Since I work at a Catholic school, we had a week’s vacation between Christmas and New Year’s. (We didn’t have the harvest break in November; so the week off keeps the number of school days the same as for the other schools.) I decided to go to southern Laos for the week.
On 26 December I took the Ubon-Pakse bus to Laos. This is a three-hour trip, including the stop at the border for passengers to depart from Thailand and enter Laos. About half way, the bus attendant gave us the visa forms for Laos. When I looked at it, the first thing I saw was the little box in the top, right corner for a photo. Gulp. I had forgotten to take photos. I keep the passport photos with the passport, but, since I had used it and hadn’t put it away, I didn’t see—or think of—the photos. I could get off the bus at the border, return home, and take the bus to Pakse again on the next day. Or I could take a chance that there would be a place to get a photo taken at the border. I decided on the latter even though I’ve never seen a photo place at a border before. There was none. I had nothing to lose at that point and went on to the visa counter. When the man asked for a photo, I told him I’d forgotten them and asked if there was some place I could get one. He said maybe he’d let me enter anyway. And he did. I was very thankful. I thought that was pretty smart of him, since I would then spend my money in Laos that night instead of spending it on a bus to Ubon and back.
After checking into the guest house, I took off for the wat in town. However, I didn’t turn right soon enough and ended out at a point past the wat. After a while, I realized that I was not where I wanted to be but decided to keep walking along the river toward the bridge.
I came to another wat and explored it. I went inland a couple blocks and found the New Market, which is described as the largest market in the country. I walked through the gold section and part of the clothes section, but I was tired and it was more than I wanted to take in at that time.
So I retraced my steps along the river and found Wat Luang, which was where I was originally headed.
There are several restaurants along the river and I decided to eat there one night. But this first night, I ate at an Indian restaurant, since one of my pleasures of traveling is eating food I don’t eat at home. Back at the guest house, I was able to join a tour to the Bolaven Plateau the next day. I had read about their tour online and had asked about it when I registered, but they didn’t have a tour going yet. Their price is about 25% of what a nearby travel agency charges, and they didn’t have one going yet, either. I really wanted to get this taken care of and was very happy when I returned and learned that the guest house had a tour going. Not only could I do it for the lower price, but I didn’t have to look around any more. I had looked at descriptions of a few tours, and they all looked basically the same. [Description in Part 2]
My third day in Pakse was for relaxing. I had a pleasant walk around the center of town, which is not large. I meandered around and looked in a few shops. Buildings are a combination of the old French-style and Lao style.
I found the indoor market in the center of town and walked around it. On the way out, I found several fabric stalls, my weakness. I purchased several pieces. I will use some and will give some to my friends.
I stopped at the Catholic church. I planned to stop at the guest house and drop off my purchases, as my bag was a little heavy and then go to the museum out of town. However, I took a wrong road and ended out halfway to the museum. The streets in Pakse go in funny angles; so it was not difficult to end out somewhere else. Fortunately, it was on the way to where I wanted to go.
On the way to the museum I stopped at an old wat and the Chinese temple. 
Both were interesting. Chinese temples are beginning to look pretty much the same wherever I go, but the old wats always have some interesting art. The wat had a sign that welcomed people to a tourist destination but did not have the name of the wat on it.
The museum was small and had a few interesting items. An unusual display was one of American weapons.
Since I was a little tired from the long walk and it was hot, I took a songtaew back to town. After dropping off my bag at the guest house, I headed to the river for dinner. I was lucky to have a beautiful sunset as a background.
Several places in town were decorated for the holidays, which really felt strange here—even more so than in Thailand. I think it’s for the tourists. Again, the spirit was missing.
I especially enjoyed the spirit houses in town—and elsewhere in this part of Laos—as many are unique in style.
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