First, sorry for being so lack in posting!

After the dolphins the Brits & I headed to the capital, Phnom Penh. There we dived right into the bar scene. We spent a week there & seriously, saw nothing! Not one single thing & there are things to see & do there!

I found out Cambodia is one of the few super easy countries to get a residency visa... so I've been kind of thinking about it as a possible place to live eventually. And I happened to mentioned this at an expat bar. Well, this British expat (& he's a gorgeous Brad Pitt look-alike) took us under his wing & showed us around town, introducing us other expats & taking us to the good resturants & bars. After just a week, it was like we knew someone nearly everywhere we went.

We also befriended a Norweign expat bar owner... the first day we spent 9hrs straight at his place! Plus we had many other several hour stints there. Really a nice guy. So nice, we're heading back to Phnom Penh to spend Christmas eve with him. Plus I need to get back to to see all the sights I missed the first time.

Not so sure it's the place I want to live... well not if I don't want to become a full-time alcholoic...

From the Laos-Cambodian border we headed to Kratie, Cambodia where the endangered river dolphins are located. It was a nice little town with not a lot going on... let me revise that... nothing going on.

The first night we were lucky & found a great American-owned restaurant where we sang Carpenters songs with the very camp gay owner until close. But the next night we headed out for dinner after 9pm & ended back at our hotel because the entire town was shut down.

a dolphin

In the afternoon we rented motorbikes & headed out to the nature reserve to see the dolphins. Part of the admission fee is for a small boat to take you into the center of the river where the dolphins hang out & we timed it perfectly with the sunset. While living in Los Angeles, every spring for many years I would go on a short boat cruise to see the whales. All the boats offer a "see the whales or money back guarantee" & EVERY year they point to some random ripple on the surface, say its a whale's back & keep my money. So I'm a little bitter about fish watching cruises. But I was really happy & rather shocked that we were able to see & even hear lots of these beautiful dolphins.

After Paske I headed south to Si Don Phan, also called the area of 4,000 islands. I'd soooo been looking forward to going there! This area was known for $1 riverside bungalows & pink dolphins.

photo by Andy Hall

When we got there (I'm still traveling with the Brits), after another leaky canoe trip, we found a huge stage in the center of town... with an even bigger stack of speakers... this wasn't just some boat races, this was a major party. Turned out there were 4 stages with bands & fans coming from around the country. There were lots of market stalls, typical carnival games & some rides. Very cool.

Until the night. Not so cool then. Most of the hotels in town were full... & not with westerners as much as Laotians... so we ended up at the cheapest place in town (at a $3 jacked up holiday rate). Fine, no big deal except it had bamboo walls. And there were a 1,000 speakers pointed right at the hotel. The beds actually bounced a little with the bass!! And then when the music would finally stop at 5am, the roosters kicked in! The hotel actually had their own roosters...which is now on my list of things to look out for when looking for a hotel.

But it was actually ok; I found the perfect tree to hang my hammock & caught up on my Zzz's while swinging in the breeze right over the Mekong. Not too bad.

We also spent a lot of time hanging out in a bar right over the river where we could watch the boats. Before the race the teams would row up & down the river with musicians on board trying to get people to cheer for them. And strangely, most of the teams wore English footballer uniforms... our group was now up to 4 Brits so these guys divvied out the boats based on team & we put money down. In the end, we’d drank too much & couldn't figure out who won!

Oh, & the dolphins, found out they're not actually pink & they're easier to see in my next stop in Cambodia.

I love brightly painted happy buses & if they have balled fringe curtains - even better! Well the bus I took from Vientiane to Paske did not disappoint...it could easily have been done by the 'Pimp My Ride' guys! It was a double-decker thing airbrushed in every non-human neon color, with bright pink & green curtains & karaoke monitors.

For a 9hr overnight ride, it wasn't hellacious. I even fell sound enough asleep that I barely woke up when we ran over something (someone?!?). But still, not a great sleep. So when I stumbled off the bus in a sleep stupor, I was lucky to find these 2 Brits who seemed to have a plan. And it turned out they were there to see the same things I wanted to.

We ended up renting motorbikes that day & driving into the Bolaven Plateau. I've really begun channeling my inner biker chick! It was a beautiful drive thru small mountain villages with coffee fields & we went to see 2 fantastic waterfalls in the jungle. Just an all around perfect day.

The next day the 3 of us rented motorbikes again & this time went to the Khmer ruins of Champask, a world heritage site. The temple was fairly large & well preserved & I got all excited because there were both Hindu & Buddhist deities. But like the day before, the ride was more interesting than the attraction. We had to drive thru more little villages while avoiding cows, water buffaloes, goats, dogs & suicidal chickens. But best of all, we had to cross the river & there was no bridge... so we drove drive down the river bank, then pushed the bikes over a 6" wide piece of wood onto the "ferry" which was just 2 canoes connected together by five more 6" wide planks! Plus the canoes leaked!! The captain had to bail while he steered!!!