We didn’t have a plan when we arrived in Laos. We knew that we wanted to go to Luang Prabang and spend time in Si Phan Don (4,000 Islands) but what to do in between?! After much discussion we decided to head south from Luang Prabang. Helpfully, we discovered that there were direct flights from Luang Prabang to Pakse, a town in Southern Laos. Travel by bus or mini-van in Laos is slow, generally uncomfortable and can be unreliable so we were pretty happy to find flights at a reasonable price and save a couple of days. Pakse itself didn’t sound very appealing but we did like the sound of the nearby Champasak and decided to spend a couple of nights there. (Note: Champasak is both the name of the province where Pakse and Si Phan Don are located and is also a town within the Champasak province.)
Champasak (the town) is located about 45 minutes drive from Pakse but there is limited daily public transport between the two. We opted for speed and convenience and asked our guesthouse to arrange a private taxi for us. At 35,000 kip (about £35) it wasn’t cheap but we were at our guesthouse by lunchtime.
Champasak is a sleepy town along the Mekong River consisting of one main road lined with colonial and Laos style houses, bougainvillea and frangipani trees and the occasional guesthouse or restaurant. Basically, a charming little town to spend a couple of days at to get a feel for rural Laos.
There is not much to do in the tiny town and so we were particularly surprised to find a highly rated spa. I have only had one massage in our whole time in South East Asia (yes poor me, life is tough!) and with nothing else to do on our first afternoon I jumped at the idea (Dale, as always did not). The spa is very popular so I was lucky to get in. It was set up by French expats with the object of creating jobs and training the local residents and I was welcomed by one of its co-founders who was absolutely lovely. The spa is located in a beautifully renovated old house along the river and you can feel yourself relaxing as soon as you enter the house. The staff were smiley and very professional and I loved the whole experience. I chose the coconut oil massage ($20 for 1.5 hours) which was super relaxing. The coconut oil which was organic and made on site smelled delicious too – it reminded me of those vitamin balls covered in coconut flakes and made me a little hungry! Post massage I was taken to a relaxation area on a terrace overlooking the river. Pure bliss (and very random in a tiny town in rural Laos)!
The next day we jumped on bikes and rode about 10km to Vat Phou, one of the main tourist attractions in the area. Yes to those who have been reading our blog it was another bike ride to another temple and I must admit that having visited a few temples over the past few months I was more excited about the bike ride. The bike ride was indeed beautiful (and very easy although very hot) but the temple was definitely the highlight.
Vat Phou is a Khmer temple from the pre-Angkor era and is UNESCO World Heritage listed. We arrived before 9am with the aim of beating the tourist buses and had the place mainly to ourselves. Maybe it was the absence of the crowds, the herd of cows casually wandering around, or the pretty frangipani trees lining the path to the top but this temple was definitely one of my favourites from our time in South East Asia. The small museum was also worth a quick stop and gave an overview of the Angkor Empire. It was quite cool to realise that we have seen different Khmer temples in what are now three different countries (#templenerds).
After the temple, we rode back into Champasak to catch a boat to Don Daeng island. Don Daeng is a short boat ride across the Mekong. It is only accessible by boat and has no paved roads (and therefore no cars). Accommodation for tourists is either in a homestay at a local village or at the fancy La Folie Lodge. As it turned out there was some miscommunication with our boat driver and we at first ended up on the wrong island – we realised this once we saw the paved roads! We then had to get another boat to Don Daeng. To our surprise the boat dropped us off on a long and wide stretch of beach at the tip of the island – we only later realised that there is no port or jetty and all boats drop you on the beach. By that point we had run out of water, the sun was beaming down on us and dragging the bikes up the 200m stretch of sand wasn’t particularly enjoyable…at least for me – Daz found it quite amusing! Also, we weren’t sure if there would be a path or any way for us to continue once we got off the beach. When the boat driver dropped us off he was speaking to us in Laos, of course we had no idea what he was saying, but we did work it out a couple of hours later.
Once we finally got off the beach and found the dirt path it was only a short bike ride to La Folie Lodge. We had some much needed cold drinks and a lovely lunch and then thought to ourselves…how do we get off this island? It was then that it dawned on us that our boat driver was trying to ask us how long we will be and that we should have asked him to wait for us to take us back to Champasak. Ooopppsss…luckily for us the lovely staff at La Folie let us hitchhike on one of their boats (free of charge) with a couple of other guests who were checking-out. (We weren’t particularly worried but were happy it all worked out so easily).
Accommodation options are limited in Champasak town. We stayed at the newly opened Nakorn Guesthouse and our room was big, clean and modern but had a very stinky toilet (and that was pre-use!) And this meant that we had a very stinky room. We didn’t love the place but it grew on us. It was clear that the owners, a husband and wife, worked very hard but we found the husband a little bit difficult to start with. It was only after my breakfast baguette came with chilli and mayonnaise instead of jam and butter that we understood his frustrations. He opened up and told us about the difficulty of finding and keeping good staff. When we were there all the staff were brand new and there were definitely some teething issues. The Nakorn Restaurant (attached to the guesthouse and having been around for a few years) was great though and we had all of our meals (bar one) there. All were delicious too.
Whilst a couple of nights in Champasak was sufficient for us, it was an enjoyable stop!
Next: hammock time at Si Phan Don.
