Monkey Mad Mob

Breaking from Phnom Penh for three days, we took a bus to Kratie to seem some river dolphins, spent a day riding bikes around the remote little island of Koh Trong and visited a Buddhist 'mountain' where we were mugged by a troupe of greedy monkeys.

This was, amazingly, the most threatened we have been on our whole trip.

Creeping up on us one by one, each time we turned 'round there was a bigger monkey, more greedy than the last and certainly more threatening.

I thought they'd settle for a couple of banana chips each, but they made it clear they wanted the whole bag, plus whatever was in my shoulder bag (water and suncream).

I would have taken better shots, but was too busy running away...

Kim picked up a big stick, I clapped my hands like a girl and we beat a retreat to the other side of the mountain to see some butterflies and Buddhas.

Angry Buddhist art - well I never!

Rising early, we'd taken a tuk-tuk then a boat to see the threatened Irrawaddy river dolphins (about 75 left in the world).

As usual, the little beggars were hard to photo, but we saw maybe a dozen of them and had a lovely tranquil hour on the water of the Mekong river.

Riding back via the mountain, we got a real glimpse of how 'ordinary' folk live around Kratie. Simple lives, really simple.

On the following day, we took the ferry across to the small island of Ko Trong. We cycled around its mainly one-track circumference, seeing cattle, fields, meadows and farmland, with houses and people picturesquely picked out in the landscape.

One lovely encounter was with a little girl and her grandmother(?), who we bought a couple of cans of pop and some crisps from - very Famous five.

She then plied us with some grapefruit and home-made spring roll 'buns' which made for a lovely lunch.

We weren't sure if she wanted paying for them too, or if it was good will, but we did offer and she accepted and graciously allowed to us to take a photo of her in her kitchen.

This was a great day out, rounded off with an hour's wait by the river for the return ferry watching more real life going on around us, without any pesky tourists there.

Lunch break