Oudom Sambath Hotel Kratie (Kracheh)

I managed to sleep in till 8am today! After a quick breakfast I set out on my bike for an explore south of Kratie. Within 15 minutes I had reached the pagoda suggested to me and its modern equivalent across the road where I headed first. I walked in an within a room of darkness a giant Buddha loomed over me lighten up by small shards of light through the door cracks. A monk started loudly praying behind me and gave me a ...

Today I had an exciting trip planned to the nearby island in the middle of the Mekong. I was picked up by one of Roger's students he had trained up to be a tour guide and I hitched a lift with him to the jetty on the back of his push bike at 8am. We did the short 5 minute hop for about 15p to the island and paid the $1 each to hire some bikes for the day.<br><br>We cycled about up the island which has only two dirt tracks and apart from the rare moto ...

I woke up with the rest of Kratie at around 6:30, I had slept very well as it was a very cool night. Rog took me for a typical Cambodian breakfast: Kio Teeo, it was beef noodle soup and was delicious and even not being a breakfast person I thoroughly enjoyed it. We then went on our bikes to the market which, like PP, has the most fantastic array of fruit, veg, meat and fish and I was introduced to all the market stall holders: 'Mrs ...

After a quick English breakfast we were picked up at 7:30 and taken to the bus station. This term is used loosely, as there is not one single bus station in Phnom Penh but various make shift stops located anywhere from the Central Market to the Petrol Station. We travelled with a company that had us departing from a petrol station. <br><br>The 340km journey would take nearly 7 hours including two stops and we would follow the Mekong most of the way. The ...

<br><br>We booked a bus ticket to Kratie in Cambodia. Waited half an hour for the bus to turn up and when it did there was so much room that we tho0ught it was too good to be true- but this time it was just too good!! A brilliant journey from start to finish.(We booked though Green Discovery in Pakse and it was 50,000 cheaper than all the other agents)<br>Got to the Cambodia border in about 2 hours, and with a few dollar ...

Our guidebook said three to four hours; our guesthouse said four; the person behind the ticket counter might have even said three. But in reality, the bus trip from Phnom Penh to Kratie took just over six and a half hours! Of course, that's counting two food stops, several bathroom breaks, stops for the driver and his helper to pick up charcoal in one town and drop it off in another, and stops at numerous towns in between to deliver soda ...

(Sharp intake of breath) "Oomph&#8230;. (shiver)&#8230;.." My thumb is split open by a razor blade. I am briefly reminded of John Carpenters 'The Thing' as the Petrios dish is produced and wonder if the blood test will be done with a bare strip of wire heated from the ignition light of a flamethrower. I look up from my seated position and do not see McCready standing over me with an icy beard, a maverick attitude, and a return pass to Goldie Hawn&#8217;s squack, but a woman in a small wooden ...

Today we Climbed aboard a pickup truck and headed towards Kratie. We were both inside the truck until the halfway point and then we switched trucks at Snuol and I was in the back. We arrived into Kratie and found a guesthouse and went for a walk. We were going to see the endangered Irrawaddy dolphins but they were asking too much for an hour or so and we knew we could ...

... joining me will you? So how exactly is that better?<br><br>The point I make is that this blog is fading, time has caught up with me (time always catches up with me, it is such a punctual abstract concept) and my leaving date now feels real, less than 6 weeks to go and counting. I remember the first thing I did when my leaving date felt real last time was extend my leaving date, but I&#8217;m not doing that this time. But it&#8217;s certainly not like I don&#8217;t have the ...

... so overall we lucked out.<br><br><br> <br><br><br>Angkor Wat- We went back and forth over whether or not to save Angkor for last since many say you get kind of bored with the other temples once you've seen the most famous one. We ended up just going for it and saw Angkor first. The walk up over the moat is very exciting as you approach the outer walls to the entrance. As with many famous things that you are used to seeing the real deal is always smaller than ...