World Laos Champasak Champasak

Nicola & Sean's big trip

Champasak 25 Apr 2006

Reaching Champasak was an adventure. We transferred onto a bus at Pakse. We asked when the bus would leave - '1130'. That's too long to wait, we thought, and started to look for a 'jumbo' that was going there. As soon as we started to look for alternative transport the driver honked his horn loudly as if the bus was about to leave. We got back onto the bus and waited, and waited. The driver was trying to fill the bus. When ever we tried to find alternative transport several men would madly wave their arms at us, saying "Get Back on the bus we're about to leave!" I think we eventually got on the road about 2 hours later!

The journey was really interesting - at every stop sales women would clamber onto the bus, or come up to the windows, selling beatle kebabs - (huge barb-b-qued beatles and grashoppers on skewers), spring rolls, sticky rice, fruit, chicken etc. They would all call out what they are selling, making it quite noisy and exciting at the stops.

When we got to the Mekong we waited for a small car ferry and all the vehicles crammed on and went accross. Our bus had about a tonne of concrete bags in the isle, and we had difficulty getting on and off the ferry! There is no going hungry in Lao - on the car ferry you can buy 'fir' hot chilli noodles, from the ladies that cook them in their mobile noodle kitchen. This is two bowls at either end of a wooden stick carried across their shoulders.

We were finally dropped at a guest house in Champasak - the driver got commission for dropping us there, of course! All our new friends on the bus waved good-bye.

That afternon we decided to rent bikes and ride to the Wat Phu temple. This is an ancient Khmer temple complex. It is linked to the Ankor complex by an ancient road. By the time we reached the temple in about 40 degree heat - we were very hot, grumpy, tired and thirsty. We took our time walking around as the temperature cooled in the evening.

The temple is a large complex and the first time we saw the Khmer architecture with carvings of the gods - Shiva and Vishnu. There were two large ponds - baray. We also saw the Noni and Lingus carings representing male and female - which are also everywhere at Angkor. Many Buddhist Lao people were at the sacred spring to collect water.

We road back in the evening - much coller - and the next day we were on our journey to Don Det in the Si Phan Don - Four Thousand Islands area of Lao.