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The end of our stay in Vang Vieng and the start of our time in Phonsavan was struck with freak streak of constant rainy weather. A local man in Phonsavan commented to us that it was very strange that it had rained at that time of year, and it had caused a lot of problems with their herds of cattle.
The day after we arrived the sun was back to its blazing glory, along with clear blue skies. This was good timing since we had planned to go on a tour to see the famous ancient 'Plain of Jars'. The Jars vary in size and shape but are generally quite large and made of thick heavy stone. There are hundreds of sites with thousands of these jars spread across the hilly landscape . We were grateful to be able to see these picturesque areas in the good weather. However, because there are large areas of Laos still ridden with Unexploded Ordinance (UXO), only 3 sites so far have been cleared for people to be able to view the mysterious jars safely.
Through carbon dating, the Jars have been proved to be over 2500 years old. Since there are a
lack of historical records and archeological evidence, no one knows exactly who built them and what their purpose was. The most popular theory is that they were used as cremation burial urns, where people would be cremated inside and the urn would be left to stand as a tomb stone. It is thought that the richest people had the biggest jars, some of which even had stone lids and fine carvings. Another local belief is that the Jars were used to brew Lao-Lao Whiskey by a king for a massive celebration. That is a lot of booze and would have been one hell of a party.
Part of the our tour to the plains included a visit to a local Lao-Lao whisky village. We witnessed how the intoxicating rice beverage is made through heating big tubs of rice water and filtering off the alcohol, which is produced. We were able to try some too, thinking it tasted more like vodka than the usual whisky. The person in charge of the production was a 80 year old woman who has been making the drink in her small hut since she was 15.
In the evening, before we grabbed some
food, we visited the Mines Adversary Group (MAG) to learn more about the UXO problems in the Oudomxay region. They had a small museum showing examples of the many types of UXO found and stories about how UXOs affect the day-to-day lives in these regions. They also showed documentaries. We watched one called 'Bombies', this being a phrase used for UXOs. We were shocked to hear about the massive amount of bombs in Laos were dropped by America during the Vietnam war. We learned that many were dropped illegally under the Geneva convention, until news got out through a travelling reporter who investigated the waves of refugees that flooded into cities from the bombarded countryside. It was also apparent that many were being dropped in fertile lands simply to dispose of undropped bombs, before going back to base. It turned out that Laos has the grim record of being the most bombed country ever, and they weren't even involved in the war! The injustice of this is hard to swallow, when we learned how these raids affect huge percentages of the land and lives of the people of Laos. They have some of the most fertile land in the world
but most of it cannot be farmed safely until it is cleared, which will take at the current rate of progress, over a century. After hearing all this, it made sense that Lao has remained one of the poorest countries in the world for quite some time. Most of the victims of 'Bombies' are children who don't understand the danger of touching UXO and farmers who have to plough fields but live with the uncertainty that at any moment they could trigger a bomb.
There are so many UXOs that some people are now very skilled in using the scrap metal of these dangerous objects for everyday tools and furnishings. In Phonsavan, people use huge cut-in-half missile shells for a pair of plant pots. Other large shells are used as supports for houses and smaller shells for general decoration. Our key to our room even had a small bomb shell as a key ring! Although it a novel idea, it can be dangerous as children become very familiar to the objects and don't understand the difference between a defused shell being used in the home and coming across a live bomb in a field on the way to school.
The next day we set off again in a small minivan to be driven again through the ever-winding roads of the Lao mountainous countryside, this time on our way to Luang Prabang.
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