Blogs from Phonsavan, East, Laos, Asia - page 7

We had arranged to travel here by minivan but due to it diving off a cliff yesterday and putting two people in hospital we ended up traveling the cheaper way, public transport. We nearly didn't make it as there was a crash just 10 metres away from our guest house which blocked the road off. Some one decided to drive the wrong way down the one way street and hot another vehicle head on at about 95km/hr, it wasn't nice! Some one needed cutting out of their van and there was a lot of screaming. Luckily I was feeling a bit better today and the bus journey was not as bad as we had imagined, especially after hearing stories of being crammed in with bags of rice everywhere, the only thing we saw that was unusual ... read more

After all that, we finally arrived in Phonsavan (of Plains of Jars fame) with frayed nerves and a lovely Aussie gent in tow. Let's call him dodgy Uncle Steve (note: *contrary to his nickname, Steve is a very accomplished fellow who speaks half a dozen languages (including Vietnamese better than I can) and is currently working for an NGO in Cambodia that deals with such hot topics as landmine removal, aids education and water conservation). I can't really say that the Plains or the Jars contained within were all that spectacular. Historically, they're interesting enough. Jar experts speculate that they were used for ancient cremation rituals. Being the irreverent, godless person I am I naturally took the opportunity to jump into one of them. I instantly felt quite melancholy and jaded about being a young woman ... read more

I altered my route slightly to come to Phonsavan. I felt I should visit the plain of jars. Phonsavan is an interested town. It was severely bombed in the Indochina war. All over evidence can be found i.e. Craters is the name of the pub beside MAGS (Mines Advisory Group). Futhermore, the village people have made their own uses for the bomb- casing. The jars really are mind-boggling... I will add more when I have unboggled my mind.... read more

Rick: These hornlogs are coming thick and fast at mo. So thought I'd give the long winded blog slog a go this time instead of Becky, I think there is something for everyone in here (and maybe a little offensive to some) so......... We only spent about a week in Laos but was enough to get a feel for the place as we travelled right across hilly North Laos. Its a really lush (literally very green) relaxed country making me cast my mind back those long 10 months ago when we started travelling in South America in places like Equador, Peru and Bolivia. Also maybe a bit like Thailand was 20 years ago, before the onslaught of Westerners like me! We had very, very, long, slow winding boat and bus journeys giving a amazing insight into ... read more

Woke up early on the morning of the 12th and had to rush around buying tickets for Phonsavan with only half an hour to spare. This suited me rather well, as I wanted to make a reasonably sharp exit after checking out of the guesthouse due to the damaged fan. Made it away safely and arrived at the bus station with very little time to spare. After loading our bags onto the roof, we were hurredly ushered onto the bus only to find that our seats were taken. After speaking to the driver, just to ask whether it was ok to sit in any seat, he promptly shooed the mother and child out of our seat and made them sit elswhere. At the time I felt quite bad about it, however it was certainly worth it ... read more

Click on "previous journal" above (even if you already read it) for pictures of Phonsavan, Laos and the Plain of Jars!... read more