It wasn't our first choice of destination in Cambodia however Kratie does have the fresh water Irrawaddy dolphins and, more importantly, was our base for some charity work with ActionAid. We already sponsor a child in Mozambique and wanted to do the same in Cambodia. Before doing so, we asked ActionAid if we could visit their project(s) in the country and they suggested a visit to Kratie. The 6-hour bus journey from Phnom Penh was accompanied with DVD after DVD ...

As we drove into the Cambodian darkness we both reminisced about the fantastic time we had in Siem Reap and the people that we had met who would leave a lasting impression. We settled into our seats with thoughts fresh in our minds, looking forward to a sedate cruise through the empty roads on the coach as the literature had explained. How wrong we were. Lisa had remarked on the quality of the main roads in Cambodia a number of times; they were pretty good. Howe...

We arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia on 16th July. Although fearing the worst about getting our visas on arrival, we were pleasantly surprised at how slick the process was. We handed over the short application form with $20 and our passport to the first official. The form then passed along a line of about 8 officials finally reaching a guy who handed the passport back with the duly completed visa therein. It was as simple as that. There was even an ATM in the small ...

The bus transfer to Vientiane, Laos on 14th July was pretty comfortable with very scenic views for most of the journey. In all, we were only (!!) on the road for 3.5 hours. On arrival at Vientiane, we were harassed by tuk tuk drivers - so no change there then - but managed to barter a good price to the Hotel Beau Rivage. The hotel had a boutique feel (unlike the Grace Boutique Guest House we stayed at in Chiang Mai) with great views across the Mekong River. It se...

Greetings all We have now arrived in Vang Vieng, Laos – the South East Asia home of river tubing. This consists of being ferried 4km upstream on the Nam Song river by tuk-tuk. Upon arriving, you are greeted by 3 bars selling beers and cocktails with music blaring. The aim is then to jump into your tractor inner tube and float back to town. On the float back, various bars throw bottle of water attached to ropes. The aims is for them to entice you into the bar f...