Kratie

The alarm goes at 5:30 am, and because the neighbours came home late last night and then also started a whole conversation, I’ve got some troubles getting up. It is still pitch black outside when I walk towards the bus station in Ban Lung with another tourist.

On the way we have to keep some stray dogs at a distance, but fortunately we are with two people. Although I am quickly sleeping in the icy air-conditioning bus I see many trucks, carts and jeeps full of people who protect themselves against the morning cold. Probably these are on their way to work on land.

Many have a Khmer scarf tied around their heads which they call Krama here. These are worn as well in the countryside as in the city and are mostly made of cotton or silk and are very multifunctional. Against the sun, dust and the wind; they are used as a dress, a towel and a cushion, but also as a curtain, decoration and as a baby keeper. I recognize the city of Kratie immediately as I have driven through it a few times now and take my now "orange" bag (because of the red dust) out of the cargo space.

A boy gives me a map of a hostel in my hands and I follow him and check in. Of course they have the dolphin tour, but first I want to search for information myself in the town.

It is as often a lot cheaper to book tours in another (tour)office and I immediately buy a ticket when I see further up in the street an offer. After lunch I walk back and they take me on the back of a motorbike to the meeting place. A helmet is not available and while riding on top of a dike I see the Mekong river crowded with boats.I’m kinda relieved when we’re there.

Everything goes well when we arrive at the pier and from here I see the first Irrawaddy dolphins in the river in a distance. I can not wait to take a boat on the river, but I have to wait for more people to share the boat. First an American man arrives and then it is still more than an hour waiting for a local family arrives. I’ve got the feeling they can come along for a heavily reduced rate.

We take off in the boat and we see immediately dozens of dolphins around us. It’s very hard to take a picture because when you’re ready they dive again under water. But the whole "setting" is beautiful with the river, the jungle in the background and jumping river dolphins around you. I ask myself out loud if the number of 75 in total is correct when I see how many people are still swimming around here. The Khmer Rouge killed many dolphins because of their oil and their numbers would continue to fall due to the construction of new dams and they get caught in fishingnets.  

When we are taken back to the centre of town I walk along the endless boulevard of the city that has remained miraculously untouched in the Vietnam War and order a regional Khmer dish on a terrace; "Amok" chicken and then head towards back to my hostel. In my room I read that this, Kratie was the first city to be "liberated" by the Khmer Rouge in 1970; actually it was the Vietnamese who did the work but the Khmer Rouge received the credits. Not much later I put the lights out and go to sleep. 

The woman in the hostel is quite pushy and actually demands that I also eat and drink here. The more she starts to wine and push, the more I want to leave here. For that reason I check out and walk to another street to take place in a local restaurant where I order bobor.

There are all kinds of jars on the table and I take a look at my local neighbor what he puts on the plate and and in the dish: sambal, sugar and a kind of curry and they all order a kind of sponsy and greasy sandwich.  

I pick up my bag at the hostel and walk to the spot where my bus should go from. With my new music I bought on the beach of Sihanoukville I doze off a few times in the bus before we arrive in the city of Skuon. There we are surprised by hordes of young ladies who sell pieces of pineapple in bags. They can speak almost perfect English and get all the tricks out of the closet to let you buy. I even get a child thrown in my arms that looks at me like I'm coming from Mars. In another bus I now see the "spider" females passing by; the spiders seem to be fried and to be a delicacy.

We are now almost in Siem Raep – ready for my next destination.