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After seeing tourist run Siem Reap and the packed streets of Phnom Phen, I wanted to see the more natural side of Cambodia. This brought me to Kratie. I have read that there are some extremely endangered fresh water dolphins that can be seen there. That news made it worth stopping by for a look.
The road to Kratie is strait and paved. Many in Cambodia are like this because of a recently re-done road network. Makes travel time by land within the country much easier now. I arrived early in the afternoon and teamed up with a moto driver to take me to the drop-off point for boats to go out on the Mekong river to check out the rare Irrawaddy dolphins. From the shore I could already see small groups of dolphins swimming around. We spent about an hour checking them out. Some came close to our boat, while other remained at a distance. Taking their photo was very difficult because they surface for only a few seconds at a time. The total estimate population is less than 100. They are facing extinction and some are still accidentally killed by being trapped in fishing nets. The reason
why their population has shrunken so much is because during Cambodia’s recent wars, they were hunted for their oil. It was used to fuel vehicles and the meat went to the starving families. Hopefully their numbers will increase due to their new protected status, but the chances are not in their favor.
There was not much to see in Kratie, so I took a bumpy bus to Sen Monoram. A few years ago it was much more remote, but today access is very easy. The town was 24 hour power and there are several choices for accommodation. The landscape didn't look how I expected. I was picturing dense forest surrounding the town. Instead it was grassy, rolling hills with red dirt. It was beautiful, but a surprise. It was warm there, but much cooler than sea level Cambodia. The town moved at a slower pace and the people were genuine.
On the bus to Sen Monoram, I teamed with a German girl named Julia. She was going there to relax and see more of the natural attractions, so she made for a good teammate. For the first day we rented a motorbike and just checked out the town
and the area. The big thing to do there is elephant trekking to minority villages and waterfalls in the area. Our homework for that day was to compare different offers. In late afternoon I dropped off Julia and went for a ride. Big mistake! Shortly after, a snake came out quickly to cross the road. I had to swerve to miss it and with the bike's small tire and the looseness of the dirt road the bike went down with me on it in. Luckily there were no broken bones and the bike had limited damage, but my knee and hand had some wounds. They were large enough that infection was a very serious risk, but I was able to get some antibiotics and iodine to keep it clean. I was able to walk around ok after, but this meant no waterfall swimming for at least a week. Big letdown, but at least me trip wasn't over.
After resting a full day we went out for a two day elephant trek. We were taken to a minority village for our elephant pickup to the forest. I've seen elephants before, but being up close and on one is different. Much
bigger in person. The elephant moved at her own pace and made good time to our camp. The seat wasn't the most comfortable, so we took turns walking besides her to stretch our legs. We spent the night at a waterfall. There were so many ants and termites around our camp. One species of termite kept picking on me and its guards were constantly impaling their jaws in to my skin. They easily broke the skin and have to be pulled off. Hurts, but better than being bitten my something with venom. The next morning we went for a few more hours to another village. We poked our heads around and seeing that rain was approaching we quickly caught our rides back to the hotel.
I was planning on spending more time in the surrounding villages, but with rain on the way and my wounds hurting, I decided that my time in Sen Monoram was up.
The next morning we took a pickup truck back to Phnom Phen. It was supposed to be quicker than the bus, but the drive train broke en route. It didn't delay us too much, but when we did arrive it was the
same drive time as the bus. Luckily rain clouds were over Phnom Phen making our arrival much cooler than normal.
This week in Cambodia was very easy and enjoyable. It was a good break from the busy cities.
See you all next time.
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lisa
non-member comment
you look skinny. bring me home a baby pig.