The bus journey from Laos to Cambodia was vaguely reminiscent of my crossing two years ago from Thailand to Cambodia: bus drivers taking their time to get to the border, even though the road on the Laos' side of the border is in perfect condition (stopping for an hour lunch break and then again just two minutes down the road for petrol, duhhhh). Visa officials asking for slightly more than the 20 U$ they officially should for "stamp fees" and overtime (come to think of it, it was a Sunday).
Kratie is just another Cambodian town cradled by the Mekong, with rare Irrawaddy dolphin spotting possibilities and a nearby wat. The road along the Mekong is a broad French-built affair (ideal for jogging along although jogging here does entail running with two stones in both hands in order to ward off any angry dogs (of which there are many), but this sense of space rapidly devolves into the typical closeknit Cambodian market. For me it's my entry point into the cambodian province of Mondulkiri for some elephant trips into the wilderness on the Vietnamese border.
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