Kratie was a quick stopover to help break up the bus journeys, but also Kratie is a small town situated along the Mekong river, and home to the rare Irrawaddy Dolphins.
We arrived about midday, found a hostel for the night (You Hong II), and bargained with a Tuk tuk driver to take us the 15Km North to Kampie. The journey was lovely, of course very bumpy, but we got to see a lot of the countryside, the locals living their everyday lives, and lots of children running out to wave as we passed by.
We got on a boat, just us two and a driver, and off we went along the Mekong River in search of the fresh water Irrawaddy Dolphins. It wasn't long before we spotted some and in the hour and a half we were out on the river, we were surprised at how many we did see! We made a stop along the river bank where a group of Dolphins were playing in the shallow water, they must have been about 10-20 metres away! Apparently there are only around 100 dolphins left, so there is a lot of conservation work going on to try to protect them.
On the journey back our tuk tuk driver stopped off at a road side stall and got us each some BBQ bananas, which were cooked in a lot of butter and chive - quite nice!

The next morning we were up to catch a 6.30am mini bus to begin the long journey down to Sihanoukville, South Coast of Cambodia...