Kratie: Irawaddy Dolphins

While waiting in the guesthouse lobby for our two rental motorbikes to arrive, the manager translated this poster depicting the story of the Iradawwy dolphins (something might have been lost along the way on my end). What follows is an intriguing tale of divine interspecies lurv (scandalous!), jealousy, a little more interspecies lurv, and a general decline into weirdness (if things weren’t already strange to begin with):

1. A Snake God takes notice of a girl worshipping at an altar
2. Girl and Snake God wed (it’s uncertain whether she wanted it or not). An on looking neighbour becomes jealous.
3. Said neighbour, wanting her own fifteen minutes of fame, marries a run of the mill giant snake, claiming it to be one of divine persuasion.
4. As they consummate the marriage (I didn’t bother asking the mechanics of it), the snake swallows the woman whole.
5. Another villager discovers what had happened, cuts the snake’s belly open and rescues the woman just in time.
6. Unable to live with the shame, the woman throws herself into the Mekong and becomes an Iradawwy dolphin.
   

On that note, we hopped on our freshly delivered (but poorly maintained) motorbikes and made our way to the dolphin viewing area.

The gas station on the way out of town is representative of rural gas stations in Southeast Asia:

Along the way, we decided to disrupt classes at one of the rural schools we passed in the next town up. From the wide eyed stares of the children and teachers, it was obvious this region rarely sees foreigners (we were probably the first to have stepped foot in the school). We handed out some Mentos I'd been saving for an afternoon snack and sped off just in time to see the morning classes dismissed.


Further up, we were invited into a couple of rural family huts on the roadside. It looks like Cambodians have spared little time repopulating the country following the years of the Khmer Rouge genocide as it’s rare to see families with fewer than four or five children, especially in these remote areas.

Piglets under the porch:

Situated on the muddy banks of the Mekong, about halfway between Kratie and Sambor, the Iradawwy dolphin viewing area serves as one of the area’s only points of interest. For that reason alone, we (or at least I did) felt the place was a bit disappointing because we couldn’t get close enough to get a clear look at the dolphins. It is said that there could be as few as 75 Iradawwy dolphins remaining on the Mekong - a good number of that population apparently settle around this area.

My attention soon drifted to other things like a giant wasp that had taken interest in my leg hairs.

And a swarm of ants that had taken over an offering in a spirit house (Buddhist altar):

Soon after leaving the dolphins, I was left alone briefly on a secluded bridge while Thien An and Caroline went off in search of a dropped key. Andrew doubled back to make sure everything was fine. In the meantime, I stood by the railing, enjoying the fine scenery:


About five minutes later I noticed a little bit of movement from the corner of my eye but I decided to pay no attention to it. So closer and closer it crept, until whatever it was, was waiting at the edge of the other side of the small bridge. I looked over to see a group of kids curiously staring in my direction. I turned around, smiled and waved to which they screamed and ran back to their nearby house. I think I have that same effect on women.

We arrived in Sambor later than we expected so we hurriedly wandered through the Sambor Wat (apparently Cambodia’s largest functioning temple) before sitting down with a pair of ancient monks. One of them spoke French fluently and conversed a little with the girls before we found ourselves on the bike ride back to Kratie. We made ourselves hoarse by day's end responding to all the kids yelling and waving as we passed.


Another sign urging Cambodians to disarm:

Roadside pot: