Pakse, or Pakxe, is a city in Southern Laos. It’s the capital of the province Champasak and Laos’ second most populous city. Pakse is the perfect hub for your Southern Laos travels to places as the Bolaven Plateau and 4000 islands. But it’s way more than just a hub or gateway.
It’s a charming and peaceful city surrounded by beautiful nature. Pakse means mouth of the river, and its located next to the Mekong and Sedone rivers. We recommend staying at least two days in Pakse, to enjoy everything it has to offer and to enjoy the laid-back Lao culture. Here are our top things to see and do in Pakse. And also our recommendations on where to eat and stay. We fell in love with this city, hopefully, you do the same!
1. WAT PHOU SALAO AKA GOLDEN BUDDHA
Rent a motorbike, bicycle or jump in a tuk-tuk and visit Wat Phou Salao. With it’s giant golden Buddha and stunning views over the city and Mekong river this temple is a must visit.
The big Buddha might be the advertised highlight, we actually loved the many small Buddhas right next to it even more. On the way to Wat Phou Salao from Pakse city, you will cross the Lao-Japan friendship bridge and from there, you can spot the giant golden Buddha on top of the mountain. Sunset and sunrise are definitely the best moments to visit Wat Phou Salao for the best light.
By Roxanne Weijer – Full Story at Once Upon a Journey
The Gay Islands of Laos are amazing!
Si Phan Don, also known as the “Four Thousand Islands”, is an archipelago on the Mekong river where to enjoy a heavenly and relaxing holidays! Are they Gay Islands? Well, if for Gay we mean Happy, Queery, Laid Back, then yes, these are definitely Gay Islands 🙂
There are different ways to get to Si Phan Don: the archipelago is just an hour bus or car ride from the border with Cambodia. I organized my trip from Siem Reap, in Cambodia, after the visit to the astonishing Angkor Wat. I left Siem Reap on board of one of the many minibuses organizing the crossing border.
Crossing the Border Cambodia – Laos
In 5 or 6 hours car ride you arrive into Laos. The border crossing is a a folkloric experience. We had to get off the bus, walk to the custom border, form an orderly queue, pay the fees (legally and illegally due) for the visa to the agents, and then wait. And wait. And wait.
Wait for? Oh what a question! Wait for the time needed to get a visa and a stamp on passport of all the people (no more than 30 of us) eager to enter beautiful Laos. It was a very hot (and long!) afternoon. The whole process (that could potentially take no more than 15 minutes in total, for all of us) took more than 4 hours: as I already knew, the discretionary military power is very strong… But hey we managed it in the end!
I stopped in Vientiane on my way to Malaysia after a tour around Cambodia and Southern Laos in December last year. I arrived in the big Laos capital after spending a few days in the beautiful area of the 4 thousand Islands in the Southern part of the country, where I chilled and relaxed while enjoying its beautiful outdoors!
Vientiane lays on the big, beautiful, and quite Mekong river, as quite as the life of the city itself. You can spend plenty of time walking along the Mekong, sipping a drink, stopping for a cafe in one of the many bars and restaurants facing the riverside, having an ice-cream, and still not getting tired of it! As you can imagine, due to its position, Vientiane is a very hot city during the day, which makes this kind of refreshments even more enjoyable!
The best moment to enjoy the Mekong river is the sunset: find a nice spot along the riverside, possibly further from the chaos of the city center, and enjoy the best moment of the day! The sun sets down just in front of the river, such a romantic view!
Periodically we’ll feature one of our properties here to let our readers know about some great gay friendly places to stay:
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