In Kratie, our first stop over the border from Laos, we rented bikes and rode out to an area along the Mekong river where the guide book says one can see the seriously endangered Irrawaddy dolphins. While we were skeptical we'd actually get to see them, I couldn't resist trying. I'd also heard from some fellow travelers way back in Malaysia that it was possible to see them from shore beyond the point where one has to pay an entrance fee. Well, at least I thought that was what they'd told me, but I wasn't sure they were talking about Kratie as there are a few other places one can see them. Luckily Machiel was willing to humor me and we ventured out to see if this vague information was correct. It was a lovely ride down a shaded road (roads in Laos didn't have high enough trees to provide shade) and we enjoyed seeing new architecture, vehicles, people wearing kramas (traditional checkered scarves) all sorts of ways, and well, all the new sights that reminded us we were in a different country.
Sticky rice in bamboo "pipes" available for sale along the road:
Spicy snails for sale:
And sure enough, shortly past the payment required entrance to a viewing point over the river, we found a little path down to the shore. I felt a bit guilty for not supporting the local economy, but it was also fun to find a way to do it for free. As we were eating our sticky rice cooked in bamboo "pipes" we sighted the dolphins out in the river. They were too far away for a picture but close enough that we could see their heads with the binoculars as they surfaced.
We managed to get back to Kratie in time to eat lunch and buy a bus ticket for the afternoon bus to Kompong Cham - arriving there around 6pm - a full day!
Giant fishing nets:
Cambodia's only bridge over the Mekong:
The following day, we again rented bikes and went out exploring:
Fascinating to watch the building of this bamboo bridge to connect a Mekong island with the mainland. This bridge is rebuilt every year in the dry season:
Picking tamarind:
Bottles and pieces of cactus on gates (protection from spirits?):
Many houses also had stuffed "scarecrows" at their gate:
Ferry back to Kompang Cham (perfect timing for sunset and kingfisher sighting with bonus of closeup view of the bamboo bridge):
Poles for the bamboo bridge:
Evening aerobics along the river:
The next day we took the bus to Siem Reap. We found a lovely little guest house (called Happy Guest House), and began reading up on the Angkor ruins, only to discover that there were a whole bunch of them and trying to decide which we would go see and in what order totally overwhelmed the thorough planner in me. So we decided to delay going out to the ruins and to take a half day bike ride out to a silk farm instead. This gave me time to come to grips with the guidebook and also allowed us to miss trying to see the ruins amidst a marathon which, we found out later, took place that day.
We ended up buying a three non-consecutive day ticket for the temples which allowed us to take a day off mid-visit which helped lessen templification (temple overload). We were happy to find rental bikes that with minor seat adjustments actually fit us which made biking from temple to temple much more pleasant. We took more pictures than we can even bear to look through (still suffering from our templification). So here's just a very small taste.
Are you tired of temples yet? We weren't, though we were tired!
Uh oh, I've used up all the free photo space for this blog.
Go to http://globalwandering2.blogspot.com/ for the continuation.
