Day 2 in Kratie (Dec. 8, 2014)

I had a fantastic day today. I slept in for a while, then went to inquire about a tour to see the Irrawaddy Dolphins. That company that I had mentioned before, must not be in business anymore, as they didn’t respond to my email. Not a big deal though because when I was asking about the tour, I found out it’s pretty much self guided, with only a hired Tuk Tuk driver. He takes you to the pier where you board a boat and the guy paddles you out to see the dolphins. As luck would have it, I was telling another girl in the guesthouse that I was thinking of doing this today, and a different girl overheard our conversation and said that she had already arranged for this, and the Tuk Tuk with one other girl. If we had three people, the Tuk Tuk cost is a lot less, and the boat ticket is as well. I was thrilled and happily joined Katia, from Switzerland, and Stephanie from France, to go and see the dolphins.

We had the sweetest, and happiest Tuk Tuk driver in the world. He was always smiling and while we were waiting for Stephanie to come from her hostel, his wife and young son showed up on a motorcycle. They were super cute and the guy said, ‘My baby’ and pointed to the son. They waved and smiled and were so warm and friendly. Here is the Tuk Tuk driver and the girls I went with.

Happiest Tuk Tuk driver ever

The four of us

It is about a 15 km ride to where the pier is located. I think the area is called Kampi, so we had a lovely slow ride in the Tuk Tuk to get there. We passed many local houses and sights on the way. I love seeing the world from a Tuk Tuk. It's so relaxing.

Once there, we bought our boat tickets and were paddled out into the Mekong to see the dolphins. I got some pics, but the dolphins don’t jump up and out of the water, so it’s not that easy to see them. It was certainly peaceful though. No motor on the boat, just paddling, and none of us talking, just watching the dolphins. You could tell where they were surfacing because you could hear them taking air while at the surface. It was really quite lovely.

dolphin sighting

Dolphin sighting 2

Dorsal fin sighting

Monks who came to watch dolphins

After that, we took the Tuk Tuk and on our way back, the driver detoured and took us to this really cool monastery on a little mountain. There were many stairs that went up and up and up to take you to the temples on top. Many monks live there full time and one of them who spoke great English, talked to us for quite a while. I think he was happy to practise his English, but was super interesting and said he would be happy to answer any questions. We chatted for about an hour. I liked him a lot. He must be around 30 years old, and has been a monk for 12 years already. 

Front sign for the monastery

Walking up to the monastery

First set of 176 stairs

Same

Inside first temple

On the grounds

Meditating

Pagoda

View where I sat and meditated

Then we boarded our Tuk Tuk again, and came back to the guesthouse. Laurie-Daie was just returning from her bike ride to the island, so we hooked up for dinner at the guesthouse and ate together. We are both taking the 11:00 am bus tomorrow, to Phnom Penh. She is good company and I’m glad to have someone to travel with. Both of us were so sick of the faster, cheaper minivan’s so opted to take the bus this time. I hope it will be good.

More from Phnom Penh. We should reach there around 7 pm.