http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Laos , East , Phonsavan en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:05:09 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:05:09 BST PhonsavanWe have arrived without any complications only on the way there it was absolutely pissing it down. We had lovely welcoming committee waiting for us and look they even have banners ...with guest houses... we got put into minibus and were taken to a guest house...Plain of JarsNext day rented motor bike and hope there is not going to be heavy rain as we don't have time to waste so Plain http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-272768.html It was time to make a move from LaLa Land so I woke up and boarded the bus bound for Phonsavan. Spring Break was over. Phonsavan is famous for its mysterious Plain of Jars and infamous for being the most heavily bombed region of the world. It was going to be a very educational experience. All Aboard literally One of the best parts of traveling is experiencing all the different modes of tran http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-253277.html This entry is officially about the Plain of Jars but on the 11807 we also had a good day cheap massages I had a treatment called 'The Luang Prabang Experience' which involved massage then a herbal steam and then a seaweed wrap. My skin now feels completely recovered from the Perhentian sunburning incident.On the morning of 12807 our minibus arrived to take us to Phonsavan. We knew t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-192310.html The first hiccup occurred when we arrived at the bus terminal to catch our bus to Phonsavan. There was no public bus that day which we had bought tickets for and were told that we had to pay another 10000 Kip 50p to get the VIP bus instead. To be honest we were all pretty relieved as an 8 hour journey with headrests was a lot more appealing than one on a Forrest Gump schoolbus style bus. W http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-186079.html There has never been any shame in admitting I have done it three times before. A dreadful stigma accompanies such a social gaffe in the United States. Yet while abroad the rules are different. In the pursuit of greater crosscultural understanding both bride and groom have always been understanding when I show up to congratulate them on their new lives together. In each instance I had no in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-185290.html Phonsavan goes beyond its permanently linked relationship with the stone hollow receptacles that divert visitors from a wellmarked course between Luang Prabang and Vientiane. Those who call upon the provincial capital of Xing Kuong are well rewarded with a more pure and more easily accessible look at Laos. In all its simplicity Phonsavan is a happy place and though difficult to imagine even http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-185287.html When traversing Laos by bus passengers receive a basic care package for the journey. It usually includes a bottle of water a prepackaged cake or some cookies. My favorite so far has been the seaweed wafers with cream fillings from China. Without question the most essential handout in the box is a thin plastic bag. An inordinate number of Laotians surprisingly suffer from motion sickness http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-185286.html Dear blog Today I feel as though I have just stuffed up big style. Can't go in to more details as present because I'm hoping that I might not have stuffed anything up at all. But I feel like I have and what was supposed to make me feel better has actually made me feel worse. But like I said it might all be fine. Will just have to wait and see. Will keep you posted. Anyway we caught a local http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-180004.html Monday June 18 2007 Laos Motorbike Trip Day 6 The Road to Paksan and back to Phonsavan 140 Km Covered The day began once again early. We ate some breakfast purchased some rubber boots in the market and various foodstuffs for the long trip into unknown territory. We had to make a few other stops before the fun could begin. First we had come all this way and had to at least see the Plain http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-177133.html Sunday June 17 2007 Laos Motorbike Trip Day 5 Phonsavan and neighboring areas 190Km Covered After an early breakfast we were excited to get out and explore. We followed Dave the bomb dudersquos map and found a dirt track into the red mud and rice paddies. We stopped and took pictures of these rice fields. Some of the most beautiful we had seen in SE Asia. As we approached the site of the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-177121.html Saturday June 16 2007 Laos Motorbike Trip Day 4 Luang Prabang to Phonsavan 266Km Covered After some jet fuellike Lao coffee and a baguette we were back on the bikes early. We had to backtrack south to the fork in the road where route 13 and route 7 meet. By 1030am we were eating tuna sandwiches at the same place with the monkey. We bought a few extra sandwiches for the ride and strapped http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-177118.html Phonsavan Plain of JarsDHallo mal wiederMomentan haenge ich seit ueber einer Woche in Vang Vieng rum und hab' einen Riesenspass mit im Wasser planschen und faulenzen naechstes Kapitel. Daher bin ich ein bischen hinterher mit dem Blog. Also hab' ich meinen Aufenthalt um einen Tag verlaengert um die relativ milde Temperatur auszunutzen und mal wieder das Reistagebuch a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-160609.html Hi all I'm still alive and kicking thanks for all the emails checking Internet access was not fantastic in Laos and where it has been available it has been painfully slow with poor computers. We have also been extremelly busy doing stuff so haven't had so much time to spend telling everyone else about it...I hope I can remember everythingOK so where do I start...Luang Prabang is where I l http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-159651.html Luang Prabang PhonsavanJason Kirstyn O Spent one more night in Luang Prabang before heading south east to Phonsavan. The bus ride was an easy eight hours on a rickety old bus but luckily not too many people aboard so we were able to stretch our legs. It was a very windy road on the way there through the mountains passing lots of hilltribe villages on the way. A lovely trip From Phonsavan we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-155596.html Phonsavan to Pakse This is what I call ldquoThe journey that took 5 years off my liferdquo. Itrsquos right up there with the ride from Manali to Leh in India. Trying to find my way from Phonsavan to Paksen without having to go back to Vientiene I decided to go against the Lonely Planetrsquos suggestion of not taking the direct route. I booked my ticket at a local travel agent in Phonsava http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-149967.html Phonsavan is an unassuming town east of the capital Vientiene. Although it may not look like much from the window of a bus it has a lot of history. It is known for two famous things. The first being that it is home to the Plain of Jars five sites of huge sandstone jars dating 25003000 years old. They are not quite sure what they were used for but most agree they were for their dead a kind http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-147568.html The bus to Phonsavan possessed that rarest of qualities it never filled up. This was enough to raise the spirits after countless crowded journeys without the luxury of space. I was sufficiently boosted by this that even the drawbacks of the guesthouse in Phonsavan a flexible wooden floor that nipped the skin of one's feet painfully and a hot shower that only lived up to its name if the flow wa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-135928.html Vores sidste blog var allerede da vi skrev den lidt outdated for vi var allerede over en uge inde i vores ophold i Laos saa nu kommer der en ny rejsefortaelling.... YAY I Vi tog en af vores ynglings nattoge med en ekstra ladning kakkelakker til Laos' graense hvor vi ved rent held mooedte nogle super flinke folk. Bl.a. Daniel en supersoed australier som vi endte med at dele vaerelse med. Vi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-130004.html We arrived in Phonsavanh on Wednesday at about 4pm the public bus wasn't as bad as I had expected although there was a man with a rooster several sacks of rice down the aisle. We got a lift to a guest house with a local man called Mr. Kong the guesthouse owner along with several other people from the bus. We met Giles who is originally from Birmingham but now lives in South Wales his accen http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-122688.html 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 95k http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-122683.html PHOTOS http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-112723.html 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 remo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-104133.html I got up early and headed over to Cassie's room to fix her up the best I could from what I had. She was just about to have a shower and decided to meet me near the fire in the garden. All the staff gathered around to check out my efforts and I felt pleased to be of assistance to her. A friend of hers had the same problem and ended up in a hospital. I didn't want that to happen to her so tried m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-102068.html I woke at theh crack of dawn and sat out the front with the family sipping a Laos coffee. Pa cooked me some breakfast and I used half of it in a baguet to give to Don. The family gave us a lovely farewell and equipped us with a care package for our journey 2 baguets a bunch of bananas and a couple of bottles of water. It was sad to say goodbye after having such a wonderful introduction to Lao http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-102065.html 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 mindboggling... I will add mor http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-90803.html After 4 days I left Luang Prabang and took a bus to Phonsavan. Its a good 8 hours to the east and is the site of The Plain of Jars. I have heard good and bad things about this attraction but since I have over three weeks still in the country and was going to do a whole tour of the north it seemed like a fitting stopover. As usual on the bus I met some fellow travellers and we stuck together o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-87712.html The day after I arrived in Phonsavan I visited the Plaine des Jarres it was really pretty boring. Had I known I would have skipped Phonsavan and taken the long way to Luang Prabang through Nam Nouan and Nong Khiaw...oh well perhaps next time.Le Plaine des Jarres ne vaut franchement pas le detour quelque vielles jarres en pierre et puis c'est tout. Si j'avais su j'aurais pris un autre chemin po http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-83356.html 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 ush http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-83130.html RickThese 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 rela http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-82589.html Click on previous journal above even if you already read it for pictures of Phonsavan Laos and the Plain of Jars http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-79422.html