Thakek

Thakek

We left Pakse with our new guide, Louis, who spoke good English. We needed a few days to get him to realise that we were the clients, and that when we wished to vary his itinerary, then we would do so. Louis tended to like to keep to schedule, even to the extent of wanting to sit in the middle of nowhere for 74 minutes, as we were not due at the next stop for that time. Eventually he came round to our way of thinking!

First stop was a "Buddha Carving Village", which was just that, perhaps a dozen families carving Buddhas, mainly to order. I never knew before that Buddhas have different positions for the day of the week (your personal Buddha is from the day of the week you were born on), and each of them has a particular meaning from the hand positions like "peace", "fearlessness". You can, I am sure, become a pundit in spotting the poses.

The village men work half the year on their rice paddies, and once the rice crop is gathered in and processed, then they have time for their second job, stone carving.

The village also had a magnificent temple, with a giant Buddha sitting in the grounds

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The ubiquitous "local market" stop

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Lunch at Savannakhet. Lin's is a very pleasant open fronted cafe tucked away in a quiet street in Savannakhet. The food was really good, in particular I enjoyed their pesto pasta. I also recommend the fruit smoothies ( we had both a mango and a pineapple one and both were good) . The staff were pleasant and smiling, and their understandable lack of English was not really a problem.

It may be a bit more expensive than other places locally, but you get what you pay for and I really recommend that you search it out if you are in the town.

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Before heading north again after lunch, during a quick walk around the town, we passed a strange sight for Laos, viz a Catholic church, a relic of the french occupation of the country. It is still functioning as a church, so must have a congregation.

The That Inhang Stupa . The sacred stupa is an important place of worship not only for Laotian Buddhists but also Thai Buddhists who live in northern Thailand. ‘Dress with respect’ is a must for all visitors. Women are required to wear traditional pahsin (Lao-style sarong) before entering the temple grounds. The stupa is believed to contain a bone from the Buddha's body, so the site has strong religious importance.. The monks in the adjoining temple carried out a brisk trade in blessings - I was interested to see someone bring their new car(photo bottom row). A string led from the car to the monk, who held it, and blessed the car.

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The Soundra Salt Factory produces salt from underground brine, either by sun evaporation in the dry season, or by wood furnace heating in the wet season. Workers are on piece work, and it certainly looked like hard graft to extract the salt

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Bouton D'Or Hotel

This is a newish (under 2 years old) hotel on the banks of the Mekong. To take advantage of the view you must book a front facing Mekong view room. Our room had a balcony as well. The hotel has a French Colonial feel and only has a dozen or so rooms.
In theory they have a proper restaurant next door, but that is now closed for dinner, only being open for breakfast. Dinner is served in their more basic cafe opposite. This is more a pizza type open air bistro, rather than a full restaurant. In fact so basic that they did not serve either puddings or coffee.

I really like the interior of the hotel with its polished teak floors, and bright bedrooms overlooking the Mekong. The room was clean and comfortable, and the whole building had a quality feel about it.

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DD Bistro

DD Bistro is where we headed one night after the hotel cafe had been unable to provide either a desert or a coffee. It had been recommended by Mark Steadman from Wild Frontiers who was shepherding a small group to their meal at our cafe. We were very agreeably surprised at the quality of the patisserie and the coffees.

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A walk in the hills

A Tuk Tuk took us along a dusty track, that was in fact the line of the old French railway. With Louis and a local guide we walked through the forest, then scrambled up a steep rocky incline to reach a cave. Exiting the cave the other side of the mountain, we dropped down to the jungle again, and trekked to Nong Thao Lake. Here we enjoyed a picnic lunch that had been prepared in the local village, and brought out to us here. Followed by a further walk back to the waiting tuk tuk