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.

Yesterday and again today the sky was filled with haze, which is apparently a combination of smoke from farmers burning off, and dust from tapioca harvesting. But regardless of the source it was an impediment to good photos. So our apologies.

We spent a couple of hours at the site. Climbed the steep stairs to the sanctuary, marvelled at the 200 year old Frangipani Trees that canopied the stairs, examined the sacred spring that supplied water to the cistern (photo 15), and marvelled at the crocodile carving (photo 16) which is the oldest relic on the site.

At the end of our visit our guide (Mr Home) caught a Cicada in order to show us that the noise the creature makes comes from an organ midway along the body. In the photo you can see the vertical stripes of that organ.

In the afternoon, back at the hotel, we amused and frightened ourselves by going for a bicycle ride.