KRATIE

• How to get there
Some 250 Km from Phnom Penh and 350 Km from Siem Reap you are talking about 5 to 7-hour bus journeys depending on your start point.
The other options are available, i.e. taxi or minivan.

• Description
Kratie is one of Cambodia's eastern provinces with a fairly small population, most of whom make their living on the banks of the Mekong River. Beyond the riverbanks it is a fairly remote place with almost no population and thick-forested areas. The provincial capital is also called Kratie and lies also on the banks of the mighty Mekong River, which splits the province in two, running from North to South.
The stretch of the river around Kratie town is home to a group of rare freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins. The dolphins really are the main tourist attraction of the province and the town.
The river also has hundreds of little islands, rapids and little whirlpools.
Kratie town is sleepy but picturesque with sandbars and islands along the twisting river. Unlike in many towns around Cambodia, the war years were fairly kind to the French architecture and the roads, at least in the town itself.

• Where to go
Irrawaddy dolphins: Nowadays the dolphins live mainly in the rivers and waterways Kratie and neighbouring Stung Treng province. The number of these mammals is estimated to be between 60 and 80 and they are often seen travelling in small pods of 6 to 10 individuals.
The best times to spot them are early in the mornings around 6 AM or early evening just before dusk.

There are many Wats (temples) in this are in and around the town centre of Kratie.

• Food and Accommodation
As you can imagine restaurants here serve mainly traditional Asian food, however in the evening, if you are immune to street food, there are many stalls set up by the river in the evenings.

There are many guesthouses nowadays varying from basic to pretty good. From low to mid-range budgets.

• Health
Again there is only a Referral hospital here and so for serious problems the closest border is Vietnam, and not far from here to Ho Chi Minh City, but Thailand would be the preferred alternative.

• Safety
Kratie is a small, quiet town, with most of the population being out in the rice farms.

• Entertainment and Shopping
Apart from the dolphins there is little to bring tourists here, but it is growing the same as other more rural parts of Cambodia.

KRATIE