Kratie, Cambodia

Our first experience of Cambodia (apart from the border 'n' travel package) was in Kratie - pronounced Kratchay - a sleepy little town on the Mekong, northeast of Phnom Penh. We spent two days wandering the street, poking through the market, watching Al Jazera, and observing sunsets over the river. Kratie is mostly known for the potential to see the Irrawady Dolphin, a rare and disappearing species of freshwater dolphin found only in the Mekong (supposedly anyway). After deliberating over the whopping 12 dollar pricetag of the expedition, we headed up there on moto. In addition to the ubiquitous tuktuk, Cambodia is perhaps unique in its public transport motorcylces, where you (and possibly one other person, or a ton of foodstuffs, or a live chicken) hop on the back of some guy's motorcycle and are taken to your destination. On Dolphin Day, Kate's driver had a helmet and drove at reasonable speeds, and my driver had no helmet and passed every imaginable vehicle extremely closely while honking (including, memorably, a wagon full of hay pulled by a pair of cattle on a narrow dirt road). Once at the dolphin dock, we boarded a boat and headed into the water for an hour of see if you can spot the dolphins. And we did! Many dolphins happily swam and dove around the sand bars and small shrubs of the Mekong, while we tailed them and tried to take a picture. On the ride back to town, we stopped at a small wat on top of a hill from which you can see the whole valley (after climbing innumerable steps). It was lovely.

As an introduction to Cambodia, Kratie taught us a lot. People are generally smilier and friendlier than in Laos (believe it or not, travelers). The U.S. dollar is the main unit of currency, with Reil making up for small change (4000 Reil to the dollar means a 1000 reil note is 25 cents - no coins for Cambodia). Most suprisingly, many women wear pajamas all the time (or maybe just in public), and not like people said Maoists wore pajamas. More like people in the Sears catalog sleep section where pajamas - button down, one front pocket, patterned with cartoon characters or flowers or weird designs. Straight up pajamas, folks.


Next day, we got the last two seats on the bus for Phnom Penh, where the woman in front of me visibly stared at me for about half of the 6 hour trip. The bus played what was apparently an uproariously hilarious variety show and people howled with laughter. There as also a super blinged out baby to entertain us.