Al's Travels

Kratie
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The journey from hell...

Always wanted to go to Kratie since I learned that there are freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong not far from there. Supposedly just a five hour drive, North East of Phnom Penh, I was up at the crack of dawn to catch the 7.00 a.m. bus, which turned out to be the 7.30 a.m bus which was in fact late due to a puncture. So at 8.00 a.m. it arrived...surely there had been a mistake...I was told to expect a big bus with lovely air con, leg room and maybe a chance to stand up from time to time. Surely there was some kind of mistake? 
 
The reality was a 12 seat minibus packed to the rafters with a motorbike, table and chairs, assorted luggage and two passengers up top. Inside as I literally squeezed myself into my seat, I was seriously concerned, with barely enough room for a child to sit.
How on earth was I going to endure this for five hours?
By the time we set off I had accepted my fate as several other passengers arrived and were prised into the van bringing the grand total of passengers inside to 24!
 
Oh did I have fun...
 
It got worse after just 30 minutes when the woman in the seat in front vomited her breakfast all over the floor. Close inspection revealed a combination of rice and corn, just in case any of you were interested.
As the journey progressed and the temperature rose, the inevitable occured and the smell increased.
 
Was I the only person that noticed?
 
It sure did seem like it...
 
The five hour journey in reality became at least seven hours - I'd almost given up hope of being able to walk again by the time we pulled in at Kratie. Never again...
 
Like many quiet Cambodian towns, Kratie sits on the banks of the Mekong, exhibits some impressive though damp and crumbling French architecture and has the market place as its focal point. How relieved I was to check in at my $3.5 room at a local guesthouse and how nice I thought, to have the room with a balcony overlooking the market.
 
Aaah...how rustic, colourful, traditional, real, earthy, romantic even...
 
Not so bloody nice at 6.00 a.m. when the world and his wife come to town to buy and sell their various wares, I can tell you...
 
And who was the idiot who kept playing whiney Cambodian music over a set of very loud and tinny speakers? Was that absoloutely neccessary I thought - as a very real danger existed of me morphing into a cross between an irate Basil Fawlty and bewildered Victor Meldrew.
 
 At that moment, I would have easily settled for torture by Celine Dion - so piercing was the sound. I make absoloutely no apologies for my criticism of the aforementioned French-Canadian songstress, she's awful - period!
 
Placated by a strong coffee, several Marloboro Lights (trekkers breakfast) and my first bacon baguette in months I set out to meet the young Cambodian man who I had arranged to take me to the place where I could catch a boat. From there I could finally catch up with those elusive dolphins. (pink, white, grey dolphins, depending on which book you've read).
 
What a nice young man I thought, only a smattering of English, as with my Khmer...but we'd get by.
We got by so well, he forgot to tell me he didn't have a clue where we were going and it wasn't until he asked someone some 90 minutes after we set out, that he discovered we were 12 km too far up the road. It was great seeing all the lovely villages along the route with their smiling children (twice) - don't get me wrong - but I so badly wanted to see the dolphins - whatever colour.
 
By the time we got to the boat station (incidentally where there was a huge blue sign with a dolphin) all the boats had left...
 
"Maybe you would like to see a temple instead?" said the cute young man.
 
Momentarily in my minds eye I could hear Basil Fawlty...
 
"Temple?! Temple! If I'd wanted to see another bloody temple I wouldn't have said I wanted to see the sodding dolphins!"
 
After contemplating with a Marlboro and considering how my life was taking a whole new direction akin to "Lost in Translation" we chuckled. Oooh - how we laughed at me travelling all that way to Asia and spending seven hours in a  bus smelling of sick to be outwitted by fate.
Eventually a solution was found - I could charter a boat for three times the price and get to take him as well! Great!
 
So we did that before I realised that the Mekong swells to several times its normal size in the rainy season (i.e. August/September). Therfore chances of finding and seeing dolphins of any colour greatly reduced. It was actually very pleasant to float about on the river waiting for something to happen...caught a glimpse of a dolphin occasionally from about 50 m away, but all in all, like Kratie - just a little disappointing. I'm not saying don't go...but don't hold your breath.
 
Just one more night in Kratie, spent in the delightful company of some other travellers and the next day, I caught a proper big, huge bus with western sized seats and air con in which to travel back to Phnom Penh. Heaven is indeed a big bus going your way...
 
 

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Transport - Cambodia style

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Kratie - lots of damp French colonial buildings

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Kratie market - hustle and bustle from six in the morning - great!

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Kratie's Peace roundabout

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Everywhere you go in Cambodia, curious children are sure to follow

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The Mekong - several times its usual size in the rainy season. Somewhere out there are dolphins!

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The transaction...

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Two local girls sneak a glimpse of cartoons on a restaurant T.V.

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