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Capitalizing on its location at the confluence of the Xe Don and the Mekong rivers, roughly halfway between the Thai border and the fertile Bolaven Plateau, PAKXE is the far south's biggest city, and its commercial and transport hub. For the traveller, however, it is little more than a dull stopover en route to Laos's southernmost tip or via the Thai-Lao border at Chong Mek, though it makes a more comfortable base than Champasak for visits to the Khmer ruins at Wat Phou. The city's main sight is the Champasak Provincial Museum (Mon-Fri 8-11.30am & 2-4pm; 1000K), 1.5km east of the town centre on Route 13 and easily reached by tuk-tuk. It houses some fine examples of ornately carved pre-Angkorian sandstone lintels taken from sites around the province, now on show in the rear gallery. Upstairs, there's a selection of local tribes' costumes and jewellery. Heading back into town along Route 13, you'll pass Champasak Palace Hotel , a majestic eyesore resembling a giant cement wedding cake. Legend has it that the late Prince Boun Oum na Champasak, a colourful character who was the heir to the Champasak kingdom and one of the most influential southerners of the twentieth century, needed a palace this size so that he could accommodate his many concubines. The palace, left incomplete after the one-time prime minister wound up on the wrong side of history and left for France in the 1970s, has now been converted into a hotel.
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