Southeast Asia Adventure – Colourful Cambodia – Kratie

Before we start, here is a brief intro you’ll find at the start of all of my blogs!

This is a story-style travel blog featuring my adventure through Southeast Asia in the fall of 2024. I spent 1 week on my own in Laos, then joined a 14-day tour called Ultimate Cambodian Adventure from the company G Adventures, and a final 3-day solo stop in Singapore. You can read the blog in order, or about whichever destination intrigues you! Within my stories, I’ll offer some recommendations and some tips and tricks for a smooth journey. When I travel, I mostly do group tours and the reasons are:

* As a solo woman traveler, it is much safer especially if traveling long distances or to countries that can be dangerous in some areas

*The itineraries are amazing and usually include all of the things you’d want to see and do…and if not, there is free time to do as you wish

*You don’t have to worry about booking transport, finding hotels, etc. Sometimes that can contribute to the adventure, but it’s also nice to sit back and relax and let your Tour CEO be in charge

* And finally…the new people you meet on your tour become your family, and I’ve made lifelong friends in these journeys. For myself, this has equal importance with exploring new countries.

Cambodia is located in Southeast Asia; it is a land of ancient wonders and vibrant traditions. The history is rich, and the country is abundant with temples – the most famous being Angkor Wat which is the largest religious monument in the world. Here you’ll find lush jungles, stunning natural landscapes beautiful baches, and the most kind and welcoming people you will ever meet. The population is around 17 million, with the majority being ethnically Khmer. In the mid 1860’s, Cambodia became a French protectorate, and gained independence after World War II. You’ll still find a lot of French influence in the country. The country became involved in the Vietnam war, which brought in a takeover by the communist Khmer Rouge in 1975. During this time, Cambodia experienced one of the world’s largest genocides, carried out by the Khmer Rouge. I talk more about this in the Phnom Penh blog entry. Life isn’t easy for Cambodians today, as there are still much corrupt practices in their everyday lives, another problem has been the many unexploded landmines, but luckily the country is expected to be clean by the end of 2025.

We are back on the road after a couple of days in Siem Reap, and our first stop today is the oldest bridge in Southeast Asia called Kampong Kdei, or Spean Praptos. It’s a very well-preserved ancient bridge, built sometime in the late 12^th century.

When we get off the bus to take pics and have a look, there’s a guy following us around with a giant camera, taking photos of us. I have no idea who this is, and I’m slightly annoyed. Then a few minutes after, Ratha takes us over to the guy and he’s printed out the photos of us as a souvenir. My face is the pic is hilarious…the expression is a mix of annoyance and what the fuck is this? Haha. In hindsight, the picture is so ridiculous that I wish I had bought it. Luckily, Kate and Steve buy Vic’s pic and it just embodies “Vic in Cambodia”.

After more driving (this is the longest driving day of the tour), we arrive in Kratie in time for lunch at Street Three Eatery.

I’m not feeling like a traditional lunch so I have French fries and sesame sticky rice for dessert.

Kratie is a small town located on the banks of the Mekong river in eastern Cambodia. There is a central marketplace, and French colonial buildings that surround it. We don’t get to spend any time hanging out in the town because we are here to see the dolphins, which is the main attraction here in Kratie.

We continue on to Phnom Sambok Pagoda, a Buddhist temple. It’s an ancient site built up on a small mountain, as they all are. And this means a shit ton of stairs. Yay!!

After the first flight, we are in an area with part of the temple and meditation huts for the monks that live here.

We see a few monks today, puttering around doing some grounds-work and cleaning. And then we head up another couple of flight of stairs which go to the top of this mountain, surrounded by a line of monks and leading to more shrines.

At the very top is a small temple.

As much as I’m not in the mood for stairs today, it’s worth going all the way to the top for the beautiful views of the river below.

We are spending the rest of the afternoon on a boat in the Mekong Rover, on the lookout for the Irrawaddy Dolphins. We divide up into 3 boats, and head out to see if we can spot some today.

Luckily, we do!! I’m not sure if it’s the same one over and over again, or if there are a few.

But it’s pretty cool. Here’s what they look like.

They look similar to belugas, but are actually closer related to the killer whale. We keep a respectful distance, as these dolphins don’t like to be near boats or bow-ride. They are fully protected here in Cambodia as an endangered species. We stay on the river for around an hour, catching sightings here and there.

Then we must head back and check into our hotel for the evening…and there’s some serious rain clouds on the horizon. By the time we pull up to River Dolphin Hotel, it is completely pouring.

This hotel is not very fancy, but the rooms are a decent size and ok for the night.

Since the weather is shit, we stay at the hotel for dinner and happy hour cocktails. It would have been cool to go have a look around the town this evening though.

I have another pizza…haha. Another option for tonight would have been to enjoy a night by the pool, but the rain won’t let up. There are some resident kitties that I get to have some fun with, we play and I feed them some of my pizza.