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Chase Temple Ruins And Hammock Lounging With A Cold Laotian Beer

Where: Pakse, Laos
August 21, 2009 at 3:24 PM | by | Comments (0)

Even though the recession has hampered exotic travel, there are still those intrepid explorers going all out. All this week, our Cambodian embed Claire will share experiences from her trip to Laos.

Southern Laos more closely resembles its neighbors, with a flatter, rice-paddy covered landscape. Here, main attractions include Wat Phu Champasak, temple ruins in a stunning setting and Si Phan Don, the 4,000 islands, a mid-river delta in the Mekong.

Wat Phu Champasak, an ancient Angkorian temple built into a hillside, is about two hours south of Pakse by sangtheaw. The infrastructure here, and the tourism machine, deteriorates slightly, leaving more options for independent travel alongside Lao people. We rode in a truck with a week’s supply of produce and several old ladies who helped us understand prices and figure out our route, all without any ability to truly speak to each other.

The setting for Wat Phu is the most beautiful we’ve ever seen for an Angkor ruin, carved into a jungly hillside with a waterfall dropping behind it. Fog settled low on the hills, adding to the eerie atmosphere of the place.

Further south from Wat Phu and its adjacent town of Champasak is Si Phan Don, a delta of 4,000 islands in the Mekong. Activities there involve cycling around backroads, over bridges and past villages, motoring around the islands to small islands (which disappear in rainy season), and spotting river dolphins. Eating is a surprisingly fun hobby too, we discovered, with superb Lao-style laap (a limey, spicy minced meat dish and curry soups served with the country’s ubiquitous sticky rice. Every guesthouse seems to have gotten on the pumpkin burger train too, which is fantastic.

The two main islands for travelers are Don Det and Dhon Khon, with the main town—and access to $3 per hour internet—on the northern tip of Don Det. Near town is also an Australian-run bakery, with freshly made cinnamon buns and various baked goods that emerges in this remote island location like a mirage in the dessert.

Bungalow-style guesthouses line the riverfront, costing about $1 or $2 per night. Lounging on the hammock between meals, sipping Beer Laos—Southeast Asia’s best brew. Just another of the many things that Laos does best in the region. And this is how we'll remember our trip: sipping Laotian beer from the porch of a $2-a-night guesthouse, fresh from discovering temple ruins.

Related Stories:
· All Laos Field Trip posts [Jaunted]
· Buffalo Slim Jims and Waterfall Swims In Laos [Jaunted]
· Heading To Laos To Discover The Best of Indochina [Jaunted]

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