from vientiane we went to champasak and enjoyed watching from the balcony of our guest house as this local woman watered her vegetables while her children bathed and played in the river.
in all of the countries i've been to on this trip so far, unless you are a small child, you go into the water fully clothed.
from a walk we took around the village
the next day we rented bicycles and rode out to see the ancient khmer ruins of wat phou. the champasak area was the center of power in the lower mekong back in the day.
i *had* to get a picture of this guy in this hat, so toon assisted me as i pretended to be taking one of him... wish i'd got a better shot for you, though. this one doesn't quite show the full majesty that was this hat.
the temple started out as a hindu one built in the 5th and 6th centuries. it was then converted to a buddhist shrine, and you can see both elements, sometimes literally one in front of the other. the later parts were built in the 10th and 11th century, which makes these remains 200 years older than the most famous khmer ruins of all, angkor wat in cambodia.
usually the elephants will make their appearance...
and almost always garudas (fierce mythical creatures that are half bird, half man)
behind this shrine is where the original wall of the hindu temple is (according to my guidebook).
although as tourists, we are visiting the site as 'ruins,' here, as with most ruins i've seen so far in southeast asia, the locals still see it as a functioning temple and thus treat it as such, making offerings, removing shoes and kneeling down in front of the altar (on which there has invariably been added a much newer buddha) in prayer.
as you can see, i really love the remnants from candle offerings.
no, really? yes, really.
flowers and incense often offered as well.
outside wall. various parts of the ruins have been pieced together--and some not completely and some not at all. there are actually piles of stones around the site waiting, presumably, for someone to come and reconstruct more buildings out of them. they continue to wait, of course, because, also presumably, there is no funding for this.
the ruins of the original hindu temple
at many of these sites you will also find small shrines in caves or other cave-like areas.
spied this most amazing spider web!
this was the first time i saw anything being sold for 'donation' purposes. usually the sales at such sites support the seller's livelihood only.
there is a sacred spring in this mountain, and this pipe (shaped like a naga, of course, a serpent deity that frequently protects sacred buildings and structures) carries the water into a receptacle in which believers used to wash the sacred linga (basically a phallic symbol representing the god shiva's strength).
pilgrims would come to wash in the holy water as well.
i think this was the first time i'd seen durian growing in the wild, as it were (as opposed to for sale at the market). if you've never smelled durian, count yourself as fortunate.
some offerings are more (seemingly) randomly placed than others.
this is where you can buy your offerings on the way up the hill to the ruins.
naga on guard duty, of course.
