60
STAY
TRUE
SOUTHERN
COMFORT: RESIDENCE
BASSAC Old Champasak charm with a modern twist. TEXT BY CLAIRE BOOBBYER PHOTOGRAPHS BY RESIDENCE BASSAC
GETTING THERE Champasak is only 40 km south of Pakse, which is served by daily flights from Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Siem Reap. Lao Airlines also flies from Bangkok five times per week and from Ho Chi Minh City three times per week. For bookings, visit residencebassac.com
A
low-slung Chinese shophouse converted into a small, smart frangipani-framed hotel close to the most important Khmer ruins in southern Laos. What’s not to like? Pretty Champasak is the gateway to the petite pre-Angkorian ruins at Wat Phou, staggered up the side of a terraced ridge, and set in the shadow of a holy mountain. The small town is the perfect antidote to traffic-choked, wire-tangled nearby Pakse city, and is strung out along one road, which traces the lower Mekong River, with homes, shops, glittering Buddhist temples, and the odd eye-catching grand French-Colonial building — once palaces for the Lao Champasak royals.
Perfectly located in the middle of this sun-baked town is Residence Bassac. The hotel sits between the tiny ferry port at one end of town, and the Wat Phou ruins at the other. Once its pool opens, with winning views of the chocolate-colored Mekong, it’ll be the top hotel address in Champasak, and you’ll want to book in for an extra night just so you can spend a day lounging in the riverfront pool, cocktails — or a Beerlao — in hand. Previous visitors to Champasak will be familiar with the property. Formerly the Inthira, it was bought by the owner of Muang La Lodge, in Oudomxay province, a year ago and has been rebranded and upgraded. Restaurant Soum Noum is now less roadside diner and more Lao-Mediterranean cuisine focused, and with homemade bread, and ice cream on the menu, a solid cheese selection, a revamped wine menu which now features prosecco and cava; and the burgers are more robust, and made from Angus beef. Around 80 percent of
