Dolphin Delights in Kratie, Cambodia
Most travelers who explore Cambodia outside Angkor Wat head to the southern beaches or French colonial towns like Battambang or Kampot. But I had had my heart set on Kratie, a tiny town on the Mekong River, ever since I read you could see the endangered Irrawaddy river dolphin there.
These funny looking guys are only found in a handful of places in Asia, and the Cambodian population is estimated at just about 60 to 80. So I packed up my bag and headed deeper into Cambodia, via a five hour bus ride to Stung Treng where I transferred to a three hour trip to Kratie. It was a full day of travel and I arrived as the sun was setting, deciding to walk the kilometer from the bus station into the small town. I was already liking the vibe of Kratie, as not a single tout came near me asking if I wanted a tuktuk.
I checked into Le Tonle Guesthouse, a really darling, rustic place a block away from the river. Le Tonle provides hospitality training and jobs for underprivileged Cambodian youths and I loved my stay there. All the workers are in their late teens or early 20s and so eager to help out. They also had a nice restaurant with great soups and Khmer teas, which I appreciated as I was battling a bad cold and flu for most of my time in Cambodia. Le Tonle is not fancy, and on two occasions I saw well heeled European tourists berating the staff for the facilities (shared bathrooms); it is so disappointing when people don’t read properly before arrival and then take it out on the staff!
Anyway, to say I loved Kratie would be an understatement. The town isn’t much to look at, but the people are fantastic. It reminded me of Banyuwangi, where nearly every person I crossed paths with wanted to talk to me, to learn my story, to practice his or her English. From the college student I chatted with while waiting in line for the town’s one ATM to the sugar cane juice vendor who insisted I try my drink to make sure I liked it before walking away, everyone I encountered was kind and welcoming.
On my first full day in Kratie, I decided to hold off on the dolphins and sleep in, instead. I had a Khmer iced coffee, packed some snacks in my day pack and walked down to the harbor, where I boarded a ”ferry” (actually a tiny rowboat) to Koh Trong, a deliciously sleepy rural island in the middle of the Mekong. I had been told you could rent a bike and ride around the island and I hadn’t been on a regular bike since Bali, which wasn’t exactly the most relaxing experience. Once arriving on Koh Trong, I walked up a small hill where a man met me.
”Bike?” he inquired. I nodded. ”Wait, wait.”
Shortly thereafter a woman rode over to us on a two wheeler. She disembarked, pulled some meat skewers out of the front basket, and asked me for two dollars. (Cambodia uses US currency almost exclusively.)
And I was off! You can cycle around nearly the whole island on a paved path, and it was one of my favorite afternoons on this whole trip.
The sky was showing off with absurdly puffy clouds against a cerulean backdrop, little children ran after me to shriek hello, and I only saw two other tourists that day.
It felt like the island was made for me and my rickety little bike, and as a true agrarian community, it had more cows and chickens than people.
It is hard to put into words how much I loved tiny Koh Trong; such a simple afternoon but such a pleasure.
The next day I got into, what else? A tuktuk, to take me a few kilometers north to Kampi to see the dolphins. On the way my driver stopped so we could buy kralan, coconut sticky rice tucked into bamboo. You peel the bamboo like a banana and voila, a portable snack!
At the dock in Kampi, my boatman was waiting for me. After just a few minutes, he killed the engine and gestured wildly to his left. I swung around and saw them: two Irrawaddy dolphins, piercing the surface with their funny noses.
At the beginning of the trip, I tried valiantly to get a good picture of the dolphins, but their brief breaches in the muddy water left incoherent specks in my iPhone snaps. So I put my phone away and just enjoyed the afternoon. No other boats were near us in the river, and my boatman spoke no English, so it was a unique experience of pure quiet as I watched the endangered creatures just feet from me.
The people, the Mekong, the dolphins, the food: Kratie isnt easy to reach, but oh, was it worth the detour.
