SE ASIA - DAY 18 - PAKSE - Free and Easy
I have decided to stay at Pakse for one more day to explore Wat Phou, that is about 40km away from Pakse. Pakse is a place that I will probably not visit again because unlikely a person in Singapore will travel to Pakse and visit Wat Phou. The nearest airport is in Ubon Rachathani in Thailand, which is 140km away. Wat Phou is a actually a ruined Khmer Hindu temple and named a UNESCO world heritage site.
The route to Wat Phou was simple, go to the highway and exit to the road with sign that says Wat Phou.
Along the way, there are tolls, but for motorcycle, just go to the right most lane and you can go through the toll gateways without paying.
Parking cost 5000KIPS, entrace ticket cost another 50,000KIPS. There is a bus that will take you all the way to the ruin site, about 3 mins away.
The size is about 10% of Ankor Wat.
Being the most heavily bombed country during Vietnam War from 1964 to 1973, two million tons of bombs were dropped into Laos, out of which 30% of it failed to explode as designed. These Unexploded Ordnance(UXO) resulted in average of about 300 people per year who are injured or died by stepping on it, which is all over the place.
Luckily, most tourist sites have been cleared of the UXO, but you still want to keep your eyes on where you are stepping.
This landmine(Cowdung) will not explode when you step on it, but the smell and the feel of it will sure to dampen your mood for the day.
Spotted a baby snake taking a stroll along the path.
Then steps, steps and more steps. Why do they like to build temples with so many steps ?
This is the top, with a Buddha statue inside.
This is the Buddha foot.
and the Elephant carving on a stone.
Toilet available on the hill top, but no thank you.
Saw someone flying his DJI Phantom 3. bulky as compared to Mavic Pro, noisy too.
The view from the top was good.
On the way back, a motorcycle traveled head-on towards me and one second away, he seemed to have realized it very late and evaded me, his elbow hit my handle bar, lost balance and crashed into a parked lorry on the side. He wasn't wearing a helmet and I believe he knocked his mouth onto the parked lorry. He was bleeding from both his nose and mouth. I think everyone knows everyone in the village and his friend quickly pillioned him for some medical aid.
Of course, I stopped but couldn't render any help. So seeing that he has been helped, I moved on, thinking if I stop for too long, I may get into compensation trouble despite me staying on the right way of traffic. Language is an issue here.
Here's the video extracted from my dash front and rear camera.
Yes and it rained all afternoon and night.
Day 19 - Pakse to Thakhek
The route to Wat Phou was simple, go to the highway and exit to the road with sign that says Wat Phou.
Along the way, there are tolls, but for motorcycle, just go to the right most lane and you can go through the toll gateways without paying.
Parking cost 5000KIPS, entrace ticket cost another 50,000KIPS. There is a bus that will take you all the way to the ruin site, about 3 mins away.
The size is about 10% of Ankor Wat.
Being the most heavily bombed country during Vietnam War from 1964 to 1973, two million tons of bombs were dropped into Laos, out of which 30% of it failed to explode as designed. These Unexploded Ordnance(UXO) resulted in average of about 300 people per year who are injured or died by stepping on it, which is all over the place.
Luckily, most tourist sites have been cleared of the UXO, but you still want to keep your eyes on where you are stepping.
This landmine(Cowdung) will not explode when you step on it, but the smell and the feel of it will sure to dampen your mood for the day.
Spotted a baby snake taking a stroll along the path.
Then steps, steps and more steps. Why do they like to build temples with so many steps ?
This is the top, with a Buddha statue inside.
This is the Buddha foot.
and the Elephant carving on a stone.
Toilet available on the hill top, but no thank you.
Saw someone flying his DJI Phantom 3. bulky as compared to Mavic Pro, noisy too.
The view from the top was good.
On the way back, a motorcycle traveled head-on towards me and one second away, he seemed to have realized it very late and evaded me, his elbow hit my handle bar, lost balance and crashed into a parked lorry on the side. He wasn't wearing a helmet and I believe he knocked his mouth onto the parked lorry. He was bleeding from both his nose and mouth. I think everyone knows everyone in the village and his friend quickly pillioned him for some medical aid.
Of course, I stopped but couldn't render any help. So seeing that he has been helped, I moved on, thinking if I stop for too long, I may get into compensation trouble despite me staying on the right way of traffic. Language is an issue here.
Here's the video extracted from my dash front and rear camera.
Yes and it rained all afternoon and night.
Day 19 - Pakse to Thakhek
Yeah, those Drop Bombs are indeed very nasty and best avoided.
ReplyDeleteI find them on roads too!
The guy that hit you was riding, typically, as if he was the only person
on the road. Maybe he learnt a lesson.
I thought he was prepared to avoid me but he didn't, I hope he is fine.
ReplyDelete