Most people stop in Kratie for one reason only -- to catch a sight of the bottle-nosed Irrawaddy dolphins. With the overland route to southern Laos becoming more and more popular, Kratie is also increasing in popularity as an overnight stay before moving on elsewhere. The town itself is very pleasant. It was pretty firmly Khmer Rouge throughout the war in the '70s so it was never a battlefield. The pretty riverine colonial architecture remained intact and the waterfront remains a pleasant place to sit with an ice-cold drink and watch the sun go down.
