1. Friendship Mall

Friendship Mall is located on Lak 2 Road and is one of the most popular places to shop. Its not a big place, but it has several restaurants, a supermarket, and a movie theater, so it’s a great place to bring your family, and certainly not something you want to miss during your stay in Pakse.

2. Friendship Supermarket

Friendship supermarket is located on Road 38, near the Pakse Morning Market, open Monday through Sunday from 8 AM to 9 PM. This is one of the largest supermarkets in Pakse, and carries everything from fresh food to clothes. For those with infants, this is probably the best place to go for things like diapers, bottles and other baby items. Friendship supermarket also carries imported items/food, so it’s a good place to find western goods.

3. Morning Market

Besides being the most popular market in Pakse, the Morning Market is also the largest market in Southern Laos. It is located 2 kilometers from Pakse, near the Lao-Japanese Friendship Bridge and is open from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday to Sunday. The best time to visit, however, is in the morning around 10:00 A.M., as there will be more shops open during this time. As for merchandise, this market sells everything from fresh fruits, vegetables and meat to clothing and accessories. There are also many special products such as Lao honey, Paksong coffee, and various types of tobacco. Because the sellers come from all over Laos and other countries, including local tribes, the market also sells products from other countries, such as Vietnam and China. The Morning Market is divided into different zones, depending on what is sold in that area, such as clothing, food, jewelry, etc, so finding what you need is easy and convenient.

4. Douangdy Plaza

Douangdy Plaza is a large market located on Road 46 near Pakse hospital. This market has a wide variety of goods for sale, including fresh fruit and vegetables, plastic goods, and grilled meats and fish. The best thing to buy at Douangdy Plaza is clothing, and they have them for sale at bargain prices. Just behind the plaza are several street food stalls where you can buy snacks and bubble tea.

5. M-win Mart

M-win Mart is a minimart located near Magic Palms school. This store sells mostly Korean goods, but they have a lot of interesting items besides, and it’s a good place to check out.

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Cafes

1. Sesouk Coffee and Roasting House

Sesouk Coffee is a cafe and restaurant that is open from 7 A.M. until 6 P.M. They serve coffee, tea, and fresh fruit smoothies, as well as various Lao-Thai dishes such as stir-fried noodles, rice, spicy salads and many kinds of soup. This cafe is a wonderful place to get a bite to eat, with good service, comfortable atmosphere, and a lovely outdoor seating area beside the building. Sesouk Coffee also roasts their own coffee beans, which are available for purchase, either whole or ground.

2. Cafe Jenda

Cafe Jenda is a coffee shop and restaurant located on Road 42, just down the road from Sesouk Coffee. This is a great place to get a bite to eat, has excellent prices and good service. They also offer honey and ground coffee for sale. Jenda is an open-air restaurant, so it’s a perfect place to go on those cooler days when you just want to relax.

3. MD’s Cafe

MD’s Cafe is a cafe and restaurant located on Road 38, right beside the Friendship Supermarket and near the Pakse morning market. Its location makes it an ideal place to stop by after doing your shopping, and with reasonable prices, friendly service and a relaxing atmosphere, its a must for any coffee shop connoisseur. MD’s Cafe also has free wifi, and is open from 6:45 A.M. to 5:45 P.M., Monday through Sunday.

4. Cafe Amazon

You’ll rarely fail to find at least one Amazon Cafe in any city in Laos, Thailand or Cambodia. There are a few of these in Pakse, but the one I most often visit is located just behind Douangdy Plaza. Though the prices are a little steep, the coffee is consistently good and Amazon is a pretty reliable place to go for air conditioning and good wifi.

5. Orange Coffee Room

The Orange Coffee Room is a coffee shop/restaurant located on Lak 2 Road. While they have some Laotian and even French cuisine, the main cuisine offered there is Vietnamese food, from fresh and fried spring rolls to noodles and soups. The Orange Coffee Room is one of my personal favorites, for their good prices and atmosphere, not to mention their proximity to the popular shopping destination, Friendship Mall.

6. Coffee Today

There are many branches of this cafe and restaurant all over the country, and no doubt more than one in the city of Pakse, but the one I prefer to frequent is located on Lak 2 Road. The prices are a little on the high end, but the food is good, the atmosphere is comfortable, and its location is good, as it is near Friendship Mall as well as many hotel

Restaurants

1. Dao Lin

Dao Lin is an open air cafe and restaurant locate on Road 13, near Green Fresh Mart. “Delicious food that won’t hurt your wallet,” are the printed across the front of their menus, and they’re not wrong—the prices are good and the service is friendly and helpful. Dao Lin offers a lot of Western food, and is quite popular with tourists, but they also have a wide variety of local Lao dishes to try. Every meal comes with a free pitcher of iced jasmine tea, and there’s free wifi available as well.

2. Muk 2 Pizza

Muk 2 is a roadside pizza place and coffee shop. As far as I know, there are two branches of this pizzeria in Pakse, one located near Douangdy Plaza and one on Lak 2 Road near the morning market. Besides Pizza Company, Muk 2 has some of the best pizza in town (and is definitely cheaper than the other). In addition to pizza, they also serve chicken nuggets, fries, and lots more. So on those days when you’ve just got to have a pizza, this is the place to go.

3. Cloud 9

I’ve only been to this restaurant once, but the food was excellent, offering western and Mediterranean food in addition to Lao food (vegetarian food as well). Cloud 9 is located near Douangdy Plaza. They are popular with foreigners and tourists, so its a nice place to meet new people as well.

4. Jinda

Not to be confused with Jenda Cafe, Jinda is a Thai and Lao food restaurant located on the first floor of Friendship Mall. With good prices and excellent food, this is a great place to go for an authentic Thai/Lao food experience.

Street Food

1. Seoul Cheese Dog

There are a few of these in Pakse; one is inside friendship mall, and there’s another behind Douangdy Plaza. One of many Korean street food places, Seoul Cheese Dog sells, well, cheese dogs (pretty much Korean-style corn dogs with stringy mozzarella cheese). The prices are cheap and it’s a great place for a family to stop for a snack between shopping.

2. Le pâté

Le pâté is a roadside stand that sells French and Vietnamese food, as well as homemade soymilk and tofu-based deserts. The prices, food, and service are all exceptional; I highly recommend it. Le pâté is located on Road 13 near Daolin restaurant.

3. Indy Fried Chicken

Indy Fried Chicken is a street food stall that sells Korean-style fried chicken, with various flavors and sauces. There are a few of these, but one is located near JP Hotel and Magic Palms School.

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The Pratuxai Victory Gate (pronounced, “prah-dtoo-sai”) is an attraction located at the heart of Laos’ capital, the city of Vientiane. Structures like the Pratuxai victory gate can be found in many other countries in both Europe and Asia, such as in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, India, and North Korea. The victory gates in each country reflect the architectural style of that country, and the same can be said of the Pratuxai monument in Laos. The design and motifs, though they may have been influenced architecturally by other countries, were also influenced by the Buddhist religion and Lao artwork unique to the country, making Pratuxai a prominent and important landmark to the country of Laos.

Plans for construction of Pratuxai began in 1957, and was originally planned as a monument to honor the war heroes who gave their lives for their country, and the designer, Tham Saiyasidsanao, got his inspiration from the Arc de Triomphe in Paris France. The building project began in 1959, but was put to a sudden halt in 1960 due to the coup d’etat of the same year. Construction resumed in 1962 and was completed in 1968.

Buddhism played a great part in influencing the design of the Pratuxai monument, as a large number of people in Laos are Buddhist. The Faculty of Architecture in Chulalonkorn University in Thailand published an article entitled, “The Architectural Elements of Pratuxai,” which said, “The designer researched the criterion for calculating the building size and came up with 3 numbers, 3-7-8. The number 3 represents the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, the number 7 represents the infinite rotation of the seven days in a week, and the number 8 represents the eight directions and guardians facing the eight directions around the monument, radiating power in the eight directions. Moreover, the number 8 also refers to the eight precepts in Buddhism.” In addition to this, the top of the monument has five spires, representing the five precepts.

Pratuxai was also influenced architecturally by the Taj Mahal in India, in that the five spires resemble crowns, and the middle spire is taller and larger than the other four, with the remaining for being of equal size and height.

The motifs decorating Pratuxai were influenced by Laotian and ancient Lanxang art. For example, the lotus flowers, leaf-like boundary stones, and curved towers were borrowed from the architectural style of the famous That Luang monument, and similar arched doorways as seen in Pratuxai can be seen in the construction of many Laotian temples.

Today, Pratuxai is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Vientiane, and its fame has spread all over the world.

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You’ll have to arrange the trip ahead of time with one of many hot air balloon companies, and they will transport you to where the balloons are literally “blown up”–an awesome sight in itself–the enormous cloth balloons unfolded, connected to a large basket, and slowly inflated.

As the balloons take off, an enthralling show of color fills the sky, and they’re off, floating high above the little picturesque town of vang vieng far, far below.

These trips are done morning, afternoon, and evening, and last around 40 minutes. One important thing to remember if you are interested in hot air ballooning, however, is that these trips are done only during the dry season, as the rain during the wetter parts of the year can cause complications with the flights. So the best time to plan this activity is between the months of November and June, but this is certainly an experience you won’t want to miss!

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The Morning Market (or, Talad Dao Rueang; in Lao: ຕະຫລາດດາວເຮືອງ) in Pakse, Laos is a popular morning market with both Laotians and tourists from all over the world. Most package tours of Pakse include a tour of this famous market. For the community, this market is a place to buy essential items for cooking and daily life.

Besides being the most popular market in Pakse, the Morning Market is also the largest market in Southern Laos. It is located 2 kilometers from Pakse, near the Lao-Japanese Friendship Bridge and is open from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday to Sunday. The best time to visit, however, is in the morning around 10:00 A.M., as there will be more shops open during this time.

As for merchandise, this market sells everything from fresh fruits, vegetables and meat to clothing and accessories. There are also many special products such as Lao honey, Paksong coffee, and various types of tobacco. Because the sellers come from all over Laos and other countries, including local tribes, the market also sells products from other countries, such as Vietnam and China. The Morning Market is divided into different zones, depending on what is sold in that area, such as clothing, food, jewelry, etc, so finding what you need is easy and convenient.

In addition to being a great place to shop, you can also visit the market’s food court and eat freshly grilled fish or chicken, and have a big bowl of the popular soup known as Pho.

For those who are interested in visiting Pakse, although this market might not be the city’s most famous attraction, the Morning Market is a fun place to shop, relax, or just to pass time, and is a place tourists will not soon forget.

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Besides the main structure, the temple has large stone steps leading up the mountain to other ancient ruins, including the stone sculptures of an elephant and an alligator. The stone alligator is particularly infamous, as it is rumored to be the site of annual human sacrifices, as mentioned in some Chinese texts from the 6th century. The fact that the shape of the alligator sculpture resembles the stretched out form of a human being further indicates the possibility of this.

Wat Phu is also rather impressive architecturally, with the corrior walls of the norther palace being laterite, and the southern palace being made of sandstone. As it is a Khmer style temple, the site is plentiful with scultpures and images depicting figures from the Hindu religion, inlcuding Krishna, Kaliya, Indra, Airavata, Vishnu and Garuda.

Today the site is open to the general public for religious activities as well as a tourist location from 8:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M., and the price of admittance is 50,000 Lao kip for tourists and 20,000 Lao kip for locals. The temple also has a museum nearby, where other ancient items, sculptures, and architectural pieces are kept on display, including statues of Shiva, Vishnu and Nandin, as well as some Buddhist statues.

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