http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Laos , South , Champasak en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:33:23 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:33:23 UTC Down the Mekong to Champassak and Wat PhouAfter an early breakfast we drove through Pakse town down to the confluence of the Mekong and Xe Don rivers to board a covered longtail with old rattan chairs and cushions for seating a lovely touch we thought for an hour and a half downriver journey to Champassak township. Shortly we passed under the 1.3 kmlong bridge spanning the Mekong paid f http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/blog-305844.html Crossing the border from Cambodia into Laos was a happy moment. Some people were peeved about paying the 1 bribe but I was over the moon after our 4 day saga of being stuck in the cess pit of Cambodia so we me Emma and Sarah from Brisbane marked our crossing with a celebratory can of beer. I instantly had a good feeling about Laos despite not knowing what to expect from 4000 islands but I rec http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/blog-272940.html Getting up early on Monday morning wasnt that difficult at all since we went to bed at about 10 PM. Our destination was Bang Tang Beng a village close to Kiet Ngong pronounced Kiet Nyan where the elephants awaited us. The first challenge for us and the trip organizer was how to squeeze 13 people and 11 big rucksackssuitcases into a 12seater mini bus. We experienced it takes about 20 minutes http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/blog-228985.html After Cambodia Matt and I headed to Pakse pronounced paksay a small city in the south of Laos to meet with Green Discovery the tour operator that Matt organized our ecotrek through. We stayed in the very nice very affordable Pakse Hotel and grabbed our last bit of Western type food at a local pizza place as we were going to be spending the next few days eating Lao cuisine in the village we http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/blog-222016.html Champasak was a bit of an experience. Well the getting to and fro bit. It all started with the guy at the travel company in Pakse proclaiming on the day that we had arranged to leave that he had no minibuses today NICE ONE MATE The only alternative was for us to take the local bus servicehelliphellip The pictures tell the story. 26 adults and 6 kids along with the fruit and veg counter o http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/blog-178718.html ChampasakEHi everyoneSo I left Vientiane on the night bus. We arrived at 600 am in Pakse. A hoard of Tuk Tuk drivers was waiting. I decided to skip Pakse altogether and instead head for Champasak a bit further south. After a while I figured the next bus would not leave 'till 8 am so I decided to go for the more authentic option Tuk Tuk to the local market and from there with a http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/blog-165427.html There's not too much to write about my short stay in Pakse where I went to recover from the Loop trip and get money at one of the few ATMs in Laos. It was soooo hot that I spent two days taking cold showers and sitting in front of the fan reading. Quite pleasant actually. When I decided enough lounging around had been done I caught a small longtail boat with six other tourists for an hour and http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/blog-152798.html We have arrived in Laos and every thing is so much quieter and slower sloa than anywhere else we have been. We arrived in Pakse and where we were 2 of 4 passangers getting off the plane there. Getting a visa was a question of 10 minutes and 35 USD. Pakse felt like a small american town in the midwest is supposed to feel like. Hardly any traffic very wide streets large fourwheel drive vehicles http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/blog-125806.html Nachdem wir Savannaketh auf unserer Rueckreise hinter uns gelassen haben blieben wir fuer eine Nacht in Pakse der zweitgroessten Stadt in Laos. Dort trafen wir ein polnisches Maedchen die so begeistert von Champasak erzaehlte das wir uns entschlossen noch einen Abstecher dorthin zu machen da es eh auf unserem Weg lag.Champasak ist nur mit einer Faehre zu erreichen es gibt keine Bruecken dort http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/blog-122102.html Upon leaving Pakse for Champasak we had are only real frustrating experience with the local transport. We all got on a tuktuk negotiated a fair price to the bus station and were dropped off only 2 out of the 10ks into the trip at a market where we were told the bus would pick us up. There were many sawngthaews big tuk tuks leaving the area so we got out paid the driver and went to wait for http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/blog-115870.html In Southern Laos I saw a wonderful Khmer style temple that was built around the same period as Angkor Wat in Cambodia and was almost as impressive in its own way. I hired a bicycle to cycle to the ruins and had a great day trip exploring the area. The temple was built at the edge of a mountain with steps leading up to different levels and as I climbed up each level I kept meeting different peopl http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/blog-91463.html After an amazing stay at Don Det we headed back up towards Pakse with the intention of crossing into Thailand again in order to drop down into Cambodia and Siem Riep. On the way mind you is Chamapasak a one street village that was once an ancient Khmer centre leaving today an ancient temple perched on a hill top. To reach Champasak you take a ferry read three boats now tied together and a woo http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/blog-86337.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/blog-78949.html . http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/blog-69753.html The journey from North to South went a lot quicker than planned. We stopped briefly in Vientiene didn't think much of the city considering it was the capital and made a dash for it south. We ended up here for a couple of days to check out the Ankor period ruins of Wat Phu Champasak. http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/blog-52127.html Slept in a little this morning dashing my plans for an early morning jaunt to Champasak. As it turns out that was a blessing because I met someone else who had that plan and ended up waiting at the bus station for three hours before finally getting the same saengthaew as I did. Walked most of the way to the bus station before being stopped with Hello lady where you go an event that would http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/blog-2980.html I left Pakse at 7am.nbsp My tuktuk driver was a lazy bastard and took me to the wrong bus station so I missed the truck I was supposed to catch down to Champasak.nbsp I ended up hiring a sawngtaew for the reasonable price of 3 as I wasn't going to stay in Pakse a moment longer than I had to there's very little to do there except drink fruit shakes and eat too much Indian food at the cafe op http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/South/Champasak/blog-1041.html