Pakse

Pakse (or Pakxe; French: Paksé; Laotian: ປາກເຊ Template:IPA 'mouth of the river') is the capital and most populous city of the southern Laotian province of Champasak. Located at the confluence of the Xe Don and Mekong Rivers, the district had a population of approximately 77,900 at the 2015 Laotian census.<ref name="Census2015">Template:Cite web</ref>

History

The French established an administrative outpost in Pakse in 1905. The city was the capital of the Lao Kingdom of Champasak until 1946 when the Kingdom of Laos was formed. After the Franco-Thai war the French ceded Preah Vihear Province, formerly belonging to the French protectorate of Cambodia, and the part of Champasak Province located on the other side of the Mekong river from Pakse, which had been part of Laos, to Thailand.<ref>Grabowsky, Volker. Regions and National Integration in Thailand 1892–1992. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1995.</ref>

Demographics

In 1943, 62% of the population of Pakse were Vietnamese.<ref name="MartinStuart-FoxA">Stuart-Fox, Martin (1997). A History of Laos. Cambridge University Press, p. 51. Template:ISBN.</ref> Today, Pakse is a centre of the Laotian Chinese community, with a large number of businesses being owned by Laotians of Chinese ancestry.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Religion

File:Multiple rows of golden statues of the Buddha seated with flowers, at Wat Phou Salao, Pakse, Laos.jpg

Rows of golden statues of the Buddha seated, with yellow and red flowers, at Wat Phou Salao (Golden Buddha temple), in Pakse.

The population is predominantly Buddhist and the city has temples. These include: Wat Luang, which was built in 1935 and is the largest temple in Pakse, and the Chinese temple Wat Sopsé.<ref name="Temples in Pakse">Template:Cite web</ref>

Infrastructure

Health

There are 2 hospitals in the city.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Transportation

Pakse International Airport construction was completed on 2 November 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Climate

Pakse has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen climate classification Aw). Temperatures are higher in the months before the monsoon season (March–April). There is a wet season (April–October) and dry season (November–March).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Tourism

Template:WikivoyageVisitors to Pakse's Champasak Province grew from 113,684 in 2006 to 493,180 in 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>