Stories of Places, People and Photography in the Philippines and Beyond
Traveling on a VIP bus from Pakse, I arrived in Vientiane at the southern Bus Station by 6:00am. The southern bus station is somewhat rustic in feel. There was a sawngthaew there, the driver said they would take us to the city for 10,000 Kip. Since I found that pretty cheap I agreed. But as expected, they packed the sawngthaew with other passengers, mostly tourist heading towards the city. Once full, we rolled off.
Making the most of our last morning in Tawi-Tawi, we decided to visit one of the more popular Bajau Villages in Bongao, but not having a Bongao breakfast at the Chinese Pier after visiting Pagasinan. I told Kit and Sheva, that we’d like to see and possibly take home some native crafts from Tawi-tawi. It has been my practice when I go to different places to take but items unique or crafted from the place of origin.
I really had a pleasant stay here in the Chapasak Region of Laos. I was able to visit some of the waterfalls of Bolaven Plateau, visit the UNESCO Ruins of Wat Phu and has a pleasant stroll around the city of Pakse. On the night of the third day, it was time to head to Vientiane. I already booked my bus ride the day before to make sure I already have good seats. The main VIP bus station is near the Dao Heung Market about 2km from the city center. But after strolling around the City I found that there is another VIP bus nearby which is walking distance from my guesthouse just along the same side of the tourism office near the Sedone River.
Holy Week is the time of the year a lot of Filipinos are looking forward to every year. Aside from it being the time for a much needed long vacation towards the half of the year, it is a significant time for Christians as we remember Christ’s last few days on Earth before his resurrection. While I’m not really a devout Catholic, I share the celebration with millions on Filipinos in our country. One popular activity most Filipinos do during Maundy Thursday is the Visita Iglesia.
Pakse, which is the capital of Champasak Province, was my home base during my stay is Southern Laos. In between my travels to Bolaven Plateau and Wat Phu Champasak, I was able to do some exploring of the city. Pakse is fairly small and only has a few sites of interest nearby. One could even cover the whole place in half a day. But despite this, I was grateful that this is my first stop in Laos since I was able to catch my pace here and learn the going arounds in this country.
The sun has already shone high as we wrapped our morning shoot at Sanga-sanga. We then decided to venture into one of the villages situated by the the river we were taking photos off. Veering right from the bridge into an inner road, we passed by a village slowly waking up. We passed by rows of stilt houses first then we entered a road where lines of ships on varying conditions were docked on shore. We are now at the ship building town of Pagasinan.
After crossing the Mekong River, it was around 10-15 minutes drive along an old rural town of Champasak until we reached the main gates. The road was rough and dusty and as we near the park entrance, stalls and eateries line up on both sides. We decided to finally have breakfast there. Ping had a stir fried rice and I had a grilled chicken with sticky rice for breakfast, both amounting to 46000 kip. With satisfied tummies we drove towards the main gate of Wat Phu Champasak Site.
