Experience the best of Kratie

Kratie lies on the east bank of the Mekong in eastern Cambodia, where the river is wide and brown, with sandbars and islands. The town has a promenade along the water, a few French colonial buildings and a lively market, and it has long been a stop on the river route between Phnom Penh and Laos.

A short drive north, Irrawaddy dolphins surface in a deep pool of the Mekong, and only a small number of them remain. Phnom Sambok, a hill near the town with a pagoda, looks over the river. Koh Trong, a large island opposite the town, can be circled by bicycle on dirt paths, and the Hundred Pillars Pagoda lies farther north, near the village of Sambor.

Fish from the Mekong, grilled or cooked in soup with herbs and lemongrass, is the main local food, alongside rice and fresh fruit. The river runs lowest after the rains end in November, and the wet months swell the Mekong and turn the countryside green.