Cambodia: Kratie, 4-6 May

After crossing the border into Cambodia, our first stop was Kratie, further down the Mekong from Si Phan Don. We took a tuktuk tour around some key sights in and around Kratie with a friendly local driver. This included some impressive temples, one of which was the 100 pillar temple.                                                                                                 

We also stopped to look at a floating village nearby. The village is populated by poor Vietnamese people who, owning no land back in Vietnam, erected their homes in the river and made a living from here. When the wet season comes, they take down their homes and rebuild further around the corner as the level of the river rises.

On our way to see the floating village, we stopped in a local village, much to the delight of the children, who swarmed into the tuktuk with us and came along for a bit of a ride. Some of them took turns taking running jumps on and off the tuktuk as it made its way through the village. Every village we passed through on our trip we encountered gorgeous smiling kids waving and shouting out ‘hello’ at us, which was quite endearing.

Other stops including watching and talking to some women planting the rice paddy fields, and trying local palm sugar juice (not such a fan of this). Then we went to cool off at the local swimming hole. Turns out this was actually a set of quite strong rapids. Bamboo platforms are erected over the rapids for hanging out, picnicking, hammocking, and also to
cling onto so you don’t get swept off down the river.

In the late afternoon, we headed out on a boat to spot Irrawaddy Dolphins. These dolphins are quite rare and pods can be found in the Mekong around Kratie, as well as near Si Phan Don. Previously, they had been hunted. Although protected now, their numbers are still quite small. We did manage to spot quite a few as they briefly came up for air before slipping under the surface again. It was also a beautiful sight with the sun setting across the river.

Although our tour had officially finished, our tuktuk driver wanted to take us to his friend’s school to help the kids with their English. We went along and were stood up in front of the class, telling them about where we came from, etc. The kids were far too shy to interact with us, but it was a funny experience with thirty or so enthralled faces staring up at us and occasionally giggling about the way we looked, talked, or did something or another.