Crazy curvy bus rides, an amazing jog and The Plain of Jars

---

Only in Laos does a 250km trip take over 6 hours to drive

Woke up early yet again to sqeeze in a quick job before our 7 hour bus ride to Pohnsavan to see The Plain of Jars, and I couldn't of ask for a better run. First let me explain that Luang Prabang has tons of beautiful Frech buildings and is also situated on the meeting point of the Mighty Mekong River and well as the smaller Nam Khan River already the makings for a beautiful run. So I started my run from the guesthouse and followed the Nam Khan River as it curved through the old quater of town, seeing a set of puppies on my way. Then the road curves as the rivers meet so I continued to follow the Mekong for a while the turn up to head back through town and to the guest house, and as I turn I am stopped by hundreds of monks all collecting sticky rice from the towns people who were kneeled on the street waiting. It was truley beautiful. The only thing that would ahve made it a bit more perfect would have been to have my camera. As I ran further where the next road intersected the were hundreds more monks doing the same thing, and I ran back with a massive smile on my face. A true gift for getting up at 6:30.




By 9 o clock we were on the road and heading through the hills to Pohnsavan, and what started out a smooth journey turned out be quite testing as the we continued. About 2 hours in we stopped for a toilet break and to get some eats. My stomach was already on edge at this point and I have to admit that it didn't help matters when we got out one of the booths selling sandwichs I believe had a huge dead rodent of some sort set out on the tabel right next to the tomatoes and all. Not feeling the least bit hungery we headed back to the van to endure some more torture. The driver offered to stop one more time but all of us were ready to get it over with and we decided to just press forward. Got in about three thirty, and not looking forward to heading back that way to get to Vang Vieng. Had to be my first 6 hour 250km van ride.




Just finished the Plain of Jars tour, and it was amazing! It was neat to learn about these 5000 some odd year old mysteries. It is believed that they were used as funeral pots, thats why some are big(adults) and soem are samll (children). We were also told that they were made with buffalo milk, sand and small pebbles, using the buffalo hide to shape them and elephants to transport them. It was also crazy to see all the land mine work that was done, and to learn some about the Secret War. Apparently what happened was that the Vietnamese dug trenches in Laos to transport people and weapons and some how the US found out and started bombing Laos. Quite sad actually, all around you could see old trenches and tons of craters from the bombings. It is also evident in the town and around Laos of the amount of bombs dropped and planted by the empty casings being used as flower pots, lampshades, BBQs or just as ortiments outside of restuarants or homes. There is even a cafe here named Craters. After seeing the Plain of Jars site 1 we were off to see number two. Number two was about the same still beautiful though and as we came down the hill we noticed our driver standing outside of our running van... No big deal right? Wrong.Some how he managed to lock the keys inside the running van, but hey we are in Laos anything can happen. So 4 Lao guys and several attempts to break in the van using sticks later and it was a trek to the thrid site and some noodle soup. The trek was actually nice dispite the fact I wasn't wearing sunscreen and was in jeans. It was really nice to see the farm side of Laos. And we all made it 45 minutes later and more than a little sunburnt. At the last site we were treated to some turkey rice noodle soup, which was amazing, and the view of yet some more Jars. By this time I was pretty much done with the jars and ready togo. We did get one more treat on our way back, the sight of a broken Russian tanks, although it had be stripped of any metal that they could pry off it was still neat to see.



All in all another lovely day, finished off with me taking Adrian out for a run and a great curry dinner. I reckon he will be feeling it in the morning.

---

Comments

[Audrey]

Your great adventure
So glad you are seeing life, Kelsey. It is so easy to sit here in safe, tidy Sechelt and think that is the "world".... you will never look at things from quite the same viewpoint, once you have been "out there". I really enjoy reading your experiences, as I have never been to that part of the world.....I was in China in l972, and expect that I wouldn't recognize it now! Keep the info coming..... here in the cold and dark, it cheers me up! Merry Xmas ands good luck.... Audrey.