(c) December 2007 Oliver Bonten
Champasak
Collection:
Date: Images: |
Champasak
December 2007 99 |
Until a few years ago, most tourists and travellers limited themselves to northern and central Laos: the area between Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Phonsavan, and probably the road from Vietnam through Savannakhet to Vientiane. But the south of Laos is becoming more and more accessible and developed. Pakxe in Champasak province is one of the larger towns in Laos (though on an absolute level still a small and provincial place), and it now has the third international airport of the country. To the south of Champasak is the four thousand island region in the Mekong, a new backpacker haven at the Cambodian border; the land border with Thailand on the road from Pakxe to Ubon is now open for tourists and a Visa-on-arrival entry point, and it is reported that the road from Vientiane is now paved all the way.
There is an Angkor period temple in Champasak, near Champasak town (the old royal city which nowadays is a very small place), and the hinterland, the Bolaven plateau, is exeptionally beautiful.
Wat Phu is the reason why I included the South of Laos into my itinerary. It is an Angor period temple, and one of the larger ones outside of Angkor itself. (At least one of the larger ones still somehow standing). Though compared to the magnificent temples at Angkor itself it is nothing. But it still is a rather interesting place, and it is also in a very scenic location.
Getting to the temple is already a bit adventurous: you can book a guided tour in Pakxe but there is no public transport going directly there. I decided to rent a motorbike; you ride about 30km south of Pakxe on the main road (the road to Cambodia), then at a village conveniently named "30km village" (Ban Lek Samsip), you turn towards the Mekong. It takes less than 1 hour to reach the river and another 15-20 minutes once you're across. The ferry is not for the faint of heart; I took the car ferry but motorbike riders are supposed to take a special motorbike ferry.
The temple area basically has been erected along a line from ground level to the side of a hill. So there are no four massive wall surrounding a square on the ground, but it basically is arranged along the ascent to the hill. There is something like the remains of an outer wall at the entrance but that can't have been an enclosure. There are also a number of barays (water basins) outside the temple, some of them still filled. It's easy to imagine that there was a road from the Mekong going to the temple (that would be in East-West-direction), but in the compound itself at one point there is also a path merging from the south, and archeologists think that this was the road to Angkor.
The path up the hill is framed by Champa trees (Frangipani trees), which were in bloom. You have a good view from the top over the Mekong valley, and also from the bottom into the mountains.
Um Tomo is another Angkor period temple, but much smaller than Wat Phu, and it probably has been a private place. It is an enchanted little forest area at the Houay Tomo river. You reach it from Wat Phu if you the Mekong back to the left bank and follow the main road about 10km southwards to 40km village (Ban Lak Sisip) from where a sand track leads to Um Tomo (it was signposted).
The temple area is quite small and there is not a lot of architecture to see, but it did not have a lot of visitors when I was there (one group left when I came, and two people arrived when I left), so you have the stones pretty much for yourself. It is quiet and nicely located but bug-infested and if you aren't careful you have the strangest jungle beetles crawling all over you and into your bags. Not a place for a picknick despite the view.
Pakxe is the entry point to the Bolaven plateau, an upland area which is popular for its scenery and its many waterfalls. The Bolaven plateau is also home to most Lao coffee plantations (and in fact to the ones making high quality coffee), and I came here in the hope of being able to buy some green beens straight from the producer. I was disappointed in that regard but I could buy pre-packaged bags at a coffee shop in Pakxe. There are guided tours through the area, mostly following the major ring road through Pakxong and Tateng, but more and more people also rent motorbikes and spend a few days on the plateau in more scenic and less travelled places. I had only one day left so I booked a guided tour with my guest house.
This page has been created on Sunday 12. April 2015 from galleries.xml using galleries.xsl.