in captivity for about 10 months, when they are returned to their natural environment, hopefully having acquired better survival skills to cope with predators. I didn't realise there were so many different species of turtles, ones that live on the land, ones in the sea and soft backed ones as well as hard backed!
There was one more excursion during my stay in Kratie - a short 10 min boat trip to the island of Koh Trong. On arrival I was hoping to find a pony and cart to take me on a leisurely circular trip but no such luck. Instead from nowhere a woman appeared on a moped and offered to take me around for 5 dollars, which I stupidly agreed to because there was absolutely nothing else to do! Within about 3 minutes of us starting off, the heavens opened
Kampi rapids
These shelters are where everyone, mainly local people, gather to have their picnics and leisure time and I asked her to stop, so that I could put on my thin bright blue raincoat, rather like the ghastly things that are provided free on water rides at Thorpe Park. We then carried on but by this stage I was getting a little worried, envisaging us getting stuck but worse still missing the last boat back and being stranded on this island overnight! Thankfully she turned back but not before she had stopped at her house to fetch her raincoat and bring her washing in!
One of the photos I have uploaded is of a typical street stall along the riverfront in Kratie, selling two of the local specialities: 'krolan', which is sticky rice, beans and coconut milk inside bamboo tubes, which displayed altogether look rather like miniature church organ pipes and 'nehm', which are raw, spiced river fish wrapped in edible fresh leaves, which are then wrapped in a cube of banana leaves.
Well this is all for the moment but keep looking at the blog, as next week I am off to visit the famous temples of Angkor Wat.
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Carol
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Fantastic pics!
Wow! Your journeys sound amazing - did you eat any nehm or krolan? I remember hearing about Angkor Wat from a friend at college who had been there and since then I have always wanted to see it - you are having marvellous experiences. Look forward to seeing you on your return, Carol