Hi all
We spent another day around Kratie today, but rather that have someone drive us we decided to hire a couple of bikes and cycle some of the Mekong Discovery Trail, which is a 190km trail linking Kratie with Stung Treng & then on to the Lao border. The particular section we did was a trial around Koh Trong as the Island is accessible by ferry from just outside our hotel. The weather was overcast yet still pleasantly warm as we took the ferry over so it wasn't too onerous as we set off on the circular tour of the island. All along the path were traditional stilt houses and all the kids came running out as we cycled by to say hello. Of course we stopped to talk to them, but most of them had no English and we had very limited Khmer so it ended up being lots of smiles and laughter as we realised our dilemma.
The island community were mostly fisherman and farmers so electricity was mainly provided by a car battery & a couple of the richer individuals had a generator & their main crop was Pomellos which are very large citrus fruits. Of course the heavens decided to open up half way around so the locals took great delight in laughing at us cycling in the rain!
Despite our wet surroundings we had a great time and thoroughly recommend this area if you ever venture this way. 
Thanks for looking
Hugs
Sara xx
2 comments:
Hello. Your trip sounds amazing. My girlfriend and I are only planning to do SE Asia and I was interested in the Mekong Discovery Trail you talk about. We will be in Kratie around mid-november and wanted to use the trail from Kratie to Stung Treng. You said that you rented bikes... i was wondering if you had to return them to the place you rented them from or if you were able to drop them off somewhere else. I only ask because we would like to use the bikes for traveling up the Mekong without having to backtrack. Best, Robert
Hey Robert
We rented the bikes on the Island so didn´t enquire as to how far to go. I do think one of the companies did a single route pickup, but I think it was quite expensive. However there are some really good circular routes, which also means you don´t have to carry all of your luggage. Thorntree forum may also be of use. Best of luck for your trip Sara
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