Dan's Adventure

Crossing a land border is never plain sailing, there is always something to complicate matters and make everything take longer. Leaving Cambodia and entering Laos was no exception.
The guesthouse I stayed at in Kratie offered a bus ticket all the way to Don Det in Laos for just $12, I expected to pay at least that from Stung Treng (the last town on the Cambodian side of the border) so I thought it was a great deal. I was to be picked up from the guesthouse, taken to the border, …

The Irrawaddy dolphin is a rare breed of freshwater dolphin. It is an endangered species with as few as 75 left in the Mekong river between Kratie and the Laos border, where there was reportedly up to 1000 before the Khmer Rouge took control of the country. During that regime the dolphins were hunted for their oils.
From Kratie I hired a motorbike to drive me the 15km to Kampi, where it is possible to take a boat out onto the Mekong to try and spot the Irrawaddy dolphins. The boat …

Every year during dry season, the locals of Kompong Cham construct a bamboo bridge to connect the small island of Koh Paen to the mainland. The bridge is around 2 metres wide and stretches 400 metres across the Mekong River. The bridge was still under construction when I was in Kompong Cham, but it was still possible to walk across it. Constructed solely from bamboo, the bridge felt incredibly stable to walk on and once finished I’m sure it will be even more solid as it will eventually be used …

This photo was taken in a small village near Chau Doc in Vietnam on our way to the border with Cambodia. The man pictured was fishing in the murky water next to his house.

Today is the concluding part of my visit to the temples of Angkor. On my third day there I once again hired a motorbike and driver this time to take me out East to the Roluos Group of Temples. The Roluos temples are amongst the earliest large, permanent temples built by the Khmers.
Lolei

Lolei has four brick towers that are in pretty bad shape and a modern temple right next door. It was interesting to see the contrast between new and old. Whilst at Lolei I met a monk who teaches …

Yesterday I posted about the more remote ruins of Angkor and today I will be continuing the series with the main temples of the Angkor area. The Angkor area is around 6km from Siem Reap, with the roads in good condition and the temples only a couple of kilometers apart, I decided to hire a bike and cycle between them. I hired a bike from the guest house for $1 and set off just after 5am to try and catch sunrise at Angkor Wat. I later paid the price for …

For the next three days I will be writing about my visit to the temples of Angkor. To visit the temples you need to purchase a ticket which costs $20 for 1 day, $40 for 3 days or $60 for 1 week, the 3 day and 1 week option can either be used consecutively or over a week or a month respectively. I opted for the 3 day option and managed to see a lot during that time. My plan had been to get up for sunrise at Angkor Wat …

Cambodia’s railways are no longer officially in use apart from for freight trains. Locals however make use of them to transport goods between towns and markets with their own homemade trains. The trains known as the bamboo railways are made from a bamboo platform balanced on top of wheels and axels pinched from tanks and a small engine sits at the back. Close to Battambang there is a section of track setup for tourists to ride on the bamboo railway. $10 pays for a bamboo train to make a 1 …