Vat Phou, Champasak, Laos

Vat Phu is a Khmer temple complex at the foot of Mount Phou Kao, overlooking the Mekong flood plain. Phou Kao mountain is 1,416 metres high and the peak is a natural lingam, ten metres high. The ancient Khmers called Phou Kao mountain Lingaparvata (Sanskrit). They chose this site to pay tribute to the mountain lingam, which people could see from miles around. The earliest remains in the site are seventh century, but most of the site was rebuilt in the tenth and eleventh century. The site was maintained by the rulers of Angkor until the fourteenth century. In the thirteenth century the whole complex was converted from Hinduism to Buddhism. The locals still use the temples today.


The shrine was built out of stone in the eleventh century AD on a natural terrace of Phou Kao, where there is a fresh water spring. The temple complex below is laid out in a linear plan, covering 1,400 square metres, rising up the lower slopes of the mountain. This linear/axial layout is rare in pre-Angkor temples, and in Angkorian temples, and clearly reflects the conscious use of the natural terrain to maximum effect. With the magestic mountain rising up behind the temple complex, and the pools at the base, the effect is spectacular.


At the lowest level there are two tenth century pools, flanked by an elaborate stone embankment. There is a processional causeway between them, lined by stone lingams on both sides. Beyond this there are the remains of two very large temples, each with four galleries around a courtyard. There is currently an Italian/Lao project to salvage what is left of these temples. A lot of Lao workers were lounging around, watching a few move stones with the help of a mechanical digger. Carved stones lie around outside the remains of the temples in untidy piles. A lot of these stones have been taken to be used in other buildings, including the steps up to the shrine.


The shrine at the top was originally dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva, who was represented by a big stone lingam, kept permanently wet by a spring, which was channeled to flow through the shrine and over it. But when the temple complex converted to Buddhism the lingam was taken away and replaced by a statue of Buddha, which the locals have adorned with yellow cloth.Yet the Buddhists left the linga lining the causeway below, as they left the Hindu sculptures which decorate the doorways of the shrine. Ever since the sixth century Buddhism and Hinduism have co-existed peacefully in the Champasak area.


Steep stone steps lead up to the shrine. Trees with knarled bark cling to the sides of the steps, insinuating their roots between the stones of the supporting walls and hiding the shrine from view until you reach the top. Sweet smelling blossoms fall from the trees. Part of the shrine is still intact with beautiful carved doorways. Tufts of grass sprout from the roof. The building is surrounded by huge trees.

I had fish with lemongrass, steamed in a banana leaf for lunch. Delicious.Then in the afternoon I got lucky. The hotel where I was staying the night before uses a boatman to deliver guests to his hotel. Just as I arrived back from Vat Phou, he told me that five guests had just been delivered and the boatman had to go back to Paxe. He would take me for sixty thousand kip (four pounds fifty), as he had to return anyway.

The Mekong is very wide at this point, stately and shallow, but with deceptively fast currents. It runs alongside a ridge of mountains on the Champasak side, while the other side is flat. There are villages and palm trees on the banks and fishing boats, sand banks and numerous flat stones emerge from the river. The boat goes past an island covered in thick jungle. Dead branches stick out of the water. Fish traps are clearly marked by floating plastic bottles.