I stumbled on a jewel. I have not been to Angkor yet but to me, Champasak seemed like a slice of Angkor minus any people. It is set underneath a splendid mountain on 6 natural terraces and it overlooks the entire plain all the way to the river. There was not a single soul other than me and some ladies selling offerings to the temple’s Buddha.
Getting here was a splendid adventure. We left Tadlo with Aloun – my tuk tuk driver - and two other couples rescued along the way. Halfway through the trip we got a flat tire and flagged down a pick up truck. The pick up truck dropped me at Palse’s Southern station where I climbed into a local bus. This is really a glorified tuk tuk so packed with people and stuff that literally only the chickens were missing. Just when you thought we were all full more people managed to squeeze in until I ended up with two children on my lap. This bursting contraption was then loaded on the ferry – really a wooden plank that goes across the river – where all the food sellers also climb up and mix plates of noodles or rice, boiled corn and chicken skewers.
I earned Champasak. The town itself is a one street town but somehow with a beautifully chilled and relaxed atmosphere. I felt really good here, eating fried fish from the Mekong and a deeply craved for plate of chips under the pounding monsoon rain. Yes, it’s officially the monsoons now. It rains every single day, hard, but brief and several times in the day.
With the rains, people get busy planting rice. In Don Khong, my next stop - this time a tuk tuk, a ferry, a motorcycle and a boat ride away – I spent the day cycling amid rice paddies. Children constantly wave and scream sabaidee (hello) as you go past, water buffalos stare while chewing and everybody is busy planting the rice. It is so beautiful, so green and orderly. Entire families work together in the field and the atmosphere is busy but serene. Everyone has time to say hello as I cycle past. I would like to plant rice someday. Just to understand what it takes. I was so tempted to ask if I could join. What stopped me is the fear that even if they showed me I would mess it up for them. It’s amazing but for all the things I know there is not a single skill I could apply here. I don’t know how to make anything with my hands. I cannot take care of buffalos and I have no clue about rice culture. Sobering thought. I do know how to cycle though and I did the whole 30-40 km around the island.
At night, sitting on the river’s edge it was pitch black. The only thing you could see were the lights on the fishermen’s boats trying to attract the night’s catch. It’s magic the power and the wealth of this river. How many people it sustains and how many countries it goes through.
Tomorrow this river will take me to the kingdom of Cambodia.
