Thailand to Laos (102)

Today we drove from our hotel to the border with Laos. We made two stops along the way. The first stop was at a small ruins of pagodas from the 13th century. It was a small site with 5 pagodas. It's name was Sikhoraphum.

We drove another hour or so and made a second stop at another ruins, called Sa Khamphaeng Yai. This was an old site surrounded by new constructions, including two Buddhist temples and a huge statue of a monk. It was surrounded by a wall of "rava locks", which gave rise to its name. Apparently, "Khamphaeng Yai" means high wall.

We continued our drive to the border, which was through miles and miles of rice paddies. They had been harvested recently, but I imagined that taking that road when the rice was still growing would have been quite a sight.

They also grow peanuts in this region. This was another of those language issues, as my guide pronounces peanuts as "penis", so after a few confused seconds I figured out what he meant by, this is where they grow lots of penis.

We continued on and had a lovely lunch on the Mun (pronounced Moon) River. The stir-fried flat noodles with prawns and calamari was delicious!!! Hopping back into the car we drove a little further to the border with Laos.

After saying goodbye to my driver and guide and completing immigration formalities, I said hello to my new Laotian guide and we drove to Pakse, where we will spend the night. I read, played around on the internet and watched a gorgeous sunset over the Mekong River. My guide had told me that I could see the sunset from my hotel, which I found an odd comment to make because I wondered which hotels you wouldn't be able to see the sun set, but watching this gorgeous event it was clear to me what she meant.

I had a delicious dinner and can't wait for tomorrow! We're visiting a waterfall and then boarding our riverboat for a cruise along the Mekong in Laos, which is a much lesser visited part of the Mekong. Should be good!