The Plain of Jars...

---

So from Vang Vieng we travelled east to a strange little town called Phonsavan that is famous for two reasons.

The first is the Plain of Jars, which is a series of fields filled with enormous stone jars dating from the stone age that, as of yet, scientists have no idea what they were used for or why they are where they are. One theory (the most likely one) is that they were used in burial practices and were giant urns that held the cremated remains of important people. The other theory (and the one that most locals believe) is that they were actually used as distilleries in producing rice whiskey and that the fields were used to hold huge celebrations and bnaquets. The strange thing is that, either way, no traces of human remains or belongings, or of the equipment used to distill whiskey have ever been discovered in the area. So it remains an odd mystery.

The town's second claim to fame is that it is the largest city in the most bombed province, in the most bombed country, in the world. It was this that made our short stay in Phonsavan so worthwhile.

During the time of the US led war in Vietnam Laos made the untimely decision to 'convert' to communism and the USA were not pleased. Seeing this as the beginning of the spread of communism throughout all of Asia, they began an arial attack on Laos of unprecedented proportions. In the short period between 1965-73 the US air force dropped over 2 million tons of bombs on Laos- more than all the bombs dropped on Germany and Japan combined throughout the entire second World War. Furthermore, as the country sandwiched between Vietnam and the US air bases in Thailand, Laos was continuously used as a 'land fill' for bombs that were intended for Vietnamese targets but were never employed.

This has left the country littered with UXOs (mostly cluster bombs) that injure and kill hundreds of people every year. Bomb craters decorate the countryside and there are villages that are made out of salvaged bomb shells. It is very strange and very sad to see. The area that we were in had not yet been cleared of UXOs (as with most rural areas) and their presence has made development throughout the country very slow. Because there are just so many bombs under the soil, any efforts to improve roads or build new infrastructure is extremely dangerous.

We were staying in a great guesthouse run by an avid historian and his family and we got the opportunity to explore the countryside safely and visit some crater sites and one of the "bomb villages". In the village they used bomb shells as herb gardens, as stilts for their houses, as troughs for their animals, as fences, as fire pits and they melted much of the salvaged metal to produce farming and kitchen tools. It was quite amazing.

The town itself was not very nice or interesting and we only stayed long enough to realise we had run out of money and that there were no ATMs! We also discovered that we would not be able to get our Vietnamese visas there or anywhere further north, as we had hoped...
So we found ourselves on the first night bus out of there for the 12hr journey to the capital.

I had a really interesting time in Phonsavan and it was great to get the chance to learn more about the country's history and people.

Next stop: Vientiane (and Christmas!)...........

---