Champa Residence Hotel

ATMs

by Fakfak

There are at least two BCEL ATMs in town, both on Route 13. One opposite the Lao Development Bank, the other one further east at the sports stadium. Worked fine with my ordinary Maestro/Cirrus card.

hot town

by picek

If in Pakse, you will deal with hot hot heat. If that's not a problem for you, you'll enjoy it - it is quite pleasant city with many markets, older architecture and some very nice temples. And it seems to got more popular place to visit - especially by Thais and Chinese and Western backpackers - which means there are a lot of budget accommodation in downtown area but it also means that if you get there too early (or too late) you'll have to search quite hard for a room in high season.

Having a lot to see on Bolavens plateau you can rent a bike and escape - it's worth doing it. Beware though - you can easily get caught by heavy rains and even hails even it seems perfectly too hot in Pakse. Bolavens plateau is famous for unpredictable weather.

Now this is getting more authentic

by Yaletown

"The Road to Pakse"

My wife's parents at one time lived in Pakse so they suggested we should drive there. We have ourselves 2 drivers and 2 vans for all 10 of us plus our lugguage so we went for it. It's a pretty long 9 hour drive but I, for one, was mesmorized by the landscapes along the way. Hand made huts with no more than 1 room in the middle of rice fields, just an amazing view and sight. We stopped in a couple villages on the way to eat, we had Pho again at a cost of about $10 for 10 people, not bad. With a little convincing our van driver stopped at a gas station for ice cream as well (we bought him one too). In one village we met this little girl, such a cutie, she was very shy but we eventually convinced her to take some candy from us and to look at her picture in our digital camera. It's amazing to see the excitement you can get from a little candy, something we take for granted. Anyhow after a short break we headed again towards Pakse. One note for you if you choose to go by vehicle to Pakse, watch our for animals, we almost hit some water buffalo, and we did kill a chicken during our trip (there was quite a crunch as the drivers don't exactly go slow here).

Pakse was one of the most interesting experiences of all my travels. I found it to be much less touristy than Vientiane or Luang Prabang. You can see the difference between Pakse and Luang Prabang immediately, and you can also notice the lack of tourist hotels, etc. This is more what I'm looking for, it's fantastic and I feel like I'm actually seeing the real Laos. Our hotel at 500 baht a night is clean but there are no perks, just what you would expect. I truly enjoyed Pakse and I would love to go back.