Pakse & the South

The south was part of the Khmer world long before it was Lao. At the foot of Phou Kao, a mountain whose summit resembles a linga, a city now called Shrestapura grew up by the 5th century, and the temple of Wat Phou, rebuilt mainly in the 11th and 12th centuries, was linked by road to Angkor. Lao settlers moved down the Mekong in the centuries after the founding of Lan Xang, and when that kingdom split in the early 18th century, Champasak became a separate Lao kingdom. It fell under Siamese control later that century.

In 1893 France took the east bank of the Mekong, and in 1904 the Champasak territory west of the river followed, although the royal house of Champasak survived. The French founded Pakse as a provincial seat in the early 20th century and planted coffee on the Bolaven plateau; from 1893 they also ran a short railway across the islands of Don Det and Don Khon to carry cargo around the Khone falls. Savannakhet grew as a trading post opposite Siam.

The uplands of Savannakhet, Salavan, Sekong and Attapeu carried the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the 1960s and 1970s and were among the most heavily bombed places in the country. Kaysone Phomvihane, the communist leader who ruled Laos from 1975 until 1992, was born in Savannakhet, and the city now bears his name officially. In 2018 the collapse of a dam at the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy project flooded villages in Attapeu, killing dozens of people and displacing thousands. Wat Phou and the Champasak landscape became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.

The Mekong lowlands are Lao and Buddhist, and their speech carries a southern accent close to that of north-east Thailand across the river. The uplands are a different world: the Bolaven plateau is named after the Laven people, and the Alak, Katu, Ta Oy and other Mon-Khmer-speaking groups of Salavan, Sekong and Attapeu keep their own languages and animist beliefs, some with animal sacrifices.

The great festival of the region is Boun Wat Phou, held at the full moon of the third lunar month, when many Lao pilgrims come to the sanctuary. Boat races on the Mekong mark the end of Buddhist Lent in Pakse and Savannakhet as elsewhere. Savannakhet also has a Catholic community, with a co-cathedral in the town.

Crafts include the weaving of the Katu and other upland groups.

Savannakhet is the largest province in Laos, and its capital, on the Mekong, is one of the country's largest towns; its Savan-Seno special economic zone and the bridge to Mukdahan have made it a trading hub on the road between Thailand and Vietnam. Pakse, the regional capital of Champasak, is the market town and transport centre of the south. Salavan, Sekong and Attapeu are small provincial towns.

Rice farming dominates the lowlands, and coffee dominates the Bolaven plateau, where farms grow Arabica and Robusta. Hydropower dams, rubber and cassava plantations, mining and logging have brought investment from Vietnam, Thailand and China, and disputes over land and resettlement. On the islands, fishing and tourism are the main livelihoods, and the Don Sahong dam near Khone has raised concerns over fish migration.

The day begins with the market and noodle soup, and on the islands it slows to the pace of the river: hammocks, bicycles and fishing traps.

The south eats from the Mekong. Fish is grilled whole with salt, minced into laap pa with herbs and toasted rice, or steamed with dill and lemongrass in banana leaves as mok pa, and pa daek, the fermented fish paste of the Lao kitchen, is used in many dishes. On the islands, meals of small fried fish, sticky rice and tam mak hoong are eaten at waterside tables.

Vietnamese influence runs through Pakse and Savannakhet. Feu noodle soup, khao jii baguettes, and spring rolls are sold in the markets.

Coffee is the region's signature. Bolaven coffee, grown around Paksong, is served in the town's cafés, and farms offer visits. The plateau also grows tea, vegetables and fruit for the markets of Pakse, and lao-lao rice spirit is made in the villages.

Pakse itself has riverside temples, and a large market. About 40 kilometres south, Champasak's ruined Khmer temple of Wat Phou climbs a stairway of stone from its baray reservoirs and processional causeway to a sanctuary under a cliff, with carved lintels and views over the river plain.

East of Pakse, the Bolaven plateau is a loop of coffee farms and waterfalls around Paksong: the falls of Tad Fane and Tad Yuang and, on the north-eastern side of the plateau, the village of Tad Lo with its waterfalls and ethnic villages nearby. Sekong and Attapeu, beyond the plateau, have rivers, forests and remnants of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

In the far south, Si Phan Don, the 4,000 Islands, begins at Don Khong, the largest island, and ends at Don Det and Don Khon, once linked by the old French railway. Nearby, the Khone Phapheng falls, often described as the largest in Southeast Asia, pour through rock channels. Irrawaddy dolphins once lived in this stretch of the Mekong, but the species has been extinct in Laos since 2022.

Upriver, Savannakhet has a French-era quarter around its Catholic church, a small dinosaur museum and, elsewhere in the province, the stupa of That Ing Hang.