Our last night in Siem Reap was spent at the Apsara theater where we had dinner and were entertained by the traditional Cambodian dancers. The trestles and benches, no chairs, are sunk into wells so the table top is at floor level and the dancers and musicians are on an elevated stage. Definitely a different experience.
The following morning we set off from Siem Reap for the final two legs of our journey back to Phnom Penh. The first stage was to Kratie, a small town on the Mekong River and home to the surviving Irrawaddy dolphins.
Apart from a detour to climb another pagoda,some 530 steps up, the journey was a little tiresome. The red dust and poor road not conducive to rest. Probably tiredness had something to do with it.
We finally arrived in Kratie in the mid afternoon and were taken to the best hotel in town. This boasted cold and cold running water, no lift and an electric system that ensured that if the fridge was on the fan (no air conditioning) went off. We settled in after a fashion.
We made an excursion out on to the Mekong to see the dolphins however they proved somewhat elusive and after about two hours of paddling up and down with ne’er a dolphin in site we returned to the hotel.
The next morning was uneventful and we continued our journey back to Phnom Penh in relative comfort.
Follow this link for a selection of photos for this part of our journey.
