Champasak, Laos

We flew from Vientiane to Pakse, in the southern part of Laos. It was then about a 40 min. drive to Champasak, a sleepy little town…

that’s “Main street”

… on the Mekong River, where I enjoyed some beautiful sunrises…

… and that fleeting morning light on a temple -

On our one full day in the area, we had a very busy tour seeing lots of sights. We started with Wat Phou…

… which is an ancient Hindu site first established in the 5th century (Angkor Wat in Cambodia was built in the12th century).

Those main stone structures above were built between the 11th and 13th centuries. They show good examples of Khmer Empire architecture (at its peak between the 9th and 13th centuries) -

We arrived about 0800 (trying to beat the heat somewhat) and had the whole complex to ourselves at first.

These 7-headed nagas always caught my attention -

We didn’t have a guide, so we just kept following the ancient roads and climbed all the steps we saw. This set was unusually interesting -

We finally reached the most sacred site, which protected a fresh water spring -

There were beautiful carvings…

… and an interior temple -

The complex is built on an east-west axis, extending 10 km to the Mekong river…

Umbrellas over statues always make me smile -

We then drove over to the Bolaven Plateau, which is known for waterfalls and coffee production. We first stopped at Tad Champee (tad = waterfall)…

… and on the walk down to it, we were treated to a rainbow -

Our next stop was at Tad Gneuang, and it was much more touristic…

… but quite beautiful. [I couldn’t get anything other than the vegetation around it to show scale, but rest assured it was much taller than the first one we saw.]

And our third waterfall of the day, Tad Fane, was even more impressive -

It is one of the highest waterfalls in Laos, at 120m (393 ft) -

We now say goodbye to Laos, with the sunrise over the Mekong wishing us good travels -