Blogs from Kratié, East, Cambodia, Asia - page 6

Lundi 8 décembre 7h on est prêt pour prendre le bus en direction de Kratie. On pensait en avoir pour 4 heures mais en fait c’était 6 !! Le bus n’était pas plein à la différence des autres fois. Au premier arrêt on a rencontré Kris une prof anglaise avec un groupe d’élèves du lycée international. Ils étaient 8 et venaient tous de pays différents (3 coréens, 1 brésilienne, 1 taiwan, 1 anglaise, 1 américaine) mais vivaient au Cambodge en raison de la vie professionnelle de leurs parents. Ainsi ils allaient à Kratie pour tester un séjour touristique de 2 jours qu’ils avaient eux mêmes organisé car ils étudiaient en Tourisme. Kris nous a alors proposé de se joindre à eux comme si nous étions leurs premiers clients ! Donc c’était super cool, ils nous restait ... read more

In Kratie we honed our motorbiking skills in preparation for the jungle roads in Ratanakiri. Hiring a scooter for the day was the best thing we could have done and it saved a load of money. You go to Kratie to do pretty much one thing..spot the river dolphins, the only fresh water dolphins in the world. However when we arrived we found the price of a dolphin spotting trip had risen from around $5 to $9 plus moto hire - more than our budget would allow. So we decided to hire a motorbike to see the local area. To our delight the guy we hired it from told us about a bridge we could stop on to see the dolphins. Heading out through the villages and seeing local life was pretty special and the spot ... read more

Batambang is een plezant stadje waar we wat couleur locale opsnuiven. Er is niet veel te zien behalve mensen en hun dagelijkse leven. De mensen leven, eten, werken hier op straat. Ons voyeuristisch kantje komt hier goed aan zijn trekken. Het is aangenaam om in een normale stad te zijn na de toeristenenclaves Ubud, Kuta en Siem Reap. In één restaurant hebben we zelfs communicatieproblemen omdat we geen gemeenschappelijke taal hebben en krijgen we iets dat we niet besteld hebben. Dit is reizen!! Avontuur!! Hoera!! Het was lang geleden... De belangrijkste troef van Battambang is de kookcursus van Smokin’ Pot. Onder leiding van een gepassioneerd kok leren we een aantal hoogtepunten van de Cambodjaanse keuken klaarmaken (Amok, Lok Lak). Op naar de hoofdstad: Phnom Penh. In het gevangenis/genocide-museum Tuol Sleng en op het executieterrein The Killing ... read more

We got here after a 9hr epic bus journey..... We found a great guest house, which looked over the Mekong River, Kratie is known for its Fresh Water Dolphins called Irrawaddy and relaxed atmosphere. But you can see in years to come this will be a very popular place for tourists. We booked a 1/2 day trip on motorbikes with a driver to see the dolphins and sombok mountain(temple), the boat trip was about 1.5hrs and we saw lots of dolphins, its great to see them as they are diminishing fast, due to the over fished river and poluation. We stayed here for a few days to relax, our plans did change (quite a bit actually) as we thought from Kratie we would head for the mountains to Ratanakiri Province for treking, waterfalls, swimming, elephant rides ... read more

After a brief stop back in Phnom Penh (most journeys in Cambodia have to be done via the capital) we were on the road again headed to the town of Kratie on the Mekong river. Our purpose, to search out dolphins. All though by this far into the trip we have seen more than our fair share of marine dolphins, these are different. Found only in the Mekong river these small and exceedingly rare river dolphins (approx 86 left in the wild) are well worth the 14 hour round trip by bus. We arrived in Krati late in the afternoon to find a typical, dusty and dirty, Cambodian town. Rather tired we booked in to the first guest house we found (having fooled the touts waiting for the bus by hiding in a restaurant). The room ... read more