The Mekong river runs past here and offers a number of scenic viewpoints, not least of which is the sun as it sets over the back of our garden. Still we've once again only got a cold shower and although it's hot enough outside nothing beats a real shower. Pakse is a good crossroads point for visiting quite a few areas and even going on treks (if they we're not so damn expensive). Otherwise the town is not worth seeing and it's difficult to get a watermelon drink, in one spot they almost forced us to have banana instead and when we didn't want it they still wanted to be paid.
We took a day trip to some waterfalls with Emilie a Canadian that we met, walked through some coffee plantations and did some swimming. The large waterfall Tat Fane was not really impressive just high (120m), but the cool pool of Tat Champak had a great bamboo raft to navigate across and behind the waterfall.
Champasak just south hosts some of the oldest ruins of the Ankhor empire dating from the 10th century. We hired a motorbike to get down here, it's quite an experience driving onto the makeshift catamaran which takes you over the river. The site is remarkable although only a fraction remains, in fact most of the engravings and sculptures have been lost. Great views from on top though where you can see the whole layout.
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