Pillar causeway
Lotus-bud posts.
Basile Morin — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Basile Morin — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Basile Morin — CC BY-SA 4.0
A ruined Khmer Hindu temple complex on the slope of Phou Kao mountain in southern Laos, around a spring that was a place of worship from prehistoric times, beneath a peak whose striking shape the ancients held sacred. UNESCO listed it in 2001 within the Champasak cultural landscape, and its beginnings predate Angkor Wat by centuries. Visitors start beside two ancient reservoirs and walk a long causeway lined with small stone posts shaped like lotus buds, between two ruined sandstone palaces, then climb a steep stone stairway shaded by old frangipani trees with twisted trunks and white flowers. At the top is the main sanctuary with fine stone carving on lintels and doorways and the sacred spring behind it, and the upper terrace looks far over the plain, the reservoirs, rice fields and the distant Mekong. A big festival is held here every February. The fee usually includes a cart to the foot of the stairs, and 2026 reports say it has been raised, so check at the entrance. Early morning is best. Temples are living places of worship: cover shoulders and knees and take off shoes before entering halls.
Lotus-bud posts.
Frangipani trees.
Plain views.
Foot of Phou Kao mountain, near Champasak, about 40 km south of Pakse
Its beginnings are centuries older, the site being sacred since prehistory, though most standing buildings are from the later Khmer era.