From Kompong Cham we went further up river to Kratie. Much nicer place than Kompong Cham. The usual crowd was there to meet us, including a guy from the hotel (Heng Heng Hotel II) we'd stopped right outside. Seeing an easy way out we went in to check it out. Ended up in a great room, hot water, view over the river and fan for US$7. Happy with that. Their rooms without hot water are only 5 bucks, but we wanted the river view...

Boats from here are a no go as well, but we've managed to book a trip (US$15 via the U Hong Guesthouse) directly from here to Don Det in Laos (our next stop) . We're promised that its a minibus from here, switch to a boat in Stung Treng up to the border, then tuk tuk from the border to Ban Nakheng (or something) where we'll get a ferry over to Don Det. Don Det & Don Khon (where we actually want to be) are the two biggest islands in Si Phan Don (which evidently means four thousand islands) close to the Cambodia/Laos border. We'll see how it goes though.

Currently sitting at said guesthouse as they're one of the few places in town with internet. US$2 per hour and dead slow. Still, beggars can't be chosers.

Went upriver a bit this morning to see the Irrawaddy Dolphins. There are evidently only 80-100 of them left in the wild, between here and southern Laos. We saw a few, but didn't manage any decent photos. Cool to see, and they seem to be putting in a good conservation effort as well which is always a good thing. Moto trip up there went for US$5 each (Kristina's first ever 'motorbike' ride :) then US$2 each for conservation fee and US$3 each for the boat trip. Seems pretty regimented, prices posted everywhere and a standard price for the motos. Stopped at a monestary on the way back, many stairs and then a great view over the Mekong.

Tomorrow, Laos...