Champasek, Laos

Daron on the bus

The sleeping bus dropped us off in Pakse, the commercial and transportation hub of southern Laos.  We spent two days there before heading to Champasek, where we planned to see the ruins of Wat Phu.  Champasek is only 35 or so miles from Pakse, so we thought we would be adventurous and take the public bus.  We got a ride from our hotel to the bus station where we were semi-accosted by people wanting us to get on their bus.  They were pulling on our luggage before we could even pay for our ride over there!  I think the busses are basically private people with various- sized vehicles - I don’t think the busses are run by the government.  We went over (or were pulled over!) to the big bus that was heading to Champasek at 10am (it was 9:30 at the time).  We got on and noticed a few other farangs (foreigners) on the bus, as well as several Lao people.  Around 10am the bus driver got on the bus and started it up – I couldn’t believe that we were actually going to leave on time, unheard of in Laos!  But alas, false alarm, he let the motor run for about 30 seconds before cutting the engine and hopping out.  Meanwhile we chit-chatted with the other foreigners on our bus:  two women from the Netherlands, a couple from France, and a single guy from France.  Pretty soon it hit 11:00 and we still hadn’t moved.  Daron got off the bus and started looking for a tuk tuk driver that would take all of us – he was just about to close the deal when the bus driver very conveniently got on and started up the bus.  Oh well, we were all happy to finally be on our way!



Our bus driver (in blue) & his wife - tile shopping!



It wasn’t very far to our first stop, still in the town of Pakse – a tile shop of all places.  A woman on the bus got off, as well as our bus driver.  They spent a little time looking at tile samples together.  I figured the woman must be his wife.  Thankfully, they were quick and the bus was back in motion - that is until our next stop, which happened to be another tile place!  They got off again and looked at more tiles.  We were laughing about it on the bus, about how this could only happen in Laos, etc, just in a good mood that we were headed to our destination.  They got back on the bus and drove us to our next stop, which turned out to be the bus station from which we had just left!  We had just spent the last half hour driving in a circle!  At this point, all of us farangs are pissed off – it is noon now and some of us have been waiting over three hours!  Daron hopped up and told the driver to stop the bus, as we were all getting off.  All us foreigners are standing up at this point and I think he realized he was going to lose all of our fares so he kept driving.  Finally!  This time we really were on our way.  The locals on the bus were staring at us (no surprise there, it was quite the drama), although I like to think that they were secretly glad that we got the bus to move (I had seen quite a few of them looking at their watches).  It took a little less than an hour to get to Champasek, which is a small dusty town on the Mekong River. 

Entering the Wat Phu site

The young French couple had a recommendation for a guesthouse in Champasek so we followed them there, where we got our cheapest room in Laos so far, only $6.25.  Unfortunately, you get what you pay for.  At first glance it looked fine, but we discovered later it had major flaws.  Part of the bathroom floor didn’t drain (the entire bathroom is the shower) so there was a constant dirty puddle in the room (dirt that was already there, not from us).  Upon closer look I don’t think they ever cleaned the bathroom, which made me think they probably didn’t wash the sheets in our room either – ugh!  The rickety ceiling fan had only one speed – 100 miles an hour!  I spent the entire night waiting for it to fly off and around the room, cutting us into pieces.  If I had turned it off the room would have become our own personal sauna. Taking the chance of being sliced into bits seemed the lesser of two evils at the time. We shared the room with about five geckos, which thankfully stayed on the ceiling, eating whatever bugs they could find up there.  Needless to say, we moved to a much nicer guesthouse the next day, for a whopping $8.75 per night. It was spotless and gecko-free, although when I first stepped into the room a snake slithered by my foot!  By the time the owner and his assistant came to take care of the snake, it was coiled up on the bedside table, with his head held high, just looking around.  They chased it around the room and eventually killed it.  I have no idea what kind of snake it was (it was small and skinny), although the Lao folks seemed nervous enough around it.

The main temple at Wat Phu

In the midst of all the excitement with rooms and local wildlife, we managed to fit in a visit to Wat Phu, our main reason for coming to this area.  We rode bicycles the three miles from Champasek to the site, along the hot and dusty road.   Wat Phu did not disappoint.  The various ruins at the site date from the sixth to the twelfth centuries and are thought to have been built by the ancient Khmer, the same folks that built Angkor Wat in Cambodia, when their empire included this area of Laos.  Many of the sandstone carvings indicate that the ruins were once a Hindu place of worship, although it is currently associated with Theravada Buddhism, with lots of Buddha statues placed inside the main temple.  The site itself is quite scenic, as it is situated on a hill – we walked up several sets of steep stairways before reaching the main temple.  Blooming frangipani trees (which is Lao’s national flower) bordered both sides of the stairway.  The main temple had fabulous views of the surrounding area.  We spent some time wandering around the site, enjoying the view and the shade, before riding our bikes in the hot sun back to our reptile room. 

Champasek was by far the hottest place we’ve been to so far.  I’m not sure if it was the area itself or the fact that we’re getting into the “hot and dry” season.  We were absolutely melting the entire time in this area, although the locals told us it will get even hotter (if that’s possible!) next month.  Even so, the beautiful ruins made the hardships of this little excursion worthwhile.