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Published: January 11th 2013
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Office chair
This is where one of the days was spent, planning and updating our plan... Not to bad We had heard the boat from Don Khong to Champasak was an iffy thing upriver in the dry season, and that some people had bought tickets and then simply been left in the boat to figure out on their own that it wasn't going to leave. Not wanting to soil our image of all Lao people being honest and kind, we opted for the bus, and were even told that the ticket did not include the second boat from the mainland (we had already seen numerous people at ferry crossings getting upset because they were told they had paid for everything, only to meet the boatman who would not budge unless paid). That is a good lesson to learn, by the way, and one to live by if you want to avoid feeling scammed or let down. Don't try to buy all-inclusive travel in Southeast Asia. If they say you change companies and get another bus, or take a boat, or get a minivan or god knows what, then buy a ticket for the first part of the journey, and arrange the rest when you get there. It's tempting to feel like you hacve arranged everything but it rarely works out...
Sunset from the guesthouse
Its hard to believe that we won't have as fantastic sunset everywhere we go for the rest of our trip. We enjoy every one of them The trip involved a lot of waiting around, of course, so the 1,5 hour journey ended up taking almost 5 hours, which gave us time to catch up with a lovely older Swedish couple we had met along the way.
We got to Champasak and found a place to stay by the river, and took a stroll into the one-road town. It was quiet, charming, with just the right amount of slightly nicer places to eat so that not every meal would be spent hunched over plastic chairs. The people were friendly, and the pace of this area of the country washed over us like a tonic after the madness of the previous weeks. The far south of Laos really does move at a different pace...
I rented a bicycle the second day to go see Wat Phu, the largest Angkorian temple complex outside of Cambodia. It was a 10km ride through tiny villages, dirt roads, dry fields, and grazing water buffalo. The temple was quite impressive, with the added plus of being built into a mountain, which made it possible to climb up in order to see the vast expanse it once covered. It was of
Champasak home 1
The satellite dish is a very important part of any house it seems like course not as impressive as Angkor Wat, but since it was nearly empty it was greatly redeemed in my opinion. I had underestimated the distance and the heat when I paid for the walking ticiket in order to save 3 bucks (especially as I always cover up arms and legs in sacred places, even though many tourists walk around in minishorts and tank tops, it just does not seem respectful). Luckily I made friedns with a tour guide and him and his group let me hop on their golf cart on the way out.
On the ride back to Champasak, I stopped at a local store and bought a typical Lao sarong, which is sown into a circle and is used by women as skirt, scarf, bathing cover-up (as all bathing is outdoors), baby carrier and about a million other things. Back at the guest house, the ladies got a kick out of showing me how to wrap it and secure it. They of course all had different techniques...
Much time in Champasak was spent staring at the river, relaxing in a hammock, drinking yummy kafeh nom yen (iced lao coffee with condensed milk), and many an hour
were spent tryin to organize the next leg of our trip, after Laos, which once again will inlcude some flying and thus requires some pre-planning (more on this later!). Champasak was the perfect place to take it easy, and we could have easily spent a week longer there, just getting used to the lifestyle, but we had plans to get to the far north...
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