sat day 127

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Today started a bit like yesterday, but after having some breakfast we booked a tuk tuk to take us to go and see some rare dolphins. The Irrawaddy dolphins are native to this part of the Mekong with only about 100 left in the world. The fresh water dolphin is very shy and its numbers have slowly decreased due to fishing nets and poisoning from the locals. Nowadays the Laos community fisheries and dolphin protection project compensate for any damaged fishing nets, so the numbers will pick up again. Being driven out to the next village about 15km away to then get on a long tail boat and taken only 10 minutes up the river we got our first sighting. Sitting stationary we waited while scanning the water and got a few more sightings of the dolphins. It was almost impossible to get a picture of them as being so quick and only popping out the water for a second or two, but it was lovely to be able to see them. After about an hour we were taken back and driven back on the very unmade road through a village back to Kratie. Getting a spot of lunch back at the restaurant I made a phone call to my bank - which is never gonna be as easy as it sounds from Cambodia! Getting through every 5th attempt - but finally managing to sort what I needed to it was a relief to have got it done. Kate and i headed out to go and look around the local market which mainly consisted of food. Anything from live fish having their heads cut off and innards spilled out on the pavement to fresh fruit and vegetables. With a million flies everywhere and the heat of the day you needed a strong stomach to take in the sights and smells. Its almost enough to put you off eating meat ever again! Deciding to hire the bikes again for a couple of hours we headed back in the direction of the dolphins, through the village stopping off to take pictures and meet some of the very sweet local kids. Heading back into town the sky looked ominous again and sure enough another storm hit soon after we got back to the restaurant - phew! So again deciding to stay put for dinner and meeting a nice guy from Australia - and with the numerous power cuts - we wiled away the evening.

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