Unlike Lance Armstrong, the only thing we had running through our veins when heading out on our bikes yesterday was excitement about seeing the freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins. We found the bike route through the Mekong Discovery Trail, which is basically just a series of maps outlining different routes that you can bike around the Kratie/Stung Treng area, promoting local tourism.
There are two places where you can easily see dolphins around this area - Kampi Rapids, 15km out of town, and the island of Koh Phdao, 35km away. We thought that Koh Phdao would be less busy with tourists than Kampi, and both wanted the chance to get a bit further out into the countryside, so Koh Phdao it was.
I was a bit nervous about the bike ride up there, seeing as I tend to struggle with anything involving fitness and/or coordination, and also the fact that I've been on a bike about twice since I was at high school, but it worked out fine. The route follows "Highway no. 7", which conjures up images of high speed trucks and buses, but in fact it's a rural, quiet road. The traffic really melts away once you get out
Koh Phdao 3of Kratie, and particularly once you pass Kampi Rapids; for a lot of the trip we found that we only shared the road with a few motos and bicycles from the families that live alongside the road.
It is an epic bike ride, you don't get much better than biking alongside the mighty Mekong River, surrounded by idyllic Cambodian countryside and constantly (and I mean constantly) greeted by the always adorable Cambodian kids, who all rushed out from their houses to wave and shout 'HELLOOOOOOOOO' at us as we went past. Actually, I take that back, it would have been better if we had had some magical bike seats that mean your bum doesn't hurt after the first 5km. Other than that, it's a really lovely ride.
We stopped for lunch in a local cafe, where we met a Kiwi couple on their travels, Caitlin and Sanji. It's been 2 1/2 years since I left New Zealand, so it was so nice to hang out with some Kiwis after such a long time. We got to chatting over lunch and ended up taking the ferry over to Koh Phdao together.
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