ANGKOR AWAY

We were greeted by our new guide, Mr. Phuht (pronounced "foot"), He was not as affable as Mr. Tin had been and his English was a little more limited.  But he answered all our questions as we drove toward Kratie.  A rest stop afforded us a good look at the local specialty – fried crickets and Mr. Phut explained that the plastic sheeting we saw in front of almost every house was some kind of cricket trap, where they shine a light on the plastic at night, attracting the crickets who somehow flew into the plastic and into wooden traps on the ground.  Anyway, the crickets are just any fried crickets – they mix them with onions and garlic for a real treat.  They also had what looked to be fried beetles on display, with the locals eagerly buying them.

An ancient bridge along our journey

The guardian of the bridge

Yummy!  Anyone for some fried crickets?

....or could I interest you in some fried beetles?

Who needs popcorn when you've got this tasty snack?

Random cyclist on his way to the poultry market

Those are feet

Mr. Phuht made a stop at a rubber plantation for us to see how the bark of the rubber trees is scored and the white sap runs down the tree into hollowed out coconut shells.  A local Khmer girl came around emptying the coconut shells into a large bucket to bring to the rubber factory.  There were hundreds of acres of trees but the plantation was evidently owned by a foreign company so the locals appeared to be getting little benefit from its existence except for some low-paying jobs. 

Rubber plantation

We had been told we were to have a “ roadside picnic overlooking the Mekong” on this day.  Well, it was a picnic and we were overlooking the Mekong, but it was actually ON the road rather than roadside!  Mr. Phuht stopped the jeep and said, “OK, eat.”  Luckily I had a towel with me so we spread it out on the road and looked down at the village and the river below us as cars and motorbikes whizzed by. 

View from our picnic... that's the Mekong in the distance

This brings a whole new meaning to the term "roadside picnic"!

Later, we wound our way down the high banks to the village to catch the ferry across the mighty river.  It was on the other side so we had about a 45 minute wait so Jeff and I wandered around the friendly village to kill time.  I found a local girl who could speak some English and bought what seemed to be the equivalent of Rice Krispy treats from her.  When I asked her if there was a toilet, she took me way down the dirt road to her grandmother’s house.  Grandma really did have a nice toilet – sit down style and all.  When I emerged it seemed that the whole village was waiting for me.  They walked back down to the ferry dock and waved goodbye as Mr. Phuht drove the jeep onto the ferry.  After we crossed we continued on to Kratie and checked into our riverfront hotel in time to see the sunset over the Mekong.  A lovely meal at a French restaurant called “The Bungalow” capped off our evening. 

Being taken to grandmere's house to use the WC

Upon emerging from the WC I found the entire village (and Jeff with a camera) waiting for me

The ferry makes it's way across the Mekong

Ferry arrival

Mr. Phuht and his SUV which will be our transport for the next few days on the ferry across the Mekomg

Sunset on the Mekong