We rented a motorbike for the day at our guesthouse ($6 for a manual....we finally got to learn how to drive one of those). Most of the tourists in Kratie go to see the dolphins (that can be seen only from far!) or/and go to Sambor. We opted to go to the opposite direction towards Chlong. Chlong is a small town 30km south of Kratie, the town itself is small and quiet but is not really a place to visit, however driving to this town via a mainly unsealed road was a dusty but great experience. There are many villages along the way and we witnessed locals drying corn, fishing in the Mekong and relaxing in hammocks. On the road there were a lot of overloaded mini-buses, trucks, buses, some cars also, all driving very fast and leaving a trail of dust behind them. There were also slower motorbikes overloaded with goods and very slow trailers towed by cows. All along the way kids kept saying hello to us. We did many stops to take photos of the Mekong and have some rest in the shade to have a break from driving. It took us 1h30 to get to Chlong, we had to drive very slow on some parts of the road as it was covered with a few centimeters of sand and it was not so easy to drive through. Driving back to Kratie we saw dark clouds coming very fast towards us and as soon as we arrived in town the storm started. Gosia was driving and she did well in those terrible conditions, it started raining and the wind was so strong that within minutes the road was covered by leaves and branches falling from the trees. Even if our guesthouse was only a few minutes away we had no choice but to stop and find shelter with other Cambodians in front of a building under a little roof. All squeezed we witnessed the violence of the storm wondering when it will stop. It lasted a good 45min and did a lot of damages. The streets were covered with branches, a tree fell, some streets were under 10mm of water, around the market there were detritus everywhere. When we arrived at our guesthouse all wet we found out that the electricity had been cut so we could not have a shower, luckily they had a gas stove so we could at least eat something! At the end of the afternoon we drove a few kilometers north towards Sambor, the sunset on the Mekong was beautiful and it was very interesting to see the habitations along the road. Again the kids were screaming to us "Hello! Hello!". We will keep a very good souvenir of our stay in Kratie. Exploring the countryside was a great experience, the guesthouse was comfortable, they also served fabulous food :), there were not that many tourists in town and the atmosphere was very relaxed.
