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Published: February 10th 2006
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Indiana Jones and field of Jars
More contrived photos... we love them. Hi all! Welcome to our continuing journey...Moving on from Luang Farang we headed to Phonsavan to check out the mysterious Plain of Jars by public bus, If you've read prior entries you will know that buses are usually adventures in and of themselves. The highlights of this particular journey were a stop in a small village where a walk through one of the kitchens revealed the lunch fare- including monkeys and monitor lizrds. Needless to say we were thrilled to have packed bread and cheese! The road was 8 hours long through about 3 million curves at approximately 1500 meters up. Our only blessing was that, since it was a public bus, it could only go so fast (10 km/hr) and so we were only partially scared out of our wits along the way. The other relief was that there were only 2 of us sitting on our supposedly 3 person bench since the seats were so so close together you actually could not sit straight in the chair- generally a pretty uncomfortable ride but, as always, we're pretty much happy we got out of it with our lives! We also found a fabulous guide in the seat behind ours... Although
Plain of Jars
Hundreds of stone jars, some of which are 3000 yrs old scattered about a field in Eastern Laos. No one really knows why. it seemed like he rides the bus to meet tourists. Too convenient. But nevertheless.
Plain of Jars:
We figured we'd go to see these things given that they're basically on par with Easter Island and Stonehenge and, since we would see those things should we be in the area- well- you get the logic. Basically the area is littered with thousands of giant stone jars weighing upto 3 tons and dating back almost 3000 yrs. Theories exist (3 main ones) but noone really knows what they're for and how they got here. We'd heard various accounts of how redundant these jars became after you saw just one and how little there was to see and do in the surrounding area but we decided to take the chance. So, going with low expectations we were, understandably, very pleasantly surprised. Our entire experience in this area was actually governed by our meeting Mr. Nyot on our bus to Phonsavan, who then held our hands through our time there. From busing us around to find a great guesthouse ("Nice Guesthouse"- actually very nice), to an excellent tour the next day, and suggestions for what to see around the town- Mr. Nyot actually
Market Fare
Everything is for sale at the "fresh market". As you can see... deserves a referral to Lonely Planet (which we will surely do). It also didn't hurt that we weren't bombarded with anti-American sentiments since this entire area was carpet-bombed by the US in the 'secret war' waged in Laos during the Vietnam War (known as the American War in this end of the world). The entire area is still covered with UXO's (unexploded ordinances) which have killed thousands since the war ended and continues to send children to the nearby Austrian orphanage set up specifically for these victims. For this reason- it is HIGHLY unadvisable to go any distance off of established paths in this region. We spent the remainder of our day in Phonsavan checking out the very bizarre "fresh" market where the most exotic animals (alive and dead) are said to be found. We steered clear of the poultry but were absolutely fascinated by the live eels, frogs, and some other unidentifiable animals by the bucket full. We also hung out with a man that we called Morty (because he was exactly like him) and his Japanese wife, Sunshine, as well as a Canadian girl, Tracy, who is truly a world traveller having spent 3 months every year for
Jon in a Jar
Albeit culturally insensitive, next year these may be roped off and great picts will have to be photo-shopped. the past 9 years travelling the world solo- you go girl!After a few conventional meals at Simmaly (our favorite restaurant in Laos so far) we headed to Vang Vieng, the tubing capital of the coutry, on the VIP bus.
You can't actually have a bus ride without it being somthing of an adventure. Now, you would think VIP is really cush- and it was- plenty of leg room, no middle seat (thankfully) and only half full- so we thought this would be paradise. and then we heard it- chirp, chirp, cluck cluck! we had actually avoided live (or dead and yet un-defeathered) poultry for the last 2 months only to come to the VIP bus and find a live hen and her chicks neatly stowed away in a basket under a seat near us. A pretty farsicle scene ensued with the westerners on the bus frantically cleaning their seats with sanitizing wipes and trying to find ways to translate "please remove your live poultry from the bus' in the lonely planet. Shockingly, there was no such tranlsation to be found and the closest thing was "i'm allergic to chicken"- which only served to get the guy to move his
Balancing Act
Albeit culturally insensitive, next year these may be roped off and great picts will have to be photo-shopped. poutry to the seats in front of us. we put on our masks and switched our seats and thought, although murdered by pirates is good, dying of bird flu is not the best. I'll spare you the gory details of the rest of the ride except for the fact that absolutely every Laotian on board actually puked because of road sickness (recall the 3 million turns) more than once, throughout the trip- oh yeah- then threw the bags on the coutryside- lovely. I guess you got the gory details anyway. Sorry. Til next time...
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Stephanie
non-member comment
If the Jar fits
Again, looks like a "ton" of fun was had by all. Perhaps you should give up medicine (eventhough you have not started yet) and take up freelance writing for a travel journal. You'd be great and get to travel for free. Love to all.