Irrawaddy Dolphins

This week has been quite busy as the other education volunteer and I had to plan out the activities, workshops, meetings etc,  we want to do this year with some money from VSO in Canada. So that took 2 mornings, Wednesday morning we had a meeting of all the VSO volunteers and the Volunteer Assistants in Kratie. It was a good chance to met up and find out what everyone does. On Friday afternoon I went to Joe`s restaurant to watch the Royal Wedding while wearing tiaras which we had fashioned from old boxes and aluminium foil!! I knew all those years of making hats with the kids would pay off!!

Yesterday I went to my VA`s house where his wife showed us how to make Ban Chow. It is a thin pancake made with rice flour (which they grind themselves), real turmeric(not ground) and coconut milk, filled with bean sprouts, meat or egg, onions and served with salad leaves and a sauce of peanuts, carrot, garlic, palm sugar, tamarind and fish sauce (which they use as a seasoning). You use your fingers and dip the pancake with the salad into the sauce. It is delicious! They are a lovely family and were very welcoming and generous. It was a lovely lunchtime.

This morning I went along the Mekong to Kampi the home of the very endangered Irrawaddy Dolphins. We saw a lot of them but this is the best picture I managed!

This is a picture of Ami, who is leaving Kratie on Friday, Adrian, a doctor, who I met in Siem Reap and who was visiting Remi, another doctor, here and me(again!)

This is the entrance to the place where you pick up the boats to go Dolphin watching.

On the way back the tuktuk driver stopped and bought us some fruit which comes from a palm that they get palm sugar from.

They are the white things at the front which have been removed from the green/purple things behind. The texture is like lychee but they have juice in the middle. They don`t taste very strong but are quite refreshing, which out here is always a good thing.

We then went to a Wat at the top of a hill -Phnom Sambok. Which was very peaceful and had lovely views.

View to Mekong

When we got back to Kratie we went for a drink by the river then for lunch. I had a bacon sandwich, which was not bad but not like homemade!! Just off to Skype Ellie now and going out for dinner tonight!