 |
| Sunrise view from our room |
We love this place. Champasak, southern Laos, the former royal capital is basically a
string of small villages on two quiet parallel roads that run along the west
bank of the Mekong. It’s the right size of town with just a few tourists -
enough to give us basic requirements such as a handful of western-style
restaurants and guest houses, some English or French speaking help when needed,
and yet not so many to feel that we’re invading the community. Locals are
friendly and welcoming. The children still wave and call
“sabaidee!”. And there’s very little traffic – hooray!
To the west of us the Lingaparvata Mountain rises from the
plains. It is topped by a natural pillar-shaped 10m rock formation – hence its spiritual
importance and association with Shiva. Most visitors come here for the ruins of
the Angkor temple of Wat Phou which nestles at the base of the mountain.
 |
This is the remarkable Lingaparvata (Phu Kao) mountain, topped with its natural nipple.
|
Our hosts Jacques (Belgian) and his
Lao wife One (pronounced “Wan”) have built rooms and a restaurant overlooking the river. We sit on
the balcony facing eastward, towards the horizontal shore of Don Daeng island, where
the water buffalo wallow in the shallows, as millions of tons of water flow gently
down from China. It’s very tranquil.
 |
Our room is on the right. The house was only completed last month so it has all mod-cons
|
And there’s even a bar with five pool tables in it down the
road! It’s very much a locals place so we haven’t tried it out yet...
 |
That's what you call a view - over the Mekong
|
 |
| There are a couple of fine royal residences from French colonial times (1950s) on our street |
 |
| But most of the town is more like this. Note the traffic! |
 |
| We came across the local potter and swopped stories with our limited common languages. Lovely man |
Yesterday we borrowed bikes and cycled 13 km
down river to the ancient but unnamed 5th century city on the banks
of the river. It’s little more than earthworks hidden in the scrub but it’s the
gateway to possibly my favourite place on Earth (currently) – the temple of Wat
Phou. This is what Angkor Wat must have been like to visit 50 years ago. There
were perhaps a dozen tourists on the whole site when we were there.
 |
The avenue leading to Wat Phu. The current temple was built during the reign of Jayavarman VII in the 12th century but there have been temples around here since the 5th century. A road leads from here all the way to Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
|
 |
| Steep "steps" between beautiful ancient frangipani trees lead up to the temple |
 |
| It's hard work in the midday sun |
 |
| But worth it to reach this lovely temple |
 |
| Which is still very much in use as a sacred place |
 |
| And the views are simply stunning |
 |
| At Shiva's spring in the cave above the temple, a Laos family collected holy water to take home |
 |
| They encouraged me to sprinkle water on my head "for good luck" |
 |
| Here's the trimurti carved into solid rock. Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the preserver, and Shiva, the destroyer |
 |
| Elephant rock |
 |
| This one might need a bit more restoration! |
 |
| Crocodile rock - said to have a dark past as a site for human sacrifices |
 |
| Wonderful views to the east |
 |
| Looking down of the northern and southern "palaces". Function apparently unknown but possibly the courtyards were originally filled with water? |
 |
| What a fabulous place! |
