July 12-13, 2014 ---- Pakse is a remote city in southern Laos. It's well known for many beautiful waterfalls and Wat Phu, a ruined Khmer temple complex built in the 11th to 13th centuries. To get to Pakse from Thailand is very easy. There are direct buses running from Ubon Ratchathani to Pakse and vice versa twice a day. The tickets are only sold on the same day, no early reservations can be arranged, and you should get there early because it can fill up quickly.
Nathan and I took an afternoon bus from Ubon Ratchathani Bus Terminal and it was very crowded and many people had to sit on the floor. We arrived Pakse around 7 p.m. and were squeezed in a TukTuk with other tourists to Phi Dao Hotel, where we stayed for 4 nights. The room was nice, clean and spacious, and the hotel has a restaurant in the lobby area. I would say that many things in Pakse were more expensive than I had expected, especially food and transportation.
Our first full day in Pakse was very adventurous. We couldn't ride a motorcycle and there was no bicycle for rent, and we tried to avoid hiring a TukTuk or tour van because we weren't good at talking the price down (A must have skill in Lao). As a result, we strolled along the Mekong River all the way to Daoruang Market to take a local bus (called Song-Taew) to Wat Phu.
In fact there wasn't really any Song-Taew that runs between Pakse-Wat Phu, but we found one that went to Champasak and the driver agreed to go a few extra miles to drop us off in front of Wat Phu. Lucky us! The ride took about an hour. The scenery along the way was gorgeous. People were working in their farms and rice fields. Water buffaloes were dipping in the mud. Many clouds hanging low over mountains....
Once we got to Wat Phu, we went to lunch at a local noodle shop located right in front of the entrance. Then we bought tickets (50,000 kip each) which included the ride on a golf cart to and from the temple and a museum entrance fee.
I don't really know much about Wat Phu or Vat Phou other than that it's a ruined Khmer temple. From what I saw at the sight, it was kind of a mix of Buddhism and Hinduism. There were a lot of Hindu god images carved on stone and concrete around the ruins, and there was a big Buddha statue sitting in the main temple building on the mountain. The view from the hill was breathtaking, and climbing up there wasn't too difficult. Nathan and I spent about an hour in the ruin area before going back down to the museum located right at the entrance. It was a nice, little museum.
Then the problem was we couldn't find any TukTuk or Song-Taew back to Pakse City. The bus from Champasak to Pakse only runs in the morning. I started looking around at other tourists who drove to the temple, and I found one Thai family who also stayed in a hotel in Pakse, and they agreed to give us a ride back to town. What a relief!
In Pakse, there was one Indian restaurant right around the corner form Phi Dao Hotel that was really good. Highly recommend if you visit Pakse.
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| A typical breakfast in Laos |
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| People from outside of town come to "Daoruang Market" for their household supplies |
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| Pakse Bridge over Mekong River |
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| The road to Wat Phu |
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| A water buffalo eating his lunch |
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| Farmers working in their rice field. |
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| Rice paddies |
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| Champasak Village |
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| The local bus we took from Daoruang Market to Wat Phu. |
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| Lunch! |
Wat Phu
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| Dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant in Pakse City |