Wasn't sure whether to go straight down to Siem Reap after Laos but decided to stop in Kratie to try and spot some Irawaddy Dolphins and am glad i did. Kratie itself is quite a small town but nice and very friendly locals. Just spent the one full day and in the morning hire some bikes with Ali, an English girl from the bus trip there. We cycled about an hour up the Mekong to the best spot for dolphin viewing. Boat was a bit expensive with just 2 so we decided to wait until more people turned up and sat on the bank. The irawaddy dolphins are rare fresh water ones and their numbers have dwindled in recent years due to bad fishing methods. We weren't really expecting to see them and were just sat on the bank when two of them appeared, they were really close and were chasing fish about 20 metres away. They stayed for ages but were a bit too quick to get photos of, by the time i pressed the button they'd gone! Even so was really good tyo see them and we were pleased with the day already.

We met a Cambodian girl called Dary while we were at the river, she was great and asked if we wanted to go to a small village with her that afternoon. She ghoes there quite often with gifts of books, mosquito nets or pens for the villagers, all she wanted was money for some petrol and for us to get some books for the kids. We bought a stack from the market and then headed over there, was amazing, the kids were so grateful for the books and we ended up swimming in the river with them - they were quite shy at first but soon had us totally drenched, we were fully clothed! They were so sweet and felt good to be giving them something useful, they all waved us off when we left, felt like a celebrity!

Was such a good day and got even better when Dary invited us to her house for dinner, her mother had cooked us real tasty noodles and meat, was delicious and loads of it. Her family were lovely, very friendly and generous. She told us that she goes often to the village with tourists and that she wants to help them more but is waitning for them to trust her. A very sweet girl and was so nice to see her doing her bit to help people that needed it. Really glad i stopped in Kratie and if anyone else is going there i would recommend them to look Dary up- Kraties only woman moto driver!