Champasak

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Champasak is only a 90 minute bus ride South of Pakse. However, the journey was elongated by the driver insisting on waiting 3 hours until he deicided that the bus was full enough to warrant him removing himself from the nearby noodle stand.

Champasak is a quiet and pretty one street town (literally). That one street is actually more of a dirt track but it is bounded by the river on one side and the mountains on the other making it very picturesque. The locals are extremely friendly and all seemed highly amused by my presence, as few people seem to stay for more than the time necessary to visit Wat Phu as part of an organised tour.

Wat Phu is the only real reason to visit Champasak. It's an important pre-Ankor era temple thought to have been built in the 5th century. I hired a bike and cycled for a very bumpy but pleasant hour to get there. The temple itself is very similar to some near Siam Reap but a fair bit smaller. It was built on three levels and when overlooking the site from the highest level it's easy to imagine how impressive it would have been before it was left to ruin. Having said that, despite being mostly ruins there still exists some incredibly well preserved carvings and the site is clearly of importance given its age. It's nothing in comparison to Ankor Wat and co, but an interesting visit nonetheless.

With nothing else to do or see in the town I decided to check out after only one night and continue on down to Si Phan Don.

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