{"id":2952,"date":"2026-03-11T01:42:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T01:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aerowalsh.com\/cr\/?p=2952"},"modified":"2026-03-12T12:37:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T12:37:39","slug":"tue-10th-mar-phnom-penh-to-kratie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/?p=2952","title":{"rendered":"Tue 10th Mar – Phnom Penh to Kratie"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The original tour plan was to visit a city closer to the border of Thailand after Phnom Penh. The skirmishes with Thailand have meant that the itinerary gets adjusted to take a big bus ride (7 hours including stops) east to a Mekong town called Kratie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Fried Insects are the truck stop snack of choice. Piled high in a black tower are the fried tarantulas. I like the idea of being an adventurous eater but the spiders are so big… Ick.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
A dry season bamboo bridge, rebuilt every year. We’re assured that the bridge is checked ‘regularly’ for structural soundness. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Our group sans one Canadian for whom the rickety bridge did not pass safety inspections. I am holding my tummy sheepishly. Chekhov’s gun.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Only in the last ten years has the more modern bridge (Japanese funded) been built. Before that to get to this island in the middle of the Mekong in wet season it’s a ferry across or the pictured bamboo bridge in dry season. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
We finally arrive in Kratie. On one hand, a long transit day sucks. It’s uncomfortable and surprisingly tiring. On the other hand, it’s in sympathy with the rhythm and movement of the country. When school’s out you’ll see Dad picking up his young daughter on a scooter and she’s industriously reading a book on the back. A tobacco farmer hauls loads of branches on a cart, his wife sitting on top of the tower of fronds as though she is on an elephant. Trucks rattle down the motorway with gangs of workers sandwiched together in the tray, buffs protecting their faces from the sun. Traffic is never boring in South East Asia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Nothing is sadder.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The sun sets peacefully over the Mekong.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
But my body is not calm. I have the dreaded ‘tummy troubles’. It’s the first time I’ve been properly sick on this trip and I accept it inevitably. I need to quickly abandon a group walk around the market to head for safe havens. On the sprint back to the hotel I try and force down a quick, non-threatening dinner. I am not hungry at all so I just decide to go the busiest spot I can find (safety in numbers). All the ‘local restaurants’ are empty. Every Cambodian has decided to go to Pasta Corner tonight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
I struggle through my cheesy slices and return to the hotel a shivering mess. A long sleep interspersed with visits to the bathroom awaits. My motto, reinforced here: always pay up for the single room supplement.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grumble.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thailand-laos-cambodia-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2952"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2967,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2952\/revisions\/2967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}