I Found My Happy Place in Pakse, Laos

 Hey All,

First a shout-out to all my CM friends at Oro Valley and Northwest, you know who you are. I miss you guys but not enough to rush back - haha. Exactly!



Lao Air ATR 72-500, at least it was not one of their old Chinese built YAK planes, those are notoriously unreliable

 

 Up this am, and made my way to the airport about 9. The do mestic terminal at Vientiane was a nice structure 40 years ago, but its time for a makeover. Almost exactly like in Yangon last year, you wait in a big area with uncomfortable seats for them to put your flight on this makeshift board, then you proceed to the door and walk to your aircraft. While waiting to board, there was a sign for an airline I had not heard of called Lao Express or something like that. When they put their info up about 7 or 8 people went to the door. The sign stated they were going to some city that started with an H, but did not write it down. It must be a real puddle jumper.



Lobby at domestic terminal.

 

 While waiting, I had an official looking guy in a uniform come ask for my passport, and after looking at it he asked for me to follow him to security. Now, this is new, and not something you want to happen in a 3rd world country. He took me back through the check point and to an office, where he opened a door and at this point I was about to wet my pants. When I walked in, my checked bag is laying on a table. Now all kinds of bad things are running through my mind like, did someone put something in my bag? There was another police person in the room and they asked me to open my bag as the screening spotted something. I am sweating bullets, but open up and they asked what was down the side, and I pulled out my can of OFF insect spray. They asked if any other aerosol cans and I pulled out my deodorant. They inspected both cans and Isaid its OK, I can close it now. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! I was already in my mind practicing screaming "that's not mine". I went back to my seat and then and only then, did I exhale. Never had that happen before especially over OFF Bug Spray.

 

Soon my flight was called and headed for the small prop plane. It was only bout half full, and most of them were some French tour group, as they all had these stickers on their shirt, like that matters. It was an uneventful flight thank goodness, and we landed with all our wheels. Unlike the airlines in Myanmar, they did not serve any meat pastries, which was a bit disappointing.

Strolling across the tarmac at Pakse International Airport - 3 flights daily to the best of my knowledge

 

 

This was one of the nicest small airports I have ever been to, rivaling the one in Sittway, Myanmar. The sign said Pakse International Airport, and considering they have like 3 flights a day I will have to see where that international flight goes to. I wonder if Lao Air has a Bangkok flight from here? Got a tuk tuk and headed for the Pakse Hotel, as they sent an email saying no problems with rooms, like I was worried about that during low season. Its a tall narrow hotel, which I hate and I am on the top floor, but I do have a good view.

 

I am now officially a happy camper. Bangkok, Nong Khai, Vientiane, I enjoyed you guys, but this is where I am in my happy place, in a small quiet, very Lao, little town on the banks where 2 rivers converge. Guess what? One of them is the Mekong River, are you sensing a theme here? Its  no surprise that the Mekong is the life blood of SE Asia. But, I love this place already, there is NO traffic, the people have been super friendly. We have the 2 rivers on one side, and the mountains on the other. This place so reminds me of Battambang, Cambodia, one of my other fav places in Asia.



View from room looking down on the market area, with the river and mountains in the background, its majestic in person

I have already talked to Ms Noy about a motorbike rental and got all the details. She is located right around the corner from the hotel. Tomorrow I clear an item off my Bucket List that was put there when I first read about this on my last trip to Laos 7 or 8 years ago. I am super excited.

 

For dinner found this Vietnamese place and it had a nice crowd, so once again, should be good and I was not disappointed. Had bowl of veggies and noodles with chicken, outstanding. After checking out the menu, I will be back.

Vietnamese Noodle dish with veggies and chicken, so delicious

 

 I can tell this is going to be a great stop and sooo happy I made the decision to head this way.

 

I had an email asking "what is a Stupa?"  Its a structure that usually contains some Buddhist artifacts or the ashes of someone. They can be small to large like That Dam. You can google to get more information.

 

Speaking of Google, at some point your homework is to Google, "Plain of Jars". This is where I was headed had I gone north. There are some small towns and interesting places near there. I guess another trip will be in my future.

 

Lets see what tomorrow brings,

 

Happy Travels,

Don

Temple by Hotel

Pakse has a lot of the old French Architecture about