While we were waiting for the boat back across the river and out of Don Det I made the decision to start popping the antibiotics that I had packed for emergency use. There was no doubt I had a UTI. My back was aching and I was feeling like I needed to wee every five minutes. I carefully made sure I used the toilet before I got on the minibus on the other side of the river. Nevertheless, when we arrived at the drop off point for Champasak I practically leaped out of the bus shouting, ‘Toilet, toilet’ in a deranged way. An elderly Lao woman took pity on me and pointed me in the right direction, where I found some measure of relief.

Then we had to lug our rucksacks down to the Mekong and cross it again to the opposite bank. It was worth it. Champasak is a peaceful, relaxing little town, strung out along the river a short distance from Pakse. There are a number of beautiful old houses, which seem to be a mixture of local and French colonial origin. Don Det seems more suited to the younger generation of back packers whereas Champasak is favoured by travellers in a more mature age bracket. We were staying at a friendly family guest house, where I collapsed on the bed and started necking water in an attempt to flush out my bladder.

Tim went to explore while I lay around feeling sorry for myself. He located a lovely cafe where he had a delicious cake without me. Later I felt well enough to go to another local cafe where we sat by the river watching the sun set.

The autorickshaw driver who had taken us from the river to our guest house the day before had agreed to drop us at the Khmer ruins of Vat Pho the next day. By then the antibiotics had thankfully fully kicked in. This was one of my favourite days in Laos so far. Vat Pho was built by the same people that built Angkor Wat, but was constructed slightly earlier. A road used to link the two temples. Although there were some tourists the site was relatively peaceful. The upper sections of the temple, which is constructed on a steep hill, known as Phi Kauai or Mount Penis (according to Lonely Planet) are covered in shade from the trees, so even in the heat it is pleasant to walk around.

We spotted a snake as we walked around the ruined pavilions at the entrance to the Wat complex. Sadly, two large statues which according to Lonely Planet are the largest dvarapala statues found anywhere in the former Angkorian kingdom, lie headless and armless in an area where there are lots of pieces of ancient carvings that should probably be in a museum to ensure they are preserved. I noticed that the preservation of Vat Pho is a joint effort between the Laos and Indian governments, which makes sense as Vat Pho is definitely on the ‘Golden Road’ that William Dalrymple writes about in his latest book.

A big local festival is held at the Wat every year, which we had just missed. A cleanup operation of the debris left behind seemed to be ongoing, The field that people had camped on looked a little bit like the end of a music festival in the UK. Luckily that was at the bottom of Mount Penis and thus slightly away from the Wat proper.

There are some places where the past can be strongly sensed and Vat Pho was one of those places. I found it interesting how the local people were still actively using the Wat as a place of worship/ offering.

That evening, we visited a characterful local Wat where a dog had made its home, friendly monks smiled at us and the young boys of the town were playing football. Then we picked another riverside restaurant to eat.

We chatted to a retired American from Mississippi. He was spending a whole month in Champasak canoeing around the area. He had visited a while ago and loved it so much that he determined to return and spend longer. For a while we avoided the T word, but eventually he must have realised that we were unlikely to be MAGA supporters and shared his bafflement about why his fellow countrymen had voted for Trump. We agreed that the current world situation where China appears to be in the ascendant and America and Europe are in decline can be traced in a line through from Korea and. Vietnam. Maybe Trump is the inevitable consequence of/ reaction to that. He told us that the number of American Vietnam vets who have killed themselves reportedly exceeds the number that died in the war, as they were reviled on their return home as they were associated with imperial failure. My conversation with him again made me think how little I understood the culture of America and how interesting it would be to visit, especially at this time.

Local Wat in Champasak with resident dog

By the river in Champasak

I would have liked to have spent a few more days in Champasak to visit Wat Thom – another Angkor era Wat covered in jungle, but we had our bus booked to Pakse the next day and planned to head to Vietnam. Maybe we’ll manage to return some day.