Irrawaddy dolphin spotting

03.01.2017

I woke up super early so that my bike ride wouldn't be so hot, slipped a note under Mike's door, with my sincere apologies, collected my bike and pedalled off into the sunrise. I arrived just in time to meet a Danish family with two small boys, exploring the country. They reminded me of my family because I got dragged around in random scary places from time to time as well.

Another Italian guy showed up and we all went in a boat together to disturb some endangered dolphins while laughing and smiling about it and then going home to tell our friends. All for $7. I had a problem with paying though, because I only had a $100 bill. The Danes immediately paid my fare for me and I thanked them wholeheartedly, promising to make it up to them later.

The dolphins were quite amazing to see in the morning. They were quite active at that time. Their dark grey heads would pop out of the water only for a second, and then they would descend again quickly. Taking photos proved to be impossible.

After the quick boat trip, I biked all the way back in the hot sun, and collected together an envelope and some gifts from China to give to my Danish friends. I knew I probably wouldn't see them again, so I left the small package at the front desk of their hotel. They emailed me when they got it and then tracked me down at the restaurant where I was having a two hour leisurely lunch before my bus to Stung Treng, the frontier of Cambodia in the north, just south of Laos.

The bus was empty, apart from some people on the last day of their visas, so they were leaving to go to Laos. I was the only one looking for some adventures here. When we arrived int he dusty ramshackle place, a crazy Cambodian shuffled us all off to his horrible guest house. It was $6 and had no toilet seat, as well as no plumbing. The sink drained onto the floor and the toilet flushed with a scoop in a bucket of water. He called his hotel "River House" and we confused it with one of the nicer guest houses in town, then I was too lazy to go and find another place.

I walked around downtown to figure out what to do. There was one adventure tour company in town, so I went to see if he had something to do tomorrow. He said maybe not tomorrow but definitely the day after. Come back at 9:30 tomorrow and he will know for sure. OK fine. The others worked out their complicated crossing to Laos, which seemed to involved four buses and two boats for some reason. Wow.

I found them back at the hotel after the owner had already drank beer and ate dinner with me. The Belgians and German were hungry, so I went with them to hear about what they were doing the day after.

Irrawaddy dolphins