Mekong Discovery Trail

So after missing our bus we searched frantically for another one leaving that day. Eventually we found a guy who offered us a minibus for 12 dollars that left immediately. This turned out to be a big mistake. We waited on the hot bus for 3 hours with no air con before we finally left. But during that time we realised the bus was more of a postal service. It was filled with tiles, bricks, bags, and had 10 tires and a scooter strapped to the back. This already meant we had no foot or leg space, and then 15 locals got on to share the remaining 5 seats.

So yeh that was a pretty shit journey, plus we arrived at midnight and had to search for an hour to find a hostel that was open.

Apart from that we had a great time in Kratie. We hired bikes and cycled up the Mekong discovery trail. It was a lovely ride and all the locals were so friendly. Westoners rarely came to these parts so all the children, and even some adults, would shout hello and chase our bikes. After visiting a turtle sanctuary we crossed onto an island and

stayed the night at a local womens house. It was very simple and she spoke no english, but it was a nice experience living like a local for a night.

The next day we cycled back on a dirt trail before catching the ferry to Kratie. This was another interesting experience. They filled the small ferry with 3 minibuses, a tractor, a lorry full of pigs, 50 mopeds and then me and Henry. Needless to say it was overfilled and the ferry got grounded. An hour later we finally got going having dangerously removing the tractor. We realised after, that we hadn't met one person who could say more than 'hello' in english for 2 days.

That was Kratie done and we took 2 buses to get to Sianoukville.