Next Stop - Cambodia!

The lake in Phnom Phen and it's canalways thru the morning glory which they plant there.
An Irrawaddy Dolphin Tail!

I am a bit behind in my blog, mainly because of the slowness of the computers here and pictures taking forever to upload. Sorry if my stories aren't as entertaining and inspiring, it's blistering hot and beginning to effect my brain I think (that's my story and it sounds good to me!) Actually yesterday (March 10th, the mark of my four months of travel) I had my first actual sick day. Yes poor me and no one around to feel sorry for me! Luckily it was one of those rare times I had a tv in my room. I think it was a bit of heat exhaustion from trasping around the temples the day before in the mid 30s degree weather, lots of water but still didn't help!

Ok back to the beginning of Cambodia.....my first stop was a little town called Kratie. The town itself didn't offer too much but one day I did a tour to see some Rapid Waters (yes they considered it a tourist attraction), a mountain (which was a good way to avoid saying- 300 steps up in this heat and you get to see another freakin temple) and the best part a tour- to go see the Irrawaddy dolphins! There were quite a few pods around and I got to see about 5 dolphin tails which is apparently quite rare. The rarest is to see a head pop out and I never did, but still it was very exciting to be amongst them and it's nice to see they have strict rules for the guides not to run their motors around them and to keep a distance. The government here is working hard on preserving the dolphins whom almost became extinct and when I was there they were having a big meeting about how to improve the park and what they are doing there. Nice to see them so conscientious about their nature which is very rare in some 3rd world countries and especially because here there was still war activities happening since not so long ago, 1998.

My wild night out in Kratie consisted of going around the corner to a little pub with a girl I met while having dinner. We each had a Sprite and decided the next day to get up early and rent bicycles, take them across the river on the ferry to tour around the island's villages which included a Vietnamese Floating Village too, before it gets too hot out. We agreed to meet at 8:30am after renting our bikes so off to bed early. I headed back to my guesthouse only to find the place dark and totally locked up at 10:45pm! They usually have a night person or security guard but after 10 minutes of rapping on the doors I was beginning to worry.
After 45 minutes of finally finding the owners, arguing with them that I didn't want to stay in another cheap place 'for free' after I had already paid for this room because they couldn't wake up the night watch person and that I wanted my room with ''my stuff'' and being lectured that I should know better to stay out so late I finally got into 'my room'. Well, Welcome to Cambodia I thought! Needless to say I moved across the street the next day to a place that had a side door that you could get into after they lock the main doors, like most places usually do have! So now I have learned another life skill for travelors which is to find out how to get into your guesthouse if you happen to be out a little 'late'.