December 28, 2024 – Khong Chaim to Pakse, Laos – 71 kms – Le Jardin Hotel

December 29, 2024 – Pakse to Champasak – 45 kms – Anouxa Riverview Guesthouse 

December 30, 2024 – 30 kms day ride – Anouxa Riverview Guesthouse

Crossing a border into a new country is never easy. There is always a certain amount of anxiety around the process at the border and also about being in a new country. My five Thai sentences have been working very well and now I have to learn five new ones.  

It turned out that the border at Chong Mek was not complicated. We already had photos and 40 dollars of American cash for our Lao visas. The ride to Pakse was, however, an unpleasant introduction to Laos. We fought winds gusting to 50kms and the sand and dust that came with it.  Pakse, other than the waterfront, is also far from a charming regional capital. After falling into our lovely hotel we were both a bit dispirited. 

Everything changed yesterday when we turned off the highway and meandered along the Mekong on a beautifully paved road to the village of Champasak. Our earlier travel gremlins warned us that it was time for a good break to ease into this new adventure. This charming riverside village with our bungalow facing the river is exactly what I needed. 

Champasak is also a 10 km ride to the UNESCO designated Khmer site of Wat Pu. Wat Pu, like Phimai, is on a Khmer road leading to Angkor Wat. The magic of these ruins is their stunning location on the flanks of a mountain topped with a natural lingam.  We spent the morning exploring this magnificent place and for the first hour the only other visitors were Lao people coming to pray and make offerings at the sanctuary. 

We have two more nights here before we head off again. We need to decide before that if we are heading North through Laos or South to Cambodia. It may be North; Laos is drawing me in.