As it seemed complicated to reach Champasak by public transport, we decided to rent a motorbike (80.000 Kips a day for a manual Honda 100cc). Before leaving Pakse we had a little incident... We stopped at a petrol station to tank our motorbike and the guys tried to rip us off as the pump was not showing the price to pay. We argued with them over the price that was too high (double of what normally cost) but we could not get them to charge us the right price. As we did not want to pay the price they were asking for, they took the petrol back... and some of ours as well, so when we left to go to another petrol station, very quickly we ran out of petrol :( . Gosia managed to get a lift to the closest petrol station to bring back some petrol in a bottle, but at the station she struggled to make them agree to sell her petrol...unbelievable! Anyway by 11am we could finally start our trip to Champasak.
We drove to Ban Muang South of Pakse (the turn to Ban Muang from the main road is 30km from Pakse and there is a board indicating the Wat Phu, not Ban Muang) and then we caught a ferry to cross the Mekong (10.000 Kips for a motorbike and the passengers). There is a "proper" ferry for the cars but for the motorbikes "the ferry" is in fact two little fishing boats hold together by a few boards that build a small platform where can be squeezed up to 3 motorbikes and their passengers. The craft did not look very stable so Gosia was afraid that our motorbike might fall! The "ferry" was very slow and it took us a good 15min to cross the Mekong. Then it was a very short ride to Champasak (2km). Champasak does not look like a town but more like a village. The houses are built along the road and there are a few local shops and some guesthouses for the tourists. We were happy that we gave up the idea of spending a night in this sleepy town as there is not much to do. The 8km road to the Wat Phu is sealed but very bumpy. The ticket to visit the temple costs 30.000 Kips per person... and if you need to go to the toilet at the exhibition centre you have to pay another 1.000 Kips! The Wat Phu is a Khmer temple that was built at the same time as Angkor. It has a lot of charm and can be visited in around an hour. Climbing the very steep stairs to the sanctuary is tiring but worth it as the view is very nice.
We drove to Ban Muang South of Pakse (the turn to Ban Muang from the main road is 30km from Pakse and there is a board indicating the Wat Phu, not Ban Muang) and then we caught a ferry to cross the Mekong (10.000 Kips for a motorbike and the passengers). There is a "proper" ferry for the cars but for the motorbikes "the ferry" is in fact two little fishing boats hold together by a few boards that build a small platform where can be squeezed up to 3 motorbikes and their passengers. The craft did not look very stable so Gosia was afraid that our motorbike might fall! The "ferry" was very slow and it took us a good 15min to cross the Mekong. Then it was a very short ride to Champasak (2km). Champasak does not look like a town but more like a village. The houses are built along the road and there are a few local shops and some guesthouses for the tourists. We were happy that we gave up the idea of spending a night in this sleepy town as there is not much to do. The 8km road to the Wat Phu is sealed but very bumpy. The ticket to visit the temple costs 30.000 Kips per person... and if you need to go to the toilet at the exhibition centre you have to pay another 1.000 Kips! The Wat Phu is a Khmer temple that was built at the same time as Angkor. It has a lot of charm and can be visited in around an hour. Climbing the very steep stairs to the sanctuary is tiring but worth it as the view is very nice.
