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We just arrived in Kratie, after totally dreading the border cross because of our experience from Laos, but this time we were prepared, we had our visa, the right money and we were crossing on a weekday, weekends give the customs the power to name any price they want from you!We also booked a tour type thing from Don Det, this way we paid one price and the guy stayed with us all the way until we were in Cambodia! After quite a late night on the whiskey we got up and on a boat for 8am, we crossed the river and jumped onto a minibus which took us to the boarder $1 to the Laos customs then $2 (both 'unofficial' fees) to the Cambodge side and we were in, simple as that, we then changed to a bigger bus which took us to Kratie. After persuading Jackie to stay up drinking till late in the night (she gave me the biggest moody glares first thing in the morning) it was starting to pay off because Jackie ("I am such a light sleeper me") Miles managed to fall asleep on some of the bumpiest roads in the history of the world. We met a guy who worked in the guesthouse who gave us loads of info on what to do, also what not to do like wonder around the market at night, we didn't question why we just took his advice!Anyway we had booked to see the fresh water Irrawaddy dolphins, we wanted to see these in Don Kong but due to the 'wet' season it was impossible but Mr Pon told us to go to Kratie where we would be able to see them, so we decided on a night infront of the tv chilling out! (HBO again Woo Hoo) We did get an invite to a party but it was our first night in Cambodia and thought it wise to turn down the offer!At 8am we were on the back of a motorbike making our way up to the river, Its amazing how quickly I became comfortable doing about 40mph as opposed to me doing 40 mph. Our boat driver knew where to take us to see the dolphins, it was so peaceful on the lake at that time in the morning and we saw the dolphins too.Apparently they are quite scared of locals due to fisherman in the past throwing grenades into the water to blow up fish instead of waiting for a catch and killing or injuring the dolphins in the process, so I'm not surprised that they would not come too close to the boat, but we saw them no the less! Yeah all we needed was lightning quick reactions and a reliable camera. Yep you guessed it, I have neither. So when we post pictures of a little lump in the water, that was actually a dolphin and not a floating "brown trout".We organized our lift to Siem Reap for the following day, which was another 10 hour bus journey ahead. Woo hoo another ten hours of Asian Karaoke videos on a local bus can't wait.
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