Laos - Champasak (Vat Phou)

Champasak province can be reached from Thailand through the Chong Mek (Thailand) Vang Tao (Lao) border crossing. From Vang Tao, the road leads east towards the city of Pakxe, the province’s largest city. 

Champasak has a long history that begins with participation in the Funan and Chenla empires between the 1st and 9th century AD. Between the 10th and 13th century, Champasak became a part of the Angkor Empire. 

Following a gradual decline since the 15th century, it was enfolded into the Lan Xang kingdom but then broke away to become an independent kingdom. The short-lived Champasak kingdom had only three monarchs: Soi Sisamut (1713-37), Sainyakuman (1737-91) and finally Fai Na (1791-1811).

Vat Phou (Wat Phu if transliterated according to Thai rules) was a part of the Khmer (Angkor) empire in the early 10th century. At its height the temple and nearby city formed the most important economic and political center in the region.

The Vat Phou temple complex was designed as a worldly imitation of heaven and fitted into a larger plan that included a network of roads, cities, settlements and other temples across present-day Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. 

Wat Phu is located on the slopes of the Phu Pasak mountain range and it is quite a climb (the steps are steep) to get up to the sanctuary. From up there, however, the view back down makes the climb well worth-while. 

The temple ruins now seen are the product of centuries of building, rebuilding, alteration and addition, with the most recent structures dating from the 11th century. Minor changes were made during the following two centuries, before the temple was converted to Theravada Buddhist use.

From the cliff wall, water flows from a natural spring some 60 meters to the left of the sanctuary. This water was once led into the temple to continuously bathe the Shiva-linga. Now, people pray to a Buddha statue. 

The spring water is said to have magic / healing properties and people come to carry it away by the bottle. I also dutifully filled a bottle, but it magically disappeared soon thereafter, so I cannot confirm the water's healing properties.