Pakse
Although
counting only 25,000 inhabitants, Pakse is the most important
town of South Laos. Situated at the confluence of the Xe Dong river and
the Mekong, Pakse is an important traffic junction. From Pakse
routes lead to
Vietnam
and Cambodia.
The town features an
important market for agricultural products but lacks sightseeing
attractions. But close by is an extraordinary attraction: Wat Phou
Attractions around Pakse
Wat Phou
This Wat is the most
important attraction of
South Laos, although it is not Laotian in origin. Wat Phou was built by
the Khmer.
Despite of being
smaller, Wat Phou can be compared to
Angkor. Not only has it been built in the same style; it also
exudes the same atmosphere of an ancient city lost in the jungles for
uncounted centuries. While the structures themselves are overpowering,
it's the jungle overgrowth that creates a particular charm, at
Angkor as well as Wat
Phou. The Wat has stood unused for centuries because it has been built
as a Hindu, not a Buddhist temple.
Wat Phou is older
than Angkor. It was founded in the first decades of the 9th century by
Jayavarman II, the first king of an independent Khmer nation.
Before Jayavarman II, the Khmer were ruled by the Javanese
(Indonesians). For some time Wat Phou served Jayavarman II as Khmer
capital.
Though Jayavarman II
soon moved his government to the
Angkor plain, Wat Phou remained an important pilgrim's destination
for the entire
Angkor era (about 600 years).
The Boloven Plateau
The Boloven plateau
is a very fertile plain to the North of Pakse. Coffee and
Durian are grown. Durians are harvested from May to July; at that
time nowhere in the world Durians are cheaper than here. The most
important town on the plateau is Paksong.
Hill tribes
South Laos is home to a number of hill
tribes descending from
Southeast Asia's original inhabitants. These tribes are by far not as
numerous as the Hmong (Meo), Karen or Akha, and most of them are on a
lower level of civilization. But they were in
Southeast Asia
far earlier
than the Vietnamese or the Thais (both migrants from central
Asia), and earlier than other hill tribes.
The indigenous tribes,
and their ancestors, belong to the Proto-Malay group of people, closer
related to Malays than to Thais, Vietnamese and Chinese. Until around
800, before the rise of Angkor, Javanese (Indonesian) and Malay kingdoms
ruled Southeast Asia.
The Mekong Islands
and Waterfalls
Shortly before the Mekong crosses into Cambodia, it splits into
countless branches, thus creating more than 4,000 river islands,
the larger ones even inhabited. The distance between parallel branches
reaches up to 14 kilometres. At high tide about half of the
islands disappear under water. In between some of the islets water
cascades over rocks, forming beautiful waterfalls. The largest of them,
and actually the largest in all of Southeast Asia, is Khoug
Phapheug.
This part of the
Mekong is home to a rare species of freshwater dolphins. They
grow to a length of 2.5 metres, and just like the dolphins of the sea,
the river dolphins of the
Mekong are said to have saved many people from drowning.
