Saturday 29 December
After 2 nights at La Folie we were heading to the west bank for the Mekong to our final stay at the River Resort. Having been picked up by your driver we headed south through Champasak Town to Wat Phou - the much smaller cousin of the temples at Siem Reap.
Dating back to the 5th and 6th century these temple couple was originally a Hindu temple with multiple lingam lining the walk and steps up to the main temple. as buddhism spread so the temples taken over and buddha images began to be placed in prominent positions but the hindu origin is clear. Work has been undertaken to restore some of the complex and the museum houses some of the bests sandstone carvings of all periods.
Our final 3 nights in Laos on this trip were at the River Resort - which is just opposite the La Folie on the other bank of the Mekong about 3 kms upstream.
After a very nice lunch at the Nakorn Cafe on the river bank we headed to the hotel and here Serd left us to head back on the overnight bus to Ventiene although Champsak was the home of our driver and he offered to pick us up and take us into town at 5pm.
The hotel is very different with a number of 2 story concrete rooms spread along the river bank. It has a modern feeling and is very comfortable.
At 5pm we headed to the car park and were met with a motor cycle tub tub. Basically a Vietnamese Honda (?) with a side car. Off we headed in search of a massage at the local wellness centre. This run by a French lady who was very new age. She was fully booked so we went for a Lao beer.
As we where in town we also decided to stay for dinner. The Residence Bassac looked attractive so we decided to try this French style colonial restaurant. It was super disappointing as the soup was lukewarm and so was the fish. No doubt fresh cooked but taking french style cooking to Asia does require so adaptions which the manager of the place seemed unable to understand as he got gallically excited as we had the timerity to complain and upset the place’s karma !
After 2 nights at La Folie we were heading to the west bank for the Mekong to our final stay at the River Resort. Having been picked up by your driver we headed south through Champasak Town to Wat Phou - the much smaller cousin of the temples at Siem Reap.
Dating back to the 5th and 6th century these temple couple was originally a Hindu temple with multiple lingam lining the walk and steps up to the main temple. as buddhism spread so the temples taken over and buddha images began to be placed in prominent positions but the hindu origin is clear. Work has been undertaken to restore some of the complex and the museum houses some of the bests sandstone carvings of all periods.
Our final 3 nights in Laos on this trip were at the River Resort - which is just opposite the La Folie on the other bank of the Mekong about 3 kms upstream.
After a very nice lunch at the Nakorn Cafe on the river bank we headed to the hotel and here Serd left us to head back on the overnight bus to Ventiene although Champsak was the home of our driver and he offered to pick us up and take us into town at 5pm.
The hotel is very different with a number of 2 story concrete rooms spread along the river bank. It has a modern feeling and is very comfortable.
At 5pm we headed to the car park and were met with a motor cycle tub tub. Basically a Vietnamese Honda (?) with a side car. Off we headed in search of a massage at the local wellness centre. This run by a French lady who was very new age. She was fully booked so we went for a Lao beer.
As we where in town we also decided to stay for dinner. The Residence Bassac looked attractive so we decided to try this French style colonial restaurant. It was super disappointing as the soup was lukewarm and so was the fish. No doubt fresh cooked but taking french style cooking to Asia does require so adaptions which the manager of the place seemed unable to understand as he got gallically excited as we had the timerity to complain and upset the place’s karma !