Champa Meuanglao
Menu
  • Home
  • Section
    • Business
    • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Lao Airlines
  • Contact
  • on ISSUU
  • Advertise with us!
  • ພາສາ: English
    • English English
    • ລາວ ລາວ
  • laoairlines.com
Champa Meuanglao
  • Home
  • Section
    • Business
    • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Lao Airlines
  • Contact
  • on ISSUU
  • Advertise with us!
  • ພາສາ: English
    • English English
    • ລາວ ລາວ
  • laoairlines.com
Lifestyle, Travel

A Magical Retreat from the Modern World

posted by Thanouphet
Feb 14, 2020 3436 0 0
Share

Water buffalo wallow in the mud while farmers harvest sticky rice by hand, the way they have for hundreds of years. Roadside stands are laden with fresh coconuts and watermelons. Towering palms and sprawling rain trees line the Mekong River; its surface dotted with long, colorful, wooden boats. Before we’ve even reached what was once the seat of the Kingdom of Champasak my body relaxes, absorbing the super-saturated hues of the countryside.

Entering Champasak town, I eye the guesthouses and restaurants, their shady, riverside decks lush with green foliage. We set out from Wat Luang Kao, a vibrantly beautiful temple, to follow a shady dirt trail that winds its way along the river bank through a few of the 9 villages that make up Champasak today. It’s hidden from the main road and feels worlds away from modern life.  Among the traditional wooden houses on stilts, we catch intimate glimpses of locals’ daily lives – a man washing his hair at an outdoor sink, a family picnicking in a bamboo grove, a man mending fishing nets. A couple on a scooter whiz by with a large Mekong river fish swinging behind them. A line is hung with strips of buffalo skin to make Lao-style jerky. Two women are splitting bamboo, and an old woman deftly weaves the strips into a basket for sticky rice. In a clearing, large translucent discs of hand-made rice noodles dry on bamboo screens in the midday sun.

We explore Wat Meuang Kang, the oldest active temple in Champasak, built in the 19th century and fusing several architectural styles, and then stop in at a nearby house to experience Lao cooking. I’m handed an apron and ushered into a traditional Lao kitchen. Our host Mik is warm and friendly and puts me to work with a large wooden mortar and pestle. I pound fiery red chilies, garlic, and tomatoes into a paste. We add strips of green papaya, fresh lime, and dark and funky fermented fish sauce, padaek, for a papaya salad. Little round eggplants, roasted until meltingly soft, are pounded with sesame seeds and dried chilies to create a baba ganoush-like dish, topped with cilantro and green onions from Mik’s kitchen garden.

I’m full but buoyed by the morning’s experiences, and I notice even the air here feels charged with a different energy. I’m not surprised that this plain between the Mekong and the mountains has been considered sacred for well over a thousand years. You can cycle along the Ancient Khmer road, originally linking India to Cambodia, and find the earthen walls of an ancient city. Dating back to the 5th century, it is believed to be the oldest urban settlement in Southeast Asia. And then there is the undeniable magic of a golden hour visit to Wat Phou.

Soulivanh Phounthareungsy fell in love with the carvings of fantastical deities adorning the temple’s tilted lintels. He taught himself to sculpt and fire clay so that he might recreate them in his Champasak Pottery studio. He is probably the only sculptor currently working in this style in Laos. His enthusiasm for Champasak, its culture, its people, and their way of life, is contagious. Before we head for dinner, we pop out back to see the large, handmade earthen kiln. Behind it rice fields and Phou Kao mountain where the sun is setting over Wat Phou. “It’s always been a special place,” he says. In the evening, Champasak is even more enchanting. The warm glow of woven lanterns illuminate tureens of Mekong fish soup perfumed with lemongrass, spicy laap, and baskets of sticky rice. The magic that compelled people to settle here a thousand years ago appears to be alive and well today.

 

GETTING THERE

Lao Airlines flies regularly to Pakse from Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Bangkok, and Siem Reap.
Champasak town is 40km south of Pakse. 

1. Soulivanh sculpts a Khmer figurine

2.  Wat Phou

3.  A cheerful villager weaves bamboo

4. A colorful Naga staircase

5.  Mr. Tiger guides a guest in Champasak

 

Experience Champasak

Book a guide for one of Wat Phou and
Champasak’s Heritage and Archaeology Trails:

Mr. Bouasone Phommaboud, Champasak Tourism Information Centre
+856 (0)30 09 23 96 73

Mr. Soubanh Kanhaphanh, Vat Phou Museum
+856 (0)20 55 76 92 21 
information@vatphou-champassak.com

vatphou-champassak.com

 

Book a walking tour of Champasak Village Life with Mr. Tiger: thanaphone@laogo-carrental.com

 

Boun Wat Phou

Wat Phou festival, one of the largest festivals in Laos, attracts thousands of people each year for 3 days and nights of celebration including prayer ceremonies, almsgiving, and traditional games, music, and dancing. This year the festival will be held on Feb 07–09. 

See more at vatphou-champassak.com

 

Text BY Rosemary Murphy & Bounpone Vannaphone

PHOTOGRAPHS BY Swisscontact

ChampasackSouthern LaosWat Phou
Share

Previous

[:en]A Beautiful Night at Belle J[:]

Next

[:en]Beasts of Burden and Dairy[:la]ສັດທີ່ມີໄວ້ເພື່ອລາກແກ່ [:]
  • English
  • ລາວ

Recent Posts

  • City of Saffron, City of Faith
  • SAYABOURY’S ELEVEN DISTRICT
  • Spotlight on Sayaboury
  • New Year Lao Style
  • Lasting Laos

Categories

  • Art
  • Business
  • Café
  • Culture
  • Environment
  • Festival
  • Food
  • Lao Airlines
  • Lasting Laos
  • Lifestyle
  • Outdoors
  • Social Enterprise
  • Stay
  • Style
  • Travel

Archives

  • March 2023
  • January 2023
  • November 2022
  • September 2022
  • July 2022
  • May 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • September 2021
  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • November 2020
  • September 2020
  • July 2020
  • May 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • May 2018
  • March 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • July 2017
  • May 2017

Follow Us

Contact Form 7

Error: Contact form not found.

You Might Also Like

Travel
Mar 16, 2022

Beyond Vientiane

Nature is plentiful if you know where to look! As Laos’ center of government and business activities, Vientiane...

Read More
0 0
Business, Travel
Feb 13, 2020

Lao Lake House

A weekend getaway is closer than you think. An afternoon dip in clear waters. Evenings by the campfire toasting...

Read More
0 0
Copyrights © 2018 Champa Meuanglao. All Rights Reserved.
Website by Designix Studio
Back top