http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Cambodia , East en-us Wed, 09 Dec 09 08:24:35 +0000 Wed, 09 Dec 09 08:24:35 +0000 Kratie was basically just a stopover between Siem Reap and Ban Lung but we made the most of it. Kratie is right on the Mekong and it is famous at least among backpackers for it's nearby pod of fresh water dolphins. We decided to take the bus from siem reap to kratie 8 hours or so see the dolphins the next morning and then catch another bus to Ban Lung 6 hours.Our bus left siem reap at 8 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Kratie/blog-458335.html We made our way East from Siem Reap to Kratie this took a monotonous 12 hours by various buses all of which broke down at some point. We eventually arrived in the dark never a favourite for any traveller but were kindly greeted by a man and his tuk tuk and a sign for the guesthouse we had earmarked to head too. So off we went and ended up at YouHong Guesthouse 5 for a double ensuite not ba http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Kratie/blog-455010.html Salut Le 14 novembre dernier on s'est elance de Kratie vers Ban lung dans un minibus local. A part les choux dans notre dos qui laissaient echapper une coulisse entre nos jambes un jeune qui ecoute sa musique sur son cellulaire sans ecouteurs un passager qui refuse de me laisser de la place et un autre qui se vide le nez de facon peu gracieuse directement sur le plancher ca s'est bien p http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Banlung/blog-454985.html Salut a tous le 12 novembre on est parti pour Kratie un autre 7h de route. On est arrive a bon port accueillis par une meute de tuktuk qui nous offraient tous la meilleure guesthouse comme d'habitude. On a decide d'aller voir un guesthouse recommande par le restaurateur de Kampot mais etant trop cher pour nous nous avons opte pour un guesthouse suggere par un chauffeur de tuktuk. Aussit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Kratie/blog-454975.html Tag 1 AnreiseMit Tabletten fuer meinen Bauch bepackt gings um 7 Uhr los. Der Bus war bis auf den letzten Platz belegt. Ich der einzige Barang westlicher Tourist. Wir kaempften uns durch den Verkehr von Phnom Penh und luden hie und da noch Leute und Reissaecke auf. Am Rande der Stadt sah ich eine nackte Frau auf der Strasse. Ob die wohl irgendwo ausgebrochen ist Umso weiter wir von der Stadt w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Banlung/blog-440346.html 23.07.09 During my last days in Cambodia I had to learn that not everything can be perfect all the time. After a great time in Phnom Penh I enthusiastically went to Kratie which is famous for itrsquos fresh water dolphins and of course I didnrsquot want to miss them out. As soon as I had arrived to this little place on the Mekong river I looked for a guesthouse which already seemed quite aban http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Kratie/blog-427301.html Advice to travellers If you sustain any injury more serious than a papercut demand medical evacuation to Bangkok. I donrsquot know what the hospitals in Phnom Penh and Siem Riep are like but in the provinces the situation is not great. I literally could not believe it when they told me they perform surgery at the hospital in Kampong Thom. How Itrsquos tiny. Therersquos no glass in the wi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/blog-415789.html The rumor is true.....we are coming home due to lack of funds you have now heard it officially from us. We fly home on 4th October we are still going to all of the countries we planned to just spending less time in each.so excited to see you all. See you all in OctoberLove Laura and Helen x x http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Kratie/blog-413996.html The Cambodian border was a little wooden hut about 100m further down the road than the Lao hut that stamped us out. We were left standing on the roadside with our backpacks for ages while visas were issued to everyone. Luckily a lovely Cambodian lady has seized the opportunity and arrived with a cool box full of drinks for sale at the bargain price of US1. They seem to prefer US to their own cur http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Kratie/blog-410031.html I havenrsquot done anything worth reporting since I got back from Siem Riep. There was some brief excitement when we received a visit from one of the Phnom Penh psychiatrists and some Belgian women whose function I could not ascertain. They took me melon shopping a delicate art I can now identify a good watermelon by how it sounds and out for dinner where I was fed mixed ants and something t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/blog-409280.html Apologies for the delay in updating this there have been a few technical issues with Travel Blog.org but these seem to now have been fixed. Here is the blog I wrote yesterdayAs promised I am writing from Phnom Penh the capital of Cambodia. I have been rather remote for the last week in the North Eastern Rattanakiri province. To get an idea of how remote it is click this link for a map of Ca http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Banlung/blog-407788.html Even though we had bought our Cambodian visas in Bangkok we had been warned that the border guards on the Cambodian side would likely demand around five US dollars for Administration Taxes that didn't actually exist and would be more accurately named Cambodian Border Guard Beer Fund. We had been told that you can try and refuse to pay but when we got there and they only asked for one dollar we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Banlung/blog-403519.html We left 4000 islands at eight on another little boat and made our way across again to the mainland. We waited around for ages for another boatload of people and were then squeezed into a little minibus for the bumpy fifteen minute trip to the border. We had to give our passports to Laos customs so they could stamp them to say we had left and then we walked abot 200m across no man's land and the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Kampong-Cham/blog-403158.html Kampong Cham the third biggest city in Cambodia although you'd be forgiven to think that it was no more than a large town. This was an overnight stop between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and whilst the town itself had no major sights a bicycle trip to the island of Koh Paen was especially enjoyable. Access to the island was via a temporary bamboo bridge which is dismantled when the water level rises http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Kampong-Cham/blog-400758.html I had picked up a Cambodian visa at the embassy in Vientiane as to not get overcharged at the border a very common story. The borders are usually a bit sketchy. From the border I went to Kratie in centraleast Cambodia. The town was littered with trash which is common in Cambodia but the ouskirts were beautiful. Kratie is on the banks of the Mekong River and is known for a colony of the enda http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Kratie/blog-397984.html I knew that when i set out on saturday I would be embarking on an adventure but i did not realise that i would have the experience of a life time life became so different by travelling only a few hours away from the citythis will be an epic tale...i hope you are comfortablesoriya and i got a shared taxi to her village a mini bus with no aircon and over 30 people for a 18 person vehicle an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Kampong-Cham/blog-391725.html HelloI really am dying of hunger now so I'm going to make these last few blogs really really quick onesBanlung was fun but in hindsight maybe not quite worth the number of days it took out of our travelling time with getting there and back The town and market was fun to wander around although we were practically red after each visit into town because of the layer of red dustdirt which coats http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Banlung/blog-387264.html After another uneventful journey to Kompong Cham we were dropped off and immediately swamped by moto drivers all keen to 'help' us. As we'd decided not to stay here and literally just stop overnight to use the ATM we went straight to the bus company office we'd come on to ask about onward travel for the following day to our new chosen destination of Mondolkiri Province. Sadly Ratanakiri had been http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Senmonorom/blog-381813.html Whilst in Penom Penh we were torn between which part of the country to go to next. Basially we wanted to do everything which just wasn't going to be possible in the time we had so in the end we decided to head to Kratie which is towards the east of the country and from here we could either go North to the Ratanakiri Province or far East to Mondolkiri Province.The bus ride from Phnom Penh to Krati http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Kratie/blog-381122.html So after getting to know everyone in the volunteer house there is not one person i could say a bad word about i am so lucky the guy that was here before was saying that the previous group divided into team america and team austrailia instead this year it is just team britainduring our orientation week we took a trip to the CRDT project in streung treng which is about 7hours drive from phnom http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/East/Stung-Treng/blog-380715.html