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Published: November 15th 2012
Irrawaddy Dolphins
Only managed to see a few of them and this was about as far out of the water as they go!From Phnom Penh to Kratie (Kratch-eh) was an estimated 6/7 hours by Cambodian GPRS. As with many things in Cambodia you cannot expect them to work or to be accurate and our 7 hour journey turned into a 10 hour marathon, not much of a delay b some standards but still enough. We arrived into the pitch black town at 8pm to be met by a good number of hotel salesmen trying onto get us into their 'better than all the rest' accommodation. Anyway we got to our guesthouse called 'The Balcony', pretty good and cheap, grabbed some tea and had an earlyish night.
By day, Kratie was a beautiful place, sat right alongside the big Mekong river, only a few cars and scooters around in comparison to the city. We had two days planned for here, which turned out to be some of the best days we have had.
The best way to get around Kratie was by bike, as its only a small area and has an island in the middle of the river which we got the ferry over to. There were no cars on the island, few mopeds and very few people, it felt like
we had the island to ourselves. After an hour we had ridden around it, only 9km from start to finish but we had seen quite a lot on the way, floating villages, local villages, a big fancy hotel comprising of little beach huts. Apparently there are giant turtles somewhere the island but we had no sight of them. The hardest bit of getting on and off the island was the journey from the boat to the land, we had to cross 200m of sand, pushing our bikes in the sweltering heat. It was more of a workout than imagined.
Speaking of animals, we took a 17km each way bike ride to see some of the last remaining Irrawaddy dolphins, with only 50 left in the Mekong. We had been promised by Lonely Planet a sighting and if not we would redeem or money. Once aboard the boat and 5 minutes later there they were. These big dolphins with a funny looking head and dorsal fin. We saw maybe 4 or 5 of these animals playing in the river, not jumping like their sea water friends but merely coming to the surface and giving a flick of the tail if
they felt adventurous. We spent almost an hour just watching them, 50% of the time down a lens but then giving in and just using my eyes. Our time was soon and we headed back, saddle sore, to the guesthouse for a well needed shower.
We had planned that to chill out and relax a little in Kratie but after 50km of riding one day and we somehow found ourselves signed up for a day of kayaking the next. So after a 6am start and a big breakfast down the hatchet, we got onboard our vessels for the day, still extremely tender in the gluteus area and began to paddle down one of the feeder rivers to the Mekong. The company we went with Sorya Kayaking Adventures only started the previous day, making us 2 of the first 6 people down the river by kayak. It was no rolling white water but more of a Sunday driver river, however it did take a lot of muscular endurance to withstand 7 hours of paddling with a lunch stop half way. Half a day would have been enough but it was good to see something different and from a different level.
And that was our two days of relaxing over, feeling knackered and read for a rest. Maybe Siem Reap would give us a break!
We had another 10 hour bus ride to Siem Reap, the city home to the Angkor temples. We have become very accustomed to the bus rides now and the thought of 10 hours on one is no big deal, which is good considering they will get longer and hotter in Australia! Siem Reap though is much quieter than Phnom Penh and filled with tourists of all ages.
Neither of us were feeling good the night we arrived, don't know whether it was dodgy food or just a bug but we decided to leave Angkor another day. We had a lie in, all the way through to 8am and by 10am we were bored. The city by day is a ghost town with 95% of people at the temples and most of the shops are either closed or dead awaiting the flocks of people in the evening. We really didn't do much, Laura went off on her own, I on my own and had some time alone, I didn't fancy walking in and out of
shops all morning. One of the other attractions of Siem Reap is the floating villages out by the big lake, we took the bikes and went off in search of it. Once we found it about 10km later we were met by hundreds of houses with corrugated steel roofs standing 12 ft above the water. It looked like a shanty town on the water but it was fascinating to see how these people lived, they had everything here all on the water, police stations, churches, shops and bars. I don't know how much was for the tourists and how much was really used, we met people who went on a tour there and got Tuktuked between shops. The best part was climbing to the top of a Buddist hill to look out over it all and see what was really there. In the distance a big hotel was being built, so it looks like another place hit hard by tourism.
Now because Laura hasn't had a mojito in quite a long time, Laura wanted to go and get a mojito and Laura wanted to go to the most expensive place in town to buy her mojito that had nice
hammocks and swinging chairs (she won't be happy about this bu she doesn't read the blog Ad I did want to go to if you do read it!!!). I had no chance, so we went! Corona for £1.75 so I can't grumble and Laura was happy again!
The day of the Angkor ruins, 4 19am start to ride to the site before sunrise! We got there along with everyone else just before light, about 5 15am and sat down right infront of Angkor Wat to watch the sun come out for the day. On the way in, all across the horizon, a huge lightening storm was kicking up but it came nowhere near to us and we were able to see the ruins light up in peace. This was definitely the busiest time of day that we saw; cameras, tripods and go pros all lined up on the edge of the lake, trying to get the best of the reflection, of course i was there too! It was magical, and it is well worth the effort of dragging yourself out of bed for, and the ride there is better than a red bull! For the remainder of the day
we explored the massive site, going in and out and up and down temples. Some of the distances between the temples was up to 10km so by the end of the day our legs were gone. There was one called Ta Phrom, that they used in the film Tomb Raider, a big over run temple covered in huge trees that rip apart the walls, it was impressive to see the place still standing! If you think of Temple Run, this is what its like and even with monkeys there too, not the crazy apes that chase after you on the game though. I think a day there though is more than enough as once you've been in a few you have seen them all, they are just different shapes and sizes from that point on. This has been our second Wonder of the World visited in 2 months, not doing bad!
Because we got to Angkor so early we had seen enough by 3pm and headed back. We were going to stick around for the sunset but that meant 3 more hours of riding a bike and we didn't like the sound of that, a beer sounded better. It
was good that we did leave because the rains came in almost straight after, and there was no red skied sunset in sight. Barbecued marinated beef for tea and a look through the markets and we were out like a lightbulb by 10pm.
I don't usually write about the bus journeys as they are all the same but the last one in Cambodia into Bangkok is a little worthy. It was a Cambodian 6-7 hour journey and we would be in Bangkok with loads of time to get a bus to our next destination.....No chance, 11 hours later and we rolled into the city after spending 3 hours in a line at immigration. Note for anyone else going to Cambodia, don't expect to get anywhere on time, they make you believe that the journeys are short and because of this we missed the bus. Original we were going to go to Chiang Mia and see all the lush green mountains, do some trekking and hire out a motorbike but we had a change of heart and fancied the beach instead, s down to the islands we go for 10 days! It's a hard life 😊
Oh and we
have eaten a big ass deep fried grasshopper now, tasting of nothing more than soy sauce with a texture similar to that of a relentlessly crisp twiglet.
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