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Published: August 7th 2006
The local transport in Cambodia
They pack them full of people and the tops are either piled high with goods, but oftentimes, more people! Glad we had the other option...Again, a bit of backtracking...
We took a bus from Phnom Penh north to Kratie (pronounced Kra-chae), about halfway towards the Laos border. The six hour drive was pretty uneventful other than the stops in the local towns where we enjoyed watching the locals eat funny foods and climb off the tops of the local buses (we were on a "VIP" bus).
Kratie itself is just a small town that sits on the Mekong River. It's usually just a stopping point on the backpacker track up to Laos, but we went there to get out of the city. The 5 of us westerners were mobbed by the touts as we climbed down from the bus. We had all agreed we'd try to go to the same place, and even though we claimed to know where we were going, the 10 guys just followed us for a few blocks, it was crazy. Turns out that we were nearly the only bus arriving that day so the competition was fierce!
We ended up at the You-Houng GH (or something like that), nice rooms, only $3, and the restaurant food was good. Our "group" was Dan and I, another Kiwi girl
Kratie, near the market
The market was just opposite our guesthouse so we were awakened around 5am everyday. You'll notice a bit of trash around...not the cleanest place we've ever seen. who actually lives in London, and another couple who are French/Irish.
The town is small and the main attraction is going out to see the Irwaddy Dolphins, freshwater dolphins who live in the Mekong and are endangered. We all had our own motorbike driver to get us out there, the drive just stunning as we passed through little villages in the countryside, the homes built up on stilts people going about their day. People around here still use small horses and buffalo to drag carts around for farming and getting to/from the town.
We hired a boat to take us out on the river for an hour or so to try and see the dolphins. We did, but they are shy compared to other dolphins, and they barely popped above the water.
We also visited a buddist temple way up on a hill (I forgot the name) and had a good look over the countryside.
Besides the dolphins, the town didn't offer too much entertainment and it was pretty run-down. (Dan referred to it as the sh##hole of the world, but that's being way too harsh. Outside the town itself, it was beautiful.) We visited the local
School kids heading home
This street runs parallel to the river and is the "main drag" of Kratie. The kids all look so cute in their uniforms ;) market and walked around, very few people spoke any English, and only the children waved and said "hello". We had one almost sunset on the river which was nice. Overall, a good place to be for a day or so, but much more than that leaves you a bit bored unless you can rent your own motorbike.
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marge ballard
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enjoying the evening
DAN AND HEIDI........MOST ENJOYABLE, READING THE TRAVEL BLOGS. TAKES LOTS OF TIME, MOST OF THE EVENING.......LOOKING AT THE BEAUTIFUL PICTURES, AND READING THE GREAT WARM LOVING ADVENTURES YOU ARE EXPERIENCING. YES, I WOULD ENJOY THE KIDS THE MOST, ALSO. FOOD? NO! KIDS? YES!.....AND I WOULD ALSO HAVE A HARD TIME LEAVING THEM THERE....YOU KNOW ME. SO FUN TO ENJOY THE TRIP WITH YOU TWO. HOWEVER, GLAD IT IS YOU, AND NOT ME. KEEP HAVING FUN! SOUNDS LIKE DAN IS FEELING BETTER. THAT WAS TOO BAD TO HAVE TO HAVE SURGERY, ON A VACATION......DUH! GRAM