Laos

We arrived in southern Laos from Cambodia, and went to see the UNESCO World Heritage site of Wat Phu, which is of Khmer architecture and Hindu religion, and is about 1000 years old.

This is the causeway lined with sandstone posts which leads to the first buildings, one of which is pictured below. 

Another causeway leads to seven flights of eleven steps, and is perfumed by the scent of many frangipani trees.

This is the main sanctuary building :

It's still used for Buddhist religious worship today :

Apsara (female divinity)

Seven-headed serpent (naga)

We saw this sign in the temple grounds, presumably to avoid graffiti on the tree bark:

"no scratch write"

We also saw various carvings in the temple grounds :

Buddha's foot and elephant

elephant

From left to right : Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu (= the Hindu trimurti)

view from the sanctuary showing two barays

offerings

After visiting Wat Phu we crossed the Mekong to have lunch at La Folie Lodge.

The next day we visited the Bolavens Plateau, which is about 1000m altitude and is famous for coffee-growing :

coffee drying

Sinouk coffee resort

Laos is famous for its textiles.

women weaving

 We also visited several waterfalls. This is Tadxe Phasouam.

In Laos women swim and bathe clothed. These teenagers were actually in their school uniform.

at Tad Lo waterfall

Can't go to Laos without seeing an elephant !