southern Laos

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We are now in the relative comfort of Pakse Laos, on our way to Bangkok and then on to Burma. A bit of the French is left here, in building architecture and the service iof the nicer hotels in town. This is the first time we feel like we are in a "real" hotel by western standards, not that I miss them. Every decision I make has economic ramifications, from where I eat (the local street corner or the place for foreigners with guaranteed hygenie) and sleep (the Chinese run or the more basic stilt house accomodation) to even buying a soda or tea. I have moved from elder sister to mother in the eyes of Laotians who address me formally, a frightening prospect. Laotians seem more friendly, more laid back. Traveling in the dry season is less crowded, way less buggy, but way more dusty and the landscape is for the most part not that brilliant green of pictures we've seen. Where we have been pumping water in the dry season is too expensive, and fields are largely fallow, turned into pasture, or burned. This is an unusually dry year in southeast Asia, water levels are way low, some boats are not running. This morning in the islands we biked through a bunch of fields, a new sport we call bicycle hiking, which includes dodging cow pies and grazing water buffalo. I still think the average town Laotian is as well off as the average Cambodian, and even in rural areas (though that is only a relative comparison, both countries are incredibly poor, even accounting for barter and growing/catching your own in rural areas).

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Photos

travel Lao style
the bus station and major market in Champaksah Laos, where we waited 2 hours for a songthaw to take us south

4000 islands of Mekong
only in dry season and only if you count all the hummocks! very beautiful

Lao pep club
cheering on the district rowing races in Champasak Laos at the annual temple festival

Wat Phu
we arrived at Wat Phu during the annual temple festival, so crowded with Lao and Thai visitors that we had trouble finding a place to stay

Wat Phu Buddhas
the ruins of a Khmer temple, Wat Phu is still used today by Laotians

stilt housing
a well off rural family will have 2 or 3 of these connected above ground, storage underneath,and outlying sheds for hay and pigs, perhaps a motorbike and TV (battery generator or electric line)

Wat in Pakse
the largest wat in Pakse is fairly well endowed, as this door carving shows