Elephants in Pakse

Friday 8^th and Saturday 9^th February

Pakse is in southern Laos and is only an hour’s flight from Siem Reap in Cambodia. Pakse is a “small” town of about 400 000 people, and like many of the important towns and cities in Indo China is located on the Mekong River. Although Pakse is a long way from the end of the Mekong it is still a sizeable river, and has its source in the Himalayas. Its flow has been reduced in recent years by the construction of dams in China.

Sunset over the Mekong from the 10th floor of the hotel

Pakse seems to be slightly more prosperous than other places we have visited, and has fewer bicycles than we’ve seen before. Tour buses seem to rule the roads, at the expense of other traffic, and our driver has shown a love of speed , sometimes to the point of being a bit crazy. He does stop for cows, goats, water buffalo and the occasional vehicle he can’t intimidate into submission.

A lot of our trip so far seems to centre on eating, and the exposure to new culinary experiences has had a few humorous moments. Last night Di had a great adventure cooking and eating Pork Sukiyaki, which in true Lao style arrived when everyone else had finished eating, providing entertainment for the rest of us. Food and drink are cheap. A restaurant meal including drinks costs less than $20 per couple, or 160 000 Kip.

Di having a culinary adventure with Pork Sukiyaki

Today’s adventure was an elephant ride. The elephants live in Xe Pian Animal sanctuary. The ride took about an hour, during which time I discovered that elephant hair is quite stiff and bristly, and felt as if half my leg was getting a great exfoliation. I also discovered how strong and dextrous the trunk is as we had to purchase bamboo and feed it to them before and after the ride. The ride was quite restful and ponderous as we lumbered along through the jungle. The quiet was disturbed by those behind us to "Control your elephant" as they endured its extended bursts of intestinal backfiring.


Our group sets off through the jungle, Di ad Jim in the lead

Tony and Jenny aboard their elephant

This elephant montage is a decorative facade on the wall of the best toilets we have seen so far.

Our final stop was at a 5^th century temple at Vat Phou. This temple is not as decorative as the later ones at Angkor, but it was interesting to see the process of restoration of this temple. It is in a beautiful setting next to a mountain, and the setting embodies all the attributes of Hindu symbolism.

Rice padi fields near the temple with their second crop of the season, made possible by irrigation

Looking uphill towards the sacred mountain...

...and downhill towards the sacred water.
The gnarled trees are frangipannis

Part of the temple under re-construction, pieces numbered and in place

Re-constructing a 5th century temple with 21st century technology

 

Our hotel, the slightly mis-named Champasak Grand, overlooks the bridge over the Mekong and it has been interesting to watch the action below and the different moods of the river.

Crossing the bridge over the Mekong

A better sunset over the Mekong

Our final night was Chinese New Year's eve, with appropriate decorations. Apparently there were fireworks at midnight but I was oblivious and slept through them.

 

Fishing villages and floating villages

Thursday 7th February

Today’s itinerary was vastly different from the previous days. Our destination was Tonle Sap, South East Asia’s largest freshwater lake by far. Its size and depth change significantly between  the wet and dry seasons. The water level rises up to 30 metres and the lake’s area increases by to 4-5 times. The lake also supplies over 70% of Cambodia’s fish.

On the way to the lake we visited a local produce market which sold a variety of fruit and vegetables as well as an array of fish, some alive and kicking, others dead, and many dried.

Fresh fruit and vegetables for sale at the market

Fresh fish, some still doing the occasional flip

 

This building near the market has 7 painters on very ricketty scaffolding

Traditional farming practices in action

The shore of the Tonle Sap Lake is dotted with numerous fishing villages. The houses are built close together along a main entry road. In the wet season the road is completely inundated and tourists enter the village by boat. Some of the houses look rickety and primitive while others look more comfortable. There is no electricity supply, but several families have television, powered by battery. The batteries last about 3 days and are taken to the local generator to be recharged.

These houses on stilts may look precarious but are better than many others. In the wet season the water reaches almost to the floor

A typical village scene - a fisherman at work

 

The floating mechanic's workshop

A comparison of 2 homes - one high quality, the other almost derelict

A fish trap in use

The villagers use fish traps and nets extensively, many spending a lot of time in the water, though they all have flat bottomed boats - a bit like gondolas without the decorative features – and most are powered by outboards with long trailing props to allow for the varying water depths.

Along the lower shores of the lake some families grow crops, mainly green beans and sesame seed. These farmers have to rebuild their homes after each wet season as they are destroyed.

An irrigated crop of beans and sesame seeds.

The most interesting communities are the floating villages live in a conglomeration of buildings, part barge, part houseboat, with fishing boats tethered to them. Because of the changing water levels the villagers have to relocate the homes 4 times a year, retreating to the shoreline in the wet.

Fishermen from the floating village hauling in their catch

A floating home being towed to a new location

More fishermen working in the floating village

The day proved to be a real enlightenment into the lives of totally different communities using the lake to their advantage. The vastness of the lake is difficult to comprehend – it seemed immense and unending.

After 4 days in and around Siem Reap and Tonle Sap we headed for the airport and our first destination in Laos, Pakse. I was particularly taken with the name of the Duty Free store, Dufry Store.

Angkor Wat

Tuesday 5^th February

The next stop on our tour was Angkor Wat and its associated buildings. I had expected that it would be one a number of buildings inside a central enclosure. However  I discovered that it is only one of many temples. All the buildings in the Angkor group are made of stone quarried elsewhere and dragged into place. No mortar was used in the construction of any of these enormous complexes. The temples fell into disuse about 600 years ago and the space was reclaimed by jungle. They were rediscovered in about 1908, and most have been restored to some extent.

Some of the temples are Hindu and others are Buddhist.

The first one we visited was Angkor Thom which means great city and was built in the 12^th century. It contains the Bayon which is at the centre and has carvings of Buddha on the face of each tower. It also contains many detailed bas relief - one of people with speared fish like kebabs.

Monkeys are plentiful at Angkor Thom



Angkor Thom with many columns and images of Budda

Bas relief with cooking on skewers and monkeys in trees



Soldiers in warships, fish beneath

Next was the Elephant Terrace which is a 350 metre long terrace with elephant sculptures, designed to be a display and feasting space for the king to celebrate the return of his victorious armies .

Part of the elephant terrace

The final temple was called Pre Rup and was made of a stone which reddish-gold at sunset.  Several of the group climbed up the very steep steps of the temple to watch the sunset, but because of hazy skies it was a bit disappointing.

Pre Rup without sunlight on the stones



Sun setting on Pre Rup

The day was completed by dinner at a local restaurant owned by a friend of the guide Narun. It was a very amusing night as the owner was very tipsy and giggled most of the night. He also decided that Tony looked like Mr Bean – a likeness that had us all puzzled. The food was mostly fairly good, but the service was erratic and quite hysterical.

Wednesday 6^th February

The previous day was a great introduction to the magnificence of Angkor Wat which is the national symbol of Cambodia, but the actual temple is truly magnificent.  Its walls are approx. 1000 metres by 800 metres and they are surrounded by a moat 190 metres wide. Entry is via a long stone causeway across the moat. Angkor Wat covers an extensive area and has several buildings. Our  guide grew up nearby and the area was his playground, so his knowledge of it is quite. He has a wide array of facts and figures at his fingertips but they have slipped through mine.

Angkor Wat is a splendid construction with many buildings, 3 levels, many small rooms  and extremely steep stairs. It’s a bit like a maze, but not so bad that David wasn’t able to re-trace his steps to find his lost camera. Fortunately one of the workers had it and David was able to re-claim it for $5.  



A view of the main part of Angkor Wat from inside the main arena

The temple reflected in the lily pond

Another monkey, this one with her baby

One of the high towers, the domain of the monks

View over the inner temple towards the distant front entrance

 

The next temple was  Banteay Srei,  a small, level citadel of women built in the 10^th century. It too had magnificent carvings in pink sandstone, more hard-wearing than the stone in other temples.

Intricate carving at Banteay Srei

More carvings

Mythological figures and more carving

By the time we had finished our visit to these 2 temples we were drooping with the heat and dripping with perspiration. And after lunch there was still another one to go.

We all dutifully trundled off to Ta Prohm or the Jungle temple. This temple has been left in a largely unrestored condition, and the effects of massive tree growth on old stone are everywhere. It’s a really amazing place, probably my favourite.


The effect of tree roots on stone after hundreds of years

That is a giant tree root abov David's head

 

Two strangler figs, one inside the other

We finished off the day with a trip 9 of us taking a tuk tuk ride down to Pub Street in Sien Reap, the restaurant, and after 5 days of mysterious and varied Cambodian cuisine we all opted for pasta and pizza. Sounds sacrilegious but we really enjoyed it. Our tuk tuk drivers sought us out at the restaurant for our ride home, despite being told not to bother waiting. It’s obviously quite competitive if they would wait 2 hours for a $3 fare.