Phou, Wat a view.

Morning songtheaw.
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Ben's diary:

Wat Phou is the reason for choosing Champasak as our next stop, around 50km south of Pakse. We decide that hiring a motorbike is the way forward, as the once frequent boats no longer ply the Mekong, casualties of a much improved main road.

An hour's ride brings us to the ferry - another longboat catermeran job. This time, though, small boys 'man' the ferry. We're glad to have come by motorbike, as a tuk-tuk up the last few kilometers to Wat Phou costs as much as a motorbike for the day. We only have one bike though and have both piled on - Becks with her bag on her back, mine between my legs somewhat precariously. Moto doesn't complain too much.

Wat Phou.
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Noodle soup for lunch. Still haven't really developed a taste for this yet! In the afternoon we get to Wat Phou. The sun is scorchingly hot when we stop - even though the air isn't nearly as warm as earlier in our trip. Wat Phou is a different experience to the temples of Angkor - quieter and perhaps more serene as a result. It is lower impact too - but after climbing its terraces up the hill, looking over the plain of the Mekong is relaxing and quite some view. Restoration work here is very visible, two westerners and an array of Lao dismantling one of the buildings with a crane. This is a real skill, but not many archaeologists get to do this I bet.

Becks in the driving seat.
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Late afternoon we arrive back at our guesthouse overlooking the Mekong. Champasak offers little else to see or do - just national radio blasting out to the whole village over a crackly tannoy. Could this feel any more communist?

Dinner again accompanied by the slow moving but deceptively powerful Mekong. We are developing the local habit of early nights and early starts. Next day we plan to get back to Pakse to hire Becks a motorbike before beginning a tour of the Bolevan Plateau.