Your hotel or guesthouse can book you onto a day trip to Wat Phou; the one I took was a small group (just a handful of tourists), picked up at our respective hotels by a minivan. (As an alternative, you could stay in Champasak, the small town nearest Wat Phou. I didn't stay there, but we drove through on the way to the site, and it looked quite nice).
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| Almost there |
The main reason to visit the area is, of course, the Angkor-era temple complex of Wat Phou. Built into the side of the hill, the site is spectacular, and not particularly crowded.
Once a site of huge significance to the Khmer empire, a temple was apparently built here by the 5th or 6th century. The current buildings date from the 11th to 13th century, with most of it dated to the early Angkor period. The entire complex once covered quite a lot of ground, from the mountain (with its, ahem, vaguely phallic shape, and sacred spring) to the riverbank 10km away, and although the current site is not as extensive, it is still quite a large complex.
From the parking lot, first you will find the visitor centre area (featuring cafes and a museum explaining the history of the site). You can walk from the visitor centre to the base of the hill, or take a free shuttle, past 2 large reservoirs, surrounded by grazing cows.
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| The main sanctuaries |
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| Carvings on one of the main sanctuaries, illuminated by a sunbeam through a well-placed window |
The main sanctuary consists of two large temple buildings sit at the base of the hill. Behind them stone steps lined with frangipane lead up the hill, to where the sacred spring still runs today (I saw several pilgrims drinking from it when I visited). Up the hill you will also find a number of smaller sanctuaries (including one still in use for Buddhist ceremonies) and a number of large carved rocks.
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| The start of the path up the hill |
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| The view from up the hill, looking back over the main sanctuaries and the reservoirs |
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