Kratié

The six hour luxury bus from Siem Reap direct to Kratié were actually two local buses, packed like sardines, which after several stops mainly for eating every hour, arrived in Kratié after 16 hours! 

Kratié, in the northeast, has several temples built in the 8th century, ancient halls, Khmer old houses, and French-style buildings. It is built along the river with several markets and stands grilling fishes and meat. 

We cycled north Kratié along the Mekong River through friendly green villages each one with its own speciality (raw fish, sticky rice in bamboo or Krolan) and paddies. The river is home to Irrawaddy dolphins, an endangered species that we saw really near from the boat (see video), fish, and birds. The flow of the Mekong River varies greatly, there are hundreds of seasonally flooded islands in the river; we visited one just in front of the town. The province also contains many forests, the Phnom Pram Poan mountain range, Phnom Prech, and rubber plantations (the great view from the long bus).

A ride on a bike (in three) to Sambor to visit the 100 Pillar Wat (Wat Sorsor Muoy Roi) and the Phnom Sambok pagoda build on a hill with a panoramic view of the Mekong's wetlands and a strange representation of the inferno...