We returned to Pakse for a few days in preparation to fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Unfortunately, Pete got Denise’s nasty cold and was out of commission for these days. Denise did venture out to several temples and actually climbed up to the Buddha on the hill. We did find a great hotel called the Pakse Hotel which also had great food and a very artistic lobby. Not much else happened and we just hoped Pete would get well soon which he did thankfully. It is very unpleasant to be ill when you are not at home.
But at least we had great food at the hotel and it was warm inside at night. The weather has turned cool again but only at night. The poor waitresses and waiters were wrappng themselves in tablecloths and used napkins for gloves on the rooftop restaurant. It was loud at times up until midnight or two am due to Chinese New Year which entailed people exploding rather loud fire crackers that sounded like gunfire. We won’t miss the excess noise in Southeast Asia.
The Buddha on the hill that we had been looking at our entire stay in Pakse from 4 kilometers away. Denise finally climbed up the very rickety stairs to get there!
Another section of stairs that Denise had to scale. The hotel travel agent didn’t know how treacherous these stairs had become, otherwise she would not have sent me here on a tuk-tuk.
View of Pakse from Buddha’s perspective. Had to walk across the bridge but took a tuk-tuk to the bridge which is one kilometer long across the Mekong.
Hundreds and maybe over a thousand Buddhas further on up the hill from the large Buddha on the hill. It was totally unknown why this explosion of Buddhas existed.
Inside the temple in town across from our hotel. A Buddhist monk gave Denise a blessing in this temple. He said through a lady who interpreted back to English, that Denise’s life would be very lucky from this day forward. She responded by saying that her life had already been very lucky but the blessing of the monk was needed and appreciated. He tied a bracelet around her left wrist.
Here is a very small lizard that took a ride in Pete’s luggage from 4000 islands to Pakse. We let him go but worried it might be too cold in Pakse for him.
Next leg is Siem Reap Cambodia! See you there!
