July 14, 2014 ----Pakse is just a small city located in southern Laos. It's the capital of Champasak Province, founded by French colonialists in 1905. To get there from Thailand, you can either fly from Bangkok or take a bus from Ubon Ratchathani. If you travel by bus, there is a visa-on-arrival service at the border, but the visa and entrance fees can fluctuate as corruption is well known there.
Nathan and I spent our second day in Pakse strolling around the small city and hiking up to the giant Buddha statue on top of the mountain. Because we didn't know how to ride a motorcycle and there wasn't any bicycle for rent, we could only rely on our feet. Luckily the city wasn't big, and there really wasn't much to see in the city center.
We started at Wat Luang located just a block from our hotel. It's a Buddhist temple built in 1935 and serves as a college for monks as well. Nathan and I went inside the chapel ("Phra Ubosod" in Thai) to pay respect to the Lord Buddha statue inside. We met a Buddhist monk as he had his "office hour" there to greet and bless visitors. He explained the Buddhist Sangha and education in Laos to us and told us that most monks have to travel to Bangkok if they want higher education. He also gave us "Sai Sin" or a holy string wrapped around our wrist.
Then we strolled along the Mekong River and stopped for lunch at one of the riverside restaurants. A lot of locals liked to come here with their peers eating and drinking while overlooking the gorgeous view of mountains and river. Nathan and I ordered some local dishes like grilled river fish, papaya salad, etc. All was good and at a reasonable price.
The weather was very hot, bright and sunny when we were there, but a thunderstorm was to be expected in the evening. We walked across the Lao-Nippon Bridge (built in the years 1997-2000) to the other side of Mekong River. The bridge was funded by the Japanese government and it's a little over a kilometer long. There were pedestrian walks on both sides of the bridge that kept us safe from the traffic.
On the other side of the Mekong River was a mountain where the "Big Buddha" statue was situated. It's about 10 meters tall, and we could get there by climbing up on wide concrete steps that later become narrow wooden steps all the way to the statue. The "Big Buddha" overseeing Pakse City is a beautiful scene, especially with thunderstorm clouds hanging over the city. I would describe it as a "Peace in the Chaos" scene.
There was a Buddhist monastery right behide the Big Buddha. Nathan and I went inside the chapel and stayed there wishing the rain would come and be over before we departed the temple and walked back to the city. However, the storm seemed to delay and we couldn't wait any longer, so we ended up walking in the rain when we were on the Lao-Nippon Bridge. It was very scary because I was afraid of lightening and thunder, but we had no choice; we had to cross the bridge!
We were soaking wet but on the other side we were safe from being killed in the storm. :-)
Wat Luang
Lao-Nippon Bridge
"Big Buddha"
