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Blogs from Plain of Jars, East, Laos, Asia
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August 15th 2012
So my sister Shanta and friend Manjula have joined me for the rest of Laos and Cambodia. I knew when my energetic sister arrived there would be no laid back traveling, as I have been doing up till now. Since she has joined me, I have been up at 7 am every morning and ready for breakfast by the time she has comeback from her early morning walk! The Plain of Jars in Phonsavan Laos were amazing and an intriguing tourist attraction. They were stone man-made jars in the middle of no-where, large enough to fit me in and a few others more. They were huge! What were they made for? Were they used as jam jars for giants? Did people hide in them..? Who knows and it remains a mystery! All the time we were ... read more
April 13th 2012
We had a brief stay in PHonsavan which was so interesting learning a bit about the Laos recent history, and the "secret" war with America. This area was heavily bombed for 9 years when America was at war with Vietnam and is still heavily affected by millions of unexploded bombs (UXO's). The Plain of Jars that we visited is one of the few sites which has been completely cleared, for tourism purposes and while we there we had to keep within markers so we didn't venture into uncleared territory. It was a very mysterious place with stone jars from 500BC which no one is too sure why their there. Archaologists guess that it may have been to do with burial rituals. There are myths of giant gods who used them for making Lao Lao (a famous ... read more
January 31st 2012
31st Jan ’12 Luang Prabang to Phonsavan (home of the Plain of Jars) Time to hit the road again, this time by tuk tuk (which was actually late this time) to the bus station and then by minibus to Phonsavan which was supposed to take about 8 hours. The minibus was a bit of a surprise as it was actually pretty large, newish and had only 8 seats in the back. The luggage all went on the roof and as there was only 9 passengers (1 went in the front) we all had a good bit of space. Not so good was the fact there were no head rests (and when you are jolting along for 8 hours this would have helped the old neck) and the small Lao boy who was travelling with us was ... read more
May 18th 2011
Rough night. Walls are paper thin and there's a light that shines into the room. Every time I turn it off a girl with loud flip flops stomps down the hall and turns it back on. I abuse their wi-fi connection. Buying a book in Laos costs about 50,000 kip, the room cost 40,000 and I stole a book from them. I prefer to think of it as buying a book and getting a free room. Sill tired I get up at 07:30 since one of the tour guides I spoke to yesterday says he opens at 07:00 and his tour leaves at 08:30. The shower for the guest house is out back and doesn't work. I'll shower in my next guest house. I check out. At 08:00 the tour shop's still closed. I grab some ... read more
August 12th 2010
Thursday, 12th August Now then. Bus journeys. Usually uneventful and usually no-one gives a sh*t so I just gloss over them. Today's was testament to the absolute ineptitude of the South East Asian transport system so far it would be a complete injustice to every other transportation system in the Universe (including the cross Saturn X34 route) to not document it. It started early (as always), 20 minutes before scheduled. No I will not get on the bus in just a towel Mr. Busman. Waiting on the bus for us to show up was an Israeli girl with no ticket and was bullied onto this minibus in the greatest miscommunication since sitcoms were banned from mocking deaf people. She had a ticket for a real bus in 45 minutes, and the bus station is not close ... read more
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May 1st 2010
LAOS-PHONSAVAN-XIENG KHOUANG-PLAIN OF JARS... Xieng Khounag has been the only place I have to come where the weather has been dry and cool in 22 degrees Celcius...Hail the Lord...It brought tears to my eyes...I checked into the hotel and arranged for a ride to the plains. First to site 1 then to site 2. There are many jar locations. These two along with site number 3 are the ones that are open to the tourist. It was drizzling a little when we started the ride, but by the time we (The driver and I) got to the site 1 it was all clear and cool...They are impressive and their mystery adds to their magic and beauty...What was there purpose, how were they lifted to the top of the hills, etc...The area of Xieng Khoung was heavily ... read more
March 26th 2010
Ich bin in Phonsavan und es ist eiskalt! Nur 18°C abends und es herrscht ein eisiger Wind, so dass es sich noch kälter anfühlt. "18°C sind doch angenehme Temperaturen", werdet Ihr nach Eurem kalten Winter jetzt wahrscheinlich sagen, ich rede aber nicht von angenehmen Erster-Frühlingstag-und-endlich-Sonne-18-Grad, sondern von Mitte-August-und-seit-zwei-Wochen-nur-Regen-und-wann-wird's-mal-wieder-richtig-Sommer-18-Grad! Ich machte für einen Tag Zwischenstation hier, weil ich mir die Ebene der Tonkrüge anschauen wollte. Der deutsche Name ist eigentlich nicht ganz korrekt. Eigentlich handelt es sich um riesige Steinkrüge, die an drei Standorten in der Umgebung von Phonsavan scheinbar wahllos in der Gegend herumliegen. Sie stammen von einer Megalithkultur und sind ungefähr zweitausend Jahre alt. Ihr genauer Sinn und Zweck ist noch nicht ganz geklärt. Es spricht einiges dafür, ... read more
March 2nd 2010
Because we were due to fly out again this afternoon Tey arranged to meet us at 7.30am this morning. He was most concerned that we did not have jackets because it was so cold. He may have been feeling the cold this morning, but we thought that it was blissfully cool!! From the hotel we drove to the Visitor Information Centre only to find it was still closed. As an official UNESCO-trained guide, Tey has to purchase a permit each time that he is taking tourists to visit the jars. After a very short wait, during which a couple of calls were made, a staff member arrived to open up the visitor centre. With our permit purchased we were on our way to Site No. 2. Site No. 2 is about 25km south of Phonsovan. The ... read more
January 27th 2010
Keith and I signed up for a trial-run of a brand new trek, trek being the word used here for a long-hike through the jungle. An ‘ecolodge’ had been built in a poor, remote village in the jungle with the idea that money could be brought to this community by having tourists trek through the jungle to get to it. Tourists would pay to stay in the village, to have the villagers cook for them, as well as pay local tour guides to show them the way. We were told the trip would be two days of hiking through the jungle, with an overnight stay in a Hmong tribe village. I’d always wanted to try doing this, as there are many such treks for sale in LPB, but they usually cost $50. This one, since it ... read more
January 24th 2010
The other day while dining with a group of ex-pats I met Keith, a well-traveled British man in his forties, in Laos researching and writing for a very popular company’s guide book. He was starting his research in Luang Prabang but would soon be heading west and north to continue his work. He invited me to come along, after learning I was the only at the table not currently working. I was reluctant to leave LPB, having only been in town about ten days, but realizing I could come back anytime, that I’d wanted to check out these same places, that I could learn more about the world from him, as someone who’s been almost everywhere, and that it'd be fun to tag along with a travel writer, I decided to join him. I was also ... read more
