Posts From Loas

Today we was another change of location as we took a short flight from Siem Reap in Cambodia to Pakse, near Champasak, Laos. The day was quite routine until we realized that our accommodation for the next few days was on an island called Don Deng in the middle of the Mekong River at a hotel called La Folie Lodge. To add to the novelty we crossed to the island on a boat made from two large canoes connected by a seating platform, and we were driven from the shore to the hotel in a trailer attached to a "chinese tractor". The hotel turned out to have a very "colonial" feel, but also was quite a magic and relaxing place. Boating on the Mekong was a wonderful feeling.

Today we visited a local tourist stop called Wat Phu. It is a Hindu Temple built in the 10th century during the Khmer period as a shrine to Shiva. But there are other ruins and artifacts on the site dating back to the 2nd century BC. In particular up the side of the mountain above the temple is a sanctuary and sacred spring, in the first photo below the temple, just visible at the end of the approach road and the large steps up to the sanctuary are visible. The wikipedia entry in the link above gives a good description of the site and its history. It even has a site map that explains the long approach roads.

A 2 hour drive south of where we are staying is an area in the Mekong that consists of a complex region of islands and rapids, known as The 4000 Islands. That was our destination today. We were going to exlpore the area by long boat and tuck-tuck pulled by a motorcycle. The center piece of the day was a visit to Khone Phapheng Falls the widest water falls in the world and its little sibling Li Phi waterfall on the island Don Knon. But along the way we would see many interesting things