When I got to the Thakhek bus station, I expected to only be able to make it as far south as Shavannakhet since it was already the early afternoon. It turned out I was in time for the last local bus all the way to the big city of Pakse only one hour north of my goal destination of Champasak. Even if I couldn't make it all the way to Champasak that day I figured I might as well get as close as possible, so I decided to wait the two hours for the bus to Pakse (much of which was spent chatting with locals who were stunned that I had traveled to Thakhek alone). When the bus arrived I knew this was going to be a good trip. The seats were metal frames with plastic covered foam cushions resting on top (not attached), the floor was rusting through, and the roof was precariously held up with several 2"x 4"s which one of the staff made sure were secure by rattling them and then banging them back into place with a big stick. On the gravely, potholed roads of Laos I was fairly sure this vehicle was only a trip or two away from shaking itself to pieces. And, of course, it was packed to the gills with people, animals, building supplies, etc. Sweet. Let's do this. I knew I would be arriving in Pakse fairly late as the ride would allegedly take six to seven hours. I interpreted this as meaning closer to eight, so I prepared myself to arrive in Pakse around midnight. Little did I know just how late it would really be.
As we rode, six hours passed, then seven, eight, nine .... I should have realized something was up when we got to Shavannakhet around the time we were scheduled to arrive in Pakse. At some point I decided to just curl up and sleep, hoping the ride would end up taking so long that I wouldn't have to try and find a place to stay in Pakse in the middle of the night. Buuut that's exactly what happened. For reasons unbeknownst to me, it took us 11 hours to get to Pakse, which meant I arrived at 3am. (On the plus side during the ride I did happen to look up and see what I'm sure must be the biggest palm tree in the whole world. Gotta cling to those minuscule silver linings...) 3am is NOT a good time of night/morning to find a guesthouse. The tuk-tuk drivers tried to help but the only place open was immensely over priced, so I had to spend $12 for a basic room that did have a T.V. but no hot water or Wi-Fi. This might sound cheap compared to lodging in the U.S. but trust me, for Laos, it's not. (I usually don't spend more than $7 for better digs, and if it's a hostel dorm we're talkin' $5 often including internet AND breakfast. But I digress.) By the time I fell into bed it was nearly 5am.
The next day I got everything I could for my 100,000 Kip and lay in bed until noon watching movies on HBO. Whatever, I paid for that stupid room and it's TV. I got up and set out to find the one cafe in Pakse recommend in Lonely Planet for some western coffee and internet. After getting some advice from the really nice and helpful manager there, I tuk-tuked to the local "bus" station/marketplace, which ended up being the coolest thing I saw in Pakse!
(While the city does have an impressive collection of temples, the only other thing to see there is a modern, Western style shopping center, which I passed on.) The market was clearly where the city locals do their shopping, and I loved weaving through the crowd, past tarps covered in fresh vegetables, dried mushrooms and spices; buckets filled with wriggling catfish and prawns; and tables piled high with slabs of meat over which the proprietors slowly waved fans to keep the flies away. I saw everything from fresh cow tongue to several mystery sea creatures. Obviously I had to try some of the street food which I brought back to my "bus" - a slightly larger than average tuk-tuk -filled with four older Laos women, one younger boy, and some watermelons. While we waited for our ride to leave, one of the women payed a girl for a manicure and pedicure ... which was done inside the tuk-tuk. Ah, now this felt like a truly authentic Laos experience: markets, local "buses", street food, and tuk-tuk beauty salons.
The ride from Pakse to Champasak took less than an hour and was so pleasant I didn't even notice we'd arrived until I looked up to see the friendly, round, smiling face of a Laos man standing next to the tuk-tuk. He owned a guesthouse down the road and offered me a ride there. I climbed into his minivan to see several other westerners headed to the same place. They ended up being Jolien, from Belgium, Chloe and Tayne, from Australia, and Rosemary, an older woman also from Australia. As it was too late to see the main attraction of Champasak, the ancient Khmer temple of Wat Phu, the five of us decided to just hang out at the guesthouse, sitting by the Mekong, sharing some beers and dinner.
Jolien had also come to Champasak to meet Yves, a French man who was renovating an old puppet theatre in the town. Until 1945, the town of Champasak was the capital of an independent Laos state and where most of the royalty of that state lived. Some of the royalty's grand homes still stand along the main road, and the theatre is one of the remnants of their presence. Yves came to meet Jolien and ended up sitting with us and talking about his project, which also includes turning the theatre into a cinema that will show classic silent movies where local musicians will play the scores live.
The next day Rose, Chloe, Tayne, Jolien and I rented bicycles to go see Wat Phu. Before leaving we met Mark and Claire, an unbelievable couple from the UK who are currently in their third year of a four year round-the-world trip by BICYCLE. Yeah. They blew me away and of course they had some amazing stories. We all road to the Wat together through the picturesque town
and bought some amazing sticky rice sweetened with coconut milk wrapped in banana leaves from two women on the roadside.
Although the original temple was built in the 5th century, predating the oldest of the illustrious Siem Reap wats in Cambodia by over four hundred years, the remnants that remain are much younger - from the 11th century or so. No biggie.
(Entrance path.)
(Carving detail.)
The wat is located on the base of mount Phu Kao (although it was still quite a climb getting to the main temple)
where there is a natural spring.
The water was originally redirected to constantly bathe the temple's linga, but now visitors can feel free to rinse their sweaty hands and faces with it. Which we did.
Wat Phu has been designated as an official World Heritage Site and is currently being renovated according to UNESCO standards.
Plus we met these guys and their doggy friend who were on an overnight biking trip to Champasak from Bangkok.
Overall, it was amazeballs.
After riding back to town the group decided to move all to the same guesthouse where Mark and Claire were staying. (Oh, I almost forgot to mention - there were rats in bed with me the previous night in the room I was sharing with Jolien. Funny how it doesn't seem to be as huge of a deal the second time around. But that was part of why we all decided to change locations.) There weren't enough beds in the new spot so Rosemary and Jolien let me sleep on the floor for free which was really sweet of them. Hooray for yoga mats, travel sheets, and inflatable pillows! Before settling in we all went for dinner at a place along the water and the now expanded group shared another lovely evening together.
(Photo courtesy of Chloe.)
In the morning, everyone except Jolien decided to hit the road. Mark, Claire, Tayne, Chloe, and Rose were all headed north but to different areas, and I headed south to Don Det - one of the Four-Thousand Islands in the Mekong river.
