Posts From Loas

Today we was another change of location as we took a short flight from Siem Reap in Cambodia to Pakse, near Champasak, Laos. The day was quite routine until we realized that our accommodation for the next few days was on an island called Don Deng in the middle of the Mekong River at a hotel called La Folie Lodge. To add to the novelty we crossed to the island on a boat made from two large canoes connected by a seating platform, and we were driven from the shore to the hotel in a trailer attached to a "chinese tractor". The hotel turned out to have a very "colonial" feel, but also was quite a magic and relaxing place. Boating on the Mekong was a wonderful feeling.

Today we visited a local tourist stop called Wat Phu. It is a Hindu Temple built in the 10th century during the Khmer period as a shrine to Shiva. But there are other ruins and artifacts on the site dating back to the 2nd century BC. In particular up the side of the mountain above the temple is a sanctuary and sacred spring, in the first photo below the temple, just visible at the end of the approach road and the large steps up to the sanctuary are visible. The wikipedia entry in the link above gives a good description of the site and its history. It even has a site map that explains the long approach roads.

A 2 hour drive south of where we are staying is an area in the Mekong that consists of a complex region of islands and rapids, known as The 4000 Islands. That was our destination today. We were going to exlpore the area by long boat and tuck-tuck pulled by a motorcycle. The center piece of the day was a visit to Khone Phapheng Falls the widest water falls in the world and its little sibling Li Phi waterfall on the island Don Knon. But along the way we would see many interesting things

There was a shortish tour this morning to a place called The Prasart Museum. This museum seems to be the personal effort of one man (whose picture is on the Museum pamphlet but whose name I cannot find) to restore to Thailand, and display, historic artifacts, furniture and ceramics, collected and removed by other nations. Some of the photos below try to capture the nature and quality of those restorations.

We were rousted out of bed about 6:30 this morning so the cabin attendant could reconfigure our cabin for day time seated travel; and also to prepare us for disembarcation at Nong Khai, the border town where we would complete our Thai exit and Lao entry processing. Thereafter we would take a local train on the short remaining ride into Vientiane. At least that was the plan.

Our first sightseeing stop today was a place called Buddha Park, and to be frank I was a bit weary of Buddha and was not enthusiastic. But the place was a pleasant surprise. It was located a good distance out of town and on the banks of the Mekong River and is a lovely garden setting for some enormous statues. The statues of course are all depicting Hindu themes but the size and the variety made it more interesting.