Friday, April 15, 2011

the mekong trail

Our next stop was Kratie, which is a jumping off point for the Mekong Trail - an initiative to attract tourists to the area, protect the critically endangered freshwater Irrawaddy dolphin, and promote the local culture. The dolphins live along the Mekong River in one of the nine deep pools in the area and can't swim from pool to pool until the water level rises in he wet season. When we asked what the best time of day to see them was, the manager of our guesthouse answered "all day" because "they have to breathe" (point taken).



And he was right. Surfacing every few minutes we had dolphins circling our boat. Unlike traditional dolphins they don't have long "noses" (not sure what the correct aquatic anatomical nomenclature for that is), large dorsal fins, and they don't jump or do tricks. However they seem to have personality which accompany their somewhat goofy smiles.


With less than 100 left in the wild, they were incredible to see.

"I'm really excited to be here!"

"It's hard to look cool while dolphin watching"

Ari asked an English speaking local if the villagers protect the dolphins because they bring in tourist money. The answer was a flat out "no." The only reason the locals aren't hunting them with grenades, he said, is because the site is monitored by the World Wildlife Federation. Which I guess is kind of comforting...


Though we didn't complete the Mekong trail we did get to ride through some farming villages along the Mekong River. We also got to play a quick round of culinary charades


Us on the side of the road by a wooden hut:
"Food?" *left hand forming a bowl, right hand scooping to the mouth*
13 yo boy and mother:
*nods*
Us:
"Noodles or Rice?"
13 yo boy and mother
*shakes head* but holds up noodles
Us:
*confused* "OK"

What arrives are two bowls of cold noodles covered in julienned carrots and cucumber, peanuts, yoghurt, fish sauce, shrimp and mystery meat. As we slowly brought each bite to our mouths we counted the possible diseases and ailments that we could contract from each non refrigerated food.
Surprisingly we survived with our gastrointestinal systems intact. Not surprisingly the food was DELICIOUS - one of the best meals we had in Cambodia.

Aside from this little jaunt we had some traditional rice with coconut steamed in bamboo. Not quite as thrilling as the noodles in any sense.

Next stop Phnom Penh!

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