Ancient temple and a big waterfall

One of the big attractions in Champasak is the ancient temple of Vat Phou. This is one of the oldest places of worship in South East Asia, having been significant to many religions over a long period of time. Naturally, having seen many temples during the course of getting to Lao, we weren't completely sure how novel this one would be, but it turned out to be one of the most spectacular. The site is located beneath a prominent mountain with a peak shaped like a lingar (think phallic...). This being a prominent symbol of Shiva, it was a natural place to site a temple in the Angkor period. Previously, it had been a site for local animistic worship for pretty much as long as people have been in the area. There was a road that connected the site to Angkor Wat almost 1000 years ago, and a close relationship between the two sites. 

A natural spring flows all year round and exits relatively close to the base of the mountain. As the water runs from the linga, there is a yoni receptacle, mirroring the arrangements we first encountered in My Son. Again, the water flowing from the yoni is said to bring good fortune and the temple remains an active site of worship (currently Buddhist). 

Being part way up the mountain, the setting is spectacular and the highest of the seven levels gives a glorious view back over the Mekong River. The site is under restoration/preservation and includes the remains of the initial men's and women's prayer halls at the bottom of the site (along with the large ponds for ritual bathing), with a series of stairways climbing up to the main temple and spring. There is a Buddha statue in the crumbling temple, as well as the remains of much bigger structures that used to exist there. 

They include carvings on the rocks of an elephant, crocodile and snakes, with a local legend that the crocodile carving was also used for human sacrifice (of a virgin girl, of course). Further research suggests that this is likely apocryphal. Even after visiting a huge variety of temples across Asia, this one was well worth visiting. There is also a pretty good museum at the entrance to the site, with a range of old artefacts from this site, and others.

Further south, at the border between Lao and Cambodia on the Mekong River, is a huge section of rapids, or waterfalls (how big does a rapid have to be to qualify?), known as the 4000 islands. This is an awe-inspiring demonstration of the huge flows in the Mekong, especially visiting at the end of the wet season. This section of the river is not navigable (the thought alone is terrifying), and was the major barrier to the French using the river as a major source of commerce throughout the region, when they were the dominant colonial power in that part of the world. We visited two of the biggest sections of the falls, which run through a series of large, inhabited, islands in that section of the river. First were the Li Phi falls, next to the island of Don Khong. These were wide, with a large volume of water flowing through. The level was high enough that we were unfortunately cut off from one of the viewing platforms, which had the bridge washed away. 

The second falls were the Khone Phapheng falls, which we could visit from the Eastern bank of the river. We arrived at what must be close to the peak flow, and the volume of water through here was astounding, up to 11,000 cubic metres a second. They were a potent demonstration of why the French (or anyone else) gave up on the project of making the river navigable along its length. As well as yet another demonstration of the importance of the Mekong to life and agriculture throughout South East Asia.