Four years have passed since I dreamed of the Khmer temple somewhere in Indochina. I have googled the area many times looking for pictures of the place in my dream – but the closest I came to finding pics that kind of looked like the place I saw in my dream was Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

So when that 83 year old lady rear-ended my car the very first words out of my mouth were, “I’m going to Cambodia with my settlement.”

As soon as the smoke had cleared on the accident, and the ink was still drying on the settlement cheque, I found a super cheap ticket to Bangkok with China Air. After taxes it was $1027 for a trip to the other side of the planet. I never thought of going to Thailand but figured it was close enough to Cambodia and Laos.

I had been googling the words, “Khmer temple Laos” off and on for years but all that came up was either Khmer temples in Thailand, Khmer temples in Cambodia, and pagoda style Buddhist temples in Laos. No Khmer temples in Laos. Within hours of buying the ticket to Bangkok I hit gold on my google search. I discovered there was a Khmer temple in Laos after all. It was called Wat Phu in Pakse, Laos.

So my plan is to land in Bangkok, Thailand; fly to a Thai border town called Ubon Ratchathani, bus into Pakse, Laos; check out this Watt Pu; fly into Siem Reap, Cambodia to see Angkor Watt; then head back to Bangkok.