Hangin with the hoods in PakseAug 16, 2006
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The Climb
The Wat
The View
After leaving Don Det, I headed to a small town called Champasak where there is a Ankor era temple ruin. After spending most of the morning on two buses, two boats, and a motorbike I checked into my guesthouse. After a quick shower I rented a bike and started the 12km ride to Wat Phu Champasak. This was, however, not the best idea in the middle of monsoon season. It rained hard no less than five times before I even got to the temple site. Along the way I discovered a number of things: First, my new sunscreen does not feel good when washed into my eyes. In fact it burns. Second, don't rent the cheap bike to save a dollar because that old dry tire is going to go flat, guaranteed. I ended up grabbing a tuktuk back to the guesthouse with the broken bike tied to the back, then hiring the guy to drive me to and back from the ruins. It rained another 4 times during the journey. Maybe not the rainiest day I've had, but by far the most variable weather.
The next morning was early again, since the buses leave for Pakse between 6:30 and 8:00. I had planned on getting an early one, but in true Laos style the guesthouse took 45 minutes to fry two eggs and cut up a banana and I ended up on the last one out of town. The motto of the local bus system is "there is always more room" so I ended up sitting on a sack of potatoes on the tailgate for the 2 hour ride.
Finally, I got to Pakse and booked my overnight bus back to Vientiane. That left me with a whole day to kill in a pretty dead city. I headed down to the waterfront to grab some food and read my book, but was interrupted by the local hoods. First they asked if I planned on finishing my water, which I gladly handed over. Then they wanted to know what I could possibly be carrying in my shoulder bag. When I produced my camera they turned zoolander on me. I think the video mode almost blew thier minds.
