8 of us went on a trip east to Kratie over the weekend in search of the rare Irrawaddy dolphin. Apparently there are only 75 left in the wild and they are all native to an area of the Mekong River near to Kratie.
It took us about 7hrs by minibus (including stopping for lunch) to get there - this was pretty good considering that the public bus takes 12. Because there were so many of us we took over the whole of the guesthouse we'd booked into for the whole weekend. Having said that the Owner was a very strange bloke, so saftey in numbers was good thing!
The sunset over the Mekong was fantastic on the first night. On the next day we took the whole day doing some temple seeing Dolphin hunting. Afterwards we went to a part of the Mekong where the water was shallow enough to sit in with a pint and cool off. We had food there and stayed until sunset before heading back to the guesthouse.
The Dolphin hunting was cool but what really made the trip was relaxing in the rapids of the Mekong with a can of Angkor Beer! Apparently the huts where we did this get dimatnled during the rainy season due to flooding and then get rebuilt every year. Plus it was pretty much just locals there - I think because the area is not mentioned in the lonely planet.
