Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Up at 6 am for our bus on to Kratie, this time we boarded mini bus direct from the guest house went a good half hour before arriving at a big bus depot, we changed to a larger bus, a locals bus they never seem to go the full distance! So a third change was required before finally getting to the tiny town of Kratie, the roads on route were pretty bumpy in places and very dusty. Despite the size there were people waiting to decend on us! We took a look at a couple of places before finding a suitable place to lay our heads @ $6 a night per room, that's about £1.40 each we were happy. Food was pretty good too, just no tv in room so we settled for movie on the lap top.
7th January - Friday - Happy Birthday Mum xx
We went to a little book shop cafe owned by a gay guy from Texas, he had been there some 7 years and before any bank/ ATM or proper roads were built to get there, told us alot has changed but to us still way behind in developments. Opposite Kratie was an Island Koh Trong, we boarded the local boat to the island, pretty small but they manage to fit bicycles and mopeds on it with a fair amount of people too! Cost is 25p, landing on a beach there is a fair trek up to the track, just one track round the island, we hired some bikes and set off, watching locals going about there daily tasks, it was so windy and we spotted a little boy trying to tighten a flag pole outside his home, Jon stopped to help him he was so pleased for the help. As we got round to the opposite side of the island it was it less windy, we found a route down to the beach, I waded out in the water hoping for a swim but it was not deep enough, so I sat in the sun to take a break. We headed to the temple to see if there was the opportunity to plant a tree, they had a scheme to do this to help locals but as we expected it has to be pre-arranged, so we carried on to the far end of the island where you can see the floating village, it's not vast but a fair amount living on the waters, we could see them building/replacing one place too pretty difficult on water! The Island was so small we had explored it all pretty quickly, we handed bikes back and saw a local lady with a sugar cane drink machine, we had seen these throughout our travels but not tried them, we watched her feed the cane repeatedly through a vice folding it more each time squeezing the juice out, this is then mixed with ice, the result a very green looking drink extremely sweet! Sugar kick for 25p!
Our boat ride back to the mainland consisted of 2 mopeds and about 9 people on small boat was interesting experience! The other side had a large steep set of steps, mopeds had to be carried hard work!
After a refreshing (cold) shower I headed off to see what Kratie had to offer, not much but on the water front with a great view I had a great fruit shake from a street trader for 50p. Quiet night and for a change we played some cards, not played in years!
8th January - Saturday
Great brekky in the western run cafe HP sauce!! You never realise what you miss till you hit the road and go to places with such different ways! We hired bikes and set off on about 15 km ride on very bumpy roads, they are tarmac here but ageing! Destination to see Dolphins! There were as usual lots of kiddies shouting and waving as we biked along, have to say though after saying hello or sustay about 20 times it gets a little bit much! We boarded a boat just the 3 of us and very quickly the driver spotted some swimming about, once they are within 200m the engine is cut and they push the boat along. There seemed to be 2 groups one had about 4 and the other 2, it was so peaceful being pushed along, we were moored far out after a while near some mangroves, for a good 40mins just watching them popping up in different areas swimming along, amazing to watch! Some we were lucky to see quite close up. They have quite rounded faces the Irrawaddy dolphins , very different to bottle nosed. Sadly due to fishing nets they are now very rare, so a big project to protect them is now in place. Our boat stayed out well past the hour we should, which we were pleased with and gave him a good tip! I could of stayed there for hours, dolphins are definitely my favourite of all creatures! We cycled on to the rapids, there seemed to be a huge bamboo bridge built across them,with a hut in the middle where locals go for picnics and hang to the edge so they can sit in the rapids! We were told you could swim off the other side so we crossed the bridge and had to fight our way through mangroves to the beach area, again too shallow if you go out to far as Jon demonstrated the current is too strong, he had to fight his way back, so a dip in the shallows and a laze in the sun before heading back, not so easy finding our route back through the mangroves very dense!! We set off back to the GH, stopping for a fruit shake on the water front on route.
- comments