Pakse

Not even ONE photo was taken.

Honestly, I’m not entirely sure why I even came to Pakse, Laos.  I think it was because I thought that I would rent a motorcycle and tour around for a few days, but I realized I didn’t have enough time once I got there because I slept half the day after my bus ride from Thakek after taking those sleeping pills on the “overnight” bus.  So I did the one thing I could do, go to a sauna and massage place.  I found a place that wasn’t as rural as the other place in Vientiane but this place was just a good but a with a little less charm.  Clinic Keo Ou Done is not in the main part of the town but a short tuk-tuk ride away and the prices are just as cheap as the other place, like $4 massage and $3 for sauna.  The cool part about this place besides the great massage is that women in the sauna area used it as a their own personal luxury spa.  Since the sauna is divided between men and women, between sauna sessions, they would wash their hair, put a deep conditioner in, go in the sauna, come out and rinse.   Then they would do a sugar scrub treatment, wash off and then put a lotion on, then go back into the sauna.  In and out, they would do different types of grooming. I felt like I was on the inner circle of knowing how Asian women care for themselves.  Is this how they look so young?  Or so slender?  I need more information!  I want in on the secret.  But safe to say that this and regular massages have something to do with it, so I’m already working on it.

Oh, and this town has GREAT noodles!  Two big places on the main drag have really good noodles, Xuan Mai Café and Jasmin’s Café.  Super delicious!